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Embarking on a new creative partnership, Click 3X recently collaborated with MTV to create a show open, packaging, and promos for See You Sunday. Promoting four new shows in their latest block of Sunday programming, the clips incorporate live action footage of high-profile stars with unique hand-drawn animation, explosions, and VFX.

To support the shows, Click animated several promos, a :30 opening and cut-down, six bumpers with integrated animation, and two live action bumpers, each playing off traditional images of circus life with high-intensity, parodied versions of classic stunts. The vibrant animation interacting with the live action created by Click 3X adds depth to the storylines, while supporting the style and humor of the shows.

Targeting the young male demographic with a weekly high energy, must-see event, See You Sunday includes Nitro Circus, a daring stunt show starring Travis Pastrana and Johnny Knoxville, Fantasy Factory, showcasing Rob Dyrdek’s wild skate-based schemes, College Humor, based on the wildly popular website, and How’s Your News, a product of South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker, which follows five reporters with mental and physical disabilities.

The colorful animation helps to build the mood of each piece with outlandish antics such as animated knife-throwing, bananas brandishing chainsaws, and the carnival’s tall man upstaging all with his powerful rainbow pee-stream.

The :60 promo, Anticipation, features the shows’ stars about to perform in a sideshow complete with human cannonball, tightrope skateboarding, daredevil motorcycle jumps, and face-offs with ferocious lions. The additional animated content created by Click 3X artists follow the same themes, showcasing the bizarre but enthralling, reality-suspending sideshow worlds of the carnival grounds with effects and characters that build on the intrigue surrounding the shows.

“Harold, Evan, Thomas, Kris, and the rest of the MTV team were an absolute joy to work with on this project. I know this is a cliché, but this wasn’t work, this was fun. Tom, Erica, and I were in our creative comfort zone for this job creating seamless visual vfx, creative editorial and subversive, psychedelic graphics. In fact, many of the pieces were actually a result of some organic, on-set brainstorming between our teams.” Creative Director/VFX Artist Mark Szumski.

The entire Click team worked extensively with the MTV staff and directors from pre-vis through post, coming up with creative solutions and providing effects expertise on-set and throughout the filming and editorial process. Creative Director/VFX Artist Mark Szumski and VFX Artist/Animator Tom Matheu each spent significant time on set, contributing their expertise.

Shot with both Red and Phantom cameras in an enormous area complete with boxcars and a 30 foot ramp, the team was able to effectively capture the action-packed narrative and set the stage for Click’s animators to go to work. To enhance and heighten the strange, engaging effects on top of the live action, Click artists also added sky replacements, lighting and fire effects, explosion embellishments, and smoke to the range of shots, using Flame to cleanup and composite the layers of each piece and increase the impact of the shots and animated effects.

The See You Sunday block debuted to excellent ratings, helping to secure the crucial target male audience for MTV. EP Connor Swegle notes, “MTV came to us with an amazing concept seeking a creative partner with the ability to collaborate on-set and through editorial, design, and animation. With our involvement so early in the process, we were able to add to the creative flow-this helped create a final product that was successful for the MTV team, the program block, and the network.” Given the success of this project, Click 3X has already signed on to three new ventures for MTV, further expanding a vast body of recent work which includes projects across broadcast, feature films, and interactive.

“I was really impressed by the level of dedication that Click 3X showed in helping bring our twisted vision of psychedelic circus train mayhem to life. There was a great sense of collaboration throughout the project, and their enthusiasm and hard work was second to none.” MTV Design Director, Thomas Berger.

About Click 3X:
New York-based Click 3X produces cutting-edge visual solutions for commercials, feature films, television, music videos, and broadcast clients around the globe. Founded in 1993, Click 3X has become one of the preeminent providers of innovative media content, housed in an environment led by artists, yet supported by one of the most technologically advanced digital studios in the industry.

