Above, Lara "Angelique" Parker.
This year's Dark Shadows Festival was held at the Burbank Marriott Hotel Convention Center. The theme was Dark Shadows Resurrected. The convention was not exactly a "resurrection."
The last Dark Shadows Festival I attended was back around 1992 at the LAX Marriott Hotel. That convention was well-attended and the convention had a main session hall, banquets, a big dealers room, video room, art room and other things for attendees to occupy their time with. Plus, the attendees had easy access to the guests. It was an impressive convention with a lot of enthusiasm.
Above, Kathryn Leigh "Maggie Evans/Josette" Scott.
Unfortunately, the Dark Shadows Festival at the Burbank Marriott (next to the Bob Hope Airport) was sparsely-attended (maybe 400 tops), had a tiny dealers room (with not all tables occupied), a main hall and not much else. In the lobby area, there were some displays of photos, memorabilia and fan art. It also contained the tables for the celebrities to autograph programs and memorabilia for the fans. The Dark Shadows celebrities present were Kathryn Leigh Scott, Lara Parker and Marie Wallace.
David Selby was scheduled to have a session at 3:00 and Jonathan Frid was scheduled for a 4:30 session.
Sorry folks, there was just not enough there to keep my interest up to hang around for the aforementioned sessions.
Recently, I was part of a committee that put on the annual G-FEST convention for Godzilla enthusiasts in Chicago. G-FEST has far more things for attendees to do, including a huge dealers room, more than one session room for panels, video gaming, G-Pardy games, video room, a special room for small-fry activities, etc. In other words, G-FEST has more "bang for the buck" than did the Dark Shadows Festival.
My question is: What happened to the great Dark Shadows Festivals of yore? Frankly, I was greatly disappointed. With a $15/day admission price and a $12/day parking charge, one would expect that the promotors would have put on a better show. They must have lost some key organizers over the years. The little contact with the convention's staff I had gave me the impression that they lacked enthusiasm. One guy, who led a session on the new Johnny Depp Dark Shadows movie, was snarky to some convention attendees who were having a quiet conversation in back of the main hall before he took the stage. Nothing like making your customers feel welcome!
At least Lara Parker, Kathryn Leigh Scott and Marie Wallace were gracious to the conventioneers. As one who has been a part of convention organizing and planning, I felt embarrassed for them
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Dark Shadows Festival in Burbank - A Review
Friday, July 18, 2008
The Dark Knight (2008)(Warner Bros)
Source: Warner Bros
The follow-up to the action hit "Batman Begins," "The Dark Knight" reunites director Christopher Nolan and star Christian Bale, who reprises the role of Batman/Bruce Wayne in his continuing war on crime.
With the help of Lieutenant Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman sets out to destroy organized crime in Gotham for good. The triumvirate proves to be effective, but they soon find themselves prey to a rising criminal mastermind known as the Joker, who thrusts Gotham into anarchy and forces the Dark Knight ever closer to crossing the fine line between hero and vigilante.
Academy Award nominee Heath Ledger ("Brokeback Mountain") stars as arch-villain The Joker, and Aaron Eckhart plays District Attorney Harvey Dent. Maggie Gyllenhaal joins the cast in the role of Rachel Dawes. Returning from "Batman Begins" are Gary Oldman as Lieutenant Jim Gordon; Oscar winner Michael Caine ("The Cider House Rules") as Alfred; and Oscar winner Morgan Freeman ("Million Dollar Baby") as Lucius Fox.
With "Batman Begins," writer/director Christopher Nolan opened a new chapter in the Batman film franchise by taking the legendary character back to his origins, re-imagining why and how the billionaire industrialist Bruce Wayne became the enigmatic crime fighter known to the world as Batman. In "The Dark Knight" Nolan returns to the Batman saga with the character now, in the director's words, "fully formed."
Nolan continues, "I thought we left the world of Batman at an interesting place in the first film, and the end suggested an intriguing direction in which the story could continue." Nolan developed the story with David S. Goyer, with whom he had collaborated on the screenplay for "Batman Begins." Nolan and his brother, Jonathan, then partnered on the screenplay for "The Dark Knight."
In "The Dark Knight," Nolan says he focused more on how Batman's very existence has changed Gotham City...and not, at least initially, for the better. "At the end of 'Batman Begins,' we hinted at the threat of escalation--that in going after the city's crime cartels and attacking their interests, Batman could provoke an even greater response from the criminal community and now that has come to pass. There are some very negative consequences of his crusade brewing in Gotham City."
Producer Charles Roven offers that the issue extends beyond Gotham's resident criminals. "On the one hand, Batman has begun to rid Gotham of the crime and corruption that has plagued the city, but, ironically, the vacuum he created draws in an even more powerful criminal element, who see it as their chance to take over the city."
