Illusions, Films and Visual Effects

Working in both the Film and VFX Industries has meant I have worked on some amazing projects, been to some amazing places and met some amazing people. This blog is to document and share these experiences with everyone.

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WATCHING THE 2012 BAFTA'S 

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 VES AWARDS 2012

The Visual Effects Society (VES) announced the winners of its 10th Annual VES Awards tonight at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. The annual event recognizes outstanding visual effects artistry in 23 categories of film, animation, television, commercials, special venues and video games.

More than a thousand attendees — filmmakers, producers, directors and members of the visual effects community– gathered to recognize the year’s best work and the artists who created it. Rango was the evening’s most honored project with four awards, including Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature Motion Picture, Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature Motion Picture, Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature Motion Picture, and Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in an Animated Feature Motion Picture. Hugo, Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Transformers: Dark of the Moon all took home two awards in the Feature Motion Picture categories, while Boardwalk Empire and Game of Thrones each garnered a pair of awards in the Television categories.

Stan Lee received the Lifetime Achievement Award and visual effects pioneer Douglas Trumbull received the Georges Méliès Award at the show, which was hosted by Patton Oswalt. Antonio Banderas, Lou Ferrigno, directors Chris Miller, Marc Webb and Jennifer Yuh Nelson, and a host of luminaries were on hand to present awards. A surprise appearance by Martin Scorsese, whose film Hugo received two awards, was one of the evening’s highlights.

The complete list of winners of the 10th Annual VES Awards:

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Feature Motion Picture Rise of the Planet of the Apes: Dan Lemmon, Joe Letteri, Cyndi Ochs, Kurt Williams

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Feature Motion Picture Hugo: Ben Grossmann, Alex Henning, Rob Legato, Karen Murphy

Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature Motion Picture Rango: Tim Alexander, Hal Hickel, Jacqui Lopez, Katie Lynch

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Miniseries, Movie, or Special Inside the Human Body: Phil Dobree, Sophie Orde, Dan Upton

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Series Terra Nova – Occupation & Resistance: Kevin Blank, Colin Brady, Adica Manis, Jason Zimmerman

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Broadcast Program Game of Thrones – Winter is Coming: Lucy Ainsworth-Taylor, Angela Barson, Ed Bruce, Adam McInnes

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Live Action Commercial Dior J’adore: Pascal Giroux, Julien Meesters, Stephane Pivron, Manuel Souillac

Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Commercial or Video Game Trailer Diablo III: The Black Soulstone: Nicholas S. Carpenter, Graham Cunningham, Chris Thunig, Taka Yasuda

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project Transformers the Ride: The Ultimate 3D Battle: Lori Arnold, Yanick Dusseault, Delio Tramontozzi, Jeff White

Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture Rise of the Planet of the Apes – Caesar: Daniel Barrett, Florian Fernandez, Matthew Muntean, Eric Reynolds

Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature Motion Picture Rango – Rango: Frank Gravatt, Kevin Martel, Brian Paik, Steve Walton

Outstanding Animated Character in a Broadcast Program or Commercial Canal + The Bear: Laurent Creusot, Guillaume Ho, Olivier Mitonneau, Michal Nauzin

Outstanding Created Environment in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture Transformers: Dark of the Moon – 155 Wacker Drive: Giles Hancock, John Hanson, Tom Martinek, Scott Younkin

Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature Motion Picture Rango – Main Street Dirt: John Bell, Polly Ing, Martin Murphy, Russell Paul

Outstanding Created Environment in a Broadcast Program or Commercial Game of Thrones – The Icewall: Markus Kuha, Dante Harbridge Robinson, Damien Mac, Fani Vassiadi

Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture Hugo: Martin Chamney, Rob Legato, Adam Watkins, Fabio Zangla

Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in an Animated Feature Motion Picture Rango – The Dirt Saloon: Colin Benoit, Philippe Rebours, Nelson Sepulveda, Nick Walker

Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Broadcast Program or Commercial Gears of War 3 – Dust to Dust: Niles Heckman, Richard Morton, Vernon Wilbert Jr.