With award-winning design, powerful visual effects, and a visionary animation team, Click 3X has worked on array of diverse highly-recognizable projects, including a series of films from academy-award winning directors like Jonathan Demme and Davis Guggenheim, a recent multimedia package for eight HD Time Warner spots, My Home 2.0, a five episode reality TV series for Verizon Fios, and a long line of recent commercials for major brands such as Sharp, Ford, and Goodyear.

The Creds:
Post/Effects: Click 3X
Creative Director/VFX Artist: Mark Szumski
VFX Artist/Animator: Tom Matheu
Designer/Animator: Erica Gorochow
Managing Director: Jason Mayo
Executive Producer: Connor Swegle
Producer: Christine DoRego

RELATED LINKS:
www.mtv.com/ontv/see_you_sunday/

www.click3x.com

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The Mill, working with BBC Films has recently completed work on the critically acclaimed ‘The Damned United’. Based on the bestselling novel of the same name by David Pearce and adapted for screen by Peter Morgan, (The Queen and Frost/Nixon) the film was directed by the award winning Tom Hooper (Longford and John Adams).

The Damned United plays out the humorously dark story of Brian Clough’s doomed 44 day tenure as the manager of the reigning champions of English football in the 70’s, Leeds United.

Starring Michael Sheen (The Deal, The Queen, Frost/Nixon) as the legendary Brian Clough, Timothy Spall (Secrets and Lies, Harry Potter, Sweeney Todd) as his friend and assistant Peter Taylor and Jim Broadbent (Bridget Jones, The Young Victoria, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince) plays the Derby Chairman, Sam Longson, Clough’s former boss.

Will Cohen, Group Director Mill Film, said; “We have a great working relationship with Tom and we were incredibly excited to have the opportunity to be involved with The Damned United. It was a fun and challenging experience to recreate the interior of the iconic Wembley Stadium from the early 70s as well as creating the Massive Crowd scenes”.

About The Mill
The Mill is a world-leading visual effects company with bases in the globe’s three most important advertising centres – London and New York and now Los Angeles. The Mill has worked on some of the most memorable visual effects projects in the world (including Ridley Scott’s ‘Gladiator’ for which it gained a VFX Oscar) and has won more awards for visual effects than any other facility in Europe, including work on Johnnie Walker ‘Human’, Sony ‘Balls’, Sony Playstation ‘Mountain’ and Honda ‘Cog’.

The Mill has built relationships with the industry’s finest directors including Chris Cunningham, Frank Budgen, Fredrik Bond, Ringan Ledwidge and Michel Gondry. Data Grading suites have been installed in the London and NY offices bringing movie best practise to our clients and making The Mill the only facility ‘data’ grading for commercials.

The Damned United Cast:
Brian Clough – Michael Sheen
Peter Taylor – Timothy Spall
Don Revie – Colm Meaney
Manny Cussins – Henry Goodman
Jimmy Gordon – Maurice Roeves
Sam Longson – Jim Broadbent
Billy Bremner – Stephen Graham
Dave Mackay – Brian McCardie
Johnny Giles – Peter McDonald
Colin Todd – Giles Alderson
John O’Hare – Martin Compston
Duncan McKenzie – Joe Dempsie
Barbara Clough – Elizabeth Carling
Lillian Taylor – Gillian Waugh

Credits:
Producer: Andy Harries.
Executive producers: Christine Langan, Hugo Heppell, Peter Morgan.
Co-producers, Grainne Marmion, Lee Morris.
Directer: Tom Hooper
Screenplay: Peter Morgan (based on the 2006 novel “The Damned Utd” by David Peace)
Camera : Ben Smithard (color, Panavision widescreen)
Editor: Melanie Oliver
Music: Rob Lane;
Music supervisor: Liz Gallacher
Production designer: Eve Stewart
Supervising art director: Andrew Holden-Stokes
Art director: Leon McCarthy
Costume designer: Mike O’Neill
Sound (Dolby Digital): Martin Beresford, Paul Hamblin
Visual effects supervisor: David Bowman
Visual effects: the Mill
Special effects supervisor: Paul Kelly
Assistant director: Martin Curry

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Animated adventure Monsters vs. Aliens has scored the biggest US box office debut of the year so far with takings of $58.2m (£41m). The Dreamworks film, which sees classic movie monsters pitted against beings from outer space, beat ghost story The Haunting In Connecticut into second.

