300 Sequel CGI, Working Free Overtime, & Pixel Logic Saves Science...
Transformers Breaks Wednesday Record with $55M
(Variety) Michael Bay's Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen earned more than $55 million its first day, easily breaking the opening day record for a Wednesday release at the domestic box office.
The previous record-holder was Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which grossed $44.2 million in its first day.
"Revenge of the Fallen," playing in more than 4,200 theaters in the U.S., has a strong shot at surpassing the $152.4 million earned by Spider-Man 2 in its first five days. That film opened on the same Wednesday in 2004. The 5-day record is held by The Dark Knight, which made $203.8 million its first five days last July.
The opening day haul in the U.S. included $16 million in midnight runs, the best run ever for a film released on a Wednesday. And it's the third-best of all time after The Dark Knight ($18.5 million) and Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith ($16.9 million).
300 Sequel CGI Won't Look Star Wars-ian
Warner Bros. held a press meeting this afternoon to showcase the new
immersive technology of their upcoming Watchmen and 300 Blu-rays. Zack
Snyder, in addition to talking about the releases, chatted with
ComingSoon.net/Superhero Hype! about his potential sequel to 300.
"I know for a fact that Frank [Miller] is writing right now," says Snyder, who explains that the plan is for Miller to create the story as a comic book first, "[He's] drawing away and seems to be knee-deep in it. I think he's going to head back to Greece again and do another reconnaissance."
With the first 300 having been created on a decidedly smaller budget than Watchmen, Snyder says that he probably wants the look and feel of a sequel to maintain that of 300, even though Miller's notes promise a grander scale.
"I think we would use the same technology... I don't want it to look too Star Wars-ian... Just from what [Miller] told me, it would be bigger as far as landscape and terrain. We're going to see Athens and the Aegean and other places. There would be an opportunity for bigger visions, though I'd hope for the same aesthetic. The tech we used for '300' was not a revolution. It's basically what the weatherman has. Look, instead of Accuweather it's Sparta... It's going to be the same way, but on crazier steroids."
Could the Academy's Doubled Best Picture Category Help Sci-Fi Nab an Oscar?
(scifiwire.com) The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today that for the first time in more than 65 years, the field of Best Picture nominees will be expanded from five to 10 contenders for the 82nd annual Academy Awards, Variety reported.
"Having 10 best picture nominees is going allow Academy voters to recognize and include some of the fantastic movies that often show up in the other Oscar categories but have been squeezed out of the race for the top prize," said Academy president Sid Ganis as he announced the shift. "I can't wait to see what that list of 10 looks like when the nominees are announced in February."
The move comes on the heels of complaints that the Academy's rule of limiting the Best Picture nominees to the top five vote-getters elbows out some of the more popular titles, such as last year's blockbuster, The Dark Knight.
The rules change could help some of this year's contenders, such as Star Trek, which otherwise could be overlooked for consideration.
Working Free Overtime: The Animation Industry Squeeze
(animationguildblog.blogspot.com) It's no secret that the movie business is on an economizing kick, and the cartoon sector isn't exception to that trend. Many studios are putting the screws to employees just like its live-action cousins.
A couple of days ago, TAG held a meeting with artists from various studios to strategize how employees should push back ...
Contract proposals to counteract perceived abuses were discussed, but it was pointed out that given the problems Hollywood labor organizations have had forging new collective bargaining agreement, 2009 wasn't the most opportune year to ride into town with a saddlebag full of fresh demands to rectivy abuses.
I pointed out that there were already numerous contract rules, along with state and federal regulations, that could relieve workplace stress. Some of the resulting suggestions:
* Holding crew meetings to build consensus about not working uncompensated overtime.
* Filling out time cards accurately. (Giving friendly reminders to fellow artists to fill time cards out accurately.)
* Reporting overlong storyboard and design tests to TAG so the guild can take the issue up with studio reps.
* Building an industry culture that will move toward self-policing abuses.