Outstanding Models in a Feature Motion Picture Transformers: Dark of the Moon – Driller: Tim Brakensiek, Kelvin Chu, David Fogler, Rene Garcia

Outstanding Models in a Broadcast Program or Commercial Boardwalk Empire – Georgia Peaches: Matthew Conner, Eran Dinur, David Reynolds, Szymon Weglarski

Outstanding Compositing in a Feature Motion Picture Captain America: The First Avenger – Skinny Steve: Casey Allen, Trent Claus, Brian Hajek, Cliff Welsh

Outstanding Compositing in a Broadcast Program or Commercial Boardwalk Empire – Gimcrack & Bunkum: Anton Dawson. Eran Dinur, Austin Meyers, David Reynolds

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project a.maize: Roman Kaelin, Falko Paeper, Florian Wittmann

The 10th Annual VES Awards will air exclusively on REELZCHANNEL Sunday, February 19 at 10pm ET/7pm PT with encore presentations throughout February. For more information on the VES Awards and the Visual Effects Society please visit www.visualeffectssociety.com

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This is the last feature film I produced at Human Film. 

SYNOPSIS

Northern Iraq, 2003. Two weeks after the fall of Saddam Hussein. Ahmed, a 12-year-old boy begrudgingly follows in the shadow of his grandmother.

On hearing news that prisoners of war have been found alive in the South, she is determined to discover the fate of her missing son, Ahmed’s father, who never returned from the Gulf war.

From the mountains of Kurdistan to the sands of Babylon, they hitch rides from strangers and cross paths with fellow pilgrims, on all too similar journeys. Struggling to understand his grandmother’s search, Ahmed follows in the forgotten footsteps of a father he never knew.

This journey will lead the boy to come of age.

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Renderman On Demand

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An oil painting like no other, Blur Studio uses RealFlow 2012 in the innovative title sequence for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Next Limit Technologies is proud to announce that Blur Studio recently drafted in the company’s incredible RealFlow 2012 technology to create the evocative oily fluid featured heavily in ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ title sequence.

The mysterious liquid sees images and shapes emerge and get sucked into space during the sequence that Blur’s co-founder Tim Miller has said will, “Redefine titles for our generation”.

Find out more about RealFlow 2012 and watch ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ from Blur Studio below:

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HUGO FILM REVIEW - 13/12/11 - !!!WARNING!!! THIS DOES CONTAIN SPOILERS

After watching and listening to the FXGuide.com podcast about VFX behind Martin Scorsese's latest feature HUGO, I was compelled to see the film for myself and check out what the legendary director was inviting us on. 

HUGO follows the story of an orphan boy who lives in the walls of central Paris train station, avoiding the Station Master by maintaining the station clocks so the Station Master does't investigate the maintenance areas and send Hugo to a State Orphanage. Hugo is on a quest to unlock a secret clockwork robot his father discovered in the museum before he died, which takes him somewhere he never expected. 

HUGO is full of colour, nostalgia, and the romantic sense of Paris is all over the palette of this film. The film begins slow and takes around 20 minutes for you to get past what has lead Hugo to be an orphan before the film grabs you and takes you on his story. But if you can keep with it, its worth the wait as you get taken on a homage of the history of cinema, and Hugo trying to reconnect with his father.

Within the film there are a lot of sub-plots that connected together in a way that felt forced and were there to make the overall relationship between the characters connect to force the story on. But hidden within a lot of mystery you are compelled to carry on. The performances by the two main actors were average and lacked a sense of naturalness and ease, which I didn't expect from a Martin Scorsese picture and had a similar tone and lack of quality to that of Super 8. 

However despite these criticisms, I can't fault that I was totally engaged with the story and I wanted to see it to the end. As an audience what you are left with and the point that the entire film makes above everything is that the gift that cinema gives us is "imagination and dreams".  

Would I recommend people see this film? Definitely.. Would I recommend people see this film in 3D? No... 

One of the main reasons that initially compelled me to go see the film was the FX Guide Podcast that talked about the 3D stereo being the best of any 3D film to be release. However for me I felt that although there were a couple of impressive 3D shots looking down the Station Clock tower, for the most part the 3D was a distraction from the film. For those of you that like 3D films, this maybe a great film for you to watch as my colleague who watched the with me did love the 3D stereo work. But for me I would have preferred to have watched it in 2D.

HUGO

Rating: 3.5/5 Stars 

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After watching HUGO in 3D last night after its praise for its 3D Stereo work, I'll be asking the question "ARE FILMS IN 3D A BETTER VIEWING EXPERIENCE OR A BAD GIMIC?" I will be also reviewing Martin Scorsese's last epic film HUGO

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THE INSIGHT FILM FESTIVAL - FILMS OF FAITH

Last Sunday evening I attended the 3rd Insight Film Festival - Films of Faith, that takes place across a two day weekend every two years, showcasing films with a context of faith and belief from across the globe. 

