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Zoic Studios’ BC office is proud to have contributed visual effects to the massively anticipated Sony Pictures feature “District 9″ which opened earlier this month topping US box office charts.

Thirty years ago, aliens made first contact with Earth. Humans waited for the hostile attack, or the giant advances in technology. Neither came. Instead, the aliens were refugees, the last survivors of their home world. The creatures were set up in a makeshift home in South Africa’s District 9 as the world’s nations argued over what to do with them.

Now, patience over the alien situation has run out. Control over the aliens has been contracted out to Multi-National United (MNU), a private company uninterested in the aliens’ welfare – they will receive tremendous profits if they can make the aliens’ awesome weaponry work. So far, they have failed; activation of the weaponry requires alien DNA.

The tension between the aliens and the humans comes to a head when an MNU field operative, Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley), contracts a mysterious virus that begins changing his DNA. Wikus quickly becomes the most hunted man in the world, as well as the most valuable – he is the key to unlocking the secrets of alien technology. Ostracized and friendless, there is only one place left for him to hide: District 9.

Directed by Neill Blomkamp and presented by Peter Jackson, “District 9″ is a powerful Sci-Fi thriller set in the near future in Johannesburg, S.A., where one million Alien refugees have set up camp.

As one of the VFX companies on the project, Zoic Studios was tapped to design and create 30 shots including the highly complex Alien Fluid, which was based on the behavior of Ferro fluid when affected by an electrical current. The team also created explosions, weapons activations, Alien weapon trails, an armored vehicle and blood and dirt debris.

“We are thrilled to work on this film, as we were all big fans of Neill’s previous work and were looking forward to seeing the movie whether we were involved with it or not,” comments Zoic BC Creative Director Patti Gannon. “He has a very distinct creative style and it was very exciting to collaborate with him.”

Zoic is an award-winning Digital Studio involved in producing lauded commercials and viral advertising as well as innovative content for episodic television, feature films and the gaming industry. From visual effects, to live action production and specialty shooting, Zoic Studio imprint can be seen in such compelling entertainment as True Blood, Fringe and Dollhouse; spots for Mountain Dew, ESPN, Craftsman, HP and VW, as well as innovative projects for EA, Gamefly and Sony. Zoic Studios has offices in Los Angeles and Vancouver.

Zoic Studios Credits:
CG Supervisor – Trevor Adams
Creative Director/2D Supervisor – Patti Gannon

3D Artists:
Arlend Engar
Mike Rhone
Michael Goddard
Nik Slotiuk
Ian Buchko

2D Artists:
Neil Ghaznavi
Aaron Brown
Stu MacCrae

Related Links:
www.district9movie.com
www.zoicstudios.com

Sources:
HypeWorld.com
District9movie.com

Popularity: 34% [?]

The brand movement specialists at strategic creative ideas studio We Are Plus are very proud to announce their latest project: a strategic brand film for the prestigious Shu Uemura cosmetics brand.

Since first launching Plus et Plus in New York City in 2002, the company’s founder Jeremy Hollister, his co-creative director Judy Wellfare and their colleagues have built a reputation as a go-to company for fashion brands seeking to create sexy, marketing-savvy visual content for high-profile promotional uses ranging from live and in-store events to online, offline and traditional broadcast marketing campaigns. The company recently relaunched as We Are Plus.

“Over the years, by consistently coming through for marketing executives behind top-flight fashion brands like Aveda, MAC Cosmetics, Laforet, Artful Dodger and Dr. Martens, and for crossover sports brands like Nike and Asics, we’ve had a lot of opportunities to go to bat, get up to speed quickly, and produce content to connect with many different types of audiences,” said Hollister. “Shu Uemura is a visionary and unique brand and it was an honor to work with such a creative executive team on this project.”

For the Shu Uemura assignment, the client briefing called for We Are Plus to work with existing video footage, photography and product samples and create an approximately three-minute video showpiece to be presented by at an upcoming sales conference. The project’s one-week timeline left Wellfare, We Are Plus projects director Zu Al-Kadiri and their team members no time to lose.

