It Came from the Third Dimension By Michael Goldman
By the time Jeffrey Katzenberg announced last year that DreamWorks Animation would forevermore author all of its computer-animated feature films in a native 3D format (dubbed InTru 3D and developed in partnership with Intel), Monsters vs. Aliens was well into development as a 2D project...
Step by Step: Watchmen By Ellen Wolff
Phantasmagorical effects abound in Warner Bros.’ Watchmen, which isn’t surprising given its origin as a graphic novel about superheroes. But alongside the film’s otherworldly visual effects...
Dr. Manhattan Project By Michael Goldman
Whenever embarking upon the creation of a spectacular smorgasbord of visual craziness in a major feature film as Director Zack Snyder describes the visual...
Digital Puppeteers By Ellen Wolff
Stop-motion animation and stereoscopy aren't techniques that audiences have ever seen combined before that is, until Coraline, the latest feature from...
Man of Light By Michael Goldman
Although Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC, says he prefers to keep his films simple, the complexities, nuances, and great success of his work are routinely analyzed,...
Step by Step: Hotel for Dogs By Ellen Wolff
Murphy’s Law predicts that if anything can go wrong, it will go wrong. It’s often invoked by moviemakers, and one snafu really complicated the visual effects assignment on the DreamWorks/Paramount hit comedy Hotel for Dogs...
Step by Step: Valkyrie By Ellen Wolff
MGM's Valkyrie is a World War II movie in which one of the most intricate visual-effects shots happens not in the heat of battle, but during an intimate moment on a dance floor. As we watch Colonel Von Stauffenberg (Tom Cruise) take his wife's hand to dance...
Step by Step: Warhammer By Ellen Wolff
When Games Workshop, creator of the Warhammer franchise, wanted cinematics for its latest game, the company returned to Blur Studio in Venice, Calif., and asked the CG specialists there to outdo what they’d done in the past...
Driving Force By Ellen Wolff
Software spawned by the needs of production studios is a venerable tradition in the animation and visual-effects industries...
Review: Panasonic AG-HPX170 By Barry Braverman
The Panasonic AG-HPX170 is a potent filmmaking tool with many compelling features...