Producer Emma Thomas notes, "In 'Batman Begins' we largely concentrated on the origins of the character--how Batman evolved out of Bruce Wayne's own early trauma, his fears, his anger and, finally, his resolve to fight crime and corruption. In 'The Dark Knight,' Batman has become well-known to the police and citizens of Gotham City, but while some consider him a hero, others wonder if he is doing more harm than good. And the arrival of a new kind of criminal raises the stakes on that debate.
"What's intriguing," Thomas adds, "is that the billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne--with his fabulous cars, a beautiful woman on each arm and not a care in the world--is not at all who this man really is. So while Bruce Wayne wears a mask to hide his identity as Batman, it is actually Batman who defines Bruce's true identity, and the public persona of Bruce Wayne is the 'mask' he wears to co-exist in this world."
It didn't start out that way. Returning to the dual role of Bruce Wayne/Batman, Christian Bale asserts, "I believe Bruce thought it would be a finite thing, that Batman would serve as an inspiration to Gotham City and that he would eventually be able to leave this character he conceived behind. But he is coming to understand, more and more, that this is not something he can easily walk away from now...or possibly ever. There are new enemies to protect the city from."
The most dangerous of these enemies is Batman's most infamous nemesis--a maniacal, remorseless fiend known as The Joker. "The Joker is the ultimate screen arch-villain," Nolan attests. "In his own way, The Joker is as much an icon as The Dark Knight is, and that presented us with both an opportunity and a challenge in terms of exploring the character's distorted point of view. But we also wanted to create a villain who, as colorful and outrageous as he is, is still coming from a place of reality. In keeping with the tone we established in 'Batman Begins,' we determined he is a pretty serious guy, despite being called The Joker. So we began with the notion of The Joker as the most extreme form of anarchist--a force of chaos, a purposeless criminal who is not out for anything and, so, can't be understood. He is not only a massively destructive force, but he also takes great delight in his murderous nature, which is a pretty terrifying spectacle.
"As the screenplay developed," Nolan continues, "we started to explore the effect one guy could have on an entire population--the ways in which he could upset the balance for people, the ways in which he could take their rules for living, their ethics, their beliefs, their humanity and turn them on themselves. You could say we've seen echoes of that in our own world, which has led me to believe that anarchy and chaos--even the threat of anarchy and chaos--are among the most frightening things society faces, especially in this day and age."
"The Joker is somebody without any rules whatsoever," Bale states. "How do you fight somebody who is bent on destruction, even if it means self-destruction? That's a formidable foe." The actor goes on to say that The Joker's total lack of morality is one of his most potent weapons in his war with Batman because, conversely, "Batman has a very strict moral code for what he will and won't do, and The Joker can use that to his advantage. Batman still has this huge reserve of anger and pain and knows he could easily go too far, so he must not cross that line. He has to be sure that in chasing a monster, he doesn't become a monster himself. Chris Nolan has raised interesting ethical questions in this movie about the complications of having power versus aspiring to power."
Bale, who counts "The Dark Knight" as his third collaboration with Nolan, adds, "I think Chris has a great talent for satisfying the need for a rollercoaster ride, for just being purely entertained, without forgoing moments of great personal conflict and the duality within the characters. He manages to do both without compromising either."
While The Joker wreaks chaos and fear, the crusading District Attorney Harvey Dent is the new face of law and order in Gotham City. "Harvey is a man of the people. He's an all-American hero in a very different way from Batman," says Nolan. "So now you have the triumvirate of Batman, Harvey Dent and Lieutenant Gordon--the justice system, the police and a vigilante--forming an alliance to bring down crime. Using Batman gives them an edge over the criminals, but it is still the police who will arrest them, and then they will be tried through the justice system. But what comes up is the question of whether you can bend the rules without breaking them. And that becomes the underlying theme of the story."
The dynamic between the three crime fighters changes abruptly when an unforeseeable turn of events destroys the steadfast DA Harvey Dent and gives rise to the vengeful villain Two-Face. Nolan comments, "The hope that Harvey represents to Gotham City and then the tragedy of what happens to him and his transformation into Two-Face...it's a remarkable story."
The director observes, "The Joker is the more flamboyant villain, so he commands attention. But in some ways Harvey Dent/Two Face is the more compelling character because he has such an amazing arc. Our Joker has no arc, per se; he's just hell-bent throughout. The Joker and Harvey Dent--these are two of the most fascinating characters from the Batman comic books. They have an almost mythic quality and it was exciting to view them through the prism of the world we created."