What I've observed over the last several years is: artists agree among themselves they won't work extra hours for free, then two people on a crew break ranks and start taking work home gratis, then other crew members see what's happening, get paranoid and take work home too. And the whole "we're not working free o.t. anymore falls apart.
I told the group that we need to find new ways to deal with the hours of free work that artists perform week in and week out. Companies get a false impression of how much work can be created in a 40-hour week, and keep raising the bar higher.
I said that the best way to deal with unreasonable schedules is to account for work time honestly. If somebody wanders around driking coffee for an hour, then takes a two-hour lunch, then that somebody should stay late and make up the three hours. But when an honest eight hours of work has been done, make sure that time cards -- which are legal documents -- show any and all extra hours worked.
I said that tighter schedules and pressure from production managers to "help out" with free o.t. have been going on since I started as biz rep nineteen years ago. There were abuses on "Tiny Tunes" in 1990, and there are abuses now. (The industry, if nothing else, is consistent.)
One strategy to combat the latest squeeze? Transparency and information sharing, both up to management and sideways to other employees. When artists work together to show how much work can actually be done in a 40-hour week, then studios will start building production schedules which reflect that.
But if companies can build schedules around a 60-hour week while paying for 40? Then hey, they will cheerfully do it that way.
DreamWorks, 3D CGI Drive Plan for Disney
(hollywoodreporter.com) AMSTERDAM -- Disney may be the most bullish Hollywood major when it comes to 3D, and the Burbank studio put several three-dimensional entries on its film slate front-and-center Wednesday in a Cinema Expo presentation.
Trailers were shown from Robert Zemeckis' motion-capture animated feature "A Christmas Carol," set for November release, and next summer's Pixar sequel "Toy Story 3." But glimpses of Tim Burton's live action-and-motion capture fantasy "Alice in Wonderland" were limited to production stills, while May opener "Prince of Persia" from Jerry Bruckheimer was teased in a sizzle reel, and a early visual-effects shot was used to whet exhibs' appetite for Disney's as-yet-unslotted remake of "Tron."
Disney international distribution president Anthony Marcoly noted that Disney has agreed to distribute pics for Steven Spielberg's newly private DreamWorks, aiming to add to Disney's own recently downsized release slate.
"There will be fewer films, but you can count on them being bigger and better than ever," Marcoly said. "And you can expect four to six DreamWorks films per year, starting in 2010-2011."
After its 75-minute slate promo, Disney screened in its entirety the 3D family feature "Up." The Pixar-animated pic already has produced $255 million in worldwide boxoffice, including $23 million from its fledgling international campaign.
Execs noted the "Up" tallies feature an estimated $36 million in extra coin from exhibs' marking up ticket prices in 3D venues. "Up" is playing in a mix of 2D and 3D venues, due to an insufficient installed base of 3D auditoriums.
Those attending the "Up" screening were asked to wear both 3D glasses and audio headsets, lending an especially high-tech appearance to the audience. Disney used the headsets to offer the film in several language versions, with the special gear needed even for the English track.
Most films screened here are offered only in English.
Meanwhile, various 3D vendors have been seeking a bit of the promo spotlight at Cinema Expo, where the fledgling technology has been a hot topic of discussion.
Masterimage touted its participation in the Disney presentation. On Tuesday, RealD helped Fox screen 3D clips from James Cameron's upcoming "Avatar."
RealD on Wednesday announced a new product for use by theater owners in programming live events as alternative programming for their cinemas. When added onto RealD's 3D projector systems, ReadD Live can receive and convert broadcast signals for theatrical 3D presentation.
Manifesto Games Shuts Down
A Brief Look At Disney's 3D Animated "A Christmas Carol"
(moviesblog.mtv.com) New York press and movie critics got their first glimpse at an animated Jim Carrey as Ebenezer Scrooge in a presentation of 3-D footage from Disney's "A Christmas Carol" at the Regal E-Walk Theatre this week.
