The Many Uses of Green Screen Virtual Backlot Demo Video
It seems like this video has been floating around for a while, so it’s not anything too new, but it just hit digg tonight, and that’s where I first saw it. The video is called “What You See Isn’t Always What You Get” but it’s actually a demo reel for Stargate Studios, a visual effects company that specializes in virtual backlots (which is what this kind of green screen removal is). A lot of the footage from this looks like it comes from TV shows like “Ugly Betty”, “Grey’s Anatomy”, and “Heroes”, but the same green screen techniques are used in movies as well. If you didn’t think green screen was used that often, just watch this and you’ll be amazed.
One of the commenters on digg brings up a good question. “I have to wonder, though, is it really cheaper to green screen all this stuff? Or is it not about money and more about control over a shot?” I’d like to hear an answer to that both from a director and a studio exec, as I think they’d each have something different to say. It’s fascinating watching this because it’s a reminder that, despite what you think watching the finished footage, most of everything we’re seeing on screen is created digitally. It also shows how good some actors are if they can pull off looking cold while standing inside a heated sound stage surrounded by green screen.
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Watch This: Denzel’s Fight Training Video for The Book of Eli
I know this came out a few days ago, but it’s still awesome to see. And I’ll tell you right now that The Book of Eli is hands down my favorite movie of January. I haven’t seen all of the movies playing next month, but I have seen a few of them, and nothing compares to how completely awesome this movie was. The story is great, the visuals are great, the actors are all fantastic, but the fight scenes in particular were truly badass. And that’s what this new behind-the-scenes video focuses on. Denzel Washington did do all of his own stunts for The Book of Eli and trained with some of the very best fight trainers in the industry. Check it out!
Watch this behind-the-scenes video for The Book of Eli:
We ran the first teaser trailer for The Book of Eli in July and followed it up with a full-length trailer in September. I’d suggest re-watching both of those to get excited for this again, as it looks pretty awesome.
The Book of Eli is directed by Detroit-born brothers Allen and Albert Hughes, who previously brought us Dead Presidents, American Pimp, and From Hell, but haven’t made anything since 2001. The screenplay was written by newcomer Gary Whitta, who is also attached to write the Akira live-action remake and The Defenders coming up. Warner Brothers is bringing The Book of Eli to theaters starting on January 15th.
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Jeremy Renner Says He Definitely Won’t Be Playing Hawkeye
At the end of November, about a month back, The Hurt Locker star Jeremy Renner revealed that he had been talking with the guys at Marvel about playing the superhero character Hawkeye in their upcoming Thor and Avengers movies. It seemed all a bit sketchy to begin with, even though Renner had been quoted as saying: “Hawkeye could be interesting. They’re going to send me some stuff on it.” But it turns out it was all just an idea that never turned into a reality and all of the early discussion about it may have even killed it in the end. Renner gave an update to Movieline in a new interview, explaining what happened with Marvel.
“That was just one of those things that got blown way out of proportion. It was an idea. Those Marvel guys, I’m a big fan of them. They’re so smart about how they want to do these things — they have Captain America, and Thor coming around, Iron Man 2, and then I happen to know Zak Penn, who’s writing The Avengers. So they thought Hawkeye is an interesting role, and asked me if I knew anything about him. I said no, so they gave me their sort of spiel on what he was, and I thought that it was kind of interesting. The only reason it came out this early, because Avengers is two years away, is that they’re thinking OK, we may throw him in Thor, we may not, as a cameo. You know what I mean? So there’s truth that we talked about it, but there’s no truth to me doing it.”
Well damn, I was actually looking forward to potentially seeing Renner play Hawkeye. Not that we ever really thought it would happen, considering that Renner mostly cleared up the details some five days after that news first hit. At that point, though, he only explained that they were considering putting in Hawkeye in but were hesitant because they hadn’t hired a director for The Avengers movie yet and didn’t want to hire one and already have almost the entire cast in place. But it sounds like, for the time being, Hawkeye won’t appear in any Marvel movies. And if he does, he probably won’t be played by Jeremy Renner unfortunately.
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New Photos: Channing Tatum Stars in The Eagle of the Ninth
The only new photos worth posting today are from Kevin Macdonald’s The Eagle of the Ninth starring Channing Tatum, Jamie Bell, Donald Sutherland, Denis O’Hare, and Mark Strong. This is a Roman epic adventure about a young soldier who endeavors to honor his father’s memory by finding his lost legion’s golden emblem. It’s directed by Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland, State of Play) and based on Rosemary Sutcliff’s novel of the same name. Thanks to Yahoo we’ve got our first look at six new photos from Eagle of the Ninth (including one above) to compliment that photo from November. Check ‘em out below!
