June 19, 2009
Visual FX from HELL
One of the most memorable aspects of the much-loved (by both critics and fans) but sadly underseen DRAG ME TO HELL is the ending of Sam Raimi’s supernatural thriller (SPOILER ALERT: that conclusion will be discussed heavily in this piece, with photos from the sequence—so if you haven’t seen the film yet, read no further). Even if you see it coming, as some people have claimed to, it’s a hell of a note to end on, and has sent audiences out buzzing.
When it came time to bring this finale to the screen, Raimi (who also scripted the Universal release with his brother Ivan) looked to Academy Award-winning visual FX house Tippett Studios (CLOVERFIELD, BLADE II, STARSHIP TROOPERS), which also ended up contributing to the opening sequence and the moment in which heroine Christine (Alison Lohman) snorts and swallows a fly. Matt Jacobs, who has been at Tippett for 13 years now and served as co-visual FX supervisor on the project, found DRAG to be anything but one. “I was a huge fan of Sam Raimi’s pictures, like ARMY OF DARKNESS and the other EVIL DEAD movies. I didn’t actually realize when we were working on it, until we actually got to see it at the premiere, just how much DRAG ME TO HELL was like those films.”
Continue reading "Visual FX from HELL"
Posted by dschnee at 06:39 AM | Comments (0)
June 13, 2009
Drag Me To Hell FX Guide Rundown
For the Hell sequences in Sam Raimi's Drag Me To Hell, Tippett Studio augmented miniature photography with various digital elements. Visual effects supervisor Matt Jacobs gives Ian Failes a run-down of Tippett's work for the film. (fxguide.com)
fxg: Can you give me an overview of your work for the Hell shots?
MJ: Tom Schelesny and I were the visual effects supervisors for Tippett Studio on the project. Tippett worked on two major sequences in the film. One was the opening sequence of the little boy who has been cursed and is dragged into Hell. Most of that work was doing augmentations to the set. Hell starts to open up and the earth cracks. We had to add light rays, smoke, embers and fire. In one shot, which didn't actually appear in the picture, there was a demon - this creature called the Lamia which resembled a goat and had a Hag's head. That was actually a shared model with other facilities that was given to us. We had to do some work internally for our Lamia shots, using shaders. It was basically taking this grand hall that the kid was in, cracking the earth as he is pulled down to Hell, while this gypsy woman watches. So there were several shots of the kid and then a couple of reverses of the woman trying to take the curse off of him.
fxg: What was the other main sequence you worked on?
Continue reading "Drag Me To Hell FX Guide Rundown"
Posted by dschnee at 06:05 AM | Comments (0)
June 09, 2009
NEW MOON Trailer Sets New Record Online + Reaction
Seth Meyers needs to weekend update with this shit, Really!?! Seriously, "the trailer views on MySpace set a new record for the site with a total of 4.2 million online views within the first 24 hours and a total of 7.8 million within the first seven days", wtf, really?
Film's First Movie Trailer Receives 10.6 Million Online Views in its First Week Through Launch Partners MySpace and MTV
LOS ANGELES, June 9 /PRNewswire/ -- The movie trailer for Summit Entertainment's THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON received 10.6 million online views in its first week from the trailer's domestic launch partners, MySpace and MTV. The trailer views on MySpace set a new record for the site with a total of 4.2 million online views within the first 24 hours and a total of 7.8 million within the first seven days. After being seen by 5.3 million viewers during its broadcast debut during the 2009 MTV Movie Awards, the trailer also received a total of 2.8 million online views on MTV.com within the first week.
The achievement is not only a record for MySpace, but also surpassed the views of the third and final trailer for the first film TWILIGHT, which received 3.2 million views in its first 48 hours online.
THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON starring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner, and directed by Chris Weitz will be released November 20, 2009.
Posted by dschnee at 10:51 PM | Comments (0)
June 07, 2009
Drag Me to Hell: Tippett Enjoys the Ride
Matt Jacobs of Tippett Studio divulges what it was like opening up hell for the new Sam Raimi shocker. Includes major spoiler images.
