Archive for January, 2009
Oscar nominations announced..
Posted by Administrator | Filed under Animation, News
News from the Animation World Network website:
Nominations for the 81st Academy Awards were announced today (Thursday, January 22) by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Sid Ganis and Oscar winner Forest Whitaker.
BOLT, KUNG FU PANDA and WALL-E are the nominees for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
WALL-E also got nods for Original score, Original song (“Down to Earth”), Sound editing, Sound mixing and Original Screenplay. WALTZ WITH BASHIR got a Best Foreign Language nod. WALTZ WITH BASHIR is the first animated feature nominated for a foreign language Oscar, although 12 prior films have been submitted for consideration.
LA MAISON EN PETITS CUBES, LAVATORY LOVESTORY, OKTAPODI, PRESTO and THIS WAY UP received Best Animated Short nominations.
Wall-E is a sure to win Best Animated Feature, although my own opinion is it shouldn’t, for reasons published in a previous post (which has mysteriously gone missing!). I have to admit that I am surprised that The Tale of Despereaux didn’t get a look in – maybe it wasn’t eligible?
There’s a great line up of shorts in there too and again I am surprise that the recent Wallace and Gromit’s ‘A Matter of Loaf and Death’ didn’t make it in there (again maybe it wasn’t eligible?) – as its usually an Oscar favourite. Not that I think it should, it was mediocre piece using the same formula we have seen over and over (‘handbag’). This way Up by Smith & Foulkes (of the Nexus crowd) seems to be running as favourite in this category anyway. Its already notched up a fair amount of awards already on the circuit (including Sundance).
It’ll be interesting to see who walks away with them, with hopefully a few surprises.
Twittering #animation
Posted by Administrator | Filed under Animation, General, Sliced Bread
If you are in the animation industry and on Twitter, please add me (and I will auto follower). I am keen to get a group together where we can exchange industry news on jobs, films (features and shorts), games, literature, tutorials . . essentially anything animation related. Twitter is an excellent way of ‘news feeding’ information.
Follow me at: http://twitter.com/3djamie
There is a Sliced Bread Animation Twitter account and this will become more active when the new site is up (http://twitter.com/slicedbreadanim).
There is also this animation group on TwitterGroups – http://twittgroups.com/group/animation
Wanted – 3D rigging and lighting artists
Posted by Administrator | Filed under Jobs, Sliced Bread
We are looking to increase our talent pool of Maya riggers and lighting artists. Please note at this moment in time we are NOT looking for animators or modellers. Please send your CV and example links of work (via email) to info [at] sbanimation [dot] com, with the subject header referring to your competency.
No agencies – thanks.
New 9 trailer up…
Posted by Administrator | Filed under Animation, Feature Film, News, Video
It looks dark and interesting, but has it got the..err.. hmmm.. I’m not sure. Very keen to hear others thoughts. Click on the image to view the trailer.
IMDB extract:
9 takes place in a world parallel to our own, in which the very legacy of humanity is threatened. A group of sapient rag dolls, living a post-apocalyptic existence find one of their own, 9 (Elijah Wood), who displays leadership qualities that may help them to survive.
The conflicted, but resilient group includes 1 (Christopher Plummer), a domineering war veteran; 2 (Martin Landau), an aged inventor; 5 (John C. Reilly), a stalwart mechanic; 6 (Crispin Glover), a visionary and artist; and 7 (Jennifer Connelly), a brave warrior.
There are at least several malevolent creatures up against this group; namely, the cat-skulled creature from the short film, a split-headed flying being that resembles both a bat and a manta ray in wing shape, and an insectoid creature with jointed legs and a pod-like body.
Dreamworks and PepsiCo are handing out more than 125m pairs of 3D glasses in the US!
Posted by Administrator | Filed under Anaglyph, Animation, Events, Jobs, News, Sliced Bread
Further to my post yesterday, Brand Republic has the scoop here:
DreamWorks and PepsiCo unite to launch 3D Superbowl ad
LOS ANGELES – Dreamworks and PepsiCo are handing out more than 125m pairs of 3D glasses in the US, with which people can see a special trailer of new film, ‘Monsters vs Aliens’, which will air during the Superbowl.
A 90-second 3D trailer for the film ‘Monsters vs. Aliens’ will air during the half-time show of the Superbowl on February 1.
There will also be a 60-second 3D ad for SoBe Life Water, a drink owned by PepsiCo. 3D glasses will be distributed through the drink’s in-store displays around the country.
Dreamworks CEO Jeff Katzenberg said the cost of the stunt is in the “tens of millions of dollars.”
The glasses use Intel technology and not the traditional red and blue system. Viewers without glasses will be able to see an ordinary image on the screen.
‘Monsters vs. Aliens’ gets released March 27 in the US and features the voices of Kiefer Sutherland, Reese Witherspoon and Seth Rogan.
The promotion was unveiled during NBC’s broadcast of the playoff game between the Indianapolis Colts and San Diego Chargers last Saturday.
After the Superbowl ad, NBC plans to use the same technology to air a 3D episode of its series ‘Chuck’, with the reminder to fans “Don’t Chuck away your glasses.”
Last year the Superbowl was seen by 97.5m viewers, making it the second-most watched broadcast in US TV history.
3D anaglyph tutorial
Posted by Administrator | Filed under Anaglyph, Tutorials, Video
By far the highest hits to our site are those that relate our 3D anaglyph projects – the Sliced Bread Christmas game and a movie for a ‘well known cosmetic enhancement’ product. Rather than re-invent the wheel, here is a tutorial on how you can do a simple image in After Effects (its how we did it). Later this week I will post on the set-up in Maya in order to create a 3D animation movie sequence.
3D Anaglyph in After Effects – Pxlguy’s AE Tutorials
http://web.me.com/pxlguy/AEtutorials/tutorial-1.html
Hint: Use the ‘Balanced Red Blue LR’ for the best 3D effect.
