Many of us remember fondly the original DARK CRYSTAL from our childhoods, and now, with a sequel on the way 28 years later, maybe we’ll get to share that magic with our kids as well.
Or we’ll bitch about how special effects ruin everything and the original was way better.
Either way, POWER OF THE DARK CRYSTAL is moving forward, and according to a recent press release, has picked up a pair of directors in the form of Peter and Michael Spierig, who most recently helmed DAYBREAKERS, a very underrated film from last year that I think will find a following at some point.
What’s the plot of this new CRYSTAL adventure?
Set hundreds of years after the events of the first movie when the world has once again fallen into darkness, “Power of the Dark Crystal” follows the adventures of a mysterious girl made of fire who, together with a Gelfling outcast, steals a shard of the legendary Crystal in an attempt to reignite the dying sun that exists at the center of the planet.
A mysterious girl made of fire? I think they’re going to want to go with the mo-cap over a puppet for this one.
Performance-capture acting, and the thesps who've tried it, are earning more respect these days.
"Avatar" rode performance-capture to generally stellar reviews, record-breaking grosses and rare levels of audience engagement.
Yet professional thesps still lag behind the public in understanding the process and are just beginning to sort out what it means for the business of acting.
Zoe Saldana -- "Avatar's" Neytiri -- may be remembered as the first movie star to have her breakout role in performance-capture.
The prominence she got in spots for "The Losers," opening this weekend, befits a popular star, and she was prominent in spots for "Death at a Funeral" as well.
Her agent, Lorrie Bartlett, says Neytiri was "absolutely" Saldana's breakout part, and her manager, Aleen Keshishian of Brillstein Partners, says, "The attention we've gotten from filmmakers has been remarkable."
There has been pushback, though, especially from thesps, who either look down on the process as an animation hybrid or fear it is a step toward replacing actors altogether.
Andy Serkis, who through performance-capture played Gollum in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy and Kong in "King Kong," understands the thinking -- but dismisses it.
"(They think) if it's not the actor's face onscreen, they won't get the next job. There's a kind of vanity about that. Actors who care about the purity of acting and transformation are not worried about that."
Performance-capture, he says, is actually a boon to actors. "It enables you to play any manner of characters you might not normally be cast as."
One indication actors are coming to respect the process is that SAG is forming a performance-capture committee. Just a few years ago, when Serkis was shooting "King Kong," SAG covered his work only during principal photography, not while doing eight weeks of performance capture playing the giant ape.
Serkis credits thesp Woody Schultz, a vet of "The Polar Express," "Monster House" and "Avatar" who has been appointed to chair the new committee, with helping the Guild to change the way it looks at motion capture. For his part, though, Schultz says SAG's attitude evolved naturally, not through his efforts.
"Nobody knew where this technology fell," Schultz says. "It was a huge gray area."
Schultz says there's still an urgent need for education on the topic, and the Motion Picture Academy, answering that call, scheduled an April 22 panel on "Acting in the Digital Age."
Stars like Tom Hanks and Anthony Hopkins have given performance-capture credibility as "real acting." But reps aren't ready to evaluate potential clients that way.
One agent, who asked not to be identified, has had clients in performance-capture movies, with good results, but says not even Saldana's turn in "Avatar" would have been enough to sign her without live-action clips.
"It's not enough information," says the rep. "You don't know how much the performance is manipulated because the technology is so new."
That jibes with Schultz's experience as well.
"Initially if I were to show a reel to an agent that had my performance-capture work, it didn't sink in until I could show the video reference footage, so they could see me next to Anthony Hopkins performing a scene. They couldn't wrap their heads around the fact it was acting. Especially if the character didn't look like me."
"But that's changing," he adds.
SAG's committee is still being officially constituted; Schultz says he hopes it will officially meet in May.
Serkis, for his part, recently confirmed he is launching his own London-based facility, The Imaginarium, aimed at making the process accessible to more filmmakers at lower cost.
"I absolutely fundamentally believe it's part of the actor's journey now," he says. "If you look back at history, going back to Greek drama and commedia dell'arte -- which used masks -- and Kabuki, I don't suppose audiences were questioning the technology or how the actor was cloaked; they were moved by the performance. That's what we ought to be examining.