The animation, which features the voice of Reece Witherspoon, saw the weekend’s ticket sales up 39% compared to 2008. Cinema sales in 2009 are beating the recession, according to analysts.

3D success
“The recession offers a framework from which movies can do well for people looking to escape,” said Paul Dergarabedian, head of Media By Numbers, which tracks US box office performance.

“But they have to want to escape to these movies. The appeal has to be there, and it clearly was for Monsters vs. Aliens,” he added.

The movie, which also features the voices of Kiefer Sutherland and Seth Rogan, has also been offered in 3D format which has proved popular.

While the enhanced version was offered in only 28% of screens, it accounted for more than 55% of its box office revenues with a slightly more expensive ticket price.

Monsters vs. Aliens’ number one debut was way ahead of its nearest rival, The Haunting in Connecticut, which took $23m ($16.2m). Last week’s chart topper, Knowing, starring Nicolas Cage, slipped to number three on the chart.

US BOX OFFICE TOP FIVE
1 Monsters vs. Aliens – $58.2m
2 The Haunting in Connecticut – $23m
3 Knowing – $14.7m
4 I Love You, Man – $12.6m
5 Duplicity – $7.6m
Source: Media By Numbers

BBC Entertainment News 30 March 2009

Popularity: 34% [?]

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Autodesk, Inc., has announced Autodesk Softimage Mod Tool 7.5 software (formerly SOFTIMAGE_XSI Mod Tool). This free* 3D modeling and animation package for aspiring game artists is based on the same professional toolset as Autodesk Softimage (formerly SOFTIMAGE_XSI). Game studios have used Softimage software to create hit titles such as “Metal Gear Solid 4″ and “Fable II.”

“Softimage Mod Tool gives the next generation of game artists access to professional tools, so they can learn while making their own games or game mods,” said Marc Stevens, Autodesk Media & Entertainment vice president, games. “Game developers can also use the software to extend the life of a game by building a community of modders. Game mods can go on to become commercial games in their own right, and they can be used by developers to identify talent for recruiting purposes.”

New Features in Autodesk Softimage Mod Tool 7.5
o New learning materials: Softimage Mod Tool 7.5 comes with training
materials from Noesis Interactive. These materials show users how to create a character and export it for use in Microsoft XNA Games Studio 3.0.

o New real-time shading API (application programming interface): Softimage
Mod Tool 7.5 supports the Realtime Shader API version 3.0, which helps make real-time shader development simpler and more flexible. The new version offers an architecture focused on programmable shaders (GLSL, HLSL) and file-based effects (CgFX and DxFX). With these capabilities, what game developers see in Softimage Mod Tool is what they get in the game.

o Interactive Creative Environment (ICE): ICE is an open, scalable platform
that enables artists to extend the capabilities of Softimage more quickly and intuitively using a node-based dataflow diagram. Artists can now quickly create complex 3D effects and tools without writing code.

o Support for Windows Vista operating system: Autodesk Softimage Mod Tool
7.5 now supports the Windows Vista Business operating system.

Autodesk Softimage Mod Tool (formerly XSI Mod Tool) software is a free 3D modeling and animation package for creating non‐commercial games and “modding” (modifying games). Softimage Mod Tool 7.5 is based on the same professional toolset found in Autodesk Softimage 7.5, used by game developers to create 3D characters, levels, props and animation. Game developers can use Softimage Mod Tool toextend the life of games and recruit talent with a modding community using. Softimage Mod Tool 7.5 exports to Microsoft XNA and add‐ons are available that enable export to Crytek CryENGINE 2, Valve Source and Epic Unreal Engine 3.