Two scenes were shown from the performance capture-driven film, directed by Robert Zemeckis ( Polar Express ), along with a montage of clips and a teaser trailer. Publicists were showing the footage every half hour from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., with Christmas cookies and pastries on offer outside the theatre after each showing.
In the first scene, Carrey as Scrooge argues with Bob Cratchit (Gary Oldman) over the meaning of Christmas. It is immediately clear that the animated characters are made to look like the actors voicing them, as was the case in "Polar Express." Carrey as Scrooge looked like a wrinkly, crusty version of himself, though the actor doesn't sound like himself. There are no echoes of Ace Ventura, The Riddler or any of the other iconic characters he's played in Scrooge's voice. If Carrey's name wasn't headlined on the poster, you wouldn't know he was in the film.
The second scene shown sees Jacob Marley's ghost crashing in on Scrooge during the night. It is here that the film shows off its high tech special wizardry. Thanks to the 3D effects work, Marley's ghost hovers off the screen and glows with incandescent color. There's a gross moment as well, when Marley's jaw falls off and he has to re-attach it with a white cloth.
The publicist in charge of the event said the scenes were still unfinished and that Zemeckis & Co. are still fixing the lighting and color. You get to see Jim Carrey as crusty Scrooge in Disney's " A Christmas Carol" on November 6th of this year.
Post Logic Studios Undertakes Restoration of Scientific Films for the National Archive
(blog.digitalcontentproducer.com) Leading post-production facility Post Logic Studios, a division of Prime Focus Group, is completing restoration of over 80 scientific microcinematography short films developed by world-renowned academics and funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
These films were commissioned beginning in 1967 through the mid-1970s using a $20 million grant from the NSF as part of a push to close a perceived scientific gap between the US and the former Soviet Union. They were originally intended to be archived at the Library of Congress, and are even listed in the catalog, but were never delivered after the NSF funds became depleted.
The films were shot in the late sixties by a team led by British natural history filmmaker Joseph V. Durden, and produced under the direction of some of the world's leading scientific experts, many of whom are now deceased. Ranging from between three and 20 minutes, the irreplaceable films explore developmental biology and other living phenomena with time-lapse 16mm color microcinematography. One film provides view of Nobel Laureate Rita Levi-Montalcini, who turned 100 this year, and her pioneering work with nerve growth factor (NGF), a protein substance that attracts regenerating nerve cells. Another depicts the live meeting of sperm and egg in ferns, exemplifying plant sexuality. One 14-minute film narrated by Durden displays all six developmental stages of the population explosion potential of a flatworm, Cryptocotyle lingua, which is similar to a parasite that causes liver fluke disease in humans, and is invaluable to researchers and students of parasitology.
Evolutionist and distinguished University of Massachusetts professor Lynn Margulis has been using a selection of the EDC films each semester since she first began her Environmental Evolution course at Boston University in 1972. The prints eventually became faded and discolored, and were retired to the non-book section at the Smith College library, while the film masters, thought to be lost, languished in a Massachusetts warehouse.
These films are timeless national treasures, and even with funding equivalent to 100 times the original National Science Foundation grant they could not be recreated, Margulis commented. Evolution is a slow process, and the cells and tissue interactions of organisms do not change, even over millennia. I consider the restoration of these films for delivery to the Library of Congress to be my most important contribution to the world of science.
Working on a Spirit DataCine film scanner, Post Logic colorist Alex Berman cleaned and digitized the 16mm films, painstakingly balancing the black, white and mid-range tones to achieve the final look of the source material. The important thing was to maintain the integrity of the original prints, Berman commented. We wanted to make these films a pleasure to view without changing any of the natural coloration. The goal was to push a little more light through so everything looks vibrant and sharp. The Spirit captures so much detail, which is great because it really highlights the features of the cells\u2014the particles inside are nice and clear.