"I expect that in four or five years, this strange age of superstition about performance-capture will disappear when it's practiced by more actors. And it will be."
There are well-known methods to extend depth of field. There are even digital cheats to extend depth of field. But imagine shooting macro photography and telephoto photography, all in perfect focus, as one image. A new camera makes it possible.
The Omni-Focus Video Camera, by researchers at University of Toronto, can accomplish such a feat—and yes, it does cheat a bit, of course.
The camera is really many cameras, all focused at various distances. But what the Omni-Focus does really well (through collaboration with another related project) is map each pixel that each camera is shooting in 3D space, then combine these pixels appropriately into one image.
Obviously, photographers often enjoy blur. But I could see the benefits for 3DTV programming, in which anything out of focus can cause eyestrain. Plus, there's obvious utility for the industrial, security and pervy spycam sectors, too. [Physorg via PopSci]
James Cameron had been working on the concept of 'Pandora' long before he started working on The Titanic. Why did it more than 13 years for the concept to be realized? The primary reason why the concept took this long to slip into a whole new 'Avatar' was because the technology just wasn't there. James Cameron was well aware that even if he and his crew had tried their very best at that point of time, they would not have been able to produce something like the Avatar of today. In fact, as you will find out in this article, many of the technologies needed to be invented by Cameron and team. If you are curious to know more about what it took to bring Avatar to the big screen, then join us in this feature story as we take a tour of the technology features of Avatar. We will also learn how these technologies are changing the aesthetics of the next-generation digital media entertainment.
Technologies used in the production of Avatar
From the early days of the movie - we are talking pre-visualization (pre-viz) here, Cameron wanted Avatar to be completely based on motion-captured (mocap) animation and not traditional animation; for all the CGI aspects of the movie. But the expected workload involved for this operation would have been enormous. Previously, mocap animations used to be recorded at the studio, then the production houses used to apply the mocap data on the 3D modeled character to create the animated CGI scene. This was a tough process, as the synchronization between the director and the whole working crew had to be perfect (and not to mention, between the production house's CG artists too). So, the main technologies that James Cameron was waiting for were the 'Reality Camera System' amalgamated with the 'performance capture' technology.
The 3-D Camera Technology Behind James Cameron's Avatar
The Reality Camera System 1, developed by James Cameron himself along with Vince Pace, allowed the whole film to be captured in stereoscopic 3D. This fusion camera system is a very advanced piece of technology, as it can work for the director as the gateway to visualize the augmented reality for the film's production. Now, in case you are wondering what this augmented reality we are talking about is; well, we are exactly going to look at just that...
Avatar Exclusive Behind The Scenes (The Art of Performance Capture)
Performance Capture is basically the same thing as mocap, but it is more taxing for the actors involved, and requires a different level of performance from them. Essentially, under Performance Capture, all the actors are interacting as they would in any Live Action film, but instead of the scene calling for make-up and set decoration, it's more akin to a virtual stage performance: with each actor wearing a mocap suit. At the same time, this performance is being recorded through an array of camera systems (not the characters, just their skeletal and muscular movement). The fusion camera will then integrate this action-data on pre-modeled CGI characters (basically, virtual versions of these actors, avatars, if you will). Specially for the facial animation, a FACS-based (Facial Action Coding System), muscle mapping system has been developed for realtime facial animation and better control over emotions. So the director can watch CGI characters performing realtime, on his monitor, and in case something went wrong, he can ask the crew and cast to re-shoot the scene or just the part of the scene, as required. This whole system only captures the character movements in 3D, so the camera position, lighting, and all the other aspects of the scene can be explicitly adjusted later on. This also implies that in case of common issues with filming (wrong camera position, for example), one doesn't need to retake the entire scene. Cameron compares this to a very advanced game engine; this forms the augmented reality we were talking about.
Avatar: motion capture mirrors emotions
This implementation of the fusion camera system along with performance capture allows the entire film industry to work inside a very fast pipeline, as well as enhancing the perfection of the performance, and completely freeing the need for hectic frame-by-frame animation. Apart from the acting by the humans and the Na'vi tribe, Avatar features a great tropical paradise of Pandora, its huge flora-fauna ecosystem; and a long-action packed battle scene. None of these were easy to create and none of them took less importance while the making of the film.
