300 VFX Battles, Avatar Shoot Begins, & VFX Become A Weapon...

Weta Digital Attracts Costly Extravaganzas

(reuters.com)              New Zealand is home to a thriving film industry, one that has produced movies like the internationally acclaimed "Whale Rider." It was an early adopter of incentives that attract outside productions. It's also the home of Peter Jackson's effects companies, Weta Digital and Weta Workshop, and their impact on New Zealand's film industry cannot be underestimated.

Weta has grown from a boutique effects house serving only Jackson's projects to one that services production the world over. And that has provided New Zealand with an edge that is as sharp as Aragorn's sword.

Walt Disney and "Narnia" producer Walden Media's "Bridge to Terabithia," which opens Friday, revolves around two kids who use their imagination to create a fantastical land names Terabithia. It was shot in New Zealand not only for the tax benefits but to also to be close to the company that provided the visual effects necessary to create the imaginary world.

"Avatar," James Cameron's latest extravaganza, also is prepping a shoot in New Zealand. The producers had chosen Weta as their primary effects company before selecting a filming location. And after looking at Los Angeles, Vancouver and Mexico, they settled on New Zealand.

"One of the key factors for us choosing New Zealand was being close to Weta Digital," said Jon Landau, Cameron's partner at Lightstorm Entertainment. "We are going to be in a very critical time in terms of our visual effects work, and being able to be in a direct one-on-one collaboration (is highly important)."

As part of the shoot, budgeted at about $190 million, Cameron will film for 31 days on soundstages in New Zealand -- spending about a quarter of his budget on that segment of the production. (Motion-capture work will be done in the U.S.)

Landau declined comment on the film's effects budget -- it could add up to more than half the total budget. And in this case, one large-scale Hollywood production, attracted by Weta's expertise, easily could eclipse the production budgets of New Zeland's entire homegrown industry.

Nevertheless, New Zealand film officials do not want to overplay the importance of Weta. They point to such other effects houses as Park Road Post in Wellington and Oktober in Auckland that also have contributed to a healthy homegrown industry and a nation of dedicated moviegoers. Last year, 1.3 million New Zealanders out of a population base of 4 million went to see New Zealand movies.

Weta, too, would rather not think about how it impacts the scene.

"It would be terrible to think that (the industry) is dependent on a single company, ours or any other," said Richard Taylor, the multiple Oscar winner who co-heads Weta Workshop. "The New Zealand film industry existed for a long time before we ever came along, and it will exist for a long time after, if ever we sadly finished up. And it will exist, as all places do, due to its competitiveness, its incredibly skilled and talented crews and its unique location opportunities."

ATI Builds The Biggest 3D Graphics Card Ever

(forums.cgsociety.org)               ATI builds a new 3D graphics card so big, they're calling it the "mammoth red beast". It's bright red in color, and features 4 massive heat pipes.

Take a look:  http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37581

Ancient Battle Gets VFX Makeover

(Reuters)            U.S. director Zack Snyder uses cutting edge technology to tell an ancient tale in his new film "300", an ultra-violent depiction of the legendary battle between Spartans and Persians at Thermopylae in 480 B.C.

Severed limbs fly, decapitations get the slow motion treatment, Persians get gorged by a charging rhinoceros, elephants are dashed on the rocks and blood is everywhere.

And it is all achieved thanks to computer generated special effects through the almost exclusive use of blue screens behind actors on which the background is later superimposed.

Based on a graphic novel of the same name by Frank Miller, "300" does not pretend to be realistic or historically accurate, Snyder told reporters in Berlin, where the film had its world premiere this week.

"What I wanted to do was take the graphic novel and say this is the movie experience that I want the viewer to have," said the director, whose only previous feature film was the 2004 horror hit "Dawn of the Dead".

"That's the gift of cinema, that you get a perspective that may be you don't normally take."

Critics in Berlin enthused about the quality of the action, although the comic book approach left central character Leonidas "a two-dimensional creature in this 3D world", according to an otherwise glowing Hollywood Reporter review.

