Janta Verdict: Hrithik loses out to Shrek

The time has come for film lovers to enjoy a good weekend. They don’t have many options, but that makes it all the more easy for them. On the one hand there is Shrek Forever After, an animation 3D film directed by Mike Mitchell and on the other hand there is the much awaited Kites directed by Anurag Basu. Rakesh Roshan has fantastically marketed the Hrithik Roshan-Barbara Mori-starrer Kites which makes it the hot movie of the season. Multiplexes have lined up more than 25 shows per day. A good run on Friday will definitely bring a wide smile on the producer's face. To begin with, the first day, first show of Kites really stood out. Even a 7 am show had 25 to 30 per cent occupancy in a Mumbai multiplex. However what was shocking was that the morning show audience came out complaining about the ending. They were saying ‘Kites faltu hai, Kites faltu hai (Kites is bad) in the elevator, which of course, was not a great message for the viewers of the next show who were in the same elevator.


‘Who cares?’, shot back Priya, a college girl, who is a die-hard Hrithik fan. Priya continued, “Hrithik is God on screen and I love his dance. Actually I love his built also, and his cute eyes and also when he smiles.” She went on and on about the actor. During the interval there were smiling faces in the corridor. We asked a few of them their take on the film so far. “The film is nice till now. Though it is a little slow, I got no complaints. The locations are looking very beautiful and it is giving a different feeling. It is unlike any other Bollywood film,” said Rakesh Gupta, a businessman, who came with his wife and kids for a morning show as the evening shows were houseful.When the first promos hit national TV, Barbara Mori became instant news for her gorgeous looks. “Barbara is hot and beautiful. She brings so much of freshness in the film. I think she has outshone Hrithik in his home production,” said Avinash Khale.

A few of them were disappointed as they did not get to see much of Hrithik’s dance moves.The same feedback was given by the next set of audience that the ending is bad. “Remove the last two minutes of the film and it definitely is worth a watch”, quipped Pratik Sejpal, web designer.Going to the other movie, all Shrek lovers are clear about their choice as the previous films have turned out to be great entertainers. It cannot be categorised only as a kiddie film, but which even the adults have enjoyed. “I have seen all the Shrek series and what makes me come for the fourth series is that it doesn’t disrespect my intelligence in spite of being an animated film. Also the character Shrek has grown and matured in all the films and somehow now I feel I know him as a person," said Amanpreet Singh, a salesman working for an electronics brand.

The film is in 3D and that is another reason to watch it as the trend has really caught up after the humongous success of Avatar. “Watching Shrek in 3D is definitely an added advantage but I came to see the characters which I loved in the earlier series – Shrek, Donkey, Puss in Boots and of course, Fiona,” said Aarti Hegde, working with an ad agency.The preparations by the multiples are definitely encouraging for Kites, but only next week will tell whether the film will really fly high or not. As for the ending of Kites, you got no choice but to watch the film. Shrek has goodwill and it doesn’t need to try to pull the audiences. As they say, the right film will always find the right audience.

Which film did you like Shrek Forever After or Kites? Have your say.

The Return of the Moomins

The Moomins are back -- and in 3-D. That's right: thanks to the latest digital advancements and the clamor for everything stereoscopic, Tove Jansson's big, white, fuzzy, whimsical trolls, which have taken Scandinavia and Japan by storm, are now primed for the big screen. Moomins and the Comet Chase, produced by Tom Carpelan's Oy Filmkompaniet Alpha in Finland, premieres tonight at the Cannes Film Festival in 3-D (a Nordic first) with voice work by such Scandi stalwarts as Mads Mikkelsen, Max von Sydow, Helena Mattsson and the father-and-son team of Stellan and Alexander Skarsgard. Plus Moomins fan Bjork has written "The Comet Song," with an animated music video forthcoming.However, the interesting thing about The Comet Chase is that it's actually a clever repurposing of the beloved '70s stop-motion series, which was a Polish/Austrian co-production with animation by award-winning Se-me-For Studios.Carpelan, who had been eyeing Scandinavian distribution rights of the series for 20 years but was thwarted by copyright snafus until 2007, saw a great theatrical opportunity by re-cutting, restoring and converting into a stereoscopic feature."The conversion process is called 'Hybrid Off-line 2-D to 3-D,'" Peltola explains. "This way, we have a great balance on cost-efficiency compared to some other conversions. Basically, the conversion contains a few phases. First of all, the source material (2-D images) is analyzed and the staff prepares for the conversion by reviewing the original material and its depth cues. Our conversion staff is highly experienced and consists of people from both technical and artistic backgrounds. So, there are people who have PhDs and there are professional painters as sort of a counterbalance. Both types of 3-D artists are vital in our conversion flow, as they bring their own points and pragmatics to the table.