The terrain, mountains, rivers, oceans, and the living beings on Pandora were created with the WETA Digital's critically acclaimed- MASSIVE (Multiple Agent Simulation System in Virtual Environment) software. You have already seen this software in action in most of your favourite CGI/action movies (Avatar, The Lord of the Rings series, King Kong, 300 - you name it). The team came up with an all new 'plant' and 'L-system' add-on for MASSIVE, allowing artists to create a complete vegetation system for Pandora: to be planted, grown, and to interact with the environment.
Avatar: the science behind Pandora
The large variety of creatures (beasts mostly), all of them being a never-before conceptualized 'hexapod' species, also lead the entire animation team to work on a very new system to handle this fictional eccentricity of nature. The bioluminescent property of all the living beings on the planet was another element of concern - for daytime and at night, they had to appear differently.
The battle scenes were entirely handled by ILM (Industrial Light and Magic). They also worked on the cutting-edge war-inventory design and explosion systems to give us the realistic "heat" of the battle experience. Add in all the preceding tech, stir well, and when the dish is finally served as Digital-3D media, the movie experience really becomes jaw-dropping. Avatar was published through nearly every type of 3D film projection method: RealD 3D, Dolby 3D, XpanD 3D and IMAX 3D. Whereas in Korea, a 4D version, complete with physical effects including rain, wind, strobe lights, and vibration etc., was also premiered.
The impact of Avatar on the film industry
While working on the movie Avatar, James Cameron wanted to showcase his invention to two other legendary film directors, in case they wanted to work with similar technology for their future ventures. So he invited Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson to his set. Spielberg was very enthusiastic for the advanced motion capture and virtual camera system, so much so that he planned his next project, "The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn" to be based on the very same technology. Set to be released on 2011, The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn is a complete 3D CGI movie, in which all the animation part will be the implementation of Performance Capture of live artists. The filming of the movie was over in just 32 days. After the motion capture data capture, the complete project will be handed over to Peter Jackson's WETA Digital studio, for the post-production and CGI works.
It sounds insane at first, that the post production pipeline of the movie will be twenty times lengthier than the actual shooting. But, if we hear it from Peter Jackson, the movie is somewhat ready in a very raw state; there's nothing more to create or produce - it's just the rendering of the film in the presentable media, that will take two long years at WETA Digital's render farm. Apart from these intangible technological break-throughs, sometimes small and legacy armaments also can make significant differences. Although the full Direction credit goes to Spielberg for this first movie, some sources revealed that Peter Jackson, though bodily present only for the first week, thoroughly assisted Spielberg with the filming direction, over videoconferencing from New Zealand. So, as you can see, tele/video-conferencing may just be a past and twentieth century phenomena, but it is sufficient enough to work as a never-before seen collaborative (remote) film direction platform.
Spielberg, directing a MoCap shot
Another MoCap on progress, from Tintin set
Not just a one-off film; Tintin is going to be a complete motion picture series. Peter Jackson will be co-directing future sequels, all of which will feature this new dimension of film technology at its core. Check out the images to find out the filming, right from the capture set. Rumor has it that, apart from the existing technologies, "The Adventures of Tintin" will introduce a few more step-forwards. While in Avatar, the technical implementation led to an Augmented Reality; for Tintin being an animated movie, the production house will have to work on an Augmented Virtuality ambiance. Avatar being the usher of new-age mainstream motion pictures, we'll see how the legend continues with Tintin, in the animation industry.
Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg
On the contrary, not everyone is welcoming this entire stereoscopic 3D filming and performance capture augmentation, spontaneously. For example, lets take The Hobbit series; the next project of Peter Jackson with Del Toro. Guillermo del Toro wanted to keep it sync with the former LOTR series, not only in story representation or cinematography, but also continuing the similar technology, and filming it with 35mm traditional lens. But Peter Jackson, the producer of these films, who have already decided to completely move over to 3D for the rest of his production life, has been continuously evangelizing for shooting in 3D. Del toro firstly compromised with 3ality, a propitiatory 2D filming format, optimized for the captured video to be converted in 3D. No wonder nobody liked that idea; hence finally the team decided shooting in 3D is the best idea, if they really have to publish in 3D formats at the end of the day.
