Alice in Wonderland Japanese Commercial
We made a “fake commercial” for the March Channel101 screening, which was fakely sponsored by Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland.
It only seemed fitting, given the crazy trippiness of the film, to make a Japanese commercial, reminiscent of Mr. Sparkle or the Japander streamed commercials with like Arnold Schwarzenegger going bonkers and graphics flying everywhere.
Alice in Wonderland fake sponsor commercial from Kim Huston on Vimeo.
Artbeats giving away footage
The stock footage site Artbeats is giving away one free clip (in either NTSC, PAL, or HD) a day (forever?). All you have to do is register for the site and then choose your resolution and download. Registering is free and basically painless. I just found out literally minutes ago, so I’m not sure about the variety of subject or any other specifics. The clip today is an aerial pan over the Badlands. Who knows when I’ll use it, but I’ll find a way! All I know is that it’s a great idea that I’m going to take advantage of!
You can also request to have the clip shipped to you, on dvd I would guess, but you have to pay for the shipping.
From Artbeats.com
They also say the clips are exactly the same as the ones they sell, or otherwise noted if they have been shorted for download time or whathaveyou.
I’m hesitant to link the “about” page because it seems like the url might change day by day depending on what clip is free, but here it is just in case it stays the same: http://www.artbeats.com/free_clips/SMA128/about
2009 VES Awards Nominations and Winners (in bold)
Annnnnd because I’m interested, here are the nominees for the Visual Effects Society (VES) Awards.
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects Driven Feature Motion Picture
2012
Volker Engel, Visual Effects Supervisor
Marc Weigert, Visual Effects Supervisor
Josh Jaggars, Visual Effects Producer
AVATAR
Joe Letteri, Senior Visual Effects Supervisor
Joyce Cox, Overall VFX Producer
Eileen Moran, VFX Producer
Richard Baneham, Animation Supervisor
DISTRICT 9
Dan Kaufman, VFX Supervisor
Stefanie Boose, VFX Producer
James Stewart, Creature Supervisor
Peter Muyzers, On-set VFX Plate Supervisor
STAR TREK
Roger Guyett, Visual Effects Supervisor
Burt Dalton, Special Effects Supervisor
Shari Hanson, Visual Effects Producer
Russell Earl, Visual Effects Supervisor
TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN
Scott Farrar, Visual Effects Supervisor
John Frazier, Special Effects Supervisor
Scott Benza, Animation Director
Wayne Billheimer, Visual Effects Producer Read the rest of this entry »
2009 ACE Eddie Awards Nominations and Winners
While we’re at it, here are the nominees for the American Cinema Editors
(ACE) Eddie Awards. The winners, which were announced on Valentine’s Day, are in bold.
BEST EDITED FEATURE FILM (DRAMATIC):
- Avatar – Stephen Rivkin, A.C.E., John Refua, A.C.E. & James Cameron, A.C.E.
- District 9 – Julian Clarke
- The Hurt Locker – Bob Murawski & Chris Innis
- Star Trek – Maryann Brandon, A.C.E. & Mary Jo Markey, A.C.E.
- Up in the Air – Dana Glauberman, A.C.E.
BEST EDITED FEATURE FILM (COMEDY OR MUSICAL):
- 500 Days of Summer – Alan Edward Bell
- The Hangover – Debra Neil-Fisher, A.C.E.
- Julie & Julia – Richard Marks, A.C.E.
- A Serious Man – Roderick Jaynes
- It’s Complicated – Joe Hutshing, A.C.E. & David Moritz Read the rest of this entry »
2009 Oscar Nominations
Performance by an actor in a leading role
• Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart” (Fox Searchlight)
• George Clooney in “Up in the Air” (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios)
• Colin Firth in “A Single Man” (The Weinstein Company)
• Morgan Freeman in “Invictus” (Warner Bros.)
• Jeremy Renner in “The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment)
Performance by an actor in a supporting role
• Matt Damon in “Invictus” (Warner Bros.)