Beware: Major Spoiler Images Included Below
There was no kicking and screaming to entice Tippett Studio to work on the two hellish set pieces for Drag Me to Hell, director Sam Raimi's return to horror about a loan officer (Alison Lohman) cursed by an old woman after not getting her an extension on her mortgage.
"We did not have much direct contact with Sam Raimi (Bruce Jones, the overall visual effects supervisor, served as liaison), but this was a lot more fun to work on because I'm such a fan of Evil Dead and Army of Darkness and horror overall," admits Matt Jacobs, Tippett's visual effects supervisor on Drag Me to Hell.
"And now that I've seen it, I realize what a return it is to those pictures," Jacobs offers. "But Raimi is particular about what he wants and has a real sense of where he's going. I'd say one of the more interesting aspects of it was editorializing the effects: the beats that we knew to hit…"
Continue reading "Drag Me to Hell: Tippett Enjoys the Ride"
Posted by dschnee at 09:35 PM | Comments (0)
June 01, 2009
New Moon Trailer + 1rst Day Back
So you can actually watch something in good quality on youtube now? I'm into that, here's the New Moon Teaser Trailer shown on the MTV Movie Awards last night...
OK, as of today, I'm now officially and fully on board working on the Untitled Sports Movie, aka whatever, it's New Moon! I've been out since the first week of April on baby duty while my wife needed to return to work for a short time. It's been amazing having so much time with the little man, seeing him grow and change so much in such a short time, I'm very fortunate. I'm also super excited to be back at work though, went a little stir crazy? you bet'cha.
Anyhow, lots of work to be done, enjoy the animated gif some fangirl created, it's our shot from the teaser trailer, a solid delivery of our transformation and cg wolf, don't fret, it's gonna be bettah! :)
Your thoughts on our CG Wolf and Transformation?
Posted by dschnee at 09:05 PM | Comments (0)
May 29, 2009
Drag Me To Hell is Released!
in the USA 29 May 2009
visit Drag Me To Hell @ imdb.com
Box Office Results May 29-31, 2009
Number: 3
Weekend Gross: $16,628,000
Theatres: 2,508
Theatre Average: $6,630
Weeks in Release: 1
Total Gross: $28,534,000 (Domestic Total as of Jun. 7, 2009)
Budget: low
Running Time: 1 hrs. 39 min.
Distributor: Universal
MPAA Rating: PG-13
UP floated to the top with 68.2 million this opening weekend, despite all the positive reviews (93% Fresh / 83 on Metacritic) Drag Me To Hell only dragged $16.6 million worth of souls into the theaters, we'll see if word of mouth keeps or breaks DMTH's box office curse...
Continue reading "Drag Me To Hell is Released!"
Posted by dschnee at 08:22 AM | Comments (0)
New Moon Trailer will Debut at the MTV Movie Awards
So the premiere of the 'New Moon' trailer will air on the MTV Movie Awards, sometime around 9:00 pm ET on Sunday. Then at 10:45 p.m., the high-definition video will debut online.
MySpace Movies announced they’ll be premiering the trailer on Sunday, May 31st at 7:45pm PT / 10:45 ET. bleh, get it on apple.com/trailers
Posted by dschnee at 07:37 AM | Comments (0)
May 26, 2009
Drag Me To Hell Screening
Who said being cursed and punished, gummed and punched multiple times by an old mysterious gypsy women isn't a great time? Mrs. Ganush made Drag Me To Hell for me one hell of a time!
I won a couple of tickets to an advanced screening of Drag Me To Hell from HorrorYearbook.com. It was a fan and press event at the Metreon in San Francisco. Pretty much packed full and the crowd was really into it, lots of energy with lots of people jumping, shrieking and laughing.
I had a blast, plenty of 'ohhly shit' and great 'haha, no way' moments when that feeling of fright and startlement rushes over you, even if you tried to look away, the sound elevates with so much intensity, your heart can't help but race until the pay off hits!