In a groundbreaking move, Nolan broadened the scope of that world with a filmmaking first. Nolan shot six major action sequences with IMAX cameras, becoming the first director to use the large-format cameras to film even a portion of a traditional feature film. "In continuing Batman's story, the challenge was to make things bigger and better--to expand the world we established in the first film, both through the story and in the way we presented it," he states. "I was thrilled with the way the IMAX photography turned out. It throws the audience right into the action in a way no other film format could. It takes me back to when I was a kid going to the movies and experiencing the scope, the scale and the grandeur that great cinema can offer. As a filmmaker, I think you're always trying to get back to that, and expanding the canvas of our story with IMAX seemed a great way to do it."
The filmmakers have also made several changes to the world of Batman: Bruce Wayne's familial home, Wayne Manor, burned to the ground at the end of "Batman Begins," so Bruce now resides in a modern penthouse overlooking the city. Batman also has a newly designed Batsuit, which gives him more range of motion and a greater field of vision--"I can turn my head," Bale smiles. And the agile and powerful Bat-Pod makes its much-anticipated debut as The Dark Knight weaves through Gotham City traffic in a pulse-pounding chase sequence filmed on the streets of Chicago.
"Chris had a wonderful overall vision of what he wanted to achieve with this film, and he was able to accomplish that and more," says Roven. "He's one of those rare directors who, when he tells you what he's trying to do, no matter how ambitious, you can rely on the fact that he will do it, usually even better than you imagined."
To Find Out More About "The Dark Knight" Please Read:
Also Out This Week:
If You Like This Movie (Or The Line Is Too Long) Check Out:
Doctor Who - Left Turn
Source: BBC
In this week's episode of Doctor Who (Sci Fi Chanel 9pm EST), Donna's entire world collapses, but there's no sign of the Doctor.
Instead, she finds help from a mysterious blonde woman - a traveller from a parallel universe. But as Donna and Rose Tyler combine forces, are they too late to save the whole of creation from the approaching Darkness?
David Tennant plays the Doctor and Catherine Tate plays his companion Donna Noble. Billie Piper guest stars.
See Also: The Odds Of James Nesbitt Being The Next Doctor...Don't Put Your Money On It! /Is Robert Carlyle Going To Be The Next Doctor? / Doctor Who Star Billie Piper Worried About Nude Scenes / Doctor Who - The Unicorn And The Wasp / Doctor Who - The Doctor's Daughter? /The BBC Announces Some Changes For Doctor Who's 5th Season / Doctor Who - Planet Of The Ood / Create Your Own Doctor Who Trailer / Catherine Tate Rejoins The Doctor For Partners In Crime /Doctor Who Has A Big Premiere For Sci fi /Kylie Minogue Joins The Doctor For A Voyage Of The Damned / Doctor Who - The Sontaran Stratagem / Sarah Lancashire Set To Give Doctor Who A Flying Start / Doctor Who - The Fires Of Pompeii / Doctor Who – Partners In Crime
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Space Chimps (2008)(20th Century Fox)
Source: 20th Century Fox
When a $5 billion Space Agency probe disappears into an intergalactic wormhole, the agency recruits Ham III, grandson of the first chimpanzee in space, to help retrieve the wayward craft. But Ham is a free-spirited circus performer more interested in zero gravity high jinks than living up to his illustrious heritage. The simian slacker becomes a reluctant hero and learns the true meaning of courage as he and his crewmates, the plucky Lieutenant Luna and their by-the-book commander, Titan, risk everything in an effort to save the peaceful inhabitants of a distant planet from an evil dictator.
The Right Stuff meets the wrong stuff in this witty, out-of-this-world adventure. State-of-the-art CGI animation from Vanguard Animation, makers of the avian charmer Valiant, take this tale of a reluctant astronaut into another dimension. The film is directed by Kirk DeMicco, whose screenwriting credits include Quest for Camelot and Racing Stripes. It is written by Kirk DeMicco and Rob Moreland, from a story by Kirk DeMicco.
Space Chimps features the voices of Andy Samberg ("Saturday Night Live"), Cheryl Hines ("Curb Your Enthusiasm"), Patrick Warburton ("Rules of Engagement"), Kristin Chenoweth ("The West Wing"), Stanley Tucci (Robots), Kenan Thompson (Snakes on a Plane), Jane Lynch (The 40 Year Old Virgin), Carlos Alazraqui (Happy Feet), Zach Shada (Ice Age: The Meltdown), Patrick Breen ("Boston Legal"), Kath Soucie ("The Replacements") and Omid Abtahi ("Sleeper Cell").