The biggest challenge working with these microscopic images was the lack of any external references, Berman continued. If you see a car, you know that the tire should be black, but there are no visual references like that for a cell. This makes it much more difficult to know for certain that the colors have been balanced correctly.\u201d
About Post Logic Studios
A leader in digital intermediate and feature film restoration, Post Logic Studios is a part of the Prime Focus Group family, an integrated global network of visual effects and post-production companies servicing clientele around the world with technologically advanced facilities in Hollywood, New York, London and India.
'Transformers' Gets Panned but May Still Find Oscar Gold
(goldderby.latimes.com) "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" impressed far fewer critics than did "Transformers" in 2007. The original film rated 61 at Meta Critic but the sequel managed only a score of 42. And over at Rotten Tomatoes, "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" merited a mere 22 among the top tier of critics while the original "Transformers" earned a respectable 67.
Transformers Shia LaBeouf Megan Fox movie news 1357986However, the sequel should still equal the original at the box office. Advance ticket sales for "Transfomers: Revenge of the Fallen" have it on track to be one of the top-grossing movies of the summer. Last night's midnight showings sold out across the country. And fervent fans of the franchise and stars Megan Fox and Shia LaBeouf are packing today's screenings.
Among those sure to see the movie on the big screen in the days ahead will be members of the various technical branches of the academy. Two years ago "Transformers" earned Oscar bids in three technical categories -- sound, sound editing and visual effects.
"Transformers" lost both sound races to "The Bourne Ultimatum," and "The Golden Compass" won for visual effects. However, the special effects wizards did win four awards from the Visual Effects Society. As with most sequels, the studio has spent even more money this time round on all of those slam-bang special effects.
Director Michael Bay has rehired many of the same tech experts who figured in the success of the first film. One name missing from the credits of "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" is sound mixerKevin O'Connell who was part of the losing team two years ago. That defeat marked the 20th in a row for O'Connell, who has held up surprisingly well under the weight of the title of Oscar's biggest loser. As O'Connell worked on the next big summer movie -- "Public Enemies" -- he may well land his 21st Oscar nod this year.
"I know for a fact that Frank [Miller] is writing right now," says Snyder, who explains that the plan is for Miller to create the story as a comic book first, "[He's] drawing away and seems to be knee-deep in it. I think he's going to head back to Greece again and do another reconnaissance."
With the first 300 having been created on a decidedly smaller budget than Watchmen, Snyder says that he probably wants the look and feel of a sequel to maintain that of 300, even though Miller's notes promise a grander scale.
"I think we would use the same technology... I don't want it to look too Star Wars-ian... Just from what [Miller] told me, it would be bigger as far as landscape and terrain. We're going to see Athens and the Aegean and other places. There would be an opportunity for bigger visions, though I'd hope for the same aesthetic. The tech we used for '300' was not a revolution. It's basically what the weatherman has. Look, instead of Accuweather it's Sparta... It's going to be the same way, but on crazier steroids."
Could the Academy's Doubled Best Picture Category Help Sci-Fi Nab an Oscar?
(scifiwire.com) The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today that for the first time in more than 65 years, the field of Best Picture nominees will be expanded from five to 10 contenders for the 82nd annual Academy Awards, Variety reported.
"Having 10 best picture nominees is going allow Academy voters to recognize and include some of the fantastic movies that often show up in the other Oscar categories but have been squeezed out of the race for the top prize," said Academy president Sid Ganis as he announced the shift. "I can't wait to see what that list of 10 looks like when the nominees are announced in February."
The move comes on the heels of complaints that the Academy's rule of limiting the Best Picture nominees to the top five vote-getters elbows out some of the more popular titles, such as last year's blockbuster, The Dark Knight.
The rules change could help some of this year's contenders, such as Star Trek, which otherwise could be overlooked for consideration.
Working Free Overtime: The Animation Industry Squeeze
(animationguildblog.blogspot.com) It's no secret that the movie business is on an economizing kick, and the cartoon sector isn't exception to that trend. Many studios are putting the screws to employees just like its live-action cousins.
A couple of days ago, TAG held a meeting with artists from various studios to strategize how employees should push back ...
