VFXhack

The video proves once and for all that CGI and Radiohead are two great tastes that taste great together. The basic idea is this, screw the cameras 86 the lights scan everything and make the whole piece out of realtime streaming data. The result is imagery so deep in the uncanny valley that it’s cool. This behind the scenes gives a great overview of the technical and creative issues involved. I love the image of Lidar scanner on a dolly. The only problem, “Ready, and, SCAN!” just doesn’t have the right ring to it.

LINK to the full video thanks to JC for the link

I always wondered were that stuff came from.

Thanks to Nyarlathotep for the link

Hitler goes bananas after hearing that the film came back from the lab with a scratch on the neg that will have to be fixed in post. Classic.

Thanks to Aaron Z. for the link

Star Wars kid eat your heart out. Videogum has put up a list of the top 10 lightsaber mashups on the YouTubes. My fav is above (comin’ in at #2) but there are some other gems on the list as well.

LINK to the full Top 10 (via Boing Boing)

Caught this link through Motiongrapher of a video from design house Action Figure of random folks getting there clocks cleaned through the lens of the high-speed digital Phantom camera. Enjoy!

LINK to the Action Figure write up on the project

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

I’ve posted about Blu’s insane animations shot stop motion on real walls before, but the new piece Muto really take the cake. This is extremely well done and must have taken forever to put together. Thanks again to Azathothx.

LINK to previous Blu post on VFXhack

The Finns who brought you the movie Star Wreck have just released a teaser trailer for their new film Iron Sky. The basic plot is that Ratzis escape o the moon circa 1945 and are coming back to invade the Earth in 2018. The filmmakers plan to continue the theme of “mocking totalitarianism” is this release but what is more interesting to me than the actual content of the film is the way it is being made. Wreck was made using a large number of volunteers getting individual shots done in locations all over the world. Call it distributed filmmaking if you will. This endeavor seems to take the concept a step or two further and has set-up a collaborative website were users can sign onto the production and pitch shots and ideas for scenes. It will be interesting to see how a single Directors creative vision meshes with a social networking style approach to film production.

Link to the Wreck A Movie collaborative filmmaking platform

Kerner Optical posted this incredible behind the scenes footage of the miniature tank work they did for Pirates 3. I got the opportunity to blow up some models for the a TV a couple of month ago and nothing in VFX compares to the rush of exploding something for real. Beats being chained to a monitor that’s for sure.

via VFXPlanet

You may have seen the Boing Boing post a few days ago about a group of super fans who made there own version of Star Wars : Episode 4 with cardboard props, KFC helmets and a Bobby McFerrin inspired soundtrack. The film makers have also posted a Visual Dictionary of props storyboards and designs that really adds to the whole experience. Click on the picture above to see more.

LINK to the original video

I recently got a chance to get a tour of the ILM facility at the Presidio in San Francisco. The place is just dripping with VFX history. Sure you’ve got the obvious awesomeness like Han Solo in Carbonite but there are lots of hidden gems too like the original door to Kerner Optical and the Optical Printer used on the original Star Wars film. One thing that caught my eye was a poster from the 7th Voyage of Sinbad that was signed multiple times by Ray Harryhausen himself. I asked my tour guide what the deal was with the poster and he was clueless. It just so happens the San Francisco Chronicle did a little piece about the poster last week. Here’s a snippet

But there’s one piece of art on the wall that few in the building take for granted: A giant print of the Cyclops from “The 7th Voyage of Sinbad,” with a signature scrawled on it once for every visit by the monster’s creator. It was displayed prominently in the lobby of the old ILM offices in San Rafael, and now gets a place of honor near the cast photos from each of the company’s productions.

“Every time I walk by that and see those signatures, I think, ‘This has got to be the coolest place in the world,’ ” says Tim Harrington, an animator in his mid-30s who is working on the new Indiana Jones movie. “Ray Harryhausen has been here five times.”

LINK to the full story on SF Gate (via VFXblog)