Realtime Shading API
Softimage Mod Tool 7.5 gives users unprecedented power in a free tool. A new realtime shading API
supports programmable shaders (GLSL, HLSL) and file‐based effects (CgFX and DxFX). This gives game
developers “what you see is what you get” (WYSIWYG) abilities when programming custom shader
effects, so that what you see in Softimage Mod Tool, is what you get in the game.

ICE – now in Mod Tool!
ICE (Interactive Creative Environment) is an open, scalable platform that enables you to extend the
capabilities of Softimage more quickly and intuitively using a node‐based dataflow diagram. This
paradigm means that 3D artists can create complex 3D effects and tools extremely quickly without
writing code.

Create Compelling 3D Content for Microsoft XNA and Major Game Engines Softimage Mod Tool 7.5 can export 3D models and animation for use with the Microsoft XNA Game Studio 3 framework. Fledgling or independent game developers now have access to a professional toolset for creating original games on the Microsoft Xbox console or Windows platform.

Users can also download add-ons for content export to Crytek CryENGINE 2, Epic Unreal Engine 3 and Valve Source game engines. With this professional 3D toolset modders can produce characters and props for their favorite game.

Commercial Version for Microsoft Xbox Live Community Games Available Autodesk Softimage Mod Tool Pro 7.5 software is functionally identical to the Mod Tool, but has an End User License Agreement that allows users to produce assets for games sold via Microsoft’s Xbox Live Community Games.
Autodesk Softimage Mod Tool Pro 7.5 is available only with Microsoft’s XNA Creator’s Club Premium membership. For more information visit http://creators.xna.com.

Availability
Autodesk anticipates that Softimage Mod Tool 7.5 software will be available in April 2009. For more information, visit www.softimage.com/products/modtool.

*Free products are subject to the terms and conditions of the end-user license agreement that accompanies the software.

Autodesk Softimage and XSI are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Autodesk reserves the right to alter product offerings and specifications at any time without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document.

Main Header Image Credit
Fable II – Angry Hobbes
Image courtesy of Lionhead Studios.

Popularity: 25% [?]

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Animation has the powerful ability to make the abstract instantly personal and relatable. To inspire a call to action via www.indebted.com, a joint project between mtvU and the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, Superfad has produced the second in a series of animated PSAs addressing the dangers of personal and government debt.

Indebted is a campaign directed at college students that aims to raise awareness about excessive debt and promote action to help stop the fiscal crisis in the U.S. With Indebted 2, Superfad helps illustrate what young people might expect from the future, a bleak picture if we don’t help turn back the hands of the national debt clock. This spot is the follow up to an earlier Superfad animated piece that focused on the pitfalls of personal debt.

“The main challenge we faced was walking the very fine line of making the spot desolate without being overwhelmingly depressing,” says Superfad Creative Director Adam Parry. “We worked remotely with Dax (MTV’s Director) from NY to our office in London. He is great with feedback and direction so it all ran very smoothly. We look forward to seeing where they take the campaign next but hope the need for additional spots diminishes as people heed the call to action.”

CREDITS
Client: mtvU & the Peter G. Peterson Foundation

Concept: MTV
Writer/Director: Dax Martinez-Vargas
Senior Director: Sophia Cranshaw

Animation Production: Superfad
Executive Producer: Stuart Robinson
Creative Director: Adam Parry

Popularity: 20% [?]

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Autodesk, Inc., (NASDAQ: ADSK) has announced new versions of its two runtime technologies for the game engine – Autodesk HumanIK 4 animation middleware and Autodesk Kynapse 6 artificial intelligence (AI) middleware. Autodesk’s high-performance middleware solutions are flexible, production-proven and backed by solid support. The products have been adopted for at least 100 triple-A titles, including “FIFA 09″ and “Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning.”