The film is produced by John H. Williams (the Shrek trilogy) and Barry Sonnenfeld (Men in Black), the latter also serving as creative consultant. Tom Jacomb is associate producer and Curtis Augspurger is the film's co-producer. Executive producers are Neil Braun, Eric M. Bennett, John W. Hyde, Jerry Davis, Steve Brown and Morris Berger. Music is by Chris Bacon and the Blue Man Group. A Vanguard Animation film, Space Chimps is presented by Starz Animation.
Ham (Andy Samberg), the grandson of the first chimp in outer space, has been happily eking out a living as a chimp cannonball in a third-rate circus when the Space Agency makes him an offer he can't refuse. A wormhole has transported the Infinity Space Probe into the farthest reaches of the universe. As a political PR stunt, Ham is recruited to join a team of specially trained ape astronauts assigned to rescue the lost vessel.
His love of flashy acrobatics and aerial maneuvers make Ham a successful high-flyer, but his irreverent antics and goofball humor quickly alienate his professional astro-chimp colleagues. Ham spends most of his time tweaking the ship's pompous commander, Titan (Patrick Warburton), or flirting with Luna (Cheryl Hines), his fetching lieutenant, but as the only one immune to the effects of the wormhole, he is indispensable to the mission.
After a crash landing on the planet Malgor, Titan is taken prisoner by Zartog (Jeff Daniels), a megalomaniacal alien who has commandeered the Infinity and enslaved the other Malgoreans. In exchange for her help navigating the dreaded Valley of Really Bad Things to rescue their commander, Ham and Luna promise a desperate alien named Kilowatt (Kristin Chenoweth) they will free her people.
Titan is about to be turned into a statue in Zartog's growing gallery--made up of uncooperative minions dipped in molten lava and displayed as a reminder of his omnipotence--when his companions stage a heroic rescue and retake their ship. As they prepare for takeoff, Ham is reminded of his vow to Kilowatt and must decide whether to return home or take a giant step for chimp-kind and live up to his grandfather's legacy.
From two of "Saturday Night Live's" hottest young performers, to an Emmy(R) Award nominated alumna of the renowned Groundlings comedy troupe, to a singer trained in opera, each of the cast members brought his or her distinct gifts to the project.
Kristin Chenoweth, a bona fide Broadway star with two Tony Awards(R) to prove it, provides the voice of the brave alien Kilowatt and Kenan Thompson, another "SNL" cast member, plays the ringmaster of the circus where Ham III performs as a human, er, chimp cannonball.
Here is what the cast had to say about the film:
Andy Samberg: What I liked most about the script was probably the space part. And the chimp part. I would say of my many totem spirits, chimp is definitely one of them, so I'm pretty much interested in any project that involves chimps, whether that means actually working with real chimps in the forest or pretending to be one with my voice. I also am a big fan of space. And if you put the two together, I mean, that's like, two full fans' worth of person.
Kenan Thompson: It's true. For some reason, I love to see animals controlling spacecrafts and going to different places. It's kind of like pigs in space. You gotta love it. And it's about monkeys. I always love stuff about monkeys.
Andy Samberg: And I just love comedy and there's plenty of comedy in the film, as there almost always is with an animated movie. It's not exactly like what I do normally. It's a little more for everybody. But they were great about incorporating my ideas and allowing my sense of humor to sort of influence the character, which was important to me. I think it translates well.
Cheryl Hines: Well, I got involved in Space Chimps through Barry Sonnenfeld. He sent me the script, and I read it and I thought it was a cute story. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out what the movie's about. The title alone kind of says it. I mean, my first reaction was, am I one of the chimps? Because if it's titled Space Chimps, you at least want to be one of the chimps that goes into space. And did you like how I worked in rocket science with Space Chimps? Thank you.
Kristin Chenoweth: Like Cheryl, I had done RV with Barry Sonnenfeld. And he called me and said, "I have something that I want you to read, no pressure. Please don't feel pressure. I'm just really thinking of you for it." I read it and I then read it twice. I liked it. And so I called Barry and said "I want to do it."
And this is what they had to say about their characters:
Andy Samberg: I'm Ham III, the grandson of Ham, the original Space Chimp. This Ham's a little down-and-out, although he doesn't think of it that way. He's working at the circus, getting shot out of a cannon. And when the Space Agency loses one of its very expensive satellites, they need to send someone after it through a wormhole. Since it's too dangerous to send humans, they recruit Ham because he's a big name in the chimp world of space travel.
Cheryl Hines: Ham has an extraordinary story because his grandfather was an astronaut, a chimp-naut--I just made that up--and I don't think he really appreciated it until he walked a mile in those space shoes.
Andy Samberg: Ham falls in love. They free a bunch of aliens. There's dancing and joy and romance. Some other crazy stuff. Pure high-octane chimp adventure.
Cheryl Hines: My character, Lieutenant Luna, is second in command on this mission. She's very proud that she gets to go. Then Luna and Ham see sparks, as you often do when you're stuck in a spaceship or on a new planet with someone.
