I watch Boardwalk Empire but it’s not a good show. It’s only fake good. It wears the clothes, has the style and carries the swagger of a good show, but it doesn’t hold a candle to the old dramatic greats. But you know what is great about Boardwalk Empire? The special effects. I had no idea. Watch the magic. More »
After watching this animatronic robotic infant writhe around on the floor with no skin hiding its internal components, I bet you’ll appreciate those awkward Uncanny Valley CG characters seen in films like The Polar Express. More »
Dennis Muren is one of the founding team members of Industrial Light and Magic, Lucasfilm’s effects team since the days of A New Hope. With eight Academy Awards to his name, Giz AU had the chance to sit down with Muren at Lucasfilm in San Francisco to talk about the special content available on the Blu-ray releases, as well as what it was like to invent an entire special effects industry. More »
The magic of the muppets is that they’re ‘real’, or as real as puppetry gets. Still, even when the Muppets could have easily gone CGI, they stuck to their roots. That doesn’t mean everything in the new Muppets movie was old school though. Even muppets need the magic of the movies. More »
Matthew Wood is a 21 year veteran of Skywalker Sound, tasked with bringing all six Star Wars films up to a 6.1 channel audio mix for the Blu-ray release. We spoke with Wood about the process of remastering audio, working with Ben Burtt, and how some very Australian sounds became the ‘voice’ of the Geonosians. More »
With the release of Star Wars on Blu-ray this week, you’ll find three collections in stores to choose from. Only the nine-disc complete collection comes with any bonus content, and while some may want to avoid buying any prequel EVAR, owning unseen footage like Greedo’s real dialogue or a wampa attack on the Hoth base might make this unmissable. We went hands on with the extra content to see what’s what. More »
I support everything Pixar — well, everything other than Cars. So this early, early footage of a 3D hand from 1972, which was made by Pixar founder Ed Catmull and Fred Parker, is just so, so awesome. More »
Computer-generated animations have come a long way in a relatively short time span. Starting as a series of rudimentary renders in the late ’70s, it’s amusing to think these animations left people in awe. But they probably did. More »
Rise of the Planet of the Apes hit cinemas yesterday, and for a special effects blockbuster, I was surprised by its cautionary tone and heart. The film centres on main ape, Caesar, an amazing CG realisation from Weta Digital and Andy “Gollum” Serkis. I sat down with Senior Visual Effects Supervisor, Joe Letteri, to ask how performance capture has progressed since Avatar and Lord of the Rings, and find out if Weta has contemplated video games. More »
Perhaps it’s because I’m used to TV series with blatantly obvious special effects but, after seeing this behind-the-scenes video of HBO’s Game of Thrones, I’m amazed at the number of architectural structures and elements that aren’t real. It’s simply awesome. More »
