The State of Practical Special Effects in Filmmaking

TESTED sits down with Fon Davis to discuss the state of visual effects in film, the resurgence of interest in practical effects. Fon is a visual effects veteran who has worked on films like The Nightmare Before Christmas, Coraline, Galaxy Quest, Star Wars, Mission: Impossible III, among many others.

Making of 'Rush'

Interview With 'Gravity' Editor Mark Sanger

STACK Pod - Ep 45
// Interview With 'Gravity' Editor Mark Sanger

More making of Gravity here:
// Making of Gravity via ToolBox

Behind The Scenes of 'The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug'

Practical Special Effects: Livin' Large in Miniature

Here's a great talk by model maker, director and artist extraordinaire Fon Davis who I had the pleasure of working with at IMD. Check out his project MORAV 

GreenTuesday VFX Rally outside Dreamworks

The Making of 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' (PBS special 1981)

Also check out:
// Raiding The Lost Ark: A Filmumentary

Making of 'Diablo III: Reaper of Souls Cinematic'

Here's a very in depth panel discussion about the making of Blizzard's Diablo III: Reaper of Souls cinematic. The animation section starts around 10:30. And a big congrats to my friend Dan Cox who who was the lighting supervisor on the project!

Directors Roundtable with Alfonso Cuaron, Paul Greengrass, Ben Stiller, Steve McQueen, David O. Russell, and Lee Daniels

EVENT: The Art and Craft of Cinema with Randy Thom, Sound Designer // Berkely Art Museum

Thursday, November 21, 2013  7:00 p.m. 
Behind the Scenes: Randy Thom on Sound Design, 
followed by Wild at Heart
Two-time Academy Award recipient Randy Thom speaks on the art of sound design, and his own working experiences on films like Apocalypse Now, The Empire Strikes Back, The Right Stuff, and The Incredibles. Followed by David Lynch’s crazed neo-noir, Wild at Heart. (127 mins, plus presentation)

Also check out:

// 8 Tips for Making Your Film Sound Great from the Industry's Top Sound Designers via Indiewire

The Legacy of STAN WINSTON

Here are some great interviews with artists that worked for  the man the myth the legend Stan Winston.

Also, this book is a much have:
// The Winston Effect: The Art  History of Stan Winston Studio

Check out Legacy Effects (previously Stan Winston Studios)
// Legacy Effects

Staircases to Nowhere: Making Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining"

'Return of the Jedi' 30mins of raw footage

Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan (2011)

The definitive documentary about Ray Harryhausen.

'The Shining' A Collection of Behind The Scenes Photos

2001: A Space Odyssey - The Making Of A Myth

ITF 2013 | Scott Ross Masterclass

ITF 2013 | Scott Ross Masterclass by nifff-ch

Japanese TV Interview With Steven Spielberg (1982)

via /film

1-Hour 'American Beauty' Storyboard Analysis w/ SAM MENDES and CONRAD L. HALL

This is an hour long 'American Beauty' storyboard presentation with commentary by director Sam Mendes and cinematographer Conrad L Hall. Excellent!

'GRAVITY' Featurette and Interview with Alfonso Cuarón

Only 2 weeks to go!






Also check out:

// GRAVITY: Alfonso Cuaron Sandra Bullock Comic Con 2013

// 'Gravity' Premiere Q&A (TIFF 2013)

Ray Harryhausen Q & A at Will Vinton Studios (1992)

Terry Gilliam Talks About 'The Zero Theorem'

Inside Kong: A View Of the King Kong Armature Animated Over The Original Film Footage

This is a fantastic project by Tom Woodruff Jr at studioADI. Awesome to be able to see the original armature of Kong over top the classic King Kong film footage! Rock!

The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing

Cinematographer Style

The industry's most talented and visionary cinematographers explain the importance of proper lighting and the techniques required for appropriate illumination.

A Conversation with Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola (1997)

SculptGL: zBrush Style Sculpting On The Web

Just discovered this app today via fellow FS animator Max Adams. Check it out!

//SculptGL by Stéphane GINIER

'SculptGL is tiny sculpting application, powered by WebGL. Source code on github here.
It features dynamic subdivision, decimation, uniformisation and adaptive sculpting.

Uniformisation is simply a call to subdivision followed by a decimation.
Adaptive sculpting lies on the uniformisation and enables changes in the topological genus (holes and merges).
Inflate and deflate are the best tools to trigger topological changes :D.
Adaptive sculpting is a little buggy... (for example you shouldn't use it with a mesh that already contains self-intersection).
Well, I don't think you can create anything that doesn't look weird... but who knows?

Right now, best performance are reached on Chrome.
On Firefox 22, the number of vertices is limited to 65536, on version 24 the limitation will be gone.'

Making of 'Forest Gump'

JAMES CAMERON Hosts: ORSON WELLES' "WAR OF THE WORLDS"

The Making Of Ralph Bakshi And Frank Frazetta's 'Fire And Ice'

Illustrator and author James Gurney has posted a collection of articles about the making of 'Fire And Ice' over on his blog Gurney Journey.

