VFX Fall Preview: 10 Movies to Watch!...

1) Where the Wild Things Are (Warner Bros., Oct. 16)
But the visual effects that are usually the most beloved each year are the ones that move us. Framestore, Digital Rain, Iloura and Quantum Creation FX are all part of bringing Spike Jonze's version of Maurice Sendak's classic children's tale to the big screen. Judging from the trailer, the combination of digital faces and detailed costumes for Wild Things make this one of the most effective uses of visual effects this year. Did you get chills when you first saw them? Did they make you want to go see the movie? If your answer is yes, like us, then the visual effects are engaging an audience already.

2) 2012 (Columbia, Oct. 13)
Sony Pictures Imageworks, Double Negative, Digital Domain, Gradient Effects, Hydraulx, Scanline VFX, Evil Eye, Pixomondo and many more help Roland Emmerich destroy the world. Based on the conspiracy theory that the end of the world will come when the Mayan calendar ends in 2012, this thriller brings floods, earthquakes, volcanoes, you name the natural disaster and this one's got it. When it comes to the fall flick with the most visual effects, this one has all the rest beat, for sure.

3) Surrogates (Buena Vista, Sept. 25)
Industrial Light & Magic, The Moving Picture Co., The Layersmith Digital, Lidar Services, Sandbox F/X and Synthespian Studios are all involved in this sci-fi offering, starring Bruce Willis. The film is set in a future where humans live in isolation while robotic surrogates roam the world in their place. Lots of impressive digital humans and robot work in this thriller. Graphic novels always serve as wonderful source material for some amazing vfx work. 

 

4) Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (Universal, Oct. 23)
Based on Darren Shan's young adult book series, this film has a host of various freaks, creatures and fantastic events provided by Rhythm & Hues Cube Effects and others. Vampires, a bearded woman (played by Selma Hayek, no less), a snake boy, a giant, a skeleton man, and more haunt the corners of this scary movie. For vfx fans, this one looks like some nice eye candy just in time for Halloween.

5) A Christmas Carol (Buena Vista, Nov. 6)
Robert Zemeckis and his ImageMovers (with some help from Gentle Giant Studios and Plowman Craven & Associates) have crafted another performance capture epic. This time Jim Carrey takes on Scrooge of all ages as well as the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future in this stylized version of Charles Dickens' classic. With each film, Zemeckis fine-tunes the process, so we eagerly await where he takes performance capture this time around. 

 

 6) The Twilight Saga: New Moon (Summit Ent., Nov. 20)
For the female teen crowd, The Twilight Saga: New Moon is like getting Thanksgiving a week early. Tippett Studio, Frantic Films, Prime Focus and MastersFX were part of the increase in werewolves for this popular franchise. Legendary Phil Tippett and Susan MacLeod (vfx producer on the Oscar-winning Golden Compass) supervised the vampire on lycan action, which of course is for the guys.

 

7) The Road (Dimension Films, Oct. 16)
Fans of Cormac McCarthy's bleak post-apocalyptic tale have been waiting for a year. Australian director John Hillcoat's film version of the story follows a father and son trying to survive in a world where ash rains down from the skies. DIVE, Crazy House Effects and Invisible Pictures all had a part in creating this dreary world where cannibals haunt the countryside. Mark O. Forker, who supervised work on The Lord of Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and Peter Pan, knows the demands of creating fantastic worlds.

8) Whiteout (Warner Bros., Sept. 11)
Antarctica is a prime location for visual effects work. Kate Beckinsale plays a U.S. marshal investigating the continent's first murder. Hybride Technologies, Mr. X, Invisible Pictures and Anibrain are among the visual effects houses providing blizzards, storms and additional snowy mayhem. VFX Supervisor Dennis Berardi of Mr. X will have a busy fall film lineup of his own, having supervised the effects on Love Happens and produced the vfx for Amelia.

 9) Gamer (Lionsgate, Sept. 4)
Furious FX, LookFX and yU+co are among the vfx houses that worked on the sci-fi actioner Gamer. Set in a world where game players can control real humans, Gerard Butler plays the best fighter around who becomes hell bent on stopping the billionaire who pulls the strings, played by Michael C. Hall. Visual effects highlights include the technology of the players controlling the humans, along with lots of explosions and warfare. But, hey, it's all just a game, right?