The Insight Film Festival chose faith as the subject matter they wanted to bring to discussion because it is one of the driving forces behind so many of society’s dynamics today. Whether you agree with it or not; understand it or not; or whether you think it is a good or bad thing, there has never been a greater need for real insight and communication on the subject of faith. The subject was chosen to encourage those interested in film making to make a contribution.

"KOSHER" a short film I produced, about a little Jewish boy who befriends a pig to the shame of his parents, was in competition. Although it wasn't selected by the Jury the Festival Director gave it his award of Commendation as he felt that it was a film that was maybe missed by the Judges, to the delight of myself and director of the film Isabelle Stead.

What I really loved about the festival was there was such a positive energy about the place. From the chill out area to the screening rooms, their was a lot of discussion and laugher from people from many different nationalities and beliefs, brought together under a very positive engaging atmosphere.

If you haven't been to the Insight Film Festival I would highly recommend that you attend the 4th Insight Film Festival in 2013, as I'm sure it will be another great two day event.  

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Later this week I'll be talking about attending the Insight Short Film Festival and breaking down the VFX of the Enchanted Forest...

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SON OF BABYLON - FILMING ON LOCATION IN IRAQ

For many of you that have seen or heard of SON OF BABYLON, this blog may seem a little late, however I have never shared the real experiences we went through to make this film until now.

SON OF BABYLON takes place in Northern Iraq, 2003. Two weeks after the fall of Saddam Hussein. Ahmed, a 12-year-old boy begrudgingly follows in the shadow of his grandmother.

On hearing news that prisoners of war have been found alive in the South, she is determined to discover the fate of her missing son, Ahmed’s father, who never returned from the Gulf war.

From the mountains of Kurdistan to the sands of Babylon, they hitch rides from strangers and cross paths with fellow pilgrims, on all too similar journeys. Struggling to understand his grandmother’s search, Ahmed follows in the forgotten footsteps of a father he never knew.

SON OF BABYLON was finished in October 2009 where it premiered at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival to a packed audience, however the films conception though began three years prior previous at the Human Film's offices in Leeds, UK.

After a long two years of screenplay development we managed to gain the support of the Sundance Institute, the UK Film Council and the French CNC that allowed us to take the film into production. 

One of the main issues we'd had during our previous productions in Iraq was having any UK or European crew in Iraq was just too dangerous. However in October 2008 I found myself flying out to Sulimaniyah in Northern Iraq with British Special Effects Makeup Artist John Parnham carrying £500,000 worth of equipment, that included the Arri II 35mm camera along with all its lenses. Landing in Arbil in the middle of the night, after a stressful overnight transfer in Istanbul, we were in Iraq, with all our equipment in tack ready to begin shooting.  

The productions base during its time in the north of Iraq was just near the small mountain village of Darbandikan in a local honeymoon resort that over looked a dam that every morning would be opened to generate power for the area. 

Sometimes living in Europe you really don't understand how little things like broadband make a massive difference in how fast you are able to work. At our production base we had one dialup pay as you go modem. Everyday would involve a trip to the phone card shop no matter how many we stocked up on. Simple things like sending an updated schedule to the UK producers could take an hour of your time, but it was something that we just had to adjust ourselves to and work around the resources we had to hand. 

During the pre-production, we'd had a car trailer built in Baghdad, this was so that we could tow the main action vehicle and shoot the scene where we saw dialogue with the actors and so the actors could focus on their lines as oppose to driving the tow-truck. Unfortunately the first time we put the truck action vehicle onto the trailer the axel broke. This caused us an initial headache but we had solutions to shoot around this. Our solution was to shoot the action vehicle from the camera truck and keep both vehicles driving at a similar speed. Not the most ideal way of shooting these kind of scenes but it was the best solution we had available. This would require the character Mahmood to actually drive the action truck while he was performing. When the director Mohamed Al-Daradji has originally cast Kakasala who plays the character Mahmood, he had told Mohamed he could drive. Three days before shooting this turned out not quiet truth as the actor could not drive a stick shift. All attempts to teach him had failed and so we were left with a broken trailer and an actor who couldn't drive. One thing you learn when your in Iraq, is that in Iraq nothing is impossible and there is always a solution. Through some good hiding and camera position we managed to put our stunt driver in the car lying down on his side working the gears and the peddles while the actor just had to stir the truck in the right direction. 