“Our overall challenge was to showcase the Shu Uemura brand and its product line in an interesting, visually arresting way, while also aiming to add an inspirational dimension to the presentation,” said Wellfare, who edited the project. “After surveying the available footage and imagery and we began fleshing out our cut. Based on our research, our artists created original designs and animation.”

According to Al-Kadiri, the toolset for We Are Plus involved using Final Cut Pro for editing, Adobe Creative Suite for design, and Adobe After Effects for animation, compositing and finishing. “In the end, the combination of design, animation, and the overall energy we gave the piece is something we’re all very pleased with,” he explained. “Also, I think the original graphic design elements we came up with did a nice job of unifying a lot of disparate looks and presenting a visually cohesive, exciting story for the Shu Uemura brand and its products.”

About We Are Plus
A strategic creative ideas studio, We Are Plus are brand movement specialists and creative catalysts poised to deliver what is needed by brands today and tomorrow. We Are Plus thrives at the intersection of creativity and entrepreneurship. The company’s unique expertise successfully transports brands, products, ideas and innovation to market. By uniting visionary brand strategy with masterful thinking, design, and production, We Are Plus propels these ideas across every form of media.

www.weareplus.com
www.shuuemura-usa.com

Popularity: 26% [?]

Andy McGraw was offered a sporting chance and victoriously delivered a complex edit for this new ANTA Sport commercial directed by David Edwards of HANraHAN for JWT Shanghai.

The commercial features a stylized match between two top world ranked female tennis players. It was shot on two continents; in Malaga, Spain where Jelena Jancovic was playing in a tournament and Beijing, China where Zheng Jie was busy training. In Shanghai Andy McGraw then united the players via the magic of editing, with post and effects created and applied in Hong Kong.

The result of this well-traveled production is an eye-catching spot that highlights Anta as a key supporter of sport in China and an enthusiast for the beauty of tennis.

Cut+Run is a boutique editorial company with locations in Los Angeles, New York, and London. The award-winning shop features a diverse roster of talented editors who contribute their vision and skill to commercials, film and music videos. With an emphasis on client service, Cut+Run operates under a ‘borderless’ philosophy making its editors available to work anywhere. Editors can also cut on set wherever projects are shot.

HANraHAN are producers and directors of tv commercials.The company was formed in 2004 by Mark Hanrahan who was previously Head of TV Production for Saatchi & Saatchi London. HANraHAN represent a mix of directors across all genres of filmmaking from live-action through to animation and everything in-between.HANraHAN is based in London, Cape Town and New York.

Credits
Anta Sport “Deuce”

Product: Anta Sport
Client: Anta

Title: Deuce
Length of Ad: 30″
Exposure: Chinese Television

Agency: JWT Shanghai
ECD: Yang Yeo
CDs: Elvis Chau / Raymond Chin / Rojana Chasakul
CWs: Raymond Chin / Margin Ma
ADs: Elvis Chau / Rojana Chasakul / David Mo / Lu Nan TV Producer: Jane Zhang

Prod Co: HANraHAN / New Life Films
Director: David Edwards
Producer: Swifty Hanrahan
DP: Stuart Graham

Editing House: Cut + Run
Editor: Andy McGraw

Post: Pixel Box Hong Kong

Related Links:
www.cutandrun.tv
www.hanrahan.co.uk

Popularity: 26% [?]

Bullet, the creative production firm founded by acclaimed producer Oscar Thomas, completed a new music video for Chew Lips, a UK band out on Kitsune, a Paris-based record company. The video is a combination of live footage and animation that features an abstract story-line that rewards repeat viewings.

Bullet was approached by ATC Management in the UK for ideas on potential creative collaborators, which, according to Bullet Producer Patrick Oliver, was the perfect excuse for them to work with one of their favorite animators — Man vs Magnet, who work through Curious Pictures, New York.