Contract proposals to counteract perceived abuses were discussed, but it was pointed out that given the problems Hollywood labor organizations have had forging new collective bargaining agreement, 2009 wasn't the most opportune year to ride into town with a saddlebag full of fresh demands to rectivy abuses.
I pointed out that there were already numerous contract rules, along with state and federal regulations, that could relieve workplace stress. Some of the resulting suggestions:
* Holding crew meetings to build consensus about not working uncompensated overtime.
* Filling out time cards accurately. (Giving friendly reminders to fellow artists to fill time cards out accurately.)
* Reporting overlong storyboard and design tests to TAG so the guild can take the issue up with studio reps.
* Building an industry culture that will move toward self-policing abuses.
What I've observed over the last several years is: artists agree among themselves they won't work extra hours for free, then two people on a crew break ranks and start taking work home gratis, then other crew members see what's happening, get paranoid and take work home too. And the whole "we're not working free o.t. anymore falls apart.
I told the group that we need to find new ways to deal with the hours of free work that artists perform week in and week out. Companies get a false impression of how much work can be created in a 40-hour week, and keep raising the bar higher.
I said that the best way to deal with unreasonable schedules is to account for work time honestly. If somebody wanders around driking coffee for an hour, then takes a two-hour lunch, then that somebody should stay late and make up the three hours. But when an honest eight hours of work has been done, make sure that time cards -- which are legal documents -- show any and all extra hours worked.
I said that tighter schedules and pressure from production managers to "help out" with free o.t. have been going on since I started as biz rep nineteen years ago. There were abuses on "Tiny Tunes" in 1990, and there are abuses now. (The industry, if nothing else, is consistent.)
One strategy to combat the latest squeeze? Transparency and information sharing, both up to management and sideways to other employees. When artists work together to show how much work can actually be done in a 40-hour week, then studios will start building production schedules which reflect that.
But if companies can build schedules around a 60-hour week while paying for 40? Then hey, they will cheerfully do it that way.
DreamWorks, 3D CGI Drive Plan for Disney
(hollywoodreporter.com) AMSTERDAM -- Disney may be the most bullish Hollywood major when it comes to 3D, and the Burbank studio put several three-dimensional entries on its film slate front-and-center Wednesday in a Cinema Expo presentation.
Trailers were shown from Robert Zemeckis' motion-capture animated feature "A Christmas Carol," set for November release, and next summer's Pixar sequel "Toy Story 3." But glimpses of Tim Burton's live action-and-motion capture fantasy "Alice in Wonderland" were limited to production stills, while May opener "Prince of Persia" from Jerry Bruckheimer was teased in a sizzle reel, and a early visual-effects shot was used to whet exhibs' appetite for Disney's as-yet-unslotted remake of "Tron."
Disney international distribution president Anthony Marcoly noted that Disney has agreed to distribute pics for Steven Spielberg's newly private DreamWorks, aiming to add to Disney's own recently downsized release slate.
"There will be fewer films, but you can count on them being bigger and better than ever," Marcoly said. "And you can expect four to six DreamWorks films per year, starting in 2010-2011."
After its 75-minute slate promo, Disney screened in its entirety the 3D family feature "Up." The Pixar-animated pic already has produced $255 million in worldwide boxoffice, including $23 million from its fledgling international campaign.
Execs noted the "Up" tallies feature an estimated $36 million in extra coin from exhibs' marking up ticket prices in 3D venues. "Up" is playing in a mix of 2D and 3D venues, due to an insufficient installed base of 3D auditoriums.
Those attending the "Up" screening were asked to wear both 3D glasses and audio headsets, lending an especially high-tech appearance to the audience. Disney used the headsets to offer the film in several language versions, with the special gear needed even for the English track.
Most films screened here are offered only in English.
Meanwhile, various 3D vendors have been seeking a bit of the promo spotlight at Cinema Expo, where the fledgling technology has been a hot topic of discussion.
Masterimage touted its participation in the Disney presentation. On Tuesday, RealD helped Fox screen 3D clips from James Cameron's upcoming "Avatar."