When began production, the UK crew were only going to be able to stay with the production while we were shooting in the North. Whenever we went through a check point whoever was in charge of the vehicle we were traveling in would tell them that myself and John were French and as they never asked to check our passports it never brought much attention to us. The strange thing and maybe this was my naivety at the time, but I felt safe wherever I was. That might have been down to the great Iraqi crew who really protected us, but there were times when I had to go into the town with just one of the other Iraqi crew members. I would go to shops and stalls by myself and talk with the locals and get things organised for the production. The people in Darbandikan were really friendly and helpful and didn't make me feel like a foreigner, which was a really nice feeling. 

There was only one shooting day while I was in Iraq that we had an armed escort in the vans with us from the local police. We had gone the south to shoot some of the scenes as the characters make their way down toward Baghdad. We arrived at the location, which was situated next to a main road check point that housed 15 armed officers. Mohamed came up as we got out of the vans, pulled me to one side and told me that we were 30 mins away from the Al-Qaider strong hold in Iraq and that I and John had to keep a low profile and stay close to the armed officers. This was the only point at which I felt nervous however once the production began getting set up and we got on with the days shooting thoughts of kidnap or trouble were soon forgotten. 

After the days shoot we would all go back to the hotel and eat dinner outside in the gardens, on long banqueting tables. Dinner would always be followed by a sing song or the crew reciting poetry. My arabic wasn't advanced by a long way and my Kurdish was none existent but the mood and feeling these times gave us at the end of the day made any troubles or problems of the shooting go to the back of our minds. 

One of the interesting experiences I had while I was in Iraq was the way in which John and a partly myself used to communicate with the Iraqi crew members. Many of the Iraqi crew understood a little English or various levels and I understood a little Arabic. For the most part our translators were not always there when you need, so we found ourselves communicating in big physical gestures. A little bit like our own version of sign language with my basic use of the arabic I knew and the Iraqi crew the little bit of English they knew. For the most part this worked without fail and although some detail was always lost the main part of what we wanted to communicate was always understood. However on many occasions when I would see John at the end of the day and we would begin chatting about how everything had gone, we would forget that we could actually speak English and would continue making large physical gestures with our hands and facial expressions until we realised... what are we doing?? It was an interesting experience but one that I will never forget. 

At the end of October I returned back to the UK as the production went south to Baghdad. I'd had many arguments with Mohamed and Atia the Iraqi producer trying to convince them that I should go down to the south. Again naivety kicking in from my side, as it was shown three weeks later. After the production had finished shooting at the Baghdad coach station where we'd used 250 extras, a week later that coach station in the very spot we had shot some of the key scenes of the film, was subjected to a suicide attack where 200 people were hurt or killed. 

This concludes my stories from Iraq, for those of you who haven't seen SON OF BABYLON you can buy it on DVD from Amazon, HMV, and iTunes in the UK. 

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Super 8 was dubbed to be the E.T of this generation, and although sadly the film didn't get the success it was hoping for, and in my opinion really suffered from just a weak script, the VFX work was first rate. The Daily discussed with VFX Supervisors Dennis Muren and Animation Supervisor Paul Kavangh about the difficulties in creating the train crash sequence. 

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XMAS Treat....The Award Winning Short Film MRS PEPPERCORNS MAGICAL READING ROOM

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Little Late This Week

Apologies for the missed blog last week about the making of SON OF BABYLON... This was due to having to get through loads of Illusion VFX work...

To make up for it along with the SON OF BABYLON blog I'll be posting later today I'll be posting, for a limited time only the Awarding Winning Short Film MRS PEPPERCORN'S MAGICAL READING.

This is an epic short film by Director Mike Le Han which I and the team at Illusion VFX had the privilege of working on last year. 

Check it out and leave your comments I'd love to know what you think, you can also check out the VFX work we did at Illusion VFX on the film at the link below. 

http://illusionvfx.co.uk/projects/view/1/mrs-peppercorn-s-magical-room

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Sneek peek for next weeks VFX breakdown...

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Also next week, I'll be breaking down the production of the "Enchanted Forest" made at Illusion VFX from its concept to final output, looking at the artist and technical challenges that we had to over come...

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Later this week I'll be talking about the making of SON OF BABYLON, the difficulties shooting in Iraq and the truth behind the story... Stay Tuned