• Woody Harrelson in “The Messenger” (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
• Christopher Plummer in “The Last Station” (Sony Pictures Classics)
• Stanley Tucci in “The Lovely Bones” (DreamWorks in association with Film4, Distributed by Paramount)
• Christoph Waltz in “Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company)
Performance by an actress in a leading role
• Sandra Bullock in “The Blind Side” (Warner Bros.)
• Helen Mirren in “The Last Station” (Sony Pictures Classics)
• Carey Mulligan in “An Education” (Sony Pictures Classics)
• Gabourey Sidibe in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (Lionsgate)
• Meryl Streep in “Julie & Julia” (Sony Pictures Releasing)
Performance by an actress in a supporting role
• Penélope Cruz in “Nine” (The Weinstein Company)
• Vera Farmiga in “Up in the Air” (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios)
• Maggie Gyllenhaal in “Crazy Heart” (Fox Searchlight)
• Anna Kendrick in “Up in the Air” (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios)
• Mo’Nique in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (Lionsgate)
Best animated feature film of the year
• “Coraline” (Focus Features)
• “Fantastic Mr. Fox” (20th Century Fox)
• “The Princess and the Frog” (Walt Disney)
• “The Secret of Kells” (GKIDS)
• “Up” (Walt Disney)
Achievement in art direction
• “Avatar” (20th Century Fox) Art Direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg Set Decoration: Kim Sinclair
• “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” (Sony Pictures Classics) Art Direction: Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro Set Decoration: Caroline Smith
• “Nine” (The Weinstein Company) Art Direction: John Myhre Set Decoration: Gordon Sim
• “Sherlock Holmes” (Warner Bros.) Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
• “The Young Victoria” (Apparition) Art Direction: Patrice Vermette Set Decoration: Maggie Gray
Achievement in cinematography
• “Avatar” (20th Century Fox) Mauro Fiore
• “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” (Warner Bros.) Bruno Delbonnel
• “The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment) Barry Ackroyd
• “Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company) Robert Richardson
• “The White Ribbon” (Sony Pictures Classics) Christian Berger
Achievement in costume design
• “Bright Star” (Apparition) Janet Patterson
• “Coco before Chanel” (Sony Pictures Classics) Catherine Leterrier
• “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” (Sony Pictures Classics) Monique Prudhomme
• “Nine” (The Weinstein Company) Colleen Atwood
• “The Young Victoria” (Apparition) Sandy Powell
Achievement in directing
• “Avatar” (20th Century Fox) James Cameron
• “The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment) Kathryn Bigelow
• “Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company) Quentin Tarantino
• “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (Lionsgate) Lee Daniels
• “Up in the Air” (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios) Jason Reitman
Best documentary feature
• “Burma VJ” (Oscilloscope Laboratories) A Magic Hour Films Production, Anders Østergaard and Lise Lense-Møller
• “The Cove” (Roadside Attractions) An Oceanic Preservation Society Production, Nominees to be determined
• “Food, Inc.” (Magnolia Pictures), A Robert Kenner Films Production, Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein
• “The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers” A Kovno Communications Production, Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith
• “Which Way Home”, A Mr. Mudd Production, Rebecca Cammisa
Best documentary short subject
• “China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province” A Downtown Community Television Center Production Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill
• “The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner” A Just Media Production Daniel Junge and Henry Ansbacher
• “The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant” A Community Media Production, Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert
• “Music by Prudence” An iThemba Production Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett
• “Rabbit à la Berlin” (Deckert Distribution) An MS Films Production Bartek Konopka and Anna Wydra
Achievement in film editing
• “Avatar” (20th Century Fox) Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron
• “District 9″ (Sony Pictures Releasing) Julian Clarke
• “The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment) Bob Murawski and Chris Innis
• “Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company) Sally Menke
• “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (Lionsgate) Joe Klotz
Best foreign language film of the year
• “Ajami”(Kino International) An Inosan Production Israel
• “El Secreto de Sus Ojos” (Sony Pictures Classics) A Haddock Films Production, Argentina
• “The Milk of Sorrow” A Wanda Visión/Oberon Cinematogràfica/Vela Production, Peru
• “Un Prophète” (Sony Pictures Classics), A Why Not/Page 114/Chic Films Production, France
• “The White Ribbon” (Sony Pictures Classics), An X Filme Creative Pool/Wega Film/Les Films du Losange/Lucky Red Production Germany
Achievement in makeup
• “Il Divo” (MPI Media Group through Music Box) Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano
• “Star Trek” (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment) Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow
• “The Young Victoria” (Apparition) Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
• “Avatar” (20th Century Fox) James Horner
• “Fantastic Mr. Fox” (20th Century Fox) Alexandre Desplat
• “The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment) Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
• “Sherlock Holmes” (Warner Bros. Hans Zimmer
• “Up” (Walt Disney) Michael Giacchino
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