 10) The Box (Warner Bros., Nov. 6)
Richard Kelly's horror thriller finds Cameron Diaz and James Marsden as a couple presented with a twisted gift. Inside a box is a button, if they choose to push it they will receive $1 million, but as a result a stranger will die somewhere in the world. Providing vfx for this Twilight Zone-like tale are Pixel Liberation Front, Gradient Effects and Quantum Creation FX. Thomas Tannenberger, who worked on Kelly's previous film Southland Tales, is returning to work with the director as the visual effects supervisor. The trailer boasts some quick flashes of the gruesome scarring work done for the film's mysterious Mephistopheles character, played by last year's Oscar nominee Frank Langella.

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6 Reasons Why a Logo Should Cost More than your Lunch!!

      Why should a logo cost more than your lunch?

1. A logo is the very first impression people get of your company -
   Before a potential client even walks through your door, your logo is a representation of your company. It can make a company appear large, small (whether it really is or not) fun, serious, professional…
2. A logo needs longevity
   Once a logo is designed it will represent your company for many years.
3. A logo needs to be original
   A logo should be designed specifically for your company. A cheap “generic logo” may not reflect your company’s values. A cheap logo may also use clip art which could end up being used by another company.
4. A logo should look professional
   You wouldn’t take a potential new client to Mac Donalds for lunch, in effect this is what is being done with a cheap logo. A logo should give your company a professional image, appropriate to its needs.
5. A logo should reflect the time and thought gone in to designing it
   One of the problems here is that people don’t always realise the amount work that goes into a professionally designed logo:
   • The research - even if the budget is quite small I would expect at the very least to find out who the company’s main competitors are and how they present themselves
   • The brainstorming of ideas
   • The rough sketches
   • The 4 or 5 logo options worked up on the computer
   • The amends, tweaking and further amends
6. A logo is the starting point of your whole corporate image
   The colours typography and style of a logo will often dictate the corporate look of the rest of a company’s literature.

Any more suggestions?

Working Freelance From Home or Inhouse, Pros and Cons

The Pros of Working Freelance from Home

1. You can have your computer and system set up exactly as you want it
2. You decide your own hours
3. Less distractions than working in an office full of people
4. You are not literally charging by the hour - if you finish job quickly you can move on to the next and so potential earnings can be higher
5. No travelling
6. If you have children it is far more flexible
7. You can wear your pyjamas to work
8. Your own resources, books, mags etc all to hand

The Cons of Working Freelance from Home

1. If you are a sociable person you may find it lonely working on your own
2. You can never escape from the office
3. Cost of setting yourself up with your own equipment
4. Keeping up to date with the lastest software and design trends/news
5. You are not literally charging by the hour - if adesign job takes you longer than expected you can lose out.

The Pros of Working Inhouse at a Design Agency

1. Guaranteed pay for the hours you are there
2. The Social aspect
3. Keeping in touch with what is happening in the design world
4. Making new contacts

The Cons of Working Inhouse at a Design Agency

1. If you finish a job quickly the agency gains not you
2. Distractions from colleagues
3. Working on a computer system with fonts and a set up you are not used to
4. That nervous first day of a new job feeling when working for new people - not great for creativity
5. Travelling

Can anyone suggest any more? Comments welcome.

My Dream Voyage...

 It took twenty years to create who I am today. Within these years, I have been given the freedom to explore the world in order to satisfy my curiosity toward all the strange and wonderful things in the world around me.

I grew up in a middle class family. I had an elder brother and a younger sister and this made my childhood days more colorful. My parents both had stable careers and this provided us with more opportunities to learn what we desired to. I remember when I was a young boy; my parents bought us a Personal computer. My elder brother teaches me the basics of Photoshop and movie maker, he was always wondered about the 3d animation, video games etc. in a short time I started to make some video clips & art works.
I received lot of appreciations from my relatives and parents. this wishes  affected me so much that I insisted to my parents that I also wanted to learn multimedia & animation. So I started my journey and continue it to this day. I finally completed my grade diploma from arena animation academy and I did not end my visual art studies after I went to arena academy.
There, I joined the Toonz Animation Calicut. My purpose in joining this Institute was to learn more about Video art & Visual effects (VFX). I absolutely loved the VFX and I have discovered that with the background in multimedia studies, I am learned with tremendous speed. My teacher said that I am bestowed with talent and asked me to keep up the good work. My diligence paid off as I was upgraded from being a member of the Clusters School of Digital Arts.
Besides having flying colors in my activity, I also do well in my studies. I applied for B.A in National Collage and I am now pursuing a degree for Sociology. Under the Calicut University.
After I complete my degree; I will have the opportunity to obtain a stable and challenging career in VFX Industry.
I know that the road ahead will not be easy for me, but I cannot stop here. I need to move on in order to reach my goals. My success in the future lies in my own hands.

Thanks,
Muhammad Najeeb N