“Autodesk middleware products offer a solution to common runtime challenges, allowing development teams to concentrate on the creative work involved in authoring amazing new gameplay experiences,” said Marc Stevens, Autodesk vice president, games. “For example, HumanIK helps to alleviate the burden of large clip libraries by enabling procedural motion adaption, which reduces the number of clips animators need to produce and maintain. With Kynapse, programmers can avoid the development time and costs involved in writing custom runtime solutions for universal AI issues, like spatial awareness.”

Autodesk Kynapse 6: Put the Brain in Your Game Autodesk Kynapse middleware is a leading AI solution for game development and real-time simulations. With this middleware, developers can conveniently breathe life into games with characters that have spatial awareness, dynamic 3D pathfinding capabilities and team coordination.

Kynapse was recently adopted by Mythic Entertainment, an EA studio, for “Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning.” “The huge world of ‘Warhammer’ meant we needed a very robust pathfinding solution,” said Matt Shaw, CTO. “Our entire player movement system is built around enabling players to go wherever they are capable of reaching. Autodesk Kynapse gave us an algorithmic exploration solution that enabled our AI-driven actors to path with the same constraints and freedom as players.”

Autodesk Kynapse middleware is a world leading, artificial intelligence (AI) solution for game
development and real‐time simulations. The above scenario demonstrates three key functionalities of Kynapse: spatial reasoning (the bodyguards locate at run‐time, in 3D, threatening zones), team coordination (team members share information) and 3D pathfinding (bodyguards navigate in between the threat and the VIP).

Enhanced Dynamic 3D Pathfinding Kynapse 6 delivers best‐in‐class, dynamic 3D pathfinding that allow characters to find their way around 3D worlds that change. In the above image, planks are added and characters can find their way into the new areas automatically.

Flat Pathfinding Mode A new flat pathfinding mode significantly simplifies the implementation of 3D pathfinding using streamed navigation data.

Hierarchical 3D Pathfinding Kynapse 6 now includes a fully hierarchical 3D pathfinding solution that is capable of computing paths of limitless length on huge maps: maps that cannot possibly be loaded into memory in their entirety.Hierarchical 3D pathfinding computations use hierarchical data that describes large areas of differing resolutions. This data is automatically generated by the Kynapse Pathdata generation tool. Results are computed with different levels of detail, saving on CPU usage and memory consumption on the target platform.

The intelligent, high‐performance Autodesk Kynapse artificial intelligence (AI) engine was designed to handle large crowds in wide, complex, destructible environments. It supports automatic, hierarchical data generation, automatic data stitching and data streaming.

Kynapse 6 delivers new features that make it easier for game engineers to integrate the software and get results.
o Remote Debugger: The new remote debugging tool enables users to inspect
the state of the game variables, with an interactive 3D view of the debug information. Users can also record and replay sequences, while retaining access to the data in the recorded files
o New 3D Pathfinding Technology: The “flat” pathfinding technology
introduced in this release offers simplified data generation workflows, more flexible runtime data streaming, and the ability to add new paths on-the-fly at runtime.
o Improved MMO support: Data resources and runtime services can now be
shared across multiple Kynapse worlds, improving support for Massively Multiplayer On-line games
o Enhanced Dynamic 3D Pathfinding: With improved CPU performance and
granular control over memory consumption, characters can more easily avoid dynamic, movable obstacles
o Hierarchical 3D Pathfinding: Characters can now plan paths that span the
entire breadth of huge maps, even when those maps cannot be loaded in their entirety. The path is first computed at a low level of detail, and then refined opportunistically when more detailed data becomes available, keeping memory usage within set limits

For more information about Autodesk Kynapse 6, visit www.autodesk.com/kynapse.

AUTODESK HUMANIK 4
Autodesk HumanIK 4: Believable, Runtime Character Animation HumanIK animation middleware frees animators from having to produce every possible animation clip by procedurally adapting existing character animation to game environments at runtime. Also, the technology’s runtime retargeting enables developers to reuse banks of animation on characters of completely different scales and proportions. As a result, development teams can save time for more creative challenges.