RealD on Wednesday announced a new product for use by theater owners in programming live events as alternative programming for their cinemas. When added onto RealD's 3D projector systems, ReadD Live can receive and convert broadcast signals for theatrical 3D presentation.
Manifesto Games Shuts Down
(escapistmagazine.com) Eons ago, in the dark wastelands of 2005, Greg Costikyan wrote an article for the eighth issue of The Escapist called Death to the Games Industry, in which he stressed the need for the industry to evolve in the face of stagnation.
Costikyan's vision, as expressed in the article (and its sequel) led to the founding of Manifesto Games, essentially a digital distribution portal for indie games. Rather than competing for space on the Wal-Mart or Gamestop shelf, indie titles would have a chance to strut their stuff, offering innovative experiences at development (and retail) prices well below that of the mainstream market.
In many ways, Manifesto was the precursor to the current form of Steam, XBLA, PSN, or Apple's App Store. Unfortunately, it may have been before its time - last night, Costikyan posted an update that announced that Manifesto would be shutting down, effective immediately. Costikyan said that there were several factors that contributed to the decision: difficulty marketing the concept and getting their concept across to the indie developers they were trying to cater to (and the current economic recession, of course).
We at The Escapist offer a salute to Greg Costikyan and the Manifesto team: Though their market timing may not have been the best, their ideas were visionary and their hearts and ideals in the right place. They deserve our thanks for their tireless work in supporting the growing indie game development scene, and we wish them well in the future.
"Greg Costikyan has never been afraid to navigate into uncharted waters, and every journey he takes always reveals a new trend that will shape the game industry," said Alexander Macris, publisher of The Escapist. "We'll look forward to where he sails next."
A Brief Look At Disney's 3D Animated "A Christmas Carol"
(moviesblog.mtv.com) New York press and movie critics got their first glimpse at an animated Jim Carrey as Ebenezer Scrooge in a presentation of 3-D footage from Disney's "A Christmas Carol" at the Regal E-Walk Theatre this week.
Two scenes were shown from the performance capture-driven film, directed by Robert Zemeckis ( Polar Express ), along with a montage of clips and a teaser trailer. Publicists were showing the footage every half hour from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., with Christmas cookies and pastries on offer outside the theatre after each showing.
In the first scene, Carrey as Scrooge argues with Bob Cratchit (Gary Oldman) over the meaning of Christmas. It is immediately clear that the animated characters are made to look like the actors voicing them, as was the case in "Polar Express." Carrey as Scrooge looked like a wrinkly, crusty version of himself, though the actor doesn't sound like himself. There are no echoes of Ace Ventura, The Riddler or any of the other iconic characters he's played in Scrooge's voice. If Carrey's name wasn't headlined on the poster, you wouldn't know he was in the film.
The second scene shown sees Jacob Marley's ghost crashing in on Scrooge during the night. It is here that the film shows off its high tech special wizardry. Thanks to the 3D effects work, Marley's ghost hovers off the screen and glows with incandescent color. There's a gross moment as well, when Marley's jaw falls off and he has to re-attach it with a white cloth.
The publicist in charge of the event said the scenes were still unfinished and that Zemeckis & Co. are still fixing the lighting and color. You get to see Jim Carrey as crusty Scrooge in Disney's " A Christmas Carol" on November 6th of this year.
Post Logic Studios Undertakes Restoration of Scientific Films for the National Archive
(blog.digitalcontentproducer.com) Leading post-production facility Post Logic Studios, a division of Prime Focus Group, is completing restoration of over 80 scientific microcinematography short films developed by world-renowned academics and funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
These films were commissioned beginning in 1967 through the mid-1970s using a $20 million grant from the NSF as part of a push to close a perceived scientific gap between the US and the former Soviet Union. They were originally intended to be archived at the Library of Congress, and are even listed in the catalog, but were never delivered after the NSF funds became depleted.