• “Almost There” from “The Princess and the Frog” (Walt Disney), Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
• “Down in New Orleans” from “The Princess and the Frog” (Walt Disney) Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
• “Loin de Paname” from “Paris 36″ (Sony Pictures Classics) Music by Reinhardt Wagner Lyric by Frank Thomas
• “Take It All” from “Nine” (The Weinstein Company) Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston
• “The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)” from “Crazy Heart” (Fox Searchlight), Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett
Best motion picture of the year
• “Avatar” (20th Century Fox), A Lightstorm Entertainment Production James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers
• “The Blind Side” (Warner Bros.) An Alcon Entertainment Production
• “District 9″ (Sony Pictures Releasing) A Block/Hanson Production Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, Producers
• “An Education” (Sony Pictures Classics) A Finola Dwyer/Wildgaze Films Production, Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers
• “The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment) A Voltage Pictures Production
• “Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company) A Weinstein Company/Universal Pictures/A Band Apart/Zehnte Babelsberg Production Lawrence Bender, Producer
• “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (Lionsgate) A Lee Daniels Entertainment/Smokewood Entertainment Production Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness, Producers
• “A Serious Man” (Focus Features) A Working Title Films Production Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Producers
• “Up” (Walt Disney) A Pixar Production Jonas Rivera, Producer
• “Up in the Air” (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios) A Montecito Picture Company Production Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman, Producers
Best animated short film
• “French Roast” A Pumpkin Factory/Bibo Films Production Fabrice O. Joubert
• “Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty” (Brown Bag Films) A Brown Bag Films Production Nicky Phelan and Darragh O’Connell
• “The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)” A Kandor Graphics and Green Moon Production Javier Recio Gracia
• “Logorama” (Autour de Minuit) An Autour de Minuit Production Nicolas Schmerkin
• “A Matter of Loaf and Death” (Aardman Animations) An Aardman Animations Production Nick Park
Best live action short film
• “The Door” (Network Ireland Television) An Octagon Films Production Juanita Wilson and James Flynn
• “Instead of Abracadabra” (The Swedish Film Institute) A Directörn & Fabrikörn Production Patrik Eklund and Mathias Fjellström
• “Kavi” A Gregg Helvey Production Gregg Helvey
• “Miracle Fish” (Premium Films) A Druid Films ProductionLuke Doolan and Drew Bailey
• “The New Tenants” A Park Pictures and M & M Production Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson
Achievement in sound editing
• “Avatar” (20th Century Fox) Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle
• “The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment) Paul N.J. Ottosson
• “Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company) Wylie Stateman
• “Star Trek” (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment) Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin
• “Up” (Walt Disney) Michael Silvers and Tom Myers
Achievement in sound mixing
• “Avatar” (20th Century Fox) Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson
• “The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment) Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett
• “Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company) Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano
• “Star Trek” (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment) Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J. Devlin
• “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” (DreamWorks and Paramount in association with Hasbro, Distributed by Paramount) Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson
Achievement in visual effects
• “Avatar” (20th Century Fox) Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones
• “District 9″ (Sony Pictures Releasing) Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken
• “Star Trek” (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment) Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton
Adapted screenplay
• “District 9″ (Sony Pictures Releasing) Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
• “An Education” (Sony Pictures Classics) Screenplay by Nick Hornby
• “In the Loop” (IFC Films) Screenplay by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
• “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (Lionsgate) Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher
• “Up in the Air” (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios) Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner
Original screenplay
• “The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment) Written by Mark Boal
• “Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company) Written by Quentin Tarantino
• “The Messenger” (Oscilloscope Laboratories) Written by Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman
• “A Serious Man” (Focus Features) Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
• “Up” (Walt Disney) Screenplay by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy
Year End Lists: Part 1
Posted by David in Commentary, Misc on December 28th, 2009
We’re going to be delaying our Year-End list until January. I know, it loses a lot of the recap magic coming after New Year’s Day, but there’s a lot more movies to see in January that had limited release during ‘09, and we will be taking the opportunity to catch up on them in order to offer a more comprehensive list, including docs and indies.