Furthermore, HumanIK enhances animation systems by enabling characters to interact more realistically with the game environment. Characters place their feet correctly, climb walls and pick up objects, even when the game environment changes. With fewer gameplay constraints, HumanIK helps to bring games to life with more believable and immersive character animation experiences.

The latest release – Autodesk HumanIK 4 – delivers a User Guide and a new set of examples, integrated with the Trinigy Vision game engine. It also improves knee response to ankle rotations. For more information about HumanIK 4, visit www.autodesk.com/humanik.

Create high‐quality, believable character animation
HumanIK enhances animation systems by enabling characters to interact more realistically with the game environment. Characters place their feet correctly, climb walls, pick up weapons and objects, even when the game environment changes. With less gameplay constraints, HumanIK brings games to life with more believable and immersive character animation experiences.

Enhance animators’ productivity with procedural motion adaptation and retargeting.
By procedurally adapting existing character animation to game environments at run‐time, HumanIK frees animators from having to produce every combination of animation ‐‐ saving time for more creative challenges. Run‐time retargeting allows you to reuse banks of animation on characters of completely different scales and proportions.

New sample framework This version of HumanIK provides a new set of examples integrated with the Trinigy Vision™ game engine, showing how to carry out inverse kinematics and retargeting in a simple concrete implementation.

Platform Support and Availability
HumanIK 4 is now available. Autodesk anticipates that Kynapse 6 will be available during spring 2009. Both middleware products are optimized for PLAYSTATION 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii video game and entertainment consoles, as well as PCs running Windows or Linux. Kynapse is also optimized for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and PSP game consoles.

About Autodesk
Autodesk, Inc., is a world leader in 2D and 3D design software for the manufacturing, building and construction, and media and entertainment markets. Since its introduction of AutoCAD software in 1982, Autodesk has developed the broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art Digital Prototyping solutions to help customers experience their ideas before they are real.
Fortune 1000 companies rely on Autodesk for the tools to visualize, simulate and analyze real-world performance early in the design process to save time and money, enhance quality and foster innovation. For additional information about Autodesk, visit www.autodesk.com.

Autodesk, AutoCAD, HumanIK and Kynapse are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Autodesk reserves the right to alter product offerings and specifications at any time without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document.

Main Header & Thumbnail Image Credit:
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning – courtesy of Mythic Entertainment, an EA Studio.

Popularity: 34% [?]

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Crossroads’ directorial duo Walter Robot’s dynamic and inventive visual style is the driving force behind a trio of uniquely inspired music videos for Grammy award-winning recording artists Gnarls Barkley, French-born DJ Vitalic, and Death Cab For Cutie.

Grapevine Fires, the must see music video for alternative rockers Death Cab For Cutie, is the ingeniously animated story of a boy in search of his brother amidst a wildfire that decimates his neighborhood. This emotive story reflects the autobiographical lyrics of lead singer Ben Gibbons who was caught in the horrific 2007 California wildfires and witnessed the tragedy firsthand.

About Crossroads:
A multimedia and content creation firm, Crossroads offers a clear vision, innovative leadership, and unparalleled reach into the entertainment talent pool. With headquarters in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, London, and an affiliate office in Toronto, Crossroads has six divisions: Film, Television, Commercials, Music Videos, New Media, and Creative Services. All offer exclusive talent featuring some of the world’s top directors, show creators, writers, and producers.

Founded in 1989, Crossroads has been a consistent leader in the development and production of feature films and television programming, as well as producing award-winning commercial and music video content for top-tier brands, agencies and performing artists.

www.crossroadsfilms.com

The Creds:
Artist: Death Cab for Cutie
Song Title: Grapevine Fires
Air Date: March 2009

Prod Company: Merge @ Crossroads
Director: Walter Robot
EP: Joe Uliano
Producer: Walter Robot

Popularity: 20% [?]

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The technical creativity involved in David Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button has been greatly admired by the general public and VFX specialists alike. Achieving the highest ‘commercial’ accolade possible with a 2009 Oscar win for best visual effects; it also took top honours at this year’s Visual Effects Society Awards.

