Friday, May 14, 2010

Win Iron Man Armored Adventures: Complete First Season!

Embark on the high-octane adventures of boy-genius Tony Stark and his friends as they combine the latest technology and a little teamwork to save the world from evil with Iron Man Armored Adventures: Complete First Season – and we have FIVE copies to give away along with some original poster sketches, thanks to Marvel Animation, Method Films, Genius Products and Vivendi Entertainment!
Arriving just in time for the theatrical debut of Iron Man 2 and based on the hugely popular and successful Iron Man franchise from Marvel Entertainment, this four-disc set features all 26 episodes from the action-packed first season.
With pulse-pounding showdowns, secrets and larger-than-life challenges, Iron Man and his ever-evolving, adaptable armor are always ready for high-speed flight and whatever high-tech battles ensue. Possessing “smart writing and stellar CG butt-kickery” (Entertainment Weekly), the 3D CGI animated hit television series launched in 2009 and holds the record for the highest-rated original series premiere on Nicktoons Network.
The perfect adrenaline-rush for fans before the theatrical release of Iron Man 2, the Iron Man Armored Adventures: Complete First Season four-disc set is available for the suggested retail price of $29.93.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Disney to build 2,000-room hotel dubbed Disney’s Art of Animation Resort


Walt Disney World is about to begin building its first new hotel in seven years, a 2,000-room resort that will open in 2012.Disney’s Art of Animation Resort will feature 1,120 suites with room for as many as six people each and another 864 traditional hotel rooms, with a design theme based on four of the company’s most popular animated movies.Disney Imagineer Joni Van Buren sculpts a model of King Triton from the 1989 animated film The Little Mermaid. In its final form, the sculpture will be 35 feet tall and tower over guests at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort, a new Disney World hotel that will open in 2012. (WALT DISNEY WORLD)The complex will be priced as a “value” hotel, at the low end of Disney World’s scale, similar to Disney’s Pop Century and All-Star resorts, where standard rates begin at $82 a night.The announcement is one of the strongest signals yet from Disney that it thinks a sustainedrecovery is under way from the long travel slump brought on by the global recession. Disney executives, who have been weighing construction of a family-suites hotel for several years, finally approved the project in January.But in deciding to add another lower-priced hotel, Disney also appears to be betting that travelers will continue the frugal spending habits many adopted during the downturn. Disney has been relying on discounts to sustain attendance during the past year, and executives acknowledged Tuesday that consumers are still searching for deals even as Disney attempts to return to pre-recession prices.
“Quite honestly, we’re in a bit of waiting for each other to blink,” Walt Disney Co. Chief Financial Officer Jay Rasulo told analysts during a conference call to discuss the company’s second-quarter earnings.The Art of Animation Resort will be built on a 65-acre plot across a lake from Disney’s Pop Century Resort. The location will allow Disney to use a pair of long-neglected, unfinished buildings that Disney originally constructed as a second phase of Pop Century but which it abandoned amid the 2001 recession. Pop Century’s first phase was completed in 2003.Plans for the new resort show 10 wings of rooms and a separate building housing the check-in lobby and restaurants. The hotel wings will be separated into four distinct groups, each with a theme from a different animated movie: The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Finding Nemo and Cars.Each section will have separate courtyards anchored by icons from the movies — such as a 35-foot-tall King Triton presiding over the Mermaid section — and the entire resort will use bright-color palettes evocative of the lush scenery of animated movies. Hotel designers say they have been soliciting input from artists at Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios on everything from building elevations to which scenes to depict at the swimming pools.
“The hope is you walk into this courtyard and you’re kind of like seeing it as a character in the movie,” said Frank Paris, a senior project manager with Walt Disney Imagineering, the company’s in-house attraction-design unit.Because the majority of its rooms will be six-person suites, the Art of Animation Resort will have roughly the same capacity as Pop Century, which has 2,800 conventional rooms.With the project, Disney is placing an aggressive bet on what it says is a growing market for affordable suites aimed at families traveling with several children or extended families. Disney World has been testing the concept with about 215 suites at its All-Star Music hotel that were converted out of about 430 ordinary rooms about three years ago. Jim Durham, vice president for resort projects at Disney Imagineering, said demand for such accommodations has risen in recent years as families have taken to traveling in larger groups. The trend became particularly pronounced following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, he said.
“Ever since 9-11, we just see a lot more family unity,” Durham said.
In Orlando, the family-suites market is led by the 777-room Nickelodeon Suites Resort, which has proven immensely popular since it opened in 2005 just to the east of Disney World. The resort pairs family suites with Nickelodeon cartoon characters such as SpongeBob SquarePants.By adding more than 1,000 new suites to its lineup, Disney hopes to pull more of those travelers onto its property. The conventional hotel rooms to be built as part of the Art of Animation Resort will also allow Disney to restore the room capacity it lost as part of the suites conversion at All-Star Music.Disney executives said the popularity of those All-Star Music suites convinced them that there is a substantial market for family suites.“We’re feeling very positive about the demand that is interested in both the value product and the family-suite product,” said Mark Rucker, vice president for lodging for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. “The research for us is showing that the Central Florida marketplace is going to more than capably handle some inventory in this category.”Disney declined to say how much it will spend to build the hotel. It expects to break ground this summer and open it in phases throughout 2012.
Disney said the project will generate approximately 800 construction jobs.