Bullet is a uniquely creative production resource that sits between agencies and the production companies, shepherding projects through the fractured production company landscape. Bullet innovative positioning combined with its network of very specialized producers means that agencies can keep their overheads low yet always have access to the best producers for whatever project is coming out of their creative department.

Curious Pictures is a diversified design and entertainment company producing live-action, special effects, graphics, comedy and animation of all types. Curious directors, designers, artists and animators create TV commercials, on-air graphics/titles and television shows.

Curious was formed in 1993 when four colleagues established a small entertainment company that would provide a home base for talented creators from all over the world. Specializing in animation, design, and graphics, the company opened with a philosophy based on a tripod: ‘great work – make money – have fun.’

Creative Credits:
Client: ATC Management, London
Record Label: Kitsune, Paris
Project: Chew Lips ‘Salt Air’ music video
Creative Production Firm: Bullet, New York
Executive Producers: Oscar Thomas & Patrick Oliver
Production Company: Curious Pictures, New York
Director: man vs magnet
Animation, Edit. Design: man vs magnet
Executive Producer: Mary Knox
Head Of Production: John Cline
Producer: Courtney Fransen

http://chewlips.co.uk
www.myspace.com/chewlips
www.bullet.tv
www.manvsmagnet.com
www.curiouspictures.com

Popularity: 37% [?]

Electronic Arts recently entrusted Framestore to use their creative skills to help launch the latest incarnation of their Fight Night game series, Fight Night 4.

In Fight Night 4 players from the past, in the prime of their game, go head to head. The Framestore spots pit the intimidating strength and defensive genius of heavyweight champion, Mike Tyson, against the “float like a butterfly and sting like a bee” of the great Muhammad Ali.

Framestores brief was to show off the advances in the new game and showcase how those advances improved the experience for the player, while also adding cinematic texture and style.

“The guys at EA were understandably very proud of their in-game graphics and we had to maintain the same quality and style of finish” remarked Framestore Director David Hulin. “Our job was to take the game and make it feel like a scene from a movie. The scripts were all about the tension of such a legendary fight and so we spent a lot of time working on the choreography and edit, referencing classic boxing movies and also key moments from Tyson and Ali’s individual fights”.

To bring the new EA campaign to life, Framestore collaborated with artists at EA to capture some footage that was generated through the in-game camera. Framestore also created large amounts of bespoke animation in house using assets from EA. The Framestore team was ultimately successful in blending both elements seamlessly into two incredibly dynamic spots.

“The challenge throughout the project was to stay true to the game footage while creating a more cinematic atmosphere,” said the co-director of the spot, Andy Walker. “It would have been easy to apply the gloss and finesse of pre-rendered footage, but we needed to keep the raw, real time quality, so that we could seamlessly mix post rendered graphics with the game capture.”

Framestore also augmented the game footage with their animation magic, this gives the fight scenes that nostalgic and yet vivid feel that the clients wanted to match the feel of the new EA game.
Lead Animator, Kevin Rooney, explained, “Animation-wise we wanted to introduce more signature Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson moves to the commercials. We also wanted to re-enact some of the existing TV coverage-style camera moves and angles to really add to the realism of the fight.”

Mix master Tony Volante of Sound Lounge and Marshall Grupp of Marshall Grupp Sound Design brought the clash of the titans alive with bone crunching sound FX and a driving score.

About Framestore:
Framestore has been working in digital film and video for over 20 years now, creating original and astonishing work that has helped make it the largest visual effects and computer animation studio in Europe. Since 2004, Framestore NY has been flying the flag in the world of US commercials, landing work for clients such as GE, FedEx, Hoover, Pepsi, Nike, Smirnoff, and Coca-Cola, and winning top awards including both an Emmy and a VES in 2006.

About Sound Lounge
New York-based Sound Lounge is the undisputed industry leader in audio production and post services. Now celebrating its 10th anniversary, the artist-owned and operated company features a staff of talented individuals who set the standard for creative excellence and technical mastery, including Partners/Engineers Tom Jucarone, Peter Holcomb, Philip Loeb and Partner/Sound Designer Marshall Grupp.