The military aspects of Luna's personality were a challenge for me. She's very straightforward and by the book. I'm usually never like that. And just some of the words that I had to say: all the "space words," as I liked to call them. That was a challenge. "Parsecs" and "wormholes," I still have nightmares about those.
Patrick Warburton: Titan is the alpha male chimp. Commander Titan has been an astronaut for many, many years. And then here comes this chimp, Ham, who's nothing but trouble, a circus freak. He doesn't have much respect for Ham in the beginning, but they eventually become a team and they get a lot accomplished together. Titan's a pretty much no-nonsense kind of guy. In real life, I get bossed around a lot. I have four kids and four dogs and a wife. That's nine and I'm pretty much at the bottom of the food chain. But gosh darn it, Titan is the commander of the ship. Actually, he's always pretty much losing control. He thinks he's in control, but he's not. Just like a daddy.
Kristin Chenoweth: I play Kilowatt, a creature from space. I really didn't do a lot of research because of the space aspect of it and the alien aspect of it. She's this precious little thing that has a big head, a huge head. I picture her as maybe green and she does have light around her. She's got a great heart.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
The Dark Knight - Ledger Takes The Joker To A Whole New Level
The Dark Knight is about to confront a singular criminal called The Joker, who has little regard for Keysi or any other fighting method. In a fair fight, "Batman would obliterate him," Christian Bale asserts, "but The Joker doesn't fight fair. He has other tricks up his sleeve, so it's more of a mind game. But he finds in Batman a very worthy opponent, and I think he enjoys that."
Heath Ledger plays the role of The Joker, the malevolent clown who is arguably the most recognizable of Batman's arch-nemeses. In casting the part, director Christopher Nolan says that the defining quality he was looking for "was fearlessness. I needed a phenomenal actor, but he also had to be someone unafraid of taking on such an iconic role. Heath created something entirely original. It's stunning, it's captivating...it's going to blow people away."
Nolan recalls that he first met with Ledger about the role even before there was a script. "We talked about how we saw this character and we both had exactly the same concept--that The Joker was about the threat of anarchy and revels in creating chaos and fear on a grand scale. Heath seemed to instinctively understand how to make this character different from anything that had ever been done before."
Producer, Charles Roven elaborates, "The Joker is one of the great villains in comic book lore--psychopathic, enigmatic, clever, diabolical, charming, funny and completely enjoyable to watch. We knew it would take an extraordinary actor to play him and Heath delivered on every front. From every physical nuance to each vocal turn of phrase, it's just an unforgettable performance."
In "The Dark Knight," The Joker arrives on the scene without warning and climbs ruthlessly to the top of Gotham City's criminal food chain. "We never wanted to do an origin story for The Joker in this film, but we wanted to show the rise of The Joker," Nolan maintains. "In a sense, The Joker is the logical response to Batman, who has instigated this kind of extremity of behavior in Gotham."
Bale adds, "The Joker wants to break Batman, to prove that everybody has a price and even Batman can be leveraged in such a way that he would compromise his principles. I actually think he's delighted to find that Batman won't do that, and it creates for The Joker an even better opponent in this game he's playing. He's a fascinating character, and Heath did an extraordinary job with it. I don't think the movie would have worked as well if we hadn't had an actor of the caliber of Heath Ledger, who was able to really up the ante, much as The Joker does in Gotham."
"We wanted The Joker to represent pure, unadulterated evil, in the sense that he has no logical motivation for his actions. That is what we wanted to unleash on the city of Gotham. He is an absolute," Nolan sums up simply.
Yet, producer Emma Thomas is quick to note, "He is very funny. I know it sounds somewhat bizarre, because how could someone so deplorable be funny? Heath's take on the role was not campy but still hilarious, both physically and in a dry, sardonic way. With The Joker, I think you'll find yourself being horrified and terrified, but hugely amused at the same time."
Costume designer Lindy Hemming was able to get a lot more outlandish in costuming The Joker, modifying the character's familiar look to reflect the generation of the actor playing him. Hemming explains, "Once I knew The Joker was going to be played by Heath Ledger, I wanted the costume to have a younger, trendier style than previous versions. Basically, my research ranged from Vivienne Westwood to Johnny Rotten to Iggy Pop to Pete Doherty to Alexander McQueen. I was collecting all sorts of images."
Hemming ultimately designed an eclectic ensemble that she says "has a somewhat foppish attitude to it, with a little grunge thrown in." Staying with The Joker's traditional color palette, his outfit is topped by a purple coat, worn over a green waistcoat. Changing up his look, he also wears a lighter jacket that was based on the Carnaby Street Mod look. His shirt was patterned after a shirt that Hemming found at an antique market.
