How I made an impossible film

by Martin Villeneuve

Filmmaker Martin Villeneuve talks about “Mars et Avril,” the Canadian sci-fi spectacular he made with virtually no money. In a charming talk, he explains the various ways he overcame financial and logistical constraints to produce his unique and inventive vision of the future.

Trailer for the film -> https://vimeo.com/52035800

The Making of John Mayer’s ‘Born & Raised’ Artwork

by Danny Cooke

David A. Smith is a traditional sign-writer/designer specialising in high-quality ornamental hand-crafted reverse glass signs and decorative silvered and gilded mirrors. David recently produced a wonderful turn-of-the-century, trade-card styled album cover for popular American singer/songwriter John Mayer.

This film captures the ‘Behind The Scenes’ creation of the ‘Born & Raised’ and ‘Queen of California’ artwork, as well as 2 unique reverse glass panels, hand-crafted in England by David A. Smith.

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THE FILM before THE FILM

If you’ve ever seen a movie, you’ve seen opening titles of some kind. Opening credits have existed pretty much since the beginning of moving pictures, and they are as varied as the films themselves. 
“THE FILM before THE FILM” is a short documentary that traces the evolution of title design through the history of film. 
This short film was a research project at the BTK (Berliner Technische Kunsthochschule) that takes a look at pioneers like Saul Bass, Maurice Binder and Kyle Cooper by showing the transitions from early film credits to the inclusion of digital techniques, a resurgence of old-school style, and filmmakers’ love of typography in space.

Hotel Transylvania: Genndy Blur Shot Build

emilyeslinger:

harpollo:

animationsmears:

shadythesheep submitted a very cool video about smears and the computer techniques that were needed to make them work in Hotel Transylvania. Since you can’t submit videos, I thought I’d do shady a favor and embed the video in a post.

Thanks shadythesheep! 

really interesting insight into Genndy’s influence on 3D animation.

I love this style of animation so freaking much. I use smears all the time at work whenever I get to do hand-drawn projects, though more because of budget reasons than style—you can snap from one pose to another with very few drawings and still maintain decent life and elasticity if you use your smears right. Smears are the most fun part of limited animation in my opinion.

The State of the VFX Industry

…and where do we go from here (by Rick Young)

Presentation by Scott Ross and Scott Squires live at the NAB SuperMeet, April 9, 2013

This is an important presentation - for those who don’t know, the VFX industry is in crisis with many facilities either struggling to make a living or going bankrupt. This is a world-wide industry problem, highlighted by the movie, Life of Pi, which brought in a tremendous profit, yet the VFX company which made the movie possible is now out of business.

The State of the VFX Industry is not just about the VFX Industry. It is about us all. Scott Ross and Scott Squires speak about the Past, Present and Future of the VFX Industry and potential solutions to the myriad of problems facing us all.