Credits
Client: EA
Spot Title(s): Tyson (featured), Ali
Air Date: August 2009

Agency: SF Heat
ECD: Steve Stone
Copywriter: James Duffy
AD(s): Faruk Sagcan, Woody Kurupintsiri
Broadcast Producer: Susan Crimley

Production/Visual Effects: Framestore
Director: Dave Hullin & ANdy Walker
Lead Lighting: Andy Walker
Lead Animator: Kevin Rooney
Executive Producer: Laney Gradus
Senior Producer: Jenn Dewey

Music Director: Tyler Brown

Sound Design: Marshall Grupp Sound Design
Sound Designer: Marshall Grupp

Audio Post: Sound Lounge
Mixer: Tony Volante

Related Links:
www.framestore.com
www.soundlounge.com

Sources:
Framestore
Sound Lounge

Popularity: 34% [?]

Cut + Run’s Julian Tranquille worked alongside award-winning director Osbert Parker on an 8-minute animated film titled “Yours Truly” that has garnered praise and awards at festivals around the world.

The hyper-stylized film has been picking up awards left, right and center including the Jury’s Choice Black Maria Film + Video Festival 2009, a 2008 BAFTA Nomination for Best Short Animation Film and 1st Prize Best Short Animated Film: British Animation Awards (BAA).

“We would try cutting in different film clips then decide which one worked, and Ossie would go away and do his stuff, then come back with this amazing animated clip…doing this process over and over and watching the story come to life was magic,” says Julian Tranquille.

Cut+Run is a boutique editorial company with locations in Los Angeles, New York, and London. The award-winning shop features a diverse roster of talented editors who contribute their vision and skill to commercials, film and music videos. With an emphasis on client service, Cut+Run operates under a ‘borderless’ philosophy making its editors available to work anywhere. Editors can also cut on set wherever projects are shot.

“Yours Truly” was also screened to great acclaim at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and continues to be enthusiastically received on the festival circuit.

Credits “Yours Truly”
Duration: 8 Minutes
Director: Osbert Parker
Producers: Osbert Parker / Fiona Pitkin
Writers: Osbert Parker / Ian Gouldstone
Animators: Osbert Parker / Laurie Hill / Meghana Bisineer
Editor: Julian Tranquille, Cut + Run

www.cutandrun.tv

Popularity: 28% [?]

Nike has launched a humorous eye catching music video starring four leading players from the National Basketball Association to promote the new Nike basketball sneaker, the Nike Hyperize.

The NBA quartet is known as the Nike Hyperizers, and is made up of Andre Iguodala, Mo Williams, Kevin Durant and Rashard Lewis. The basketball players each take on the alias of a larger than life rapper-player for the 2 min 30 second music promo: Fog Raw, Velvet Hoop, Chief Blocka and Ice-O.

The single, ‘Don’st Criticise (Hyperize)’, has been released to coincide with the launch of the new Nike sneaker, which is known to many as the Nike Hyperdunk 2. The Hyperize is even lighter than the original Hyperdunk and features Nike Flywire technology.

The music video also features a cameo by the legendary DJ Quik who composed and produced the music for ‘Don’t Criticise (Hyperize)’. Lyrics for the song were written by Brandon Pierce and Mike Warzin; and the single was mixed at Eleven by Jeff Payne.

The Hyperize concept was developed at Wieden+Kennedy, the video was directed by Andreas Nilsson via Streetgang Films and editorial work was completed at Final Cut.

Cast
Fog Raw: Rashard Lewis
Velvet Hoop: Kevin Durant
Chief Blocka: Andre Iguodala
Ice-O: Mo Williams

Credits
Director: Andreas Nilsson (via Streetgang Films)
Executive producers: George Meeker, Jason Botkin
Line producer: Jasper Thomlinson
Director of photography: Shawn Kim

Agency
Wieden+Kennedy
Executive Creative Directors: Susan Hoffman & Mark Fitzloff
Creative Directors: Jeff Williams, Alberto Ponte & Tyler Whisnand
Copywriter: Brandon Pierce,
Art Director: Mike Warzin
Agency Executive Producer: Ben Grylewicz
Agency Producers: Tieneke Pavesic & Jeff Selis.