We've used depth maps as the basis of our conversion. Through these different phases, we've carried out quality checks on which several people participate and go through a series of enhancement discussions relating to theoretical and practical aspects in the use of stereoscopy and, technical view and artistic feeling of the spatial design. For example, how to locate different objects in space, how to express depth by interpreting the 2-D image and coinciding with the story's emotion, how to maintain depth consistency…"

Another challenge was making the stereoscopic experience enjoyable for young children (who apparently experience the third dimension more drastically). "We have been emphasizing the quality and responsibility in the use of stereoscopy," Peltola continues. "Thus, we've made the stereoscopic movie to be more suitable for everyone to watch. We've done some qualitative tests for the use of depth with Moomins and it has had an important role in confirming our expectations. I think that the type of content, audience and main purpose for the use of 3D decide very much on what kind of a role stereoscopy should have and how it would be utilized as a filmmaking tool."

Talent crunch hampers international growth of the Indian animation industry

Hollywood is increasingly knocking at the doors of Indian animation studios, but the industry is suffering from high Hollywood is increasingly knocking at the doors of Indian animation studios, but the industry is suffering from high tax rates, dearth of talent and lack of international focusIndian animation studios are doing a lot of work for Hollywood productions. But why is the Indian animation industry not making any kind of a mark on the international front? Despite great opportunities at hand, the industry continues to remain the back-office of the world as far as animation is concerned.In India, although several animated films were to be released in 2009, they didn’t make it to the screens because of limited screen space and lowered risk appetite of production studios. Pre- and post-production animation work is mostly driven out of US and Europe, but the script-to-screen journey with a ‘Made in India’ stamp may just take a little longer. P Jayakumar, CEO, Toonz Animation India, spoke on some bottlenecks which are hampering the growth of the industry. He told Moneylife, “Primarily, the domestic market is a growing one and as such is not established. There is apprehension about how people would take to a particular animated movie, which deters investors. Secondly, lack of skilled animation professionals impacts quality in-house productions. Animation institutions currently produce software professionals who can use the tools of animation, but are not creatively-inclined individuals who understand the nuances of animation from script-to-screen (production).”Jehil Thakkar, executive director, media and entertainment, KPMG echoed the same views, “We are not equipped to make an end-to-end product. We won’t be able to make another Toy Story.”Apparently, outdated animation content is literally dumped on Indian networks as there are no potential buyers for domestic content in India. Mr Jayakumar added, “As a growing industry and in the backdrop of a growing market, the emphasis is on producing movies that base themselves on familiar themes—and mythology is an area where the focus is. This may not suit the international market where a general theme may work well.”

The government is doing its bit, but taxation is also killing the industry. The ministry of information and broadcasting is looking at making it mandatory for all children’s channels to telecast local animated movies on a daily basis during specific slots. However, the entertainment tax rate—which is different from state to state—varies from 20% to 40%. If you look at Asia, entertainment tax is almost 3% in Japan and Singapore; 7% in Thailand and zero in Hong Kong.The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) has requested the government for an exemption of entertainment tax on all animation feature films and movies meant for children. Mr Thakkar explained, “I think the waiver is warranted to improve this industry. This will surely help in raising the standards (of the animation industry) across all media platforms.”The animation and visual effects segment of the entertainment industry registered a growth of 13.6% in 2009 and is expected to grow at a CAGR (Compounded Annual Growth Rate) of 18.7% in the years to come to attain Rs4,660 crore by 2014.Most of the business will depend on outsourced work and co-production deals. But the fact remains that US studios are falling back on Indian talent. According to media reports, companies like Fox, Walt Disney and Warner Bros are using domestic talent to produce Indian-language films. India sold more than 3.2 billion movie tickets in 2009, which amounts to more than double that of the box-office sales in the US and Canada combined, in terms of number of tickets sold. Mr Jayakumar added, “To sum up, I think it’s not too far when we will see Indian studios churning out animated content for the international markettax rates, dearth of talent and lack of international focus.