Drag Me To Hell is a simple fun thrill ride that takes us along this 3 day curse set against a young women working as a loan officer at a local bank. Her choice to make the tough decision denying another extension for an elderly women's mortgage, (in hopes to gain a promotion) as a result a dark curse is brought forth brutally by the old 'gypsy' women. Alison Lohman who plays the loan officer Christine Brown, did a good job, she was fun to watch. It's pretty much non stop awesome once she enters the parking lot to leave for the night... the gypsy women is there waiting for her and all hell breaks loose!
Our work held up pretty well (low budget style), we book ended the movie with the visuals in the very first scene with the boy being 'enter movie title here', and the final sequence at the train station. We also did a handful of shots with the pesky fly, it all looked great. I don't want to ruin anything from the movie, so I won't talk about any of the shots I worked on, but at some point I will...
fantastic thrill ride, loved it, and proud to have been able to work on it!
Drag Me To Hell opens this Friday, May 29th, definitely check it out!
Ohh BTW, curently Dragged has a 94% Fresh Tomatometer Reading, nice.
Posted by dschnee at 11:57 AM | Comments (0)
May 20, 2009
Economy hits high-end VFX, Studios Concerned
VFX cuts may affect upcoming films...
Visual effects now vie with stars as box office draws in summer tentpoles. But a possible shortage of visual effects shops could be a brutal blow to the next wave of f/x-heavy tentpoles.
Studios depend on outside vfx shops to deliver ever-larger amounts of first-class work on ever-shorter schedules. Some leaders of the visual effects business, both at vfx shops and at studios, are warning there could be a shortage of vfx capacity within a year -- a shortage that could drive up costs and even threaten release dates.
The combination of Hollywood's production slowdown and the recession have already driven some California vfx shops out of business, with more threatening to shutter.
Continue reading "Economy hits high-end VFX, Studios Concerned"
Posted by dschnee at 03:55 PM | Comments (0)
May 19, 2009
New Moon Teaser Poster + USM?
So this is the teaser poster for New Moon aka Untitled Sports Movie or as the kids on the street like to call it 'USM', this was the title they were using during the shooting of principal photography, and now that's a wrap. The cat was out of the bag back in February. Were still calling it USM at work, but were working on New Moon. I'll be the lead compositor on the project, and I officially start work on it June 1rst, all though I've been on the project since April. (I've been on paternity leave playing Mr. Mom with my new son!) At this point, I'm ready and excited to really get going on it, there's going to be some great wolf work ahead... in the meantime here are some New Moon tid bits.
See Also: First New Moon Footage @ the MTV Movie Awards
Footage from the Twilight sequel will be shown for the first time during the upcoming MTV Movie Awards.An action-packed, minutelong clip from Twilight showing Edward battling bad-boy bloodsucker James (Cam Gigandet) made its debut at last year's awards. It was also the first time Pattinson and Stewart walked the red carpet together in support of the movie.
"Fans can tune in to the show to see sneak peeks from three of the most highly anticipated movies of the year," Burnett tells me. "These clips have never been seen before, and we're very excited that The Twilight Saga: New Moon is one of them." (eonline.com)
See Also, Also: First Official 'New Moon' Movie Trailer Releases on Aug 14
Sounds like it's set to be shown in theaters during the previews before this new family, musical, movie, thing "Bandslam" (trailer) which is due out on August 14,2009.
Lastly,
Summit Entertainment has announced that the studio will present The Twilight Saga: New Moon at the San Diego Comic-Con:
On Thursday, July 23, Summit Entertainment will hold a panel for THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON at Comic-Con International in San Diego, California. Come see our stars and exclusive new footage for THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON — there may be even be a surprise or two in store!
Posted by dschnee at 07:14 AM | Comments (0)
May 13, 2009
Drag Me To Hell Updates
Drag Me To Hell is featured in FANGORIA #283 May 2009 - (Out Now!)