Editing
Final Cut
Editors: Logan Hefflefinger & Stephen Burger
Post producer: Jennifer Miller
Post executive producer: Siama Awan

VFX
The Syndicate
Lead flame artist: Mike Ek
Flame artist: Kevin McDonald
Producer: Robert Evans

Related Links
www.nike.com
www.wk.com
www.streetgangfilms.com
www.finalcut-edit.com
www.syndicate.tv
www.elevensound.com

Sources:
Nike
The Inspiration Room
sneakernews.com
Great Ads

Popularity: 34% [?]

Shooters Post & Transfer, the full-service creative post house, stepped up big-time for MASN, (Mid-Atlantic Sports Network), the Baltimore, MD-based regional sports network owned jointly by the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals, handling the production with a cast of real fans and the complex post production that centered on creating intricate 3D virtual sets that evoked the iconic look of Camden Yards and Nationals Park — the home stadiums for Orioles and Nationals respectively.

”This campaign has its origins in fandom, starting with blog entries that asked fans to write their favorite Orioles or Nationals moment,” Dick Goggin, MASN Consultant for Creative and Marketing, said. ”The original idea for the TV campaign was to shoot in a big studio and build replicas of the stadium scoreboards, but Shooters convinced me they had the resources in production, 3D animation, design and graphics, as well as post to handle it all digitally. I was skeptical at first but they were right.”

Instead of building physical sets, the Shooters creative team led by Ed Mendez, Visual Effects Supervisor from Shooters’s film division DIVE, proposed to shoot the fans on a smaller greenscreen stage and create virtual sets in 3D for creative and budget reasons.

”The virtual set allowed us to composite the fans into the scene, and because we shot digitally we were also able to take all the camera data and use that to make the scenes perfect in terms of lighting, shadows and perspective,” Mendez said. ”The other advantage was the control we had on these complicated VFX driven spots. Partnering with Churchman Productions ensured that the client got want they wanted and the budget was not blown because something was shot incorrectly.”

The challenges in production were technical and practical — namely how to make certain everything worked seamlessly in post, and how to shoot some 20 fans, not actors, in three days. The schedule meant they would need to film about eight fans each day, with about an hour for each. Shooters tapped Director Peter Churchman, who is known for his network work with real people, for the project.

”Peter had a great way with the fans and got them to open up, be natural and tell their stories in a compelling way,” Carolyn Jefferson, Executive Producer — Production said. ”Between the casting, shooting, the logistics, the shoot and post there was a lot of moving parts on this project, but because of the fully-integrated production and post workflow at Shooters everything came together seamlessly.”

Adds Goggin, ”MASN has a long history with Shooters, and this is the biggest project to date. It was a unique project and they excelled greatly. The campaign has been well received by both our fans and from everyone at MASN, and Shooters deserves a lot of credit for it turning out as well as it did.”

The 20-spot branding campaign was created by the Washington, DC-based agency Rosenthal Partners and directed by Peter Churchman of Churchman Productions, Ardmore, PA.

About Shooters Post & Transfer:
Shooters Post & Transfer blends talent, technology and customer service to provide a superior level of quality and creativity. Shooters’s client base consists of ad agencies, production companies, filmmakers, television and cable networks, political consultants, PR firms, and corporations. Capabilities include Spirit 2K film transfer w/ Bones data, da Vinci 2k Plus w/Colorist Toolbox; Resolve Digital Cinema Suite, six Inferno/Smoke2k suites, nine Avid non-linear edit, four final cut suites, CGI and graphic design, Flame, three surround sound audio suites, audio recording studio, film, HD and video crews and studio. Shooters offer these services in SD, HD, 2K, 4k, RED and Viper. The company also has a content division that produces Food Network ‘Dinner: Impossible.’