Warner Brothers, the studio behind "300", will hope Snyder can repeat the box office success of another Miller adaptation "Sin City", which made $160 million worldwide from a $40 million (20.5 million pound) budget, according to movie site www.boxofficemojo.com.

But it was not easy getting the project off the ground, according to producer Gianni Nunnari, especially because the release of "Troy" in 2004 led to what he called "sandal fatigue" in Hollywood.

Miller's inspiration for the novel came from watching the 1962 movie "The 300 Spartans" as a boy, when he first encountered the idea that heroes do not always have to win.

Inspired by the tale of a group of 300 Spartans under King Leonidas holding out against the advancing Persian masses led by Xerxes, he travelled to Greece to the site of one of the most famous last stands in history.

"All my life I wanted to tell this story because it's the best story I've ever encountered," Miller said in production notes distributed to promote the movie.

"There's a reason why we are as free as we are, and a lot of it begins with the story of 300 young men holding a very narrow pass long enough to inspire the rest of Greece."

Gerard Butler, the Scottish actor who plays Leonidas, and Brazil's Rodrigo Santoro, playing Xerxes, were peppered with questions about their chiselled physiques in the torso-revealing capes and shorts that they wore.

"I started training about four months before the film started, pretty much six hours a day," Butler said.

"Basically, I screwed myself up. It was phenomenal for me to have the conditioning of the mind as well, and really get into the Spartan way. And I have to say I did, by the time the film started, feel like a lion."

'Ghost Rider' Ignites Heroic Speculation



Dreamworks Animation Buy, Estimates Reduced

(newratings.com)               Analyst Michael Savner of Banc of America Securities maintains his "buy" rating on Dreamworks Animation SKG Inc (FKP.ETR), while reducing his estimates for the company. The target price is set to $37.

In a research note published yesterday, the analyst mentions that there is no change to the long-term prospects of the company's stock. Dreamworks Animation is poised to release two major films in the current year, the analyst says. With the completion of the B.O. run of its Flushed Away movie, the company is expected to take a write-down of $116 million in 4Q06, Banc of America Securities adds. The EPS estimate for 4Q06 has been reduced from $0.21 to -$0.43.

Robin Hood Coming To NZ?

(stuff.co.nz)                   Four years after The Last Samurai put film-making in Taranaki on the map, another major announcement relating to the region's film industry is to be made today.

It is understood two films are Taranaki bound – one a significant Hollywood production and the other a New Zealand film detailing the life of the country's most decorated war hero, Charles Upham.

A third film – another Hollywood offering – is also rumoured.

The media is being invited to a news conference at the New Plymouth District Council this morning.

While those in the know were last night keeping details secret, the Taranaki Daily News believes the announcement will see a film production company set up in New Plymouth to make movies.

Details of two movies – estimated to be worth in excess of $100 million – will then be released.

It is expected that filming will begin this year on the Upham film.

In attendance at today's press conference will be Matt Walsh and Rowan Swain, of New Zealand company Fat and Thin Productions – known to be producing a film of Upham's life.

New Plymouth Mayor Peter Tennent held a closed-door meeting with Fat and Thin Productions last night.

But when asked about his meeting with the production company and its involvement in the Upham film, Mr Tennent gave little away.

"We have spent an awful lot of time with the team from Fat and Thin Productions. Whatever you are thinking, multiply it by 100 and you might be getting close . . . it's bigger than what you are thinking," Mr Tennent said.

So it is more than the Upham movie?

"I really don't want to go there," Mr Tennent said.

The Taranaki Daily News tracked down Mr Walsh, Mr Swain and Fat and Thin Productions director Nigel Hutchinson at New Plymouth's Devon Hotel last night.

None would speak about their movie plans though, saying all would be revealed this morning.

Their business cards, however, gave it away – putting Fat and Thin Productions' offices at Molesworth St, New Plymouth, presumably the same building as Venture Taranaki.

