No, there is another: Other vfx companies and general discussion thread

I'm glad all the winners got a chance to speak a little. Pretty sure Isaw John Richardson behind the Avatar crew (I'm guesing it wasthe HP6 crew) and there was a quick shot of Roger Guyett

But what the hell how come they shafted the sound nominations, looks like they're copying the worst aspects of the Oscars (and they should fire Bill Mechanic and Adam Shankman after hearing some of their "genius" ideas).

 

Well they're shaking everything up with the Oscar ceremony. The Best Song people won't even be performing their songs this year. But yeah, they needed to have full coverage of all the tech awards.

The BAFTAs are an interesting group.

 

Well they always complain about the length of the show (never really minded,even when it was on Mondays). I always thought if anything they should cancel all the song and dance numbers and even the fashion shows they sometimes use for the Best Costume award. They did have a good idea last year when they had one presenter do the 3 tech awards of VFX, sound and sound editing.

 

Disney is closing Imagemovers Digital studio in San Rafael Ca.

New Disney management shutters Imagemovers

This is terrible news. I wasn't the greatest fan of Zemeckis' mo-cap stuff, but the studio employed 450 people during this tough economic time.

 

Yeah too bad, it's The Secret Lab all over again. I didn't care much for the Polar Express, but I enjoyed A Christmas Carol quite a bt.

Also annouced today was that CORE in Toronto was basically shut down today, after they failed to secure gurantees for loans.

 

Wow. I didn't see that one.

 

Holy pants off. You have to see this: Crazy Czech muppet film

Amazing. I don't know what they're saying but it doesn't matter.

 

Wow that looks amazing. Hopefully it'll show up on IFC or someplace else.

On the other hand CafeFX's Santa Monica office is closing:

CafeFX shutters Santa Monica outpost

 

Cafe fx did seem to be really big last year compared to the boutique size they were before. Looks like they got caught in the "treacherous middle" of fx shop size.

 

Looks that way, though why they weren't saved like others remains a mystery.

I heard one of the big London companies is hiring in Canada so hopefullythat'll help some of the people.

 

http://www.fxguide.com/modules.php?name=fxpodcast&pa=listen&path=modules/fxpodcast/files/fxg-091211-ScottRoss.mp3
Very interesting but also sort of depressing. It kinda surprised me to hear that not even ILM is doing business so well.
ILM doing Rango....if this is the first step of a concerning Scott Ross much needed step from providing just services to creating content and so becoming more successful on the business side? But then you would have to ask why Lucasfilm Animation was founded?

I was looking which films from the big 5 companies this year are going to be released
I know you have to take the listings on imdb with a grain of salt.
But it seems that ILM does not have a very good year, at least compared with last year which was fantastic. What do we have for 2010? Iron Man 2, Last Airbender, Harry Potter, Red Tails (perhaps next year).
WETA Digital has only one film listed on imdb (Warriors Way). That can´t be all for them for this year?
SPI also has one film listed (Alice in Wonderland). Where´s the rest for this year?
Digital Domian at least has three fx heavy films listed: Percy Jackson, A-Team, Tron Legacy
Rhythm and Hues also has only one film (Toad Trip).

Which films have I forgotten?

So are this and the closing of several shops and companies effects of the economic crisis? Or is 2010 just one of these years where the year before can´t be topped effects-wise?

 

Last year was going to be hard to beat especially with the staggered scheduling of films in production. You will get things cresting later in some years and the next summer is relatively light.

You had a huge late '09(with Cameron, Zemeckis,etc) and a front loaded spring. So summer might seem light by comparison.

 

The other thing is that with the incentives a lot of work is being done in London Soho. They're completely booked over there for a year or so.

We'll also have to see how many 911s ILM gets this year.

Imageworks has quite a bit of work: Cats and Dogs 2 and Zookeeper as well.
Rhythm and Hues has Yogi Bear as well (directed by Eri Brevig), Marmaduke and Knight and Day (first trailer just came up recently.
Weta has the remake of the Dam Busters (not sure the release date I think December 2010).
Tippett seems to have a full slate as well.

 

I think Sony is also doing The Smurfs and Green Lantern.

 

Yeah, I was only referring to 2010 projects that Kaero asked about, but 2011 looks more promising. Here a sneak peak:

Summer Preview: 10 to Watch in 2010

BTW one thing to note, even though ILM's slate seems lighter this year as far as I know they're doing most of the VFX for the Last Airbender, as opposed to most other projects that are divided between many large and small vendors.

 

Finally....VFX category expands from three nominations to five.



And then there were FIVE

 

I was starting to think I wouldn't see it n my lifetime. Good for the VES as well. I wonder if they had to change Richard Edlund's mind.

 

Yeah I don't know. But there are so many vfx artists who recently became members over the last few years of the whole academy that he probably didn't have a choice.

Now if they will just solve that pesky credits issue and start crediting more folks and stop limiting the number.

 

Hehe right, the expansion might have helped. It just took like 15-20 years.

Well the credits thing is purely a monetary issue so I won't hold my breath.

But probably for Rango will see everyone involved credited.

 

Any news about WETA's next projects?

 

I know there's Tin Tin next year for WETA but I don't know what else.

 

Mad Max 4 has been delayed. I wonder if this has any impact on WETA. They don't seem to get a lot of work lately.

 

Besides Tin Tin they have the 2 Hobbit films, The Dambusters (although I think it might be delayed?). And there are the Avatar sequels but those aren't coming anytime soon.

Didn't know Weta was on Mad Max 4. I remember Dr. D being involed though.

 

Asylum vfx has closed down. Owner Nathan McGuiness blamed it on competition from Canada and the UK as well as lack of tax incentives in LA.

For those not aware of their work, they worked on numerous films including Black Hawk Down, Pirates of the Caribbean, Pearl Harbor and the recent release Unstoppable starring Denzel Washington and Chris Pine.


Thx to vfxblog for the heads up.

 

Yeah also heard about it. They also worked on Master and Commander.

Apparently The Mill has just been sold. Supposdely a note appeared on the UK Sunday Times this weekend but I haven't been able to read it myself.