Monday, May 10, 2010

“India is on par with the West in a few VFX categories”

Vamsi Ayyagari, senior executive producer, Eyeqube, a VFX studio owned by Eros International speaks to Moneylife’s Pallabika Ganguly about the challenges and future of the VFX industry

Pallabika Ganguly (ML): Visual effects, or VFX, as a concept has always been associated with big budget Hollywood movies. Do you think this perception has changed over time, particularly in the Indian context?

Vamsi Ayyagari (VA): India is less than a $500 million industry which includes animation, VFX and advertising films. Many industry experts expected that this industry is going to be $5 billion by 2008; however this is actually not. Hollywood is more than $200 million. But in India, as the industry is evolving and if we are able to put the process and skill sets in place, we can bring down the cost of production in India by one-fourth compared to Hollywood.

Now, most directors in India want to use visual effects because it helps directors to include unique and innovative shots that otherwise cannot be included due to safety reasons. We are going to see many VFX movies coming to India. The best example we can see is how Avatar and 2012 have worked in India, especially in the south (Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu). The movies have been the biggest block-busters.

In case of some segments like wire removal, rotoscopy, tracking, basic animation and animation for a television series and flash animation, Indian companies are on par with the West. But if you are talking about Avatar and 2012, we are still miles away. It is not just about using technology or the buttons of the software, it is the artistic sense and technical knowledge that are missing. These are basically the major issues as far as skill sets are considered in the industry.

ML: How big is the visual effects industry in India versus the Hollywood industry?

VA: There is a trend in the industry that everyone wants to make a stereoscopic 3D movie like Avatar simply forgetting the fact that it took four years to make the movie. If we consider the technology, that is the camera rigs that went behind it, then we might probably take ten years to make the movie.

The major difference between Hollywood and Bollywood movies is pre-production. Pre-production in Hollywood is very strong. Pre-production is all about the development of concept arts, use of pre-visualisation, etc. When I speak of pre-production, I mean the development of concept and use of pre-visualisation. Most visuals, which are VFX intense, need pre-visualisation. A director gets a clear picture of his shot, if he undergoes a pre-visualisation process. It is easy for him to direct a shot after getting the first hand experience of the shot through pre-visualisation.

The other issue is the big budget that a Hollywood movie has. They can spend $200 million-$250 million when the need arises to create an outstanding visual effects movie. It is difficult to produce such a high budget movie in India.

We have been able to bridge the gaps in our studios by flying in a lot of Hollywood experts to train our people. Our creative director, Charles Darby, has also helped to train our people as he has been in the industry for two decades as a VFX supervisor.

ML: Why is pre-production a challenge in India?

VA: Hollywood can produce intrinsic VFX sense because it has 20 years of hard-core practical knowledge in this field. It uses visual effects in far more intensive digital products like television and advertisements. Animation channels run very successfully in the US compared to India. VFX has production ranging from a budget of $4 million to more than $200 million.

Hollywood has got the chance to evolve and grow to the level where they know how to use VFX. In India, it is at a very nascent stage and there is a perception that it is very expensive, but it is not so. Rather you can save money, if you know how to use VFX in your movies. There is even a wrong notion that India cannot produce high-end effects movies. Effects used in the movies, like Krrish, Aladdin, Veer and Madrasa have set a benchmark in the Bollywood industry. For the last three years we have seen quality work being produced in India.

A movie can be shot better if the effects specialist gets involved in the pre-production level with the director. They together can create a vision that complements story telling. As long as scripts are written for story telling and not for visual effects, it will be more successful.

ML: Do you think visual effects of international quality are happening in India? Can you give some examples?

VA: In terms of high-end shows, we shall probably take two-three years more to catch up with the West.


ML: By how much does the cost rise while using VFX in Bollywood movies, as a percentage of production cost? Are the Indian directors ready to bear the cost?

VA: This is again a misconception that the budget of the movie increases if you use VFX. The new kind of story telling, which is possible, would not have been possible without the use of VFX. There are different kinds of billing that goes on in the industry. These range from Rs2,000 per second to Rs25,000 per second and few people bill it according to man-labour and man-days. Today, the directors are ready to explore a new style of story telling. A lot of directors are using VFX like Karthik Calling Karthik, Wake Up Sid, Kurbaan, Kaminey and Magadheera.

ML: How many projects do you have in the pipeline during the current financial year?

VA: We have five projects in the pipeline, which will be initiated by next month. The projects are a mix of Hollywood and Bollywood feature films. We are looking at many Hollywood productions—currently we have two on the platter. We are also working on a few advertisements. We, as a studio have been able to create quality and execute the creative vision, which most directors have in mind.

ML: What are the challenges that you are facing in India and how do you see the industry growing?

VA: We need to develop artistic skills and not just technical skills. The challenge is to create our content to understand the nuances for story telling from the VFX perspective.

ML: Do you feel there is enough high-quality manpower is this sector?

VA: Not yet. I think it will still take time. Evolution in this sector is taking place slowly.

Happy Mother's Day



cast mom in her very own musical extravaganza! She'll feel the island rhythm as she sings and dances with an anthropomorphic mop with a Jamaican accent and a chorus of singing appliances. Yep, it's just as insane and awesome as it sounds.

History Of Israel in 4 Minute



Crash history course on Israel and the Middle East - 4000 years in 4 minutes. Wish all history lessons were so much fun.  this short, titled Israel’s History – 4000 years in 4 minutes, which does what it says. Of course, all history is open to interpretation, but this did help me sort out how this big mideast mess got started.