Exactly which Hollywood films could come Taranaki's way is open to speculation. Industry talk of late has pointed to the possibility of the remake of the Robin Hood story being filmed in New Zealand.

Oscar winner Russell Crowe will play the Sheriff of Nottingham in the film, to be titled Nottingham. It is expected to start filming late this year or early next.

Rumours also point to a Hollywood movie with New Zealand links featuring Brokeback Mountain star Heath Ledger.

No matter the movies, Taranaki is expected to reap huge benefits from having a film production company in New Plymouth.

The filming of The Last Samurai, starring Tom Cruise, in Taranaki saw the region buzzing. The presence of the film's cast, crew and assorted hangers-on had a huge impact on life in the region.

Financially, the movie pumped more than $85.4 million into the New Zealand economy, with 58 per cent of that sum captured by Taranaki.

Taranaki began a bidding battle to secure the filming location for the Upham movie last year. Last June, it was reported that filming would take place this year either in North Canterbury, where the World War II Victoria Cross double winner grew up, or in Taranaki, with desert scenes being shot overseas.

At the time, Venture Taranaki confirmed it had hundreds of thousands of dollars to offer Fat and Thin Productions if scenes in the war movie were filmed in Taranaki.

Wellington visual effects studio Weta Workshop is tipped to be designing clothing, uniforms and military equipment for the film.

The film focuses on the life of the late Captain Upham – the only combat soldier to win the Victoria Cross twice – before and after the war and includes the love story with his wife Molly. Upham served in Crete in 1941 and Egypt in 1942 and was later captured by the Germans and sent to the notorious Colditz Prison.

Star Wars Exhibit: A Galaxy Very, Very Close

(calendarlive.com)              In a dark corner, Obi-Wan Kenobi pauses, then stops to talk to a passerby as a Storm Trooper marches past. Next to a Jawa Sandcrawler, a Jedi knight with a light-saber hanging from his waist scans the crowd intently, looking to assist those in need.

No, they're not scenes from a "Star Wars" movie. Instead, it's the third floor of the California Science Center, where costumed volunteers from a fan-based "Star Wars" organization called the 501st Legion, Southern California Garrison, will be on hand during the weekends to greet visitors and help them through the center's newest exhibit, "Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination."
The 10,000-square-foot show, which opened Sunday, features more than 80 props and costumes spanning all six episodes of George Lucas' space epic. Among the items on display are a never-before-exhibited model of the Rebel Blockade Runner from the opening scene of the first "Star Wars" movie (Episode IV), Luke Skywalker's full-sized landspeeder and Darth Vader's costume in all its imposing glory.

And oh, yes — there's a little science mixed in as well.

More:  http://www.calendarlive.com/galleriesandmuseums/cl-wk-starwars15feb15,0,316549.story?coll=cl-home-more-channels

Theater To Feature 4-D Effects

(wiscnews.com)                  Imagine a trip to a movie theater where the viewer not only sees and hears what's happening on screen but can feel and smell it too. That's an experience one of the newest attractions in downtown Wisconsin Dells will offer.

The 4D Special FX Theater is slated to open in early May at 119 Broadway, the empty storefront adjacent to Ripley's Believe It or Not.

The theater will occupy about 2,000 square feet and seat 40 people, according to the theater's owner, Kevin Ricks, who also owns the nearby family-oriented attractions, Ripley's Believe It or Not and Wizard Quest.

Seats are designed to simulate actions experienced by characters in a movie. They will be equipped with leg ticklers that will be activated when rats, for example, appear on screen.

"You'll feel like something's running underneath your feet," Ricks said.

Aromas will be released during films. Ricks said if an actor on screen removes a freshly baked loaf of bread from the oven, the audience will smell it. Likewise, they'll smell an odor if there is a stink bug on screen, he added.

"If a bee were to sting someone on screen you'd feel a poke in your back," he said. "The experience is so much better than a traditional theater experience."

Ricks said he plans to show two films per admission ticket. The films will average 7.5 to 8 minutes long each, much shorter than films shown in conventional movie theaters.