The film won four VES Awards including ‘best visual effects in a visual-effects-driven motion picture’ and ‘best single visual effect of the year’. All four prizes were awarded for work central to the title character’s head, which featured Brad Pitt’s face acting on an all-digital head and neck.

Even those people with knowledge of CGI work are surprised to hear that for approximately one third of the movie Benjamin Button is a 100% computer-generated head on a live actor’s body.

“There’s 325 shots — 52 minutes of the film — where there is no actual footage of Brad,” says Steve Preeg, a character supervisor at Digital Domain, the studio that created the majority of VFX for the film. “He’s not in any of the shots.”

DD VFX Supervisor Eric Barba was involved with the film from its inception and outlines details of where the CGI head begins and ends; and when Brad Pitt is left to fend for himself.

“The first “digital head” shot is the one we did for the test, where there’s a long dolly and pan until the audience sees Benjamin sitting at the table banging his spoon. That’s the first body actor for Ben in his 80s, as he grows younger we have another body actor take over for him in his 70s, when he goes out on the tugboat with Cap’n Mike and goes to the bar.”

“The bulk of our work is the “Ben 70″ character, and “Ben 60″ when he leaves home. One of our last shots is when he is reading the letter from Daisy on the back of the tugboat. The line where he tells the Captain, “Well you do drink a lot”, that’s where the real Brad takes over. “

With the body actor performing from the neck down, his head was replaced with one that was computer generated and based on Pitt’s performance. The character was created using a combination of VFX tools and techniques, some developed for the project at Digital Domain.

“For Benjamin Button we could not create the performance in animation, we had to translate it from Brad’s performance …. we shot him [Brad] performing the role on a sound stage with four HD cameras and used image analysis technology to get animation curves and timings that drove our proprietary deformation rig.” Barba explains.

It is generally believed that “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” has set a new benchmark in the VFX community.

Fincher has made a movie that will be endlessly debated, for its storytelling craft as well as for the overwhelming nature of its visual effects. LA Times Review 25 Nov 2008.

About Digital Domain
Since its founding in 1993 by film industry icons, Digital Domain has been a force and a change agent in the world of creative content. The digital production studio has built a legacy of achievement in visual effects, receiving six Academy Awards and listing Titanic, The Day After Tomorrow, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button among its 65+ film credits. A creative giant in the world of advertising, Digital Domain has earned scores of Clio, AICP, and Cannes Lion awards for some of the industry’s most memorable spots. A-list directors work with Digital Domain on features, advertising and projects that cross traditional media boundaries.

Digital Domain continues to push into new territory. The company is being recognized for its pioneering work in photo-real digital humans and productions that bring the worlds of films, advertising, games and the web closer together. Digital Domain is privately held and based in Venice, California.

RELATED LINKS:
www.digitaldomain.com
www.benjaminbutton.com

Sources:
FXGuide Interview With Eric Barba -The Curious Case of Aging Visual Effects by Bill Dawes 01 Jan 2009 (view here)

Building The Curious Faces Of ‘Benjamin Button’ by Laura Sydell 16 Feb 2009 (view here)

Button tops Visual Effects Awards – Variety David S. Cohen 02 Feb 2009 (view here)

Popularity: 22% [?]

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In collaboration with MRM and Smuggler for the U.S. Army, Click 3X and ClickFire Media designed and animated interactive elements for A World Like No Other, a CG military base complete with marching squadrons, tank battalions, and screen-shaking Apache helicopter flyovers.

The Click team provided the 3D animation to help transport visitors through and across the base in an immersive, full motion journey, combining life-like graphics with MRM’s interactive hotspots linked to live action webisodes enhancing the realism and depth of the online experience.

Each hotspot identifies the on-base location of key members of the Army team, from Special Forces and field artillery to military police and astronauts, while the corresponding live action pieces provide the back story and support explaining their crucial roles in the Army. These transitions through the animated base and into the webisode locations are the key components to the site’s cutting-edge multi-sensory action and showcase the future of integrated online experiences.

