I have already aired my excitement over the new Batman film The Dark Knight Rises in yesterday's blog. However, after searching through more of the summer "must see" films on IGN I came across another film I am excited to see; Ted.
Gamers Paradise: What Should we be Getting Excited About?
Epic Games released this trailer of the Unreal Game Engine at the E3 Festival last a few weeks back and it got me thinking, what else can we look forward to seeing this year?
The Summer Must-See Movies
Whilst scrolling through the IGN website I stumbled across a page that I wanted to share with you all, even if it is just a check list! IGN has released their list of top summer movies for 2012 and, although many of them have been released (and you can cross them off on your check list), there are still plenty of brilliant CG films being released over the upcoming months.
Has E3 Spelt the End of VFX? Possibly Not!
I was on holiday last week, enjoying the almost total lack of sun, and having a week long geekasm at the E3 coverage. Imagine my surprise, then, to come back to work at Escape to discover hardly a mention of all that awesomeness on the blog. This is not, I thought to myself, acceptable. So have a peek at this!
Sneak Peek at Resident Evil 5
It’s always good to end a Friday with a little something to look forward to. Therefore, we would like to present to you the new trailer for Resident Evil: Retribution.
Disney Takes On Another Classic
Did any of you hear the breaking news this week that Disney have unveiled what will be their latest CG project? If not, then have no fear. I can now share with you that Frozen is set to be their next classic. Unfortunately there's very little information released on this, but as we receive more information we’ll pump it out to you.
Valve Show Us How It's Done, Again
Once again, I’m going to have to promote how great a developer Valve is by showing you another presentation that I found on their website. I know I have already showcased some of their expertise in a post a couple of days ago but I think this presentation is equally as impressive as the last one.
Game Over... For Now!
We know it has been a long time coming but we finally managed to get our hands on some insider info into the HBO series Game of Thrones. The second season has been just as intense and enthralling as the first and with the production for the third season renewed just two days after the second series aired, we hope to see a lot more of Westeros soon!
Hungry Enough To Take On The Avengers?
You may think we are a little behind the curve with posting our views on the new Avengers Assemble movie. That, my friends, is where you are wrong. We don’t want to be just like everyone else. We want a new angle, something fresh, something different and something utterly delicious. If you are starting to wonder where we are going with this, do not fret! And after exerting all our man power with many hours of scouring we found the perfect piece.
Marmalade sandwich anyone?
I am destined to never grow up and quite frankly I refuse to see why I can’t stay immature for my entire life. I loved every single aspect of my childhood but the most memorable things for me were TV shows. Saturday mornings you would find me virtually attached to the TV for cartoon after cartoon. And another thing you should know is that I have a penchant for all things a little kitsch and retro. So if you combine these two elements you will understand why it is not possible for me to contain my excitement, especially after hearing this news.
How did I get a job with that reel?
We always like to showcase our wonderful ‘Escapees’ work. Adam Dewhirst is no exception. However, what I thought we would do is take a look back to Adam's early work to where he is today... It's an interesting journey…!
Escapees Day Out with Framestore, Part 2
Moving on from the presentation by Kevin Jenkins we turned our attention to Ben Morris who gave us the low-down on his role as a VFX Supervisor. As we watched the end sequence of War Horse, which is the part where we discover the fate of our hero’s horse, we all became a little misty eyed, but were quickly reassured by Ben that no horses were harmed during the making of this film. Needless to say, we were all very impressed with the great VFX work done by the guys at Framestore and how realistic the horse looked. Surely Mr Spielberg wouldn't have it any other way.
Nationwide Tax Break Policy for the CG Industry
I was pretty shocked last week when the Coalition Government reversed its position in their dramatic Budget announcement. The UK government has declared its intention to establish a nationwide games tax break policy, in a manoeuvre that leaves the British sector in shock and jubilation. They stated: "Following consultation on the design, the Government will introduce corporation tax reliefs for the video games, animation and high-end television industries from April 2013, subject to State aid approval," read the official budget report.
50% Online Course SALE! Pick up new skills for 1/2 price
Make sure you don’t miss out on our 10 DAY SPRING SALE to purchase any of our Self-Directed Online courses at half price! Whether you want an introduction to Maya, to learn how to animate a character or get to grips with visualiation for V-Ray, these in-depth short online courses are the most efficient way to pick up new skills and expand your CV.
Acting for Animators
On March 29th, Shapes in Motion will be running an 'Acting for Animators' class. It's a great little course and one which can really help you understand how to bring your animations to life. If you'd like to find out more, here are the details.
ParaNorman Official Trailer - Stop Motion Movie
Here is the trailer for the new 3D stop motion comedy thriller by Laika, the animation studio that brought us 'Coraline'. Norman 'I see dead people' Babcock is a local boy from a small New England Town who has the ability to see and speak with the dead. The movie will follow Norman as he takes on ghosts. zombies and worst of all, grown ups to save his town from a century old curse. Cannot wait to see this film! But what do you think of the trailer - we want to hear it!?
A Sad Day for Comics, French Artist Jean Giraud - Moebius - Dies at 73
A very sad day indeed for the comics industry and for all of those like me who grew up within the amazing and imaginative world of Moebius. I have always been an avid comics fan and for me, the two most influential peolple have been Stan Lee (he taught me very important words such as puny proverbiale and imperious rex) and Jean Giraud who I stumbled upon by accident. He introduced me to the world of french comics and it was a revelation. The French are masters of comic art and narrative, and the works of Moebius have inluenced all manner of media including some of the most important science fiction films.
His legacy will no doubt live on - a true inspiration. You can read the full article on the Geek Out Blog.
News Round-Up: Monday 27th Feb 2012
It's the time of the week when I share with you the news that picked my interest over the last seven days. This time, there are the following goodies on offer: a cool making of from Framestore, some great new tutorials, a trailer of Pixar's "Brave", a new trailer for Spiderman and lots of education news related to Michael's latest announcements regarding education reforms.
News Round-Up: Monday 20th Feb 2012
After an absence of a week, I am back again with my usual digest of news. This week, we have some great showreels from the likes of Pixomondo, a great trailer from Spiderman and even some tutorials.
Calling all Maya Artists!
NVIDIA very recently put out a call for Maya artists to submit new models to be considered and potentially used as benchmarks for Autodesk’s Maya. NVIDIA developed a CUDA plug-in for Maya that delivers fluid simulation, hence their involvement in this. For more details on that, check out this demo.