"The equipment to run one of these is extremely expensive. You have to have a turn around that's quicker or you have to have a more expensive ticket price," he said.

Specialized wiring and plumbing is required for the theater.

While Ricks said the movies showing at the theater have not yet been selected, edited films for "The Polar Express," "SpongeBob Squarepants" and "Monster Trucks" exist for special effects theaters.

Ricks plans to show two films during the summer and special films for Halloween and Christmas.

SimEx Iwerks is the company creating and installing the theater equipment in Wisconsin Dells, Ricks said. The company has an office in Toronto, Canada as well as in Burbank, Calif. It has assembled 250 attractions in 30 countries, according to the company's Web site. Its subsidiary, SimEx Digital Studios, creates short films to accompany the motion-simulator rides it designs for theaters.

The company has equipped museums, theme parks, casinos and aquariums with motion-simulator rides. Its markets include the San Diego Wild Animal Park, Detroit Zoo, Universal Studios and Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tenn.

Ricks said Wisconsin Dells will now join places like Disney World, Disneyland, Moody Gardens in Galveston, Texas and Chicago's Shedd Aquarium in providing the attraction of a special effects theater.

The 4D Special FX Theater will fill a void in what downtown Wisconsin Dells has to offer, according to Bill Brown, chairman of the Business Improvement District of Wisconsin Dells.

"Downtown Dells needs this kind of attraction. . ." Brown said. "This is the kind of thing that we need to bring to the downtown, so I'm delighted,"

Romy Snyder, executive director of the Wisconsin Dells Visitor and Convention Bureau, said there will be another special effects movie theater coming to Wisconsin Dells this summer in addition to the one Ricks is opening.

Snyder said she is not surprised that business owners, always looking for new attractions to bring to Wisconsin Dells, will be establishing the new theaters.

"It's another good example of new technology being incorporated into entertainment attractions. We know visitors like new attractions," Snyder said. "It's another reason to come to Wisconsin Dells and do something they haven't done in the past."

Avatar Shoot Begins With Weta Digital Pre-Capture System

(chud.com)                    Jim Cameron showed where his heart is by calling Harry Knowles for Valentine's Day and delivering some scoops on his next movie, Avatar:

Harry Reports:

We started off with Jim telling me that he was in Kauai en route to the airport to head back to California. He had just shot 3 days of live action work in Hawaii in the tropical rainforests. Apparently he was shooting with Sam Worthington, Lola Herrera and I believe he said Sigourney Weaver was there, but I might have heard that wrong.

Once he returns to California - he begins a stage called Pre-Capture where he'll mainly be shooting with Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana. The reason is that their characters have been fully entered into the CG system. He told me that this way, with the realtime rendering, he can actually compose and find his shots - and then work with the actors to get the performances he wants within those shots.

I asked how different this was from the way Robert Zemeckis was operating on BEOWULF. This was when he told me that his 1st AD (Josh McLaglen) worked on both BEOWULF and POLAR EXPRESS and that what he's doing is a fair bit different. "Where Bob can have an actor like Angeline Jolie in and out in 5 days - and get a bunch of big stars in and out." Zemeckis was working on just getting the raw performance and then spend months finding the layouts and 'angles' that would make up the film.

What Cameron is doing is with his real-time rendering - he can work with the actors in the performance capture system to get the performances within the angles he wants in the system. He called it more, "Director-centric."

Around this time I asked about his choice for DP. He told me that he's making that decision very soon, but that the DP will be brought in on for the physical shot elements of this film - and will be consulted for the CG-DP aesthetic, but will not be there throughout that process, most likely. I asked how the real-time lighting set up works in the construction of shots in the CG-sphere of shooting. Jim said that they're using something called MOTION BUILDER for the real time cinematography and the lighting elements of that are "not terribly sophisticated." And that there would be an extensive phase that would be just lighting each scene afterwards.

