Here is my usual Weekly Round-Up of News, with stories that I have picked up over the past week. If you have suggestions for stories I missed, just drop me a line or post a comment.
News Round-Up: Monday 10th Oct 2011
Here is my usual Weekly Round-Up of News, with stories that I have picked up over the past week. If you have suggestions for stories I missed, just drop me a line or post a comment.
CVMP - Last Call for Short Papers
It seems there is an abundance of technology conferences to choose from this year. For fellow technology enthusiasts out there, this is an exciting time, as we are treated to an ocean of updates, new releases and ground breaking developments. One conference we give a particular seal of approval to is the much anticipated CVMP (Conference for Visual Media Production), now in its 8th year running. This is a conference dedicated to the geeks of the visual media production industries, whether that is in film, broadcast or games.
News Round-Up: Monday 3rd Oct 2011
Following on from last week's announcement about our Weekly Round-Up of news, here are the stories that I have picked up over the past week. If you have suggestions for stories I missed, just drop me a line or post a comment.
News Round-Up: Monday 26th Sep 2011
Here is my usual Weekly Round-Up of news with the stories that I have picked up over the past week. If you have suggestions for stories I missed, just drop me a line or post a comment.
News Round-Up: Monday 19th Sep 2011
Following on from last week's announcement about our Weekly Round-Up of news, here are the stories that I have picked up over the past week. If you have suggestions for stories I missed, just drop me a line or post a comment.
CityEngine: Mapping Out The Locations on Pixar’s 'Cars 2'
Pixar, renowned for their cutting edge animation, know better than anyone the advantages of saving time where possible. The technical directors and supervisors on Cars 2 were faced with the challenge of building locations for this feature length animation. Those of you who have seen the sequel will remember that the lead character, Lightning McQueen, is being sent around the globe to race in the world Grand Prix. The challenge for the Pixar creative team was to build recognizable cities, on a very broad scale.
News Round-Up: Monday 12th Sep 2011
For some time now, I have been doing a weekly round up of news for our own internal use at Escape Studios. I never actually thought of sharing it more widely until someone pointed out to me last week, that actually, maybe it would be useful to the people who read this blog.
FPV at The Scrubs
A couple of us tutors at Escape Studios like to go to Wormwood Scrubs (yes near the Prison) to fly model aircrafts with cameras on.
Scratch-and-Sniff
I suspect that readers of the Escape Studios Blog will not be the type to rush out to the big screens to see Spy Kids 4D. Or at least admit to it...
23 MARI Tips In 23 Days on Twitter
MARI is a relatively new piece of software, and is becoming more popular with artists as its reputation for efficiency and adaptability becomes more widely known. As with any piece of new software there is a period of trial and error before you really get to know its full capability. It is in light of this that Henry South, lead texture artist at Framestore, is offering to share his top 23 tips when working with MARI.
A Triptych of Travel Films : MOVE, LEARN & EAT
Following a commission from STA Travel Australia, director Rick Mereki, DOP Tim White and actor Andrew Lees, set off on an epic journey to shoot three short films. Themed around the basic elements of travel: moving, eating and learning, they somehow cleverly capture the enormity of their subjects, all within one minute of footage per film, quite some feat by anyone's standards.
Reporting Back on HP7 in 3D
Last weeks I wrote about Harry Potter and asked you whether or not you would be watching the last instalment it in 3D (The Harry Potter finale: 2D or 3D?). Many of you replied back through Facebook and on this blog – thanks to all of you who took the time to do so.
Terrence Malick: Visionary Genius or Boring Pseud?
His films certainly divide modern critics and audiences alike, which is perhaps no surprise. In a Hollywood saturated with formulaic product for multiplex audiences, his films are an anomaly, breaking from a conventional narrative and featuring extended, languid shots of the natural world that often serve to emphasise his character's - and therefore Man's - insignificance in the face of events.
Hollywood Composer Hans Zimmer on Writing for 3D
Behind every great director is a great composer; where Steven Spielberg had John Williams and Sergio Leone had Ennio Morricone, it might be said that Christopher Nolan has Hans Zimmer.
Motion Capture For the Masses
Here is an amazing use of Xbox Kinect or PlayStation EyeToy: desktop motion capture!
Digital Domain IPO?
We have talked recently about how well the UK is doing in VFX so it's nice to see some noise happening in the US also. Digital Domain saw its revenue from visual effects climb to $101.9 million last year - up 70% from 2009, according to its filing. Whilst DD have already had one attempt at going public in 2007, they seem convinced that now is possibly the right time.
Meat Love
It’s always good when people respond to the blogs we write. The one I wrote last week about the MTV advert animation got a great response when we tweeted the link, with @anthonygelatka pointing me in the direction of another great piece of animation.
Gaming Gets Emotional With LA Noire
No doubt you’ve heard about Rockstar’s latest release LA Noire - apparently a completely new type of video game. Up until recently, most games have been all about hand eye co-ordination but in LA Noire, which is set in the late 40s, the main skill is about being able to judge body language and characters’ faces to figure out if they’re lying or not - or ‘emotional perception’ as some are calling it.