However, Christmas bringing the last major releases of the year, here are a few lists to chew on in the meantime:
FIVE MOVIES I DIDN’T LIKE, BUT EVERYONE ELSE DID
(I can admit to being wrong, and will freely admit that these aren’t bad movies. That doesn’t make me like them.)
- Up
- Adventureland
- Zombieland
- Public Enemies
- Duplicity
WORST FIVE MOVIES I SAW IN 2009
(These, however, are bad. I’m pretty good at not buying a ticket for REAL crap, so this category is “movies that had a chance of not being lousy, but were anyway”)
- Knowing
- Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
- The Taking of Pelham 1, 2, 3
- Year One
- I Love You, Man
What do you think? What movies did you hold out hope for, only to have that hope squashed once you saw it? My year end top 10 will come once I’ve seen the indie screenings in January. I can guarantee it will include Star Trek, Red Cliff, and Inglorious Basterds!
Best Editing and/or Best Picture
I compiled a list of every Best Editing Academy Award winner by year along side the Best Picture winners to see 1) Just a list of all the Best Editing winners all lined up, and 2) Which films won Best Editing and NOT Best Picture as well. I plan to watch them all or at least start with those that won Best Editing and not Best Picture first. I doubt I’ll go all the way down to the 1934 winner, but maybe just as far as the award seems currently relevant. That’s probably somewhere around the early 60s with some exceptions lower. Mary Poppins seems very modern to me.
So, in case anyone else is interested in a list laid out and easy to reference, here it is. (There is also a column, if Best Picture and Best Editor winners don’t match, for whether the Best Picture winner was even nominated for Best Editing).
Stereoscopic 3D – Ready to Shoot!
A few epiphanies and a trip to Lowe’s and I’m ready to go. I ended up using a couple of 3 inch-long 1/4″ bolts, and a bunch of washers and nuts. The flat metal plate is actually the plate that sits on your door frame that the knob latches onto. It’s called a “lip strike” and works really well in this sort of application. The screw holes are just the right size (1/4″ at least) and are equidistant from the larger hole in the middle. Another hex nut and a bigass fender washer (1/2″ hole, 1.5″ diameter) secures the whole thing to the mounting plate for my Fig Rig. Test videos coming soon! Now I need to get some Anaglyphic glasses so I can start figuring out how to prep the video for 3D-ization. I’ll have to make a trip to a party store or something tomorrow.
My brother Brad holding the Fig Rig with the semi-finished product mounted on it.
Close-up of the mounts. A fender washer holds the whole thing onto the plate of the Fig.
Mounted onto the Fig Rig
3D part 2
To buy:
- 2 small protractors
- 1 small ruler
- A couple of tripod mount-sized screws + washers, etc
- Some sort of apparatus that will allow me to screw on both cameras and slide them along the center
- A handle or pistol grip to mount in the center of the camera apparatus. Additionally, this should be able to mount to a tripod/the Fig Rig.
Alan MacDougall (Jake from ‘Koala Wars!‘) is writing a quick app that will let me calculate parallax based on the angles and distance of the two cameras via my iPhone. This will allow me to naturally mimic the human eye (Avatar-style) to make the 3D images less exaggerated and hopefully more accurate.
The State of Hollywood
Posted by Kim in Commentary, Misc on February 6th, 2010
I’m a little concerned about the state of Hollywood. Remember when “movie magic” really did seem to be so? The world of filmmaking was but a mystery except to a select few in the business. Being a celebrity was close to royalty. Back when everyone was still new at it and people were in it for the creativity and invention. You could walk into a studio and say “I want to work here” and they were happy to have you on board. Read the rest of this entry »
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