Around this point, Jim asked how I was doing - this is where I told him that JOHN CARTER was over at Disney - and how there was a part of me that was glad about that, since his and mine's last chat - where I felt the direction he was taking AVATAR in was a very John Carter-esque route. It was here that Jim kinda gasped with a "I hadn't thought about that, but..." then he began drawing the comparisons betweent he characters and the situations and I said - see - there is a very real similarity on a structural level - Had Paramount held on to JOHN CARTER - we'd be coming out the same year with a similar attack at Sci-fi Fantasy... and now Disney, possibly with Zemeckis and the Motion Capture film department he's setting up - starting from ground zero means - they'll definitely be coming out on the otherside of AVATAR - if and when that project moves forward - it will have to deal with James Cameron's AVATAR. At this - Jim kinda laughed, in the past - going up against similar material - Jim's film had come out second. But with the superior film.

"Technocolor" DI Facility Opens On The Sony Lot

(vfxworld.com)              Technicolor will be opening its first studio-based digital intermediate (DI) facility, built at Sony Studios in Culver City, California.

The new Technicolor facility, its first on the Westside of Los Angeles, will allow for dramatic expansion of Technicolorâ\u20ac\u2122s DI service offering to filmmakers wanting to stay on the Westside of Los Angeles to do post-production and film finishing work -- as well as for those projects that will be completed at Sony Studios' world-renowned feature sound-mixing stages. The proximity of the new Stage 6 DI facility to Sony's theatrical sound mixing stages will accord filmmakers the option of working in one location while finishing both look and audio mix of their films.

Our new Culver City location is a great addition to our post-production service offering, stated Ahmad Ouri, president, Technicolor Content Services.  Our location on the historic Sony Pictures Studio provides the opportunity for filmmakers based on the Westside to benefit from our industry-leading DI workflows - as well as the opportunity to work alongside one of the industyr premiere theatrical sound-mixing operation.

Weaponizing Visual Effects Tech For The Military

(mediachannel.org)                Modeling and simulation technology has become increasingly important to both the entertainment industry and the US Department of Defense (DOD). In the entertainment industry, such technology lies at the heart of video games, theme park attractions and entertainment centers, and special effects for film production. For DOD, modeling and simulation technology provides a low-cost means of conducting joint training exercises, evaluating new doctrine and tactics, and studying the effectiveness of new weapons systems… These common interests suggest that the entertainment industry and DOD may be able to more efficiently achieve their individual goals by working together to advance the technology base for modeling and simulation.

And work together they have. Their mission: to boldly design the future technologies of fantasy entertainment and war weaponry alike. At Irvine, members from DOD’s Defense Modeling and Simulations Office (DMSO), and from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), together with Navy and Air Force representatives, met with industry people from Pixar, Disney, Paramount, and George Lucas’ Industrial Light and Magic. Joining this group were other computer industry executives and academic researchers in computer science, art and design.

More:   http://www.mediachannel.org/wordpress/2007/02/15/bush%E2%80%99s-fantasy-budget-and-the-militaryentertainment-complex/

Space Mountain:  The Movie?

(movies.ign.com)                 It sounded odd enough when it was first announced: Disney was turning its Pirates of the Caribbean ride into a movie. The studio was trying the theme-park-attraction-to-movie-conversion with other properties as well, such as the not very successful The Country Bears and Haunted Mansion films. But when Pirates was released, it wasn't just successful — it was huge. As was its sequel last year, and as no doubt will be its third entry this summer.

So now Disney has plans to make its Jungle Cruise ride into a movie, with Smallville creators Al Gough and Miles Millar reportedly in the running to write the screenplay. But what other Magic Kingdom theme park attractions could be turned into movies? There are plenty to choose from, but — as anyone who's actually seen The Country Bears can attest to — it's not necessarily an easy conversion. We've picked five of our favorite rides below:

"it's a small world"

The Ride: The most famous of the Disney rides, it's a small world's eponymous theme song (written by the Sherman brothers) is said to be the most performed and translated tune on the planet. The ride takes park visitors on a boat cruise "around the world" as different regions of the globe are on display with animatronic international cutie-pies singing the song, oftentimes with localized and "native" spins (in Spanish for Latin America, with indigenous instruments for Africa, and so on).