The Eagle of the Ninth is set in the dangerous world of second-century Britain. In 140 AD, twenty years after the disappearance of the entire Ninth Legion, young centurion Marcus Aquila (Tatum) arrives from Rome to solve the mystery and restore the reputation of his father. Accompanied only by his British slave Esca (Bell), Marcus sets out across Hadrian’s Wall into the uncharted highlands of Caledonia – to confront its savage tribes, make peace with his father’s memory, and retrieve the lost legion’s golden emblem. Macdonald is a great director and I’m looking forward to this because of him, but Tatum just looks out of place. Thoughts?
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Second New Full-Length How to Train Your Dragon Trailer
DreamWorks Animation has quietly debuted a second new full-length trailer for their next movie, How to Train Your Dragon. This isn’t available in high definition anywhere yet, but thanks to SlashFilm we’ve got a embeddable version for your viewing pleasure below. Is it just me or does it seem like DreamWorks is just a little bit worried that no one is looking forward to How to Train Your Dragon? Hence the elaborate intro with footage from all of their past movies. This doesn’t look terrible, it just doesn’t look great either. The voices seem off and the story just seems mediocre as well. Watch this and let us know what you think?
Watch the second full-length trailer for How to Train Your Dragon:
How to Train Your Dragon is the story of Hiccup, heir of Viking chiefdom and the most lovable, unlikely hero, and his quest to hunt down the fiercest dragon, bring it into submission, and pass his initiation.
How to Train Your Dragon is co-directed by Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders, who together both directed Lilo & Stitch before eventually hoping over to DreamWorks. Voices in the film include Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Craig Ferguson, Kristen Wiig, America Ferrera. Paramount is bringing How to Train Your Dragon to both regular and 3D theaters starting on March 26th next year.
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Rumors: Worthington as Flash Gordon, McAvoy as Ian Fleming
Some interesting casting rumors for you to chew on today. Our friends at Pajiba are reporting that James McAvoy has been cast as James Bond creator Ian Fleming in a biopic in development at Animus Films and Palmstar Entertainment. The film will supposedly focus on the (younger) years in Fleming’s life (when he was in the British Navy) that gave him inspiration for the character of James Bond. Additionally, the not-as-trustworthy website HollyScoop is reporting that Sam Worthington is in the running for the role of Flash Gordon in Breck Eisner’s remake of the 1980 sci-fi film. I actually like the sound of both rumors.
The biopic is tentatively titled Ian Fleming and is being independently financed with an early budget of $40 million. I’m not sure if this has any relation to the DiCaprio-produced Fleming biopic we first wrote about in 2008. That project is based on an original screenplay written by Damian Stevenson that sold to Warner Bros. This one with McAvoy attached is an adaptation of the book Ian Fleming: The Man Behind James Bond by Andrew Lycett, with a script being written by Matt Brown (Ropewalk). I really like McAvoy and think he’s a fantastic choice for this. As a huge Bond fan, I’m excited to see this project come together.
As for Worthington and Flash Gordon, they claim that “right now it’s between Sam, Ryan Reynolds and one or two others for the lead role should the project actually get off the ground.” According to IMDb, Flash Gordon is still scheduled for 2012, which doesn’t mean anything. We know that director Breck Eisner, who’s been attached to this since May of 2008, left the Creature from the Black Lagoon remake, but is supposed to be directing a remake of The Brood next. So there’s a chance he could get to Flash following The Brood, but who knows? Either way, I do really think Worthington would be a good, solid choice for Flash Gordon.
My initial impressions about having McAvoy play Ian Fleming and Worthington play Flash Gordon are all positive. I’m not entirely sure why, but it just sounds like it could work well for both. What do you think?
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Star Trek Sequel is Starting Pre-Production Next December?
Apparently this little quote was first published last week, just before Christmas, and I’m not sure how we missed it. But considering there is no other news worth reporting this week, and because Star Trek is one of favorite movies of this year, I thought I’d feature it today anyway. In an MTV article looking at actress Zoe Saldana’s upcoming 2010 slate, they highlight a quote from her that mentions that the Star Trek sequel will be “going into pre-production around this time next year.” That’s not necessarily shocking or surprising, but it’s good to hear that they’re pushing to get started fairly soon, because I’m already anxious to see this.
“I spoke to J.J. and Bryan Burk, his producing partner at Bad Robot, and they are still in the middle of building the script with Alex Kurtzman and Bob Orci, and we’ll probably be going into pre-production around this time next year.”
The odd thing about this is that MTV doesn’t mention when exactly they got this quote. So although I’m predicting (given that she has been doing lots of Avatar promotion recently) that it was earlier in December, I can’t say for certain. The last we heard, back in November, J.J. Abrams was still unsure about directing the sequel without a finished script. And it sounds like Kurtzman and Orci, who wrote the first movie, are still working on that script. I’ve got my fingers crossed, hoping that Abrams will return, but I guess only time will tell. I’m just happy to see it progressing, as I’m excited for the continuing voyages of the Starship Enterprise.