Sam Raimi Interview, Drag Me To Hell (moviesonline.ca)
New Clip: Sam Raimi's 'Drag Me To Hell' (cinematical.com)
Finally, a handful of gents from the studio (Tippett) were invited to the Drag Me To Hell Premier last night in Hollywood (Grauman's Chinese Theatre)
"Oh yeah! The movie was great. Our stuff, although very quick, looked great and fit into the story really well. Our work both set up the story from the first minute and closed the movie in the last, which was awesome." -jKnight
Nice one, I'm looking forward to it!
See Also: dragmetohell.net has been updated!
Posted by dschnee at 06:53 PM | Comments (0)
May 05, 2009
Even Nice People, Can Go To Hell
Not much to it yet,
Story | Trailer | Gallery
and some links to facebook/myspace, still though, ~enjoy
http://www.dragmetohell.net/
On May 29th, EVEN NICE PEOPLE,
CAN GO TO HELL.
Posted by dschnee at 09:54 AM | Comments (0)
May 03, 2009
X-Men Origins: Wolverine Reviewed
So I went out to breakfast with some good friends of mine, and after some discussion, we decided to up and go see Wolverine this afternoon... I read the script many months ago and my feeling was that of a good solid action piece, something fun and entertaining, but no real depth, not much origin focus, no true Logan character development. They say a movie is made 3 times... once when it's written, once when it's filmed, and once again when it's all edited together. So I let the script slip away from memory and kept a little hope along with me as we worked on the post production.
I watched the leaked copy last month, and I wasn't impressed, I didn't hate it, but I didn't like it at all. I was very interested in seeing how that end cooling tower sequence ended up though, and to be fair, even your favorite movies looked rough at a work print stage, so seeing the finished product vs the work print is something that should to be done.
Now as far as a finished piece is concerned vs the work print, they pretty much pulled it off, sure there were a handful of really bad VFX work, but the rest of it was pretty tight and came together nicely. In particular was the that cooling tower sequence at the end... what can I say, considering I know what they had to work with, with those horrible plates, with the time constraints, again, they pulled it off, and in that respect I was impressed. At least I think this was the case, now that I think about it I found myself looking at the tower itself 90% of the time... :) So I'd have to watch it again to see how it all really looked and felt, how did you all feel about the look of that sequence?
I was excited to see they 'did' indeed use the 5 shots I was able to complete when young Scott Summers is beside Diamond Girl. Summers removes his eye cover and blasts the soldiers behind the windows with his laser beamage right before the end battle vs Deadpool. I worked pretty hard on those, so it's nice for use to have something in there despite how things ended up. I think they also used another of our shots when young Scott Summers is being chased by Creed in the high school, he jumps and spins with his beam tearing through the hall. So by my count, they used 6 Tippett shots in the film but no credit to this shall to be found.
As for the story, I really wished they would have focused more on developing Logan's character, rather than a sequence of events to shallowly tell the tale, take some time and reveal the true nature of who Logan is and how he becomes the Wolverine. I don't know, in an origin story you just might want to tell the us about his mutant healing factor and how it works, maybe touch upon his acute sense of smell, sight, and sound... ohh yeah, and those bone claws of his?
All and all, It in now way comes close to 'The Dark Knight' territory, not nearly as effective as 'Iron Man', but it's not 'Daredevil' either.
Maybe someday a great director will take on 'Wolverine' leaving behind any crappy 'X-Men Origins' setup the next film / slash spin-off angle of the bangle...
Posted by dschnee at 09:18 PM | Comments (0)
May 01, 2009
X-Men Origins: Wolverine is not a Wolverine film
This pretty much sums up my sentiment as well, nicely done Elisabeth.
by Elisabeth Rappe May 1st 2009 // 8:02PMI don't care what's in the title. I don't care that the hero sports muttonchops and adamantium claws. He isn't Wolverine. Any resemblance he has to the Marvel character or the snarling beast Hugh Jackman played in X-Men 1, 2, and 3 is entirely coincidental.
It really hurts to say that. I love this character, and I know Jackman loves the character. I know he loves the fans, and he wants us to be happy with his work. He has gone on record as saying this is the Wolverine film he always saw in his head. But did he really see something so clunky and milquetoast as this?