Conclusion
Some critics have claimed that these advances in technology would be the doom of traditional acting and animation. For most of us though, these advances are a convergence of live action and animation; coupling the very best of both worlds. For the audience, the only thing that matters most is the movie experience. If a very realistic, technically-flexible, life-like motion capture can be offered, why not to embrace it? If a stereoscopic 3D movie can make you 'feel' the movie, then why not to like it? All that is new, is not necessarily bad. This point is what is moving the film industry into a whole new era of motion picture. And with the infinite possibilities offered by this new tech, the next 10 or 20 years of cinema will only be limited by the imagination of the creators
SMURFS CAST FILLS OUT ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY reports a rundown of many of the unknown cast members for THE SMURFS. John Oliver (DAILY SHOW) is Vanity Smurf. Kenan Thompson (SNL) is Greedy Smurf. Fred Armisen (SNL) is Brainy Smurf. B.J. Novak (THE OFFICE) is Baker Smurf. Jeff Foxworthy is Handy Smurf. Wolfgang Puck is Chef Smurf. Gary Basaraba (CHARLOTTE'S WEB) is Hefty Smurf. They join Katy Perry, Hank Azaria, George Lopez, Alan Cumming, Paul Reubens, Anton Yelchin and Jonathan Winters.
EW also reports that rumors of Quentin Tarantino and Michael Cera voicing Smurfs are not true.
The Raja Gosnell-directed CG/live-action flick follows an expectant couple (Neil Patrick Harris and Jayma Mays) as they discover the Smurfs in Central Park. The film has started production in NYC.
DAYBREAKERS DIRECTORS HELMING POWER OF THE DARK CRYSTAL
HOLLYWOOD, CA May 04, 2010 – In a joint announcement by Omnilab Media's Christopher Mapp and The Jim Henson Company's Lisa Henson, Australian based Omnilab Media is teaming up with The Jim Henson Company to bring the much anticipated fantasy sequel, "Power of the Dark Crystal" to the big screen in stereoscopic 3D. The highly anticipated film will be among the most ambitious projects to ever be produced in Australia.
Power of the Dark Crystal will be produced by the Australia based production arm of Omnilab Media, Ambience Entertainment. The Jim Henson Company's executive producers are Brian Henson, Lisa Henson and Jason Lust. Omnilab Media's executive producers are Christopher Mapp, Matthew Street and David Whealy. Cinemarket Films' Peter D. Graves ("Terminator Salvation") rounds out the executive producer team.
Peter Spierig and Michael Spierig, writers and directors of "Undead" and most recently, "Daybreakers," have come aboard to direct the screenplay written by Australian Craig Pearce ("Moulin Rouge," "Strictly Ballroom," "Romeo + Juliet") based on an original script by Annette Duffy and David Odell. The legendary fantasy artist Brian Froud will reprise his role as conceptual designer of the film, which will use a stunning mix of live action and traditional puppetry combined with visual and special effects produced entirely in Australia. Omnilab-affiliated Iloura ("Where the Wild Things Are," "The Pacific," "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark") has already begun work on the film's complex CGI elements. With this team in place, next steps will be to secure worldwide distribution.
"Power of the Dark Crystal is an exciting and ambitious undertaking and, having worked on previous projects with the top-notch talent and crews that Australia offers, we know we have assembled the right team to deliver the sequel to one of the most enduringly popular titles in the Henson library. Peter Spierig and Michael Spierig are sure to create a film that will continue the legacy of the original and exceed the expectations of our loyal fans," said Lisa Henson, CEO of the The Jim Henson Company. "We are especially enthusiastic to be working with Omnilab Media, a strong and growing force in worldwide film finance and production."
"We are very pleased to be producing this wonderful and fantastical film in Australia. The Power of The Dark Crystal will showcase the depth of talent Australia has to offer up on the international stage, including the extremely gifted directing team of Peter Spierig and Michael Spierig. The Jim Henson Company has consistently delivered an amazing range of entertainment over generations and is an iconic creative studio that we are proud to have partner with us," added Christopher Mapp from Omnilab Media.