The films were shot in the late sixties by a team led by British natural history filmmaker Joseph V. Durden, and produced under the direction of some of the world's leading scientific experts, many of whom are now deceased. Ranging from between three and 20 minutes, the irreplaceable films explore developmental biology and other living phenomena with time-lapse 16mm color microcinematography. One film provides view of Nobel Laureate Rita Levi-Montalcini, who turned 100 this year, and her pioneering work with nerve growth factor (NGF), a protein substance that attracts regenerating nerve cells. Another depicts the live meeting of sperm and egg in ferns, exemplifying plant sexuality. One 14-minute film narrated by Durden displays all six developmental stages of the population explosion potential of a flatworm, Cryptocotyle lingua, which is similar to a parasite that causes liver fluke disease in humans, and is invaluable to researchers and students of parasitology.
Evolutionist and distinguished University of Massachusetts professor Lynn Margulis has been using a selection of the EDC films each semester since she first began her Environmental Evolution course at Boston University in 1972. The prints eventually became faded and discolored, and were retired to the non-book section at the Smith College library, while the film masters, thought to be lost, languished in a Massachusetts warehouse.
These films are timeless national treasures, and even with funding equivalent to 100 times the original National Science Foundation grant they could not be recreated, Margulis commented. Evolution is a slow process, and the cells and tissue interactions of organisms do not change, even over millennia. I consider the restoration of these films for delivery to the Library of Congress to be my most important contribution to the world of science.
Working on a Spirit DataCine film scanner, Post Logic colorist Alex Berman cleaned and digitized the 16mm films, painstakingly balancing the black, white and mid-range tones to achieve the final look of the source material. The important thing was to maintain the integrity of the original prints, Berman commented. We wanted to make these films a pleasure to view without changing any of the natural coloration. The goal was to push a little more light through so everything looks vibrant and sharp. The Spirit captures so much detail, which is great because it really highlights the features of the cells\u2014the particles inside are nice and clear.
The biggest challenge working with these microscopic images was the lack of any external references, Berman continued. If you see a car, you know that the tire should be black, but there are no visual references like that for a cell. This makes it much more difficult to know for certain that the colors have been balanced correctly.\u201d
About Post Logic Studios
A leader in digital intermediate and feature film restoration, Post Logic Studios is a part of the Prime Focus Group family, an integrated global network of visual effects and post-production companies servicing clientele around the world with technologically advanced facilities in Hollywood, New York, London and India.
'Transformers' Gets Panned but May Still Find Oscar Gold
(goldderby.latimes.com) "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" impressed far fewer critics than did "Transformers" in 2007. The original film rated 61 at Meta Critic but the sequel managed only a score of 42. And over at Rotten Tomatoes, "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" merited a mere 22 among the top tier of critics while the original "Transformers" earned a respectable 67.
Transformers Shia LaBeouf Megan Fox movie news 1357986However, the sequel should still equal the original at the box office. Advance ticket sales for "Transfomers: Revenge of the Fallen" have it on track to be one of the top-grossing movies of the summer. Last night's midnight showings sold out across the country. And fervent fans of the franchise and stars Megan Fox and Shia LaBeouf are packing today's screenings.
Among those sure to see the movie on the big screen in the days ahead will be members of the various technical branches of the academy. Two years ago "Transformers" earned Oscar bids in three technical categories -- sound, sound editing and visual effects.
"Transformers" lost both sound races to "The Bourne Ultimatum," and "The Golden Compass" won for visual effects. However, the special effects wizards did win four awards from the Visual Effects Society. As with most sequels, the studio has spent even more money this time round on all of those slam-bang special effects.
Director Michael Bay has rehired many of the same tech experts who figured in the success of the first film. One name missing from the credits of "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" is sound mixerKevin O'Connell who was part of the losing team two years ago. That defeat marked the 20th in a row for O'Connell, who has held up surprisingly well under the weight of the title of Oscar's biggest loser. As O'Connell worked on the next big summer movie -- "Public Enemies" -- he may well land his 21st Oscar nod this year.
