Disney's 3D Animation "Bolt" - New Extended Trailer

Here is the new extended trailer for Disney's BOLT, a 3D animation feature hitting the screens on November 21st. After watching this extended trailer i am totally waiting to see the entire movie. I am having an intuition that this one will be entertaining all the way.


Have a look -

Simply Superb - The Day The Earth Stood Still

Check out this awesome EXTENDED preview of an upcoming sci-fiction movie "The Day The Earth Stood Still". It stars Keanu Reeves who suits this particular role so seamlessly, it seems he was born to do this movie !!

I think this movie has the potential to do what the Matrix Trilogy did to cinema. The preview looks absolutely brilliant !! This has become the most awaited movie for me in this year as much as Quantum Of Solace.

Have a look and decide by yourself.

Asifa India CGMEETUP 13th September - Case Study By Aardman Animation Studios

I went to my first every CGMeetUp here in Mumbai. Infact my first ever MeetUp since my existence as an animator.

The event was organised by Asifa India and was a case study by the world renowned Aardman Animation Studios and was supported by CGTANTRA.

It was a totally fun experience watching the awe-inspiring work of Aardman who have been pioneers in Stop-Motion animation for many many years(or is it decades?).





Alan and Andrew were kind enough to come down to Mumbai, India representing Aardman and sharing their wonderful work(past, present, a bit of the future).

Aardman's Upcoming Projects

The session started with Alan and Andrew both taking the mic alternatively and speaking about Aardman, its history and finally getting started with the case study in terms of showing their work. They have a huge experience in Stop-Motion and have also entered the CG medium, using it in their work as a blend of stop-motion,CG and 2D. Needless to say the end result is absolutely beautiful.

They showed a wide range of commercials, pitches, how does the pitches work(or why it doesn't work as in getting a client or a project), their shorts, their critically acclaimed, multiple award winning short film Pearce Sisters and some of their work done by their amazing team of artists in their own time just as a hobby or to pursue their creative endeavors.





In the end(from Aardman) they also had an interactive session where the audience was allowed to ask any questions they had. Some of the very interesting questions were -

1. Is it necessary to specialize in one field or be a generalist ?

2. How does Aardman decides which medium to use(Stop-motion, CG, 2D) or does it depends on the client's sensibilities ?

3. Recruitment process of Aardman.

4. Suggestions/advise for people starting in the industry and for the entire fraternity of artists on the whole.

At the end of the event, they had an open mic forum where anyone could share their shorts or any news or information about anything they wanted to. Vaibhav Kumaresh another person doing some great work in Stop-motion, shared some of his beautiful work. It was brilliant and extremely entertaining. Also as a person Vaibhav is quite friendly and a jolly good fellow.

I was surprised to see Dhimant Vyas, the guy who did the highly famed animation (claymation primarily) work in Taare Zameen Par. He spoke about his future projects a bit and in general. With the kind of talent he has and the work he has done, he seemed to me an extremely humble and down to earth person. We need many more people like him for our industry, its so very inspiring.

Overall it was indeed a pleasure and so much fun attending this CGMeetUp and now i am eagerly looking forward to the next event. Attending these kinds of events for the first time,i didn't know a lot of people and hence couldn't interact much, but i am looking forward to that in the upcoming events.

:-)

Weekly Movie Recommendations : 13th September 2008 - 19th September 2008

Ladri di biciclette aka "The Bicycle Thief" (1948)

Genre - Drama

Language - Italian

Directed By - Vittoria De Sica

Whats It About - A man and his son search for a stolen bicycle vital for his job.

The recipient of international acclaim, Vittorio de Sica's Italian Neorealist masterwork, THE BICYCLE THIEF, is a treasure of world cinema. After nearly two years of unemployment, Antonio (Lamberto Maggiorani) finally finds work posting bills. But he needs a bicycle to do the job....Why To Watch It - The recipient of international acclaim, Vittorio de Sica's Italian Neorealist masterwork, THE BICYCLE THIEF, is a treasure of world cinema.