Michael Spierig said, "We feel a tremendous amount of responsibility in telling this story with the same meticulous care that Jim Henson and Frank Oz gave the 1982 original." Added Peter Spierig, "This is a chance to take the world of puppetry into the modern age by using modern techniques (like motion capture CGI) and the tried and true methods (like puppetry and animatronics) to create a one hundred percent real world that is unique to 'The Dark Crystal'."
Set hundreds of years after the events of the first movie when the world has once again fallen into darkness, "Power of the Dark Crystal" follows the adventures of a mysterious girl made of fire who, together with a Gelfling outcast, steals a shard of the legendary Crystal in an attempt to reignite the dying sun that exists at the center of the planet.
ABOUT OMNILAB MEDIA www.omnilab.com.au Omnilab Media is an Australian and New Zealand based globally focused vertically integrated entertainment company involved in the production, visual effects, post production and financing of a diverse range of film and television properties. Amongst the funding deals recently concluded by Omnilab Media, covering both production and P&A financing, are Oliver Stone's 'W', 'The Bank Job', 'The Messenger', ''Bran Nue Dae,' and the upcoming 'Dylan Dog: Dead of Night', 'The Loved Ones,' 'Tomorrow When the War Began', and 'The Killer Elite.'
Omnilab Media has also created a new digital film company with Kennedy Miller Mitchell (Dr.D Studios) to use groundbreaking digital storytelling, animation and visual effects. The first production will be HAPPY FEET 2, with a range of other bluechip properties in development.
ABOUT AMBIENCE ENTERTAINMENT www.ambienceentertainment.com Ambience Entertainment was originally founded as a post production company in 1999 and in 2003 dipped it's toe into the production arena with the creation of The Pop Pups. In 2004 Ambience Entertainment was acquired by Omnilab Media to create content for group and has since grown into one of Australia's fastest growing independent film and television production companies dedicated to producing compelling film and television programs for local and international broadcasters and audiences.
With a well-earned reputation for quality, Ambience Entertainment specializes in feature films, game shows, children's programming and animation.
Ambience Entertainment is the content and production division of the Omnilab Media, Australia's largest independently owned vertically integrated media company. This alliance has enabled Ambience Entertainment to develop its own distinctive television and film content with the strategic goal of significantly increasing its production output.
The Jim Henson Company has remained an established leader in family entertainment for over 50 years and is recognized worldwide as an innovator in puppetry, animatronics and digital animation. Best known as creators of the world famous Muppets, Henson has received over 50 Emmy Awards and nine Grammy Awards. Recent credits include the Emmy nominated "Sid the Science Kid," "Dinosaur Train" "Wilson & Ditch: Digging America" and "Pajanimals." Features include "The Dark Crystal," "Labyrinth," "MirrorMask," and "Unstable Fables" and television productions include "Fraggle Rock" and the sci-fi cult series "Farscape."
With additional locations in New York and London, The Jim Henson Company is headquartered in Los Angeles on the historic Charlie Chaplin lot, complete with soundstage and postproduction facilities. Independently owned and operated by the five adult children of founder Jim Henson, the Company is also home to Jim Henson's Creature Shop, a pre-eminent character-building and visual effects group with international film, television and advertising clients, as well as Henson Recording Studios, one of the music industry's top recording facilities known for its world-class blend of state-of-the-art and vintage equipment.
The Company's Henson Alternative brand recently launched the New York run of "Stuffed and Unstrung," a live puppet improvisational show at the Union Square Theatre. http://www.henson.com
Serkis credits thesp Woody Schultz, a vet of "The Polar Express," "Monster House" and "Avatar" who has been appointed to chair the new committee, with helping the Guild to change the way it looks at motion capture. For his part, though, Schultz says SAG's attitude evolved naturally, not through his efforts.
"I absolutely fundamentally believe it's part of the actor's journey now," he says. "If you look back at history, going back to Greek drama and commedia dell'arte -- which used masks -- and Kabuki, I don't suppose audiences were questioning the technology or how the actor was cloaked; they were moved by the performance. That's what we ought to be examining.
There are well-known methods to extend depth of field. There are even 