The Joker's shoes are from Milan and were selected by the costume designer because they had an upward swoop at the toe, which she thought was reminiscent of clown shoes. His tie was fashioned from a fabric that was specially woven to Hemming's specifications by Turnbull & Asser, a London-based clothier better known for dressing British royalty and the like. "Heath wanted it to be thin, so it's a '60s tie but in a Turnbull & Asser fabric. I dare say it's the weirdest tie that Turnbull & Asser has ever made," Hemming laughs. "When Heath came in and we showed him all the bits and pieces of the costume, he thought it was fantastically original and just went for it."
The Joker's make-up was also a departure from past incarnations of the character. While he retains an allusion to his familiar white-faced, sneering visage, his make-up for "The Dark Knight" was intended to give him a more frenetic look that also lends to its shock value. The Joker's face is covered in a white pancake that is cracked and runny in places. His eyes are thickly rimmed in black, and a sloppy red grin is painted on, extending from his mouth to his cheeks but not quite masking the terrible scars beneath. His hair is a more subtle, but still noticeable, shade of green.
Make-up and hair designer Peter Robb-King remarks, "Clearly, there was a perception in the audience's mind of what The Joker would look like, but we wanted to get under the skin, so to speak, of what this character represents in this story. He is someone who has been damaged in every sense of the word, so it was important that we create a look that was not, forgive the pun, 'jokey.'"
Heath Ledger's make-up artist, John Caglione, Jr., calls the application of the actor's make-up "a dance." He describes, "Heath would scrunch up his face in specific expressions, raising his forehead and squinting his eyes, and I would paint on the white over his facial contortions. This technique created textures and expressions that just painting the face a flat white would not. Then I used black make-up around Heath's eyes while he held them closed very tight, which created consistent facial textures. After the black was on, I sprayed water over his eyes, and he would squeeze his eyes and shake his head, and all that black drippy, smudgy stuff would happen."
The Joker's make-up also represents a revolutionary advancement in the application of prosthetics, developed and executed by prosthetic supervisor Conor O'Sullivan and prosthetic make-up artist Robert Trenton. "They used a brand new silicone-based process that enables the prosthetics to be laid on the skin in such a way that it's seamless," Robb-King describes. "It's absolutely amazing because you can put a camera right up to the face--even an IMAX camera--and there are no issues."
O'Sullivan reveals, "It took us about two years to develop the technology, but after a few glitches, we hit on it. We are now able to produce silicone pieces that are applied directly to the skin. And it blends with the skin perfectly; if you didn't know it was there, you would have a hard time seeing anything."
In addition, the new process cut the application time to a fraction of what was needed in the past. O'Sullivan confirms, "The Joker prosthetics would previously have taken a good three to four hours. Instead they took about 25 minutes and looked far superior, which was great."
Heath Ledger was honored with an Academy Award nomination for his work in Ang Lee's drama "Brokeback Mountain." For his performance as Ennis Del Mar, Ledger also earned Golden Globe, Independent Spirit, BAFTA and Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations, and won several critics groups' awards.
In 2007, Ledger was seen in Todd Hayne's "I'm Not There," for which he shared in a Robert Altman Award at the 2008 Independent Spirit Awards.
His previous film credits include "Candy," "Casanova," "The Brothers Grimm," "Lords of Dogtown," "The Order," "Ned Kelly," "The Four Feathers," "Monster's Ball," "A Knight's Tale," "The Patriot" and "10 Things I Hate About You," which first introduced the Australian-born actor to American audiences.
Is This The End Of King Komodo?
Written By: Ken Hulsey
Source: Todd Tennant
Todd Tennant has sent us yet another sneak preview image from his "Tales of King Komodo" comic that will appear in G-Fan magazine #85 (G-Fan was recently voted as one of the Chicago Tribunes' top 50 magazines.......yeh, really!). The image allegedly depicts the demise of King Komodo. I wouldn't worry too much though. If there is one thing us comic book and sci fi geeks know is that comic book characters and giant monsters never die, and in this case King Komodo is a comic book character that is a giant monster. That being said, I would expect the big guys chance of survival would be about 100%. Of course, we will just have to read the pages of G-Fan #85 to find out for sure.
See Also: Todd Tennant's New Godzilla 94 Trailer / Yet Another Sneak Preview Of King Komodo From G-Fan #84 /You Can Be The Victim On The New King Komodo Poster / King Komodo - G-Fan #84 Sneak Peak / Godzilla vs The Gryphon - Jeff Farley's Godzilla Sculpt / An Exclusive! Godzilla 94' Page 60 / An Exclusive Sneak Preview Of The Gryphon From Godzilla 94 / King Komodo Returns To The Pages Of G-Fan / Robo Japan Exclusive! - Godzilla 94 Page 56 / Godzilla Attacks!
