Avengers nominated for the Oscars

With the Oscar season around, ILM has been on their PR blitz with loads of 'Behind the scenes' reels of the Avengers. The work we did on the Hulk, I must say is the most impressive followed by the complete re-creation of NYC. It was not easy, trust me on that one as I was sequence leading a bunch of the Hawk-Eye on the rooftop shots during the final battle. If you look closely you'll see bucket loads of details in them.

The Avengers was a hard and complex show, as you can imagine and am glad with the recognition the we've been getting. If you think this cant be topped, wait for Pacific Rim, it gets better ;)

Tintin

I've been a huge Tintin fan from my childhood and have every single Tintin book ever written. When I heard Steven Spielberg along with Peter Jackson was making The Secret of the Unicorn as a CG film at Weta, I was a little disappointed. Mainly because I had always liked Tintin in the comics and never liked the 2D animated films that came out a few years back. They just didn't do justice and to hear that it was going to be made as a CG film, I didn't know what to make of it.

 I couldn't imagine Tintin as a Three Dimensional character because in the comics his face primarily composed of a circle and two dots and I was curious to know how the guys at Weta would deal with it and how they would cross the uncanny valley.

The first picture of Tintin, that was published on the cover of Empire magazine didnt help too much because most of it was in shadow and it was not the still I was worried about, it was the animation and feel of the film. 

 The first teaser that came out showed really beautiful imagery but not much of "acting". I did notice some really good bits in the International Trailer that was released but I still wasn't sure about the whole deal. Until I saw these bunch of clips that were released earlier today and I must say it does look really good. I am not really bothered by the uncanny valley as much and I enjoyed looking at the clips. Totally.

I think this is where I would stop watching anymore clips from the film and wait till its released and see what it looks like put together. I must applaud the folks at Weta for such an amazing job.

I've embedded some of the clips below, you can find the rest of them, with some behind the scenes here

 

The Sound of Transformers 3

Very rarely do we get an inside peek at oneof the most important aspects of film making - Sound Design. I cannot stress upon how important good sound design is for any movie, commercial or game. Try watching the opening of Saving Private Ryan with the audio on mute and you'll know what am talking about.

Even Visual Effects have a bigger impact with great sound. Your explosions, laser blasts etc have more impact with a great sound effect mixed into it.

Check this Video out on the making of the Sound for TF3

" Director Michael Bay and Producer Steven Spielberg return this summer for the third film in the Transformers franchise, Tranformers: Dark of the Moon. The amazing visual effects in this film are complemented by the talented efforts of the sound team including Re-recording Mixers Greg Russell and Jeff Haboush, and Supervising Sound Editor and Sound Designers Ethan Van der Ryn, and Erik Aadahl.

This is the first 3D film of the series and will also be presented in regular 2D, Real D 3D and IMAX, featuring Dolby Surround 7.1 sound."

Watch on Vimeo

Barclay Card : Rollercoaster

With all the flashy glizty glam filled motion graphics induced commercials we see today its so refreshing to see a simple idea yet complicated execution come to life in this spot for BarclayCard done by post power-house The Mill.

I simply love the idea and the straight forward execution of the commercial. From spider cams to mo-con rigs this one's amazing. Dont miss the advertising world's signature glints and flares in reflections. A good mix of practical plates and CG environment, props and matte painting bring life and energy to the spot. Its commercials like these that make me miss the ad world.

Dont forget to watch the 'Making of'

Psyop and Adidas create the impossible.

 

Adidas "Together" Directors Cut 2008 Olympics - Impossible is Nothing!! from PSYOP on Vimeo.

the making of video has gone offline for now, will put it up once it back.

I remember watching the Adidas commercials for the Beijing Olympics 08, like all Adidas commercials they were brilliant. The Ad compromised of 3 of the big Chinese athletes who speak about their promise to perform for their country at the Olympics, knowing that their fans and country is there to support them through the games.
The idea was more or less literally translated to visuals in the final spot. The post-production was handled by one of the best in the business - Psyop and they really pulled it of brilliantly. The ad had the atheletes being held up by the people, lifted, carried and push up by their hands and you can see their emotions come through with their support.
The team at Psyop shot live people for the foreground and created digital doubles for the background and in collaboration with Boolab painstakingly sketched over the final composite to create the desired look.

It always helps to shoot as many live elements  as possible on set.  Leave the CGI for the background and for the fillers.  Its easier to control the look and quality that way. Nothing can get as good as the real stuff. Not only can you use the live plates to composite, they also can be used as a good reference for the CG in terms of motion, size, look and feel.

Trivia - 

Total no. of Ads. - Four.
No. of Artists - Sixty Five.
R&D  Time - Three Months.
ToolKit - XSI, Maya, Massive, After Effects, and Flame.


Ps- Check out the other videos posted by Psyop on vimeo