The worldwide Internet audience has decided in a public voting about the winners of the Bitfilm Awards. More than 750 films from 51 countries have applied for the prizes in seven categories.
The winners are:
T-Com 3D Space AwardVERSUS by François Caffiaux, Romain Noel and Thomas Salas (France)
Adobe FX Mix AwardTRAVEL DIARY by Keng-Ming Liu (Taiwan/U.S.)
MTV Flash AwardBLOW by Hermes Mangialardo (Italy)
Hamburg Machinima Award
Steve Sullivan, director of R&D at Industrial Light & Magic, tells Barbara Robertson about the new interactive previs system ILM is developing.
Edinburgh-based Strange Co. have released the first part of BLOODSPELL, a computer-animated feature film. Using computer games technology and machinima, a new way of making animated films, the studio was able to complete the film in under three years, with a mostly volunteer staff and a budget of less than 5,000 pounds.
Alain Bielik rides along with the visual effects artists on The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift for a trip to a virtual Japan.
Animation studio ILL Clan and 3D objects provider TurboSquid have partnered up to present TRASH TALK, which employs the use of machinima in the production of the latest talk show host to grace computer and iPod screens. This animated 3D game character wannabe named ILL Will, a cross between Jay Leno and Duke Nukem, reports on the latest gaming news and talks trash each week on the Internet with his sidekick, a missile named Mal Content.
fmx/06, the 11th International Conference on Animation, Effects, Realtime and Content from May 3-6, 2006 in Stuttgart, Germany, announces its prizes. With more than 5,000 international visitors 40% more than last year fmx/06 included 350 speakers from all over the world presented more than 300 lectures, demos, workshops and screenings about creation, production and distribution in all forms of digital content.
fmx/06, the 11th International Conference on Animation, Effects, Realtime and Content, will take place May 3-6, 2006, in Stuttgart, Germany.
7th International Bitfilm Festival for Digital FilmHamburg, GermanyNovember 2006Deadline: June 1, 2006
Spring term for Gnomon School of Visual Effects begins April 3 through June 11. New classes include:
* Digital Sculpting and Texturing in ZBrush. This course is a comprehensive look at ZBrush's complete toolset for high-end 3D modeling and texturing. Instruction introduces a complete ZBrush workflow beginning with a base mesh and taking it to a complete ZBrushed finish. Instructor: Scott Spencer.
Linden Lab, creator of the virtual world SECOND LIFE, announced the release of BELLS AND SPURS, a machinima film based on the cowboy poem "Silver Bells and Golden Spurs" and created entirely within SECOND LIFE. The film will have its real world premiere Saturday, March 11, 2006, during the Screen Burn Beta Festival at the 13th annual SXSW Interactive Festival in Austin. To see the film and tour the virtual back lot where Bells and Spurs was filmed, visit www.bellsandspurs.com.
fmx/06, the 11th International Conference on Animation, Effects, Realtime and Content, will take place May 3-6, 2006, in Stuttgart, Germany.
Topics include the latest animated movies and vfx features, the convergence of games and movies, new fields of work for animators, the latest use of realtime graphics and current trends from the Far East. There is also new cooperation with the Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film, with overlapping programs, in addition to the festival award ceremony coinciding with the opening of fmx/06 on the evening of May 2.
With the holidays comes holiday parties. The Career Coach gives some quick tips on how to get more out of the festivities than just chips and dips.
The Academy of Machinima Arts & Sciences (AMAS), an organization that provides advocacy, education and community for Machinima, announced the winners of the 2005 Machinima Awards (The Mackies), which were unveiled in an awards presentation during the Machinima Film Festival on Nov. 11, 2005.
With two stop-motion features hitting theaters this year, Gerard C. Raiti looks at another trailblazing stop-motion legend Gumby, who is celebrating his 50th year, with a talk with Clokey Prods. head Joe Clokey, the son of Gumby creator Art Clokey.
ION Animation, Games and Film Festival 2005Los Angeles, California USADecember 2 4, 2005Deadline: September 30, 2005
The ION International Animation, Games and Film Festival will return to Los Angeles this fall and organizers are looking for submissions of animated films, machinima, game trailers, music videos, live-action short films, short documentaries, TV spots, movie trailers and films made for mobile devices such as cell phones and PDAs.
In April, Electronic Arts and USC teamed up to hold a machinima contest, using the filmmaking feature in THE SIMS 2 and now the winners are in. The contest allowed game players and aspiring filmmakers to submit their 3-minute movie shorts. EA received more than 1,000 entries that were then judged by a panel of USC professors and film experts.
Bitfilm Festival 2005Hamburg, GermanyNovember 2-6, 2005Deadline: July 15, 2005
The Bitfilm Festival for digital film and new media shows films that use digital technology in a creative and innovative way. There are six categories:
* 3D SPACE Computer-generated 3D animations * FX MIX - Digitally composed hybrids, mixing for example live action and animation * FLASH ATTACK - Films produced in Macromedia Flash * MACHINIMA - Movies made in real time with game engines
In Part 3 of this series, Ellen Besen discusses the impact of new technology on performance and the future roles of technology, new and old, with former Disney animation artist Charlie Bonifacio and former Pixar animation artist Stephen Barnes.
Bitfilm Festival 2005Hamburg, GermanyNovember 2-6 2005Deadline: July 15, 2005
The Bitfilm Festival for digital film and new media shows films that use digital technology in a creative and innovative way. There are six categories:
* 3D Space: Computer generated 3D animations.* FX Mix: Digitally composed hybrids, mixing live action, effects and animation.* 64K Demos: Audiovisual programs that work with a PC's processor and videocard.* Flash: Linear films and interactive works made with Macromedia Flash.
Avid Technology Inc. announced the SOFTIMAGE|XSI Mod Tool Lock & Load Challenge. The challenge sponsored in part by HP, NVIDIA and Gamedev.net gives gamers the opportunity to win more than $25,000US in prizes for developing mods modified content for popular video games using the SOFTIMAGE|XSI Mod Tool v4.2, the freely available version of the companys professional 3D animation software.
Broadband network Heavy.com will debut a new Machinima series, PIMP MY WEAPON, that was created in partnership with Sony as part of its pre-promotion for it's highly anticipated release of GOD OF WAR. This marks the first time that a studio-endorsed Machinima will reach a broadcast-scale audience through cable or broadband and will be shown exclusively on Heavy.com (www.heavy.com).
Ed Robertson, lead singer and guitar player for the multi-platinum rock band Barenaked Ladies, premiers in his first cameo role in this weeks special double-length 50th episode of the online Machinima series, RED VS. BLUE. Robertson plays Captain Flowers, the ill-fated leader of the Blue army.
This episode marks the third collaboration between Robertson and series creator Rooster Teeth Prods. Rooster Teeth created custom RED VS. BLUE clips that Barenaked Ladies showed on their last two concert tours of North America.
Ottawa International Animation Festival 2005Ottawa, Ontario, CanadaSeptember 21-25, 2005Deadline: June 1, 2005
Ellen Wolff explores how ILMs Stefen Fangmeier mixed cutting edge technology with a bit of old cinema magic to help conjure the retro look of Lemony Snicket.
Well, we kick off a new year at VFXWORLD with the topic of previsualization. The first in the series this month is Alain Bieliks look at the previz work that went into brining Jean-Pierre Jeunets WWI set romance epic, A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT, to the screen.