Prime Focus Expands 3D Capabilities Worldwide

Los Angeles, CA (May 13, 2010) -- Prime Focus, the global visual entertainment\ services group, today announced a significant capital investment and expansion of its global Stereoscopic 3D (S3D) pipeline.Finishing touches are underway at the company's new 65,000 square foot world headquarters in Mumbai, which will house seven S3D theaters and over 600 artist seats, along with a complete slate of visual effects, post and production services.At its Hollywood studio, efforts will be re-focused exclusively on delivering S3D creative services including 2D-to-3D conversions and S3D editorial & visual effects for entertainment clients in film, television, advertising, and mobile content.  To support this expansion, Prime Focus is building out 200 new artist seats, and has upgraded much of its pre-existing post infrastructure (DI suites, Telecine Bays, and Theatres) into S3D-enabled spaces supporting both RealD and Dolby stereo projection. In addition, plans are in progress to build a new 45-seat stereo-enabled screening room.The Hollywood studio has also hired notable stereoscopic supervisor Jeremy Nicolaides, whose credits include "Alice in Wonderland," "Arabia 3D," "G-Force 3D," "Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D," "U2 3D" and more. Additionally, Prime Focus producer Bridgitte Krupke has been appointed Executive Producer, and Chris Del Conte as Senior Producer, both overseeing 2D-to-3D conversion projects.At Prime Focus London, a 2D-to-3D conversion pipeline has recently been installed, and the company plans to expand into a new space to accommodate an additional 200 visual effects artist.All of Prime Focus' 16 international locations are connected over its Global Digital Pipeline. At its heart is CLEAR, the company's proprietary Content Lifecycle Management platform that acts as a collaborative digital workspace where media assets can be archived, accessed, managed and ultimately distributed."All of these efforts are in response to the growing demand from our clients who are clamoring for high-quality S3D content," said Namit Malhotra, Global CEO and Founder, Prime Focus.  "Our global expansion will give us the capacity to support many more projects simultaneously.

EA and Crytek Team with Award-Winning Author Richard Morgan for Crysis 2

Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) and Crytek GmbH today announced that Richard Morgan, award-winning author of the science-fiction bestsellers 'Altered Carbon' and 'Broken Angels', is writing the story for this holiday's blockbuster action game, Crysis 2. Morgan is working with Crytek to bring his trademark visceral writing style to the project, which is his first entry into the video game medium. In Crysis 2, New York is under the attack of a unique and frightening alien species that combines deadly weaponry, exceptional sensory abilities and intelligent collaboration to present players with the most challenging opponents ever seen in a first person shooter. Surrounded by devastation, players must assess the situations they encounter, adapt to this urban jungle and use the weapons and powers given solely to them to save New York. Morgan enters this distressed world and brings it to life with gritty characters, a rich back-story and plot twists rarely found in video games."Video games are one of the only things in my life I would qualify as a complete addiction," said Richard Morgan. "The medium has every bit the potential for exciting and emotionally charged storytelling as literature and film, and I'm excited to explore this format on my first project in partnership with a world class developer like Crytek." "At Crytek, we pride ourselves on working with the most elite talent in the industry, and Richard is no exception," said Cevat Yerli, CEO and President of Crytek. "He has helped us take our ideas for Crysis 2 and transform them into a story that really engages the player in many new and exciting ways. His passion for his craft and for games is a perfect match for our team and we can't wait for gamers to experience this collaboration." In Crysis 2, the aliens have returned with a full invasion force bent on nothing less than the total annihilation of mankind. In New York, terrifying alien invaders stalk the streets and a nightmare plague strikes down the city's myriad inhabitants with brutal epidemic speed. The city's systems are in chaos, its streets and skyline are smashed and in flaming ruin. Neither paramilitary law enforcement nor the might of the US military machine can stand against the invaders, and all who choose not to flee are dead men walking. Just to survive in this maelstrom of death will require technology beyond anything any modern soldier has ever seen. One man will inherit that means to survive. You alone must wield the combat technology of Nanosuit 2, and make the last stand to save humanity from destruction in the urban jungle that is New York City. 

Built on Crytek's new state-of-the art multiplatform game development system, CryENGINE®3, Crysis 2 will be available this holiday for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system, and PC. 

Shrek Forever After Review

When the original Shrek was released in 2001 it was received as a sort of anti-Disney family entertainment that gave the film a fresh energy and made it hugely successful. This spawned a batch of sequels that have been hit or miss in terms of quality, while generating buckets full of green for DreamWorks Animation. Shrek 2 captured the same magic as its predecessor, but Shrek the Third failed miserably.

Shrek Forever After is a serviceable final chapter and worthy bookend to a fairy tale that needed some finality.