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor - Blending Fantasy And Reality
Source: Universal
To create the most complex sequences in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, a seamless blend of visual and mechanical artistry would be required. With an amazing range of effects—from ancient creatures and avalanches to intricate battle sequences with massive numbers of digital characters in digital environments and practical effects—the filmmakers had an enormous task at hand.
Accomplished VFX producer Ginger Theisen headed the visual effects department. For the large number of VFX shots required, more than 800 at last count, Theisen brought on two digital houses: Digital Domain, headed by VFX supervisors MATT BUTLER and JOEL HYNEK, and Rhythm & Hues, headed by VFX producer DEREK SPEARS.
The SFX department was led by industry veteran SFX supervisor R. Bruce Steinheimer. In order to develop the large number of mechanical effects for the film, he oversaw four different SFX shops in Montreal and China. Says Steinheimer, "We had over 100 people working in effects on different continents at the same time in order to make sure all the effects would be ready for both the main and the action units." Steinheimer was tasked with creating mechanical effects that would blend into digital extensions of CG creatures. In the Shanghai chase sequence, for example, the chariot needed to interact with its surroundings as if it was being pulled by real horses. He explains, "We put a plow on the front of it so we could crash into things, because the Terracotta Emperor and the bronze horses are in the digital realm. As the part of the chariot, they are on separates and start to spin out of control, so we used a hydraulic spin rig that travels down a track to create that effect. It ejects the sarcophagus, which slides through the streets, causing mayhem and destruction."
After the shots of the chariot crashing through buildings were completed, a plastic horse was attached to the front of the chariot to give reference for the performers when they filmed. "This gave our actors something to ride on," explains VFX producer Spears. "We replaced the plastic horse with our CG bronze horse later."
"All the horses were, originally, very heavy bronze statues built by the ancient Chinese," explains animation director CRAIG TALMY. "When they buried their dead emperor, they adorned his burial place with regal statues of horses." After Alex O’Connell accidentally lifts the curse, the horses "come alive." "We had to make them look like real horses," continues Talmy, "with their weight, structure and underlying bones and musculature. At the same time, they’re made of bronze, so they have to move in a way that suggests hollow metal about an inch thick."
Raising the Emperor Mummy
For the Emperor Mummy and his legion of Terracotta Warriors, the effects team developed a series of "liquid solid" warriors made of clay, who were able to flex and bend at will. Whenever they move, they crack and reform.
In order to begin work on the character of the Emperor Mummy, a cyberscan was performed on Jet Li using multiple three-dimensional cameras; a submillimeter threedimensional model of his entire body was created. Digital Domain motion captioned his entire body, then "staccatoed it" to infuse the characteristics of a terracotta statue. Cohen expands upon the process: "Instead of using makeup, we created a threedimensional image of Jet Li’s face by taking very complex measurements of his face while he acted the part. Then, we made a CG image of him that can talk, which is the essence of the real actor. We wrote in new algorithms to describe geometries which fracture and reform. So, every time he speaks, it fractures; it is constantly breaking and reforming."
As the Emperor has control over all of the elements (earth, fire, air, water and wood), he is quite a dangerous foe. To add insult to injury, he possesses off-the-chart healing powers. Explains Joel Hynek, co-VFX supervisor at Digital Domain: "He is filled with magma, so when he cracks, pieces fall off; the magma comes to the surface and rapidly solidifies—and he becomes the replenished terracotta-statue emperor."
The trick for the VFX team was to give the Emperor movement without making him look as if he was a human wearing a rubber mask. Digital Domain had some science experiments of its own as they performed stress studies on terracotta. They wanted to know what it looked like when it was expanded, cracked and crushed, and incorporated the results into the look of the mummy and his legion of doom. Hynek elaborates, "The Terracotta Warriors don’t heal unless they can get across the wall; they will continually deteriorate. However, if they can cross the wall, they become immortal."
Crafting Legions of Warriors
Though only a fraction of the Terracotta Warriors have been excavated from the depths of Chinese soil, the production was tasked with bringing them all back to life. Digital Domain was responsible for the creation of the vast armies of both the Terracotta Warriors (the Emperor’s men) and the Foundation Army (those killed by the Emperor).
They had to render a total of 2,500 Foundation Soldiers and 4,800 Terracotta Warriors. "The Foundation Army are the good guys," explains co-VFX supervisor Butler. "These are the workers that have been incarcerated under the Great Wall of China for a couple of thousand years. They come to life as desiccated beings that have a really spooky look. We didn’t just build them as skeletons, but in a multitude of degraded states—from ‘healthy guys’ to complete ‘bone men.’ It was tough, actually, because it was hard to depict a desiccated being as having a good character."