About DIVE:
Based in Philadelphia, DIVE (http://www.the-dive.net, is a visual effects and film finishing house led by veteran Visual Effects Supervisor Mark Forker ?Äì most recently Visual Effects Supervisor at Digital Domain, Los Angeles. The new company will focus on providing the film community with visual effects, digital intermediates, and titles.

Creative Credits:
Client: MASN, Baltimore, MD
Project: ‘Defining Moments’ branding campaign (20 x :30)

Agency: Rosenthal Partners, Washington, DC

Production: Churchman Productions, Ardmore, PA (in association with Shooters Post & Transfer):
Director: Peter Churchman

Visual Effects/Post Production: Shooters Post & Transfer, Philadelphia, PA
Visual Effects Supervisor: Ed Mendez
Executive Producer: Carolyn Jefferson
VFX Artists: Jeremy Fernsler, Kevin Fanning
Sound Design: Mike Taylor
Post Producer: Mark Reidenauer

Related Links:
www.shootersinc.com
http://masnsports.com
www.rosenthalpartners.com

Popularity: 24% [?]

There is a place, like no place on earth. A land full of wonder, mystery and danger. Some say to survive it you need to be as mad as a hatter…

Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland is the highly anticipated fantasy adventure due for release in March 2010. The film is an adaptation of the much loved Lewis Carroll novels ‘Alice Adventures in Wonderland’ and ‘Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There’, that were written towards the end of the 19th Century.

This new movie adaptation of the tale begins with Alice, now a beautiful young woman, in the middle of a grand Victorian party, where she unexpectedly discovers she is about to be proposed to in front of hundreds of people.

Alice runs away from the party in pursuit of a white rabbit that suddenly disappears into a hole at the bottom of a tree trunk. Following the rabbit Alice finds herself in Wonderland, a land she visited 10 years before but of which she has no memory.

Wonderland, once a peaceful kingdom, is in turmoil since the Red Queen overthrew her sister, the White Queen. The inhabitants of Wonderland, that include Alice childhood friends the Cheshire Cat, Tweedledee and Tweedledum and the March Hare, are ready to revolt and await Alice to help them. Alice finds herself embarking on a fantastical journey to find her true destiny and end the Red Queen reign of terror.

Tim Burton brings his renowned Burton-esque ghoulishness to the films style and character creations; and has cast some of his favourite actors within the leading roles.

Burton wife, Helena Bonham Carter, plays the Red Queen, apparently based on a combination of Lewis Carroll Red Queen (Looking-Glass) and Queen of Hearts (Wonderland). Carter character is quick to decree the death sentence for the slightest offense, and is notorious for her condemning cry ‘Off with his head’.

A slightly disturbing Mad Hatter is portrayed by Johnny Depp, in his seventh film collaboration with Burton. Tim Burton has stated that Depp brought a new depth to the role ‘I think he tried to bring something, an underlying human quality to the craziness’.

The film uses a technique combining live action and motion capture technology and is set to be released in Disney Digital 3-D and IMAX 3-D, as well as 2-D. Burton and producer Richard D. Zanuck chose to film with conventional cameras, converting footage into 3D afterwards feeling that 3D cameras were too expensive and “clumsy” to use. SonyPictures Imageworks are creating the visual effects sequences.

Since 1992, Sony Pictures Imageworks has been creating outstanding visual effects and digital character animation, beginning with seamless invisible effects and fashioning an expertise in emotive CG characters and creatures for live action, all CG-animated, and hybrid live-action/animation productions. Imageworks prides itself as a community of artists supporting the imagination and expression of visual storytellers.