Venturing once again to the land of Far Far Away, we find Shrek (Mike Myers) struggling with the repetition of domesticated family life. As the days in the swamp with his wife Fiona (Cameron Diaz) and their three charmingly gassy children pass without the slightest hint of deviation, Shrek begins to lose sight of what he has and yearns for the days when he was a feared and respected ogre.Enter the smooth-talking Rumpelstiltskin (Walt Dohrn) who has been known to make a dream or two come true through nefarious and magical means. He presents Shrek with an opportunity to be an “Ogre for a Day” and return to the glory of being chased by pitchforks and torches. There is a catch, as there always is with these type of Faustian agreements: in exchange Shrek must give up one day from his past.

Needless to say, the outcome isn’t good, and Shrek finds himself in an alternate reality where the kingdom is ruled by the shifty Rumpelstiltskin, ogres are hunted by pumpkin bomb-wielding witches, and the Pied Piper can make you shake your groove thing against your will. Shrek has until sunrise to set things straight by stealing a kiss from his one true love, which allows the sequel to rekindle some of the playful romance of the original.Director Mike Mitchell, who up until now has directed only live-action films such as Sky High and Deuce Bigelow: Male Gigolo (!), comes close to capturing the humor and tone that was present throughout the first two Shrek stories. Any shortcomings stem from having visited this realm so many times before that it is nearly impossible to not come across as somewhat stale. Eddie Murphy as Donkey and Antonio Banderas as a rotund Puss in Boots are a treat to revisit and nearly every moment they are on screen has a hilarious energy. The new baddie, Rumpelstiltskin, can be annoying and has a tinge of Pee Wee Herman to him that can be distracting, but fills his antagonist role well and has a wonderful recurring bit involving various wigs that coincide with his mood swings.The sequel contains the series’ signature pop culture references — the Pied Piper plays the Beastie Boys — without overdoing it and uses the 3D technology to its full potential. Dreamworks Animation has been at the forefront of 3D integration with computer animation, and this is no exception. First with Monsters vs. Aliens and, more recently, with How to Train Your Dragon, the studio has figured out how to transport you into the film by utilizing the gimmick better than most. Shrek flies through hallways and crawls through tunnels, showing off the technology without being distracting.

Shrek Forever After is effective family fun that delivers what is promised. It may not be completely on par with the original, but it brings a pleasing sense of closure. That is, of course, until the Puss in Boots spin-off is released.

Shekar Kapur invites Tim Burton to make animated film in India

Internationally acclaimed Indian filmmaker Shekhar Kapur says he has invited Hollywood director Tim Burton, who specialises in dark and quirky themes, to scout for locations in India for a film.Tim Burton is a compassionate and gentle person and so eager to learn about other people and cultures. He is also completely fascinated by India. So I have invited him to come and see if there is something he would like to shoot in India,' Kapur, 64,.Burton, 51, has wielded megaphone for movies like 'Batman', 'Batman Returns', 'Plane of the Apes', 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory', 'Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street' and 'Alice in Wonderland'.He is known for bringing magic realism out of the books onto the big screen.

'India is a country that accepts mythology and magic realism as an essential part of it's culture, as does Tim Burton in his filmmaking. It would be fascinating to see Tim Burton's visual take on some of our tradition folk tales,' said Kapur.Kapur is serving as a jury of the 63rd Cannes International Film Festival headed by acclaimed filmmaker Burton.'It's very exciting to be on the Jury of the Cannes film festival. Especially when the Jury is headed by the man I affectionately (but also seriously) call 'the Salvador Dali of Cinema',' wrote Kapur.

Hospital uses 3D animation to keep project on time and on budget

Children’s Memorial Hospital is building a new hospital, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, and is using an innovative technology to hold costs down and ensure that the project is ready for a Summer 2012 move. The hospital’s construction managers, architects, and engineers are using Building Information Modeling (BIM), which creates a virtual 3D model of the hospital to identify and address potential design and construction issues well before they impact the schedule and budget. For example, BIM helps the hospital ensure that they are routing piping, ductwork, and conduit properly before any of this work actually happens inside the building. This technology is also enhancing the energy efficiency of the building in several ways including the enabling of thermal modeling, which provides a virtual comparison of potential heat loss based on which materials are selected for the building’s enclosure. Mortenson Construction, who came together in a joint venture with Power Construction to manage Lurie Children’s construction project, is a national leader in the development and implementation of BIM. Although it is often used on commercial construction projects, utilizing BIM technology to this extent for a hospital project of this magnitude is groundbreaking.



BIM will continue to reduce costs by providing a “digital blueprint” of the hospital and its complex systems. Anytime a remodeling or renovation project needs to take place post-construction, hospital officials will use the BIM model to visualize the space, review possibilities, and schedule the necessary work before construction begins.