By examining reference materials from ancient embalming imagery to often macabre books on anatomy and physiology, the team became quick studies on kinesiology and musculature. "Using the research material," explains Butler, "we built a set of tools that enabled us to take a body from an undamaged-but-aged form down to muscles, tendons and sinew—in their decayed form—down to bare bones."
In order to give each character independent movement, Digital Domain used a program called MASSIVE, developed by Stephen Regelous and used for battle scenes for multiple films—including those of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. "Stephen designed and created a tool set that allows you to render thousands of sentient beings, whether they are humans or creatures," explains Butler. "They all have their own individual decision making capabilities. He refers to these individual characters as ‘agents.’ Each agent has the capability of making his own decision, based on rule sets designed by the artist. So the artist is literally designing the brain."
The original Terracotta Warriors provided their own reference, as each of the Xi’an Warriors was crafted with a unique face, hairstyle and body type. After scanning images of them, the team devised cunning ways to swap and exchange body parts, so the audience never sees two of the same soldier as they roar across a battlefield. When a geometric library of warriors were married with an assortment of terracotta textures, lighting, shade and movement helped to render thousands of unique soldiers.
Now, the team just needed to provide motion to the warriors, while they broke apart again and again. Not an easy task, because they had to take inanimate objects and build motion and fighting movements into their repertoire of behaviors. "Before we did anything, we did a Battle Action Reference Shoot," explains Hynek. "Vic Armstrong, Matt Butler and I started working with different battle actions, then Matt and Vic worked in Montreal to capture what we needed."
"It was important to Rob that the warriors look real and not just like replicated figures," explains Armstrong. "They are very grandiose, epic-style battles and, luckily, 21st-century technology is a big help. I worked closely with the VFX guys to plot every shot. I did a lot of motion-capture work with a mixture of live people to represent the two armies—blue suits for the Terracotta Warriors and green suits for the Foundation Army. They are actually fighting, so it looks realistic. The computer took the physical movement of a real person and replaced it with the CG terracotta and skeletal figures. The staging of the fight is also important. It has to have enough humor to release the tension, but, at the same time, it has to look violent and realistic."
Building New Creatures
In addition to his incarnation of the Terracotta Emperor, Jet Li’s character also has the ability to morph into other forms, specifically a three-headed gorgon that is derived from a mixture of Western and Chinese mythology. Image Matrix projected Li’s performance onto the CG creature that spits fire, snatches a victim and flies away. "The Emperor chose his first incarnation to be a 30-foot, three-headed gorgon," explains Rhythm & Hues’ digital supervisor BOB MERCIER, "so we had to decide how much the face should look like Jet Li and how much it should look like the head of a reptile. It needed to have the spirit of Jet, yet the Mummy character should somehow come through as snakelike, but with a soul underneath. It was our goal to give an Asian influence to the gorgon’s face. You can see a ghost of Jet Li there, but it still works as a creature."
Another incarnation of the Emperor is the Nian, a half-lion/half-dog creature based on the Foo Dog, a temple guardian of ancient China. Shares Cohen, "We’ve taken it into a much more extreme bestial concept; it is a very large creature about nine-feet high who can grab a plane right out of the skies. Jet’s character is a shape-shifter, and this is one of the different creatures he can become."
For each creature, Rhythm & Hues produced a 3-D computer-generated model, which shows muscle tone and skin texture. This was sent to the filmmakers for their input. "Once the model was agreed on by everyone, we moved forward and began the animation," explains animation director Talmy. "We send it down the pipeline to the rigging department—the people who populate the models with all the mechanics to allow them to not just move, but move in the way we want them to."
As no one has seen a Yeti up close and lived to tell the story, the characters were computer generated and the VFX team was given free reign in the designing the brutes. "The Yeti have always been a favorite part of the movie for the filmmakers," states producer Daniel. We’ve always thought it was just really cool to have the Yeti and Shangri-la be a part of this movie. The Yeti are other creatures, like the Mummy, that people from all cultures can relate to."
Cohen wanted his abominable snowmen to have unique personalities. With no dialogue for the Yeti (save roars and grunts), the animation team needed to convey everything through body language. Laughs Talmy, "We had to find a way to pump character performances into a scene where all that’s required of our character is that he run down a hill and smash a guy in the face."
The Yeti were originally designed to be a cross between a man, polar bear and snow leopard. Over time, the animators moved the design closer to that of a man. They liked the fact that the creature—when obeying the enigmatic Lin—could pick up an enemy, give him a razor-sharp look of disdain, then toss him into the frozen wilderness.