Thematically, Vittoria de Sica's THE BICYCLE THIEF details an everyman story of loss of innocence in the face of a destitute society, while the film's poignant acting and directing creates an individual and heart-wrenching tale of one man's struggle to feed his family. The film is often considered one of the masterpieces of 20th century cinema.

The Bicycle Thief' has been a critical favorite for decades, and for good reason. It is a must-see film for any cinema loving person.

Have a sneak peek and decide for yourself -

Quantum Of Solace - Bond Movie New Trailer 2 !!!!

Quantum Of Solace(QOS) new trailer is out !!! Its the 2nd official trailer to be released. I am quite a fan of Bond movies, I loved Casino Royal and Daniel Craig's performance in it as James Bond. Though i was not quite eager for QOS after seeing the first trailer, this new trailer has got me completely hooked. Its got some real kick-ass action scenes, some deadly camera angles and yeah a new Bond girl too ! :-)

If this is the trailer, i am dying too see the full movie !!!

Enjoy -

Interview Of Animation Mentor's 2 out of 3 Co-founders - Shawn Kelly and Carlos Baena

Fantastic interview of Shawn and Carlos, the co-founders(including Bobby Beck) of Animation Mentor - Character Animation School, with Tim Formica of Blender Nation.

Weekly Movie Recommendations : 6th September 2008 - 12th September 2008

Black Hawk Down(2001)

Genre - Action/War/History

Cast - Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor, Eric Bana, Tom Sizemore

Directed By - Ridley Scott

Whats It About - 23 elite U.S. soldiers drop into Somalia to capture two top lieutenants of a renegade warlord and find themselves in a desperate battle with a large force of heavily-armed Somalis.

Why To Watch It - Mark Bowden of the Philadelphia Inquirer told the story of the battle in his exhaustively researched, critically acclaimed book, BLACK HAWK DOWN, and filmmaker Ridley Scott (GLADIATOR) and screenwriter Ken Nolan have done an amazing job of bringing the dramatic story to the screen. Like Bowden's book, the film does not thoroughly examine the context of the conflict, but gives a detailed and intense blow-by-blow account of the fighting. The outstanding ensemble cast includes Josh Hartnett as a competent but nervous Ranger sergeant leading his first mission, Ewan McGregor as a "desk jockey" who excels when sent into combat, Eric Bana (THE INCREDIBLE HULK) as a cocky and enigmatic Delta, and Ron Eldard as a downed Black Hawk pilot. The violence of the film is brutal and nearly constant. Scott unflinchingly captures the chaos and mayhem of battle with tremendous visual finesse.

There cannot be a better action movie to make the most of your weekend. Get your home theater working, catch a big bag of chips/cheese balls/popcorn, get that 8-10 pack of your favorite beer/cola/whatever, lay back and enjoy the endeavor. Trust me you wont be disappointed. And oh yeah, you need not involve your girl friend also. This way you will have a much wanted time and space to yourself, have a much over due boys movie time and you will save yourself those tears which you had to bear while watching romantic movies with your loved ones !! :-)

Have a sneak peek right here -

Google Chrome Is Here - IE and Firefox, beware and be scared..very scared !

Google the undisputed leader in Search Engines and Email has done it again. It has launched its own free Internet Browser  - Google Chrome. 

First impressions looks very neat and slick with minimal design and nice use of pastel colors which are quite pleasing visually. I can go and on about Google Chrome and its new features but i highly recommend checking out the following links and videos. Though its in Beta, its definitely worth to give it a try !  Enjoy the Chrome !! 

Behind Google Chrome in  a Comic Book

10 Features Of Google Chrome

Story Behind Google Chrome

Lamie De Zoe - Green Is In !

Came to know about this short film from Keith Lango's blog.

The way it has been done and presented is a fantastic visual treat. Its so pleasing to the eye and the impact on the overall short is tremendous. Haven't seen such a beautiful short in a long long time.

Check it out for yourself.