// Art Of Fire And Ice via James Gurney

Check out the full movie here

// Fire And Ice [Full Movie]

'Gravity' Comic Con and TIFF

Proud to have worked on this project. And for the record there's no motion capture in the film. The production didn't use the 'Vomit Comet' and it's completely animated except for the facial performances. It's the most complex film I've worked on to date.



















Framestore VFX crew for GRAVITY

The Future Of The Movies (1990)

via /film

Making of 'The Silence of the Lambs'

Making of 'The Hunt for Red October'

Interview with Harrison Ellenshaw

Here are two great interviews with matte painting legend Harrison Ellenshaw. The first interview 'Harrison Ellenshaw reveal all' is quite in-depth and covers a broad range of Harrison's career as well as his father's (Peter Ellenshaw).









// Harrison Ellenshaw reveals all.... via Matte Shot blog







Also check out:
// Peter Ellenshaw - Art of Matte Painting

Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan (Special screening with Dennis Muren and Craig Barron)

// RAY HARRYHAUSEN: SPECIAL EFFECTS TITAN

Special Screening at the Rafael Theater

Sunday, August 18, 7:00, Introduced by Dennis Muren

Sunday, August 25, 7:00, Introduced by Craig Barron

'Produced by the Ray & Diana Harryhausen Foundation, this is the definitive documentary on the visual effects and stop-motion pioneer whose imagination thrilled millions. Special Effects Titan traces the productions of The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, Jason and the Argonauts and other Harryhausen classics, with archival footage, on-camera commentary by the master himself and interviews with many who knew or learned from him, including: Ray Bradbury, Peter Jackson, James Cameron, Nick Park, Phil Tippett, Joe Dante, John Landis, Dennis Muren, John Lassiter, Tim Burton, Henry Selick, Guillermo del Toro, Terry Gilliam and others. Producers: Alexandre Poncet, Tony Dalton. Writer/Director: Gilles Penso. (France/UK 2012) 92 min.

We are happy that two of Ray Harryhausen's friends will introduce our screenings. Dennis Muren has received nine Academy Awards for his visual effects on Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park and others. Oscar-winning visual effects supervisor Craig Barron (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) serves on the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.' via Rafael Theater

Filmmaking 'Master Class': Interview with Alfred Hitchcock (1976)

In this fantastic interview with Alfred Hitchcock from a 1976 press conference for his last film 'The Family Plot'. During this interview (1.5hr) Hitchcock responds to a range of serious and comical questions about his career, his filmmaking style, story, and directing.

Sense of Scale: Interview with Stephen Howarth

// Stephen Howarth Website

ELYSIUM: Comic-Con Panel and B-Roll Footage

Obsessed with Vertigo (1997)

A documentary about the making and restoration of Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece "Vertigo".

The World's Greatest Stunts: A Tribute to Hollywood Stuntmen (1988)

Kickstarter Project: Digitize EVERY issue of Cinefex!

Now here is a Kickstarter project worth supporting!


// Kickstarter: Cinefex Classic Collection

Interview with David Lynch (1979)

Interview with director David Lynch from 1979 by writer and filmmaker Tom Christie.

// David Lynch Interview 1979

Making of 'Pacific Rim'

How World War Z Used AI to Build Smarter Zombies

Here's a great behind the scenes vid from WIRED about the vfx of WWZ. Also, check out the recent vfxguide article below for more details about the making of the film.

// Zombie Warfare: World War Z via vfxguide

Directors Alfonso Cuaron and James Cameron talk CGI/Filmmaking (TagDF Mexico City 2013)

The Lone Ranger - Behind the Scenes Footage

GIFF 2011: Charlie Kaufman Master Class

Inside Jaws, A Filmumentary by Jamie Benning

If the video doesn't play in your browser here's the link to the vimeo page.

// INSIDE JAWS via vimeo

More behind the scenes videos of JAWS here:

// Making Of  JAWS

Interview With Cinematographer Barry Ackroyd

Tonight! VFX Town Hall Meeting [Live Streaming Video]

/UPDATE/ Here's the video of the meeting 






Live Video Feed Here:

// VFX Town Hall on IATSE

Date: Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Time: International broadcast begins at 8pm PDT, see below for specific venue schedules.

VFX Town Hall is presenting a night of independent discussion to answer some tough questions about the IATSE union on this Tuesday, June 25 at 8pm PDT. Following our panel presentation, we will have a Q&A session, fielding questions from attendants and internet viewers. Please join us for this open conversation, investigating the pros and cons of unions.

This event will concentrate on the specifics of the existing North American entertainment union, but will also offer a blueprint of topics for the international audience.

Attendants are encouraged to bring challenging questions and confirm what they've heard and read on the internet, from the smallest detail to the most sweeping proclamation.

IATSE Local 80 Hall
2520 West Olive Avenue
Burbank, CA 91505
Doors open at 7:30pm PST, international program begins at 8pm


Past Events (Videos):

Collider - Live From New York - June 10, 2013
VFX Facilities Town Hall - April 26, 2013
Pi Day Town Hall - March 14, 2013