Logan is a man constantly at war with himself. His gruff exterior hides a man who can be gentle, who enjoys the beauty of the Canadian Rockies and the simplicity of a Japanese tea ceremony. But he also possesses the animal senses and brute force that makes him willing to kill if threatened. He doesn't enjoy killing, he's often haunted by the blood he's shed, but it's his grim destiny.
He's also a guy who has been truly dealt a crappy hand. Everything he loves is taken from him. He's been betrayed and tortured, and he's lost his mind on more than one occasion. But he deals with it by fighting the good fight, and indulging in a cold beer if he's got a chance. None of this makes him particularly complicated for adapting to the big screen. If anything, he's been done a million times before. He's Charles Bronson, he's the Man with No Name, he's Martin Riggs, Harry Callahan, and Bud White.
With a million comic books, three films, and a ton of inspiration before him, this should have been easy. Instead, this is a film that treats a motorcycle jacket as a Tremendous Moment, one that's bigger than a child's discovery that he's packing a pair of bone claws. This is a hero who is more daunted by air travel than the adamantium bonding process. When you prick him (or in this case, slash him) he doesn't even bleed. Our hero looks around with anguished eyes, he suffers nightmares, he assures us that he's "been through worse," and he probably has somewhere in his long life, but it certainly isn't in this film.Now, I tried to remove myself from the comics and see this through fresh eyes. I tried to pretend the rapid pacing was a homage to comic panels. I told myself that whatever moment Gavin Hood was racing the film towards might actually be worth it. But there's no master plan here. Instead, they just filmed whatever they wanted, crammed it together, and called it a film. There's no point to any of it. It's like looking through a Viewmaster. Click, Wade Wilson. Click, Team X. Click, Gambit. Now you're at the end of the disk. There's not even mindless spectacle. It's just random and useless to establishing anything except a Deadpool spinoff. (Seriously, this isn't Wolverine's origin story, it's Deadpool's.)
You'd think they could have at least rewatched the X-Men films they were making an "origin" story for. Wolverine was pretty well established in the X-Men films, especially in X2. There we see the gory Weapon X scene and it was gorgeously done. In five minutes, we know that Wolverine has been traumatized, and that those claws are alien to him. He's in pain, he's bleeding, and he's desperate to get away from whoever has done this to him. Origins ignores that. Now, he's just angry and cold, but he is fully aware of the procedure he just underwent (after all, he volunteered for it) and he knows he has adamantium claws. In fact, he thinks they're pretty terrific. I refuse to call that nitpicking, or the complaint of a "difficult" fan. If you're going to mess with the comic mythology, fine, but at least honor what was already established onscreen, if only so you don't have to invent the stupidest memory-loss MacGuffin ever to rectify it. (Oh and for those who remember my Weapon X piece, the way they handle the "volunteering" is worse than I feared. But that I'll freely admit is fannish nitpicking.)
There's so much potential here – and anyone with a faint interest in the material could have exploited it. Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool was a stroke of genius, and the few minutes he's on screen convince you this film will be worth your time. Liev Schreiber is a fantastic Sabretooth despite his lousy motivation. When the sloppy story actually allows Jackman to be Wolverine, he's as good as he's always been, especially when onscreen with Schreiber. I long to see these two actually go head to head as Sabretooth and Wolverine. There are flashes of true cutthroat savagery between them, but it's purely accidental. They're like outtakes.
Whew. I apologize for writing such a rant, believe me, it was so much more poetic when I started writing. But you know, I could have forgiven a lot if it had just done right by the Old Canucklehead. I went in with very low expectations. As someone who reads anything with Wolverine in it, I'm already fairly easy to please when it comes to the character. He just has to show up most of the time, and I enjoy it as the pulpy stuff it is. So, I could forgive goofy dialogue, I could forgive the sloppy action, I could forgive an awkward story and pointless cameos. Just give me the guy who tries to forget his animal side, and carves his and his girlfriend's name on a tree. When that is taken away show me the man who, when taunted by an adversary, sticks his claws under the guy's chin and pops them. Give me the hero whose claws hurt every time they pop out through his skin, but who grimly unsheathes them anyway. That is the mutant they call Wolverine ... and he's not anywhere to be found in this movie. (cinematical)
For more punishment, See Also: /Film's What Did You Think?