Cast
Mia Wasikowska – Alice
Johnny Depp – Mad Hatter
Helena Bonham Carter – Red Queen
Anne Hathaway – White Queen
Michael Sheen – White Rabbit
Alan Rickman – Caterpillar
Stephen Fry – Cheshire Cat
Matt Lucas – Tweedledum and Tweedledee
Christopher Lee – Jabberwock
Noah Taylor – March Hare
Barbara Windsor – Dormouse
Timothy Spall – Bloodhound
Crispin Glover – Knave of Hearts
Paul Whitehouse – Dodo
Eleanor Tomlinson – Fiona Chataway
Jemma Powell – Margaret Manchester
John Hopkins -Lowell Manchester
Lindsay Duncan – Helen Kingsley
Marton Csokas – Charles Kingsley
Frances de la Tour – Aunt Imogene
Leo Bill – Hamish Ascot
Tim Piggott-Smith – Lord Ascot
Geraldine James – Lady Ascot

Credits
Directed by: Tim Burton
Production Companies: Team Todd, Tim Burton Animation Co, The Zanuck Company
Written by: Lewis Carroll
Screenplay: Linda Woolverton
Original Music by: Danny Elfman
Cinematography: Dariusz Wolski
Film Editing by: Chris Lebenzon
Casting by: Susie Figgis
Production Design by: Robert Stromberg
Set Decoration by: Karen O’Hara, Peter Young

Related Links
http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/aliceinwonderland/
www.imageworks.com

Popularity: 100% [?]

The Mill multi award winning directing collective, Bif, has won the prestigious Jury Award at the SIGGRAPH Computer Animation Festival for their short film, Dix. The work is a mixture of live action and CG. Dix is a darkly comic short film featuring a man called Mark, and shows the complexities of psychological and obsessive behaviour.

Marc always counts to ten as he steps on paving stones.He needs the paving stones in order to be able to get about, as he is terrified of walking on lines. In order to get over his phobia he follows a treatment to confront the inner fears which lie behind his obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Dix has already scooped a raft of awards, among the most recent, the Shoot Young Directors Award and a win at the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival.

Bif are Jules Janaud, Fabrice Le Nezet and Francois Roisin. Dix is part of The Mill ongoing initiative to produce in-house short films and continuing commitment to develop talent within their growing animation team.

‘Dix’ was chosen as winner of the SIGGRAPH Jury Award from hundreds of submissions from all over the world by an expert panel of jury members. The entries were judged for computer-generated imagery, animation and storytelling and the winners announced a the event in New Orleans.

For ten years, SIGGRAPH has been an official qualifying festival for the Academy Award for “Best Animated Short Film”.

The Mill is a world-leading visual effects company with bases in 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 ?‚àö√ë‚àö‚â§Gladiator’s for which it gained a VFX Oscar, and has won more awards for visual effects than any other facility in Europe.

Awards
Dix has won the Jury Award at Siggraph Computer Animation Festival, the Shoot Young Directors Award, the Silver M?©li?®s at International Fantasy Film Festival of Brussels 2009, the Best Short Film in less than 15 minutes at Anifest Trebon and Teplice International Animated Film Festival, the Grand Prix Cocotte Minute at Brest European Short Film Festival 2008, the Silver Dragon for best animation at Cracow International Documentary & Short Film Festival 2009, Prix RTP2 Onda Curta at Lisbon IndieLisboa International Independent Film Festival 2009, Prize for Best Animation at Zinebi International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Bilbao 2008, along with awards at Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival 2009 and Larissa Mediterranean Festival of New Directors 2009.

Credits
Actors: Ian Faure (Marc), Lucien Momy (Marc as a child) and Alain Choquet (Monsieur X).
Directing Collective: Bif (Jules Janaud, Fabrice Le Nezet and Francois Roisin).
Producer:Nicholas Schmerkin, Autour de Minuit,
Director of photography: Reynald Capurro.
Post production:The Mill, London,
Post producer: Stephen Vennin.
Sound design: John Baptist St Pol at Dune Sound
Sound mix: Guillaume Leriche.
Music: Raphael Martinez-Bachel (Azel).

Sources:
The Mill
The Inspiration Room

Related Links
www.themill.com
http://theinspirationroom.com

Popularity: 38% [?]