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These Ain’t Just Opening Credits: The Art of the Title Sequence
The opening moments of any film are truly pivotal in fully capturing the audience’s attention amidst the opening of snacks, late audience arrivals and post-trailers chatter. Some movies just throw you right into the story, while others like to ease you in with a not-so-distracting credit sequence that runs throughout the opening scenes. But then, there are some movies which have meticulously crafted opening sequences to not only make sure you know damn well the people who worked so hard to bring it to you, but also to introduce you to the world where you’ll spend the next few hours. And herein lies The Art of the Title Sequence.
A couple of guys have taken it upon themselves to bring more attention to the “Art of the Title Sequence” at their blog of the same name. There they take the time daily to post various opening credit sequences that usually go above and beyond simple title cards. In addition to commentary and sometimes interviews with the credit sequence creators, every now and then they’ll even focus on end credit sequences as well. While complex and intricate title sequences are something that have become easier and more common due to the advent of various computer technologies for animation, editing and the like, there are title sequences from all different decades highlighted on the site.
One of my personal favorites is the opening credits from Steven Spielberg’s 2002 film Catch Me If You Can. Accompanied by a spectacular score from the masterful John Williams, the credit text interacts with the minimally styled animated characters and provides the environments and obstacles that the characters we are about to meet will take on throughout the rest of the film. It essentially is a short and sweet animated silent film version of the entire movie, and is enjoyed slightly more upon a second viewing. Watch it below:
A more recent favorite comes from Peter Berg’s 2007 Saudi Arabia-set action film The Kingdom, where the opening sequence acts as both credits and an abridged animated lecture that combines graphs, timelines, maps and archival footage to inform people of the delicate situation in the Middle East. The most powerful and striking use of this effect comes when a 3-D bar graph in the shapes of the countries identified as top oil consumers swivels around to show the United States’ towering #1 bar split into the Twin Towers as a plane flies into one of them. The imagery is powerful and sudden, and sets the tone for the rest of the film.
In addition to featuring incredible spotlights on other personal favorite title sequences like Coraline, Juno, Kung Fu Panda, Lord of War and Thank You for Smoking as well as fantastic closing credits sequences for Jon Favreau’s Iron Man as well as Pixar’s The Incredibles and WALL-E, they also have special features like their currently running series on long single take shots that run through title sequences as well as a focus on films that you may never have heard of before. Personally I’m waiting to see a little focus on what I think to be 2009’s best opening title sequence: Watchmen. What are some of your favorite title sequences?
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Avatar Continues to Break More IMAX Records Every Week
Hollywood has shut down for the week, so there isn’t much news to report. However, James Cameron’s Avatar seems to still be kicking ass at the box office, landing in the #1 this spot last weekend and topping $600 million worldwide in just over 10 days. IMAX sent out a press release last night stating that Avatar is breaking more and more IMAX records, which is impressive because The Dark Knight set the bar quite last year. “To have reached $39 million from 249 screens in just 10 days demonstrates that moviegoers clearly understand the value of experiencing Avatar in IMAX,” said Greg Foster, Chairman and President of IMAX.
If you haven’t seen Avatar in IMAX 3D yet, it definitely is the way to see it, even though it wasn’t “shot” on IMAX cameras. Although it was only “digitally re-mastered” for IMAX, it still looks incredible because of the level of detail in the visuals and 3D. The number of IMAX screens showing Avatar accounts for only 3% of it’s screens overall, however approximately 12% of it’s domestic revenue this past weekend ($75.7 million) was from IMAX. So it’s making 12% of the revenue from only 3% of the screens. That definitely sounds like “consumers are clearly seeking out IMAX as the way to experience James Cameron’s latest blockbuster.”
If only they could’ve released Titanic in IMAX, too, they would’ve made so much money off of that! IMAX CEO Richard L. Gelfond stated in the press release that “Avatar is well on its way to becoming our highest grossing Hollywood IMAX title.” Bravo James Cameron, you’re latest movie is a tremendous success!
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Must Watch: Second Phenomenal Teaser Trailer for Inception
Warner Bros has finally put out the second teaser trailer for Christopher Nolan’s Inception in glorious high definition (via Apple). This already hit theaters last Friday in front of Sherlock Holmes, so a few of you might’ve already seen it. And it’s essentially the same version as the French trailer we ran last week as well. The more I see from Inception, the more excited I get, and I’m already pretty pumped. Chris Nolan seems to be giving us more and more of the story in each new trailers, but I still don’t know what it’s about besides the idea of going into someone’s dreams. Next to Tron Legacy, this is my most anticipated movie of 2010.
Watch the second new teaser trailer for Christopher Nolan’s Inception:
You can also watch the second Inception teaser trailer in High Definition on Apple
A thriller set within the architecture of the mind about a CEO who is involved in a blackmailing scandal.
Inception is both written and directed by acclaimed Oscar nominated British filmmaker Christopher Nolan, of Memento, Insomnia, Batman Begins, The Prestige, and The Dark Knight. Nolan previously wrote the scripts for Memento, Batman Begins, The Prestige, and The Dark Knight with his brother Jonathan Nolan. Warner Brothers is bringing Inception to theaters everywhere starting on July 16th, 2010 next summer.
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