Posted by dschnee at 07:45 PM | Comments (0)
X-Men Origins: Wolverine is Released!
in the USA 1 May 2009
visit X-Men Origins: Wolverine @ imdb.com
Box Office Results May 1-3, 2009
Number: 1
Weekend Gross: $85,058,003
Theatres: 4,099
Theatre Average: $21,225
Weeks in Release: 1
Total Gross: $160 Million
Budget: $150 Million
Running Time: 1 hrs. 47 min.
Distributor: FOX
MPAA Rating: PG-13
$35 Million on Friday night alone...
Continue reading "X-Men Origins: Wolverine is Released!"
Posted by dschnee at 07:03 AM | Comments (0)
April 30, 2009
Ohh Wolverine Why???
So what the heck, FOX SUX, you have marketed the shit out of this movie, you are said to distribute multiple secret endings on different prints and theaters, so you will be showing different versions to boost geekple ticket sales, Rotten Tomatoes currently meters you at %35 (22% Top Critics) and metacritic at a mere 42, so the reviews are bad bub! Yet, with this film you will probably take in $80 million even after the big 'workprint leak' with well over 1 million + downloads, what a mess. I don't like it, I don't like you, are our shots in the final cut? who knows, who cares, We'll never get credit for it anyhow.
Kindest of Regards,
Ohh yeah so, X-Men Origins: Wolverine hits theaters tomorrow... good luck with that.
P.S.
"I have been powerfully impressed by film versions of Batman, Spider-Man, Superman, Iron Man and the Iron Giant. I wouldn't even walk across the street to meet Wolverine." - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times.
Posted by dschnee at 09:43 PM | Comments (0)
April 16, 2009
Principal Photography has begun on 'New Moon'
SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT STARTS PRODUCTION ON THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON
Los Angeles, CA April 15, 2009 — Principal photography has begun on Summit Entertainment's THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON, it was announced today by Erik Feig, Summit's President of Production. Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner reprise their roles as Bella Swan, Edward Cullen and Jacob Black. Academy Award-nominee Chris Weitz (THE GOLDEN COMPASS, ABOUT A BOY) is the director. NEW MOON is filming on locations in Vancouver, BC and Tuscany, Italy.
Also rejoining the movie are Ashley Greene as Alice, Peter Facinelli as Carlisle, Elizabeth Reaser as Esme, Kellan Lutz as Emmett, Nikki Reed as Rosalie, Jackson Rathbone as Jasper, Edi Gathegi as Laurent, Rachelle Lafevre as Victoria and Billy Burke as Charlie Swan.
New cast members include the legendary Volturi, a venerable coven of vampires who weigh and impose the laws of the vampire world, as well as two new members of the Quileute Indian Nation. The Volturi include Charlie Bewley as Demetri, Jamie Campbell Bower as Caius, Daniel Cudmore as Felix, Christopher Heyerdahl as Marcus, all Volturi enforcers. Dakota Fanning plays Jane, a high ranking and powerful Volturi member and Cameron Bright is Alec, her brother. Noot Seer plays Volturi member Heidi. Michael Sheen plays Aro, the Volturi leader. Graham Greene appears as Harry Clearwater, Quileute tribal leader and old friend of Bella's father Charlie. Tinsel Korey is Emily, the fiancé of Sam Uley.
In NEW MOON, Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) is devastated by the abrupt departure of her vampire love Edward (Robert Pattinson) but her spirit is rekindled by her growing friendship with the irresistible Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner). Suddenly she finds herself drawn into the world of the werewolves, ancestral enemies of the vampires, and she finds her loyalties tested.
Continue reading "Principal Photography has begun on 'New Moon'"
Posted by dschnee at 10:47 AM | Comments (1)
Opening Movies
