Teaser Poster for “The Dark Knight Rises” Arrives!

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The teasers for Christopher Nolan’s next Batman installment, The Dark Knight Rises, are starting to hit the interwebs. Check out this beautiful and striking poster, featuring an upshot of a crumbling Gotham city.

darkknightrisesposter.jpg

Gorgeous! Ok, so it kind of looks like these…

… but are you really going to fault the guy for consistency?

The Dark Knight Rises will hit theaters on July 20, 2012. In the meantime, it’s rumored that the teaser trailer will be accompanying the final installment of the Harry Potter franchise, out this Friday!

Full Trailer for Spielberg’s “Tintin” Is Here

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A few weeks back, we got a sneak peek at the teaser for Spielberg’s holiday release, Tintin and the Secret of the Unicorn. The full trailer has just been released. I’d like to remain optimistic, but it looks more like Tintin and the Voyage to the Uncanny Valley.
I know there is a lot of debate amongst animators regarding the use of motion and performance capture, but honestly, I’d rather see either a fully-animated film or a live action feature. The performance capture stuff is… creepy. Check out the trailer and let me know what you think.

 

Tribute to Steven Spielberg

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Director Steven Spielberg was celebrated by the DGA on June 11, 2011 as part of the DGA’s 75th Anniversary. Spielberg is a DGA Lifetime Achievement Award recipient and a three-time DGA award winner. The two-hour panel discussion features Spielberg discussing his craft with J.J. Abrams and James Cameron. The panel was moderated by Michael Apted, the 75th Anniversary Committee Chair.

Here is the link to a ton of clips from the event. Clicking on the first thumbnail will play the entire 2-hour panel. Enjoy!

 

Strobe Photography Captures Animal Locomotion

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Kim Taylor, a 78-year-old gentleman from Surrey, has developed his own photography equipment to recreate the strobe effect used by Eadweard Muybridge and fellow British photographer Stephen Dalton. His homemade unit allows him to capture the actions of animals in his garden at fractions of a second on a single photographic frame (as opposed to superimposing the images in post).

The result is a stunning look at the mechanics of animals and insects. Check out the post here. I would love to see more of his work! For now, I’ll just oogle over this owl:

Landing owl: A beautiful white and beige owl lands is pictured landing on a wooden post in a Surrey garden

Thoughts on Subtext

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I have just discovered a great blog post by animator Tomas Jech, who was (I believe) an animation intern at Pixar when this post was written in 2008.

He offers some great tips about thinking through the thoughts and actions of your character for ways to add subtext to a shot. Jech offers notes on three topics: personality, feelings, and thoughts.

From Jech:

Personality: what is your character generally like? how does she hold herself? is she an introvert or extrovert? Personality will dictate your initial posing of the character, and how the feelings and thoughts are framed.
Feeling: what is your character like right now? what is the context of the scene? Feeling is layered onto the personality, an introvert who currently feels outgoing will look very different then someone outgoing who is feeling outgoing.
Thoughts: What is your character thinking? Thoughts are shaped by the personality, feeling and context. Thoughts are the last internal process. For instance, when you touch something hot, your body reacts first, then you think “SHIT, THAT IS HOT!” and it isn’t until after you think that you speak.

Check out the original post for a great example of what NOT to do from funnyman Ben Stiller.

CTNX Panel Discussion: Tools of the Trade of a Successful Animator

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I haven’t had time to watch this yet, but I am definitely looking forward to it! This popped up on the CTNX channel over at Vimeo, and it was also highlighted on the blogs of both Pixar animators Victor Navone and Carlos Baena.

Tools of the Trade of a Successful Animator Yesterday Today and Beyond from Creative Talent Network on Vimeo.