Click’s team of designers and animators collaborated to enhance and enliven the interactive footage for seamless integration provided by MRM into the multimedia site. The dirt-ridden, rough look and feel of the visuals helps fully capture the exhilarating base experience, inspired by actual military locations in Kentucky and Colorado.

“This project is an excellent example of how tight integration with several contributors to a large site like goarmy.com can really be effective. Working on different ends of the creative process, we were all really challenged to develop distinct animated elements that complement each other and build a strong, exciting mood, but that also flow flawlessly into one cohesive, immersive experience. ” Creative Director Steve Tozzi.

About Click 3X:
New York-based Click 3X produces cutting-edge visual solutions for commercials, feature films, television, music videos, and broadcast clients around the globe. Founded in 1993, Click 3X has become one of the preeminent providers of innovative media content, housed in an environment led by artists, yet supported by one of the most technologically advanced digital studios in the industry.

With award-winning design, powerful visual effects, and a visionary animation team, Click 3X has worked on array of diverse highly-recognizable projects, including a series of films from academy-award winning directors like Jonathan Demme and Davis Guggenheim, a recent multimedia package for eight HD Time Warner spots, My Home 2.0, a five episode reality TV series for Verizon Fios, and a long line of recent commercials for major brands such as Sharp, Ford, and Goodyear.

In addition to Click 3X’s commercial and film expertise, their interactive design studio, ClickFire Media, specializes in multi-platform, media-rich interactive campaigns. CFM partners with agencies and entertainment industry clients in the conceptualization, design, and development of immersive branded experiences.

CREDITS
Client: U.S. Army
Agency: MRM/McCann Erickson Worldwide

Prod Company: Smuggler

Post/Effects: Click 3X
Creative Director: Steve Tozzi
Head of CG/Technical Director: Anthony Filipakis
CG Animator(s): Tom Hurlburt, Kristen Pederson, Susan Taffe,
Jongmoon Woo
CG Modeler(s): Jack Lai, Kevin Shen
CG Lighter(s): Sung Kim, Grace Hwang
Matte Painter: Paul Liaw
Flame Compositor(s): John Budion, Aaron Vasquez
Executive Producer: Jason Mayo
Producer: Jared Yeater

RELATED LINKS
www.goarmy.com

www.click3x.com

Popularity: 20% [?]

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Crossroads’ directorial duo Walter Robot’s dynamic and inventive visual style is the driving force behind a trio of uniquely inspired music videos for Grammy award-winning recording artists Gnarls Barkley, French-born DJ Vitalic, and Death Cab For Cutie.

Vitalic’s U and I finds an Average Joe on his way to work at his average job in a sprawling metropolis when his briefcase full of comic books flies away, luring him to an abandoned fenced off field. When he peers through a hole in the fence, he witnesses a fantasy world with a 21st century composer churning out fresh beats amidst a grooving sea of geometrically inspired shapes, trees and flowers.

About Crossroads:
A multimedia and content creation firm, Crossroads offers a clear vision, innovative leadership, and unparalleled reach into the entertainment talent pool. With headquarters in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, London, and an affiliate office in Toronto, Crossroads has six divisions: Film, Television, Commercials, Music Videos, New Media, and Creative Services. All offer exclusive talent featuring some of the world’s top directors, show creators, writers, and producers.

Founded in 1989, Crossroads has been a consistent leader in the development and production of feature films and television programming, as well as producing award-winning commercial and music video content for top-tier brands, agencies and performing artists.

For more, go to www.crossroadsfilms.com

The Creds:
Artist: Vitalic
Spot Title: “U and I”
Air Date: November 2008

Prod Company: Merge @ Crossroads
Director: Walter Robot
DP: Suny Behar
EP: Joe Uliano
Producer: Walter Robot

Popularity: 19% [?]

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