The Movie: Most Disney films based on the company's rides tend to be family fare securely grounded in the action-comedy realm, and it would seem that's the safest bet to continue with if the studio wants to draw the big crowds who remember their theme park rides with such affection. Fully aware of the ride's cheese factor, the makers of the it's a small world film might go the Agent Cody Banks route, with an elite band of secret agent kids from around the world — known only as "The Small Ones" — teaming up to take down a global threat (go for something "topical," like an anti-environmentalist for example).

"Big Thunder Mountain Railroad"

The Ride: An Old West themed ride, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is a "runaway" railcar rollercoaster that takes its participants through rock slides, over mountains, into caverns, and around floods — all while seemingly out of control. The setting is patterned after Arizona's Monument Valley, where sites such as big horned sheep, dinosaur bones, and sulfur pools can be glimpsed as the ride careens over hills and into valleys, with no "conductor" onboard!

The Movie: The film would obviously have to be a Western, but perhaps it could take its cue from a picture like Buster Keaton's The General which spends a portion of its running time devoted simply to an extended train chase sequence. One character, a passenger with a hidden agenda, turns out to be the cause of the out-of-control train, while another passenger takes it upon himself to save the day. Of course, the movie could go one of two ways here: It could take the classic Western approach, with a John Wayne style hero and a basic action-adventure premise, or it could be more of a comedy a la Wild Wild West.

"Autopia"

The Ride: Autopia has been around as long as Disneyland itself, debuting in 1955 as a glimpse into the "futuristic" world of automobiles and multi-lane interstate highways — "fads" that were just coming into existence at the time. The ride allows kids of all ages to get behind the wheel of their own car and hug curves, go off-road, travel over bridges, and so on — all via the relative safety of a control track. Each car has a personality, including the coupe "Suzy," the all-terrain vehicle "Dusty," and the sports car "Sparky."

The Movie: While Disney has recently done the auto thing with its Pixar release Cars, a nice way to realize Autopia onscreen and make it different from that film would be to embrace its retro-futuristic underpinnings. The ride was created in the "Tomorrowland" vein with its glimpse of the stylish and technological future to come, and so Autopia on film should embrace that cool 1950s approach — all spit and polish, chrome and tailfins. Shot against greenscreen with the retro-ultramodern setting added later via CGI, the movie details the adventures of Suzy, Dusty, and Sparky, played by young human actors in this case, who are friendly competitors in a high-speed, multi-leg cross-country auto race called the Autopia. The three racers must band together to defeat the dastardly head of a mega-corporation who has recently acquired the rights to the Autopia and seeks to replace the land-based racers with — gasp! — flying cars of the future!

"Space Mountain"

The Ride: Named for its outward structure, which appears to be a futuristic, mechanical mountaintop, Space Mountain is a rollercoaster that is completely enclosed by said exterior. Beginning at a "space station," the rider boards a rocket-type sled that catapults through the universe. As the sled traverses the ups and downs of the rollercoaster, the tracks and inner workings of the mechanism are hidden by the relative darkness of the interior setting. Various images, lights and sounds are implemented throughout the dark interior to give the impression of space travel.

The Movie: As is often the case with Disney's rides these days, Space Mountain has been "sponsored" by a number of big corporations. FedEx was one such sponsor, with the gimmick being that the theme park guests needed to use the rollercoaster to get their packages delivered on time in outer space. A winking comedic action-adventure romp would serve this setup well, with a pair of Dumb and Dumber types commissioned by the company to deliver a mysterious package to the edge of space. Of course, the two find themselves in hot pursuit from various intergalactic baddies, and the contents of that package are eventually revealed to be… the entire universe! Chalk it up to one of those strange, Men in Black kind of twists. (Yeah, we don't quite understand the physics behind this one, either.)