Showing posts with label Pacific Rim. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pacific Rim. Show all posts

Wednesday, 25 December 2013

Pacific Rim Star Suggests Next Movie Could Be a Prequel

Comicbook.com (blog)Pacific Rim Star Suggests Next Movie Could Be a PrequelComicbook.com (blog)pacific-rim-martini In a new interview with Empire Magazine, Pacific Rim star Max Martini seems to have suggested that the next installment of the monsters-versus-robots franchise, currently being written by Travis Beacham and co-writer/director ...

Sunday, 22 December 2013

Could 'Pacific Rim 2' Actually Be a Prequel?

Screen RantCould 'Pacific Rim 2' Actually Be a Prequel?Screen RantThe jury's out on whether or not Guillermo del Toro's Pacific Rim will get the sequel treatment. As of October, he and Travis Beacham were still plugging away at the script, which is a definite check mark in the “yes” column, but they've yet to receive ...

Could The PACIFIC RIM Sequel Actually Be A Prequel?

Comic Book MovieCould The PACIFIC RIM Sequel Actually Be A Prequel?Comic Book MovieWe've all assumed that the Pacific Rim sequel currently being developed by Guillermo del Toro would pickup from where the first film left off. But Herc Hansen actor Max Martin gives us an indication that it could be a prequel. "I don't know if it's a ...

Friday, 13 December 2013

Visual Effects: F/X Lighting Goes to 11



One of the challenges in f/x has long been to match the lighting of the special effect, be it a model, a miniature, or a digital element, to the live-action "plates" for the same scene.


This year several of the finalists for the visual-effects Oscar nomination are pushing the boundaries of f/x lighting, blurring the lines between "practical" and "digital" effects, and along the way, using that lighting to integrate actors with vfx in ways that could only have been dreamed of before.


"When it comes to lighting, you basically have three scenarios," says Lindy De Quattro, co-vfx supervisor on " Pacific Rim." "You have putting a CG character in a live-action environment, putting a live-action character in a CG environment, and then putting a CG character in a CG environment." " Gravity " and "Oblivion" pushed the envelope on the second scenario, while "Pacific Rim" used all three situations.


In "Gravity's" spacewalk shots, everything on the screen is digital except Sandra Bullock and George Clooney's faces, which are lit by the "light box" invented for the picture. But "Oblivion" had its own giant equivalent of the light box, used to light stars Tom Cruise, Andrea Riseborough and Olga Kurylenko. Meanwhile "Pacific Rim" took digital lighting to "operatic" and "romantic" heights.


Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki conceived the Cube of Light for "Gravity" after seeing Marc Brickman's design for a Peter Gabriel concert, which incorporated LED video screens. Those screens were folded into a box to surround the stars, then moving images on the inside of the box lit Bullock and Clooney's faces in concert with the digital backgrounds for their scenes, right down to the reflections in their eyes.


PHOTOS: Creating a Shot for 'Gravity'

Lubezki also worked directly with the digital lighting supervisors - he calls them his gaffers - at Framestore in London. "I would wake up at 4 a.m., turn on my computer, and we'd use this new technology similar to Skype. I'd say good morning to my gaffer and start working on a scene. And I would say 'Move the sun 60,000 kilometers to the north.' And that way I could put the lighting anywhere I wanted. Or make the surface of the spacecraft more reflective so I can bounce light on Sandra's face."


For "Oblivion," the airborne apartment shared by Jack (Cruise) and Victoria (Riseborough) is surrounded by dramatic, gorgeous skyscapes. Those scenes weren't shot in front of a greenscreen. Instead, the vfx team shot skyscapes at dawn from atop the Haleakala volcano in Maui, then projected them behind the set on a 500-ft.-wide, 45-ft.-tall screen using an array of 21 digital projectors. The projections helped light the scene.


"We're borrowing from the past. With digital projection it works and it works all day," says vfx supervisor Eric Barba, noting that because the images are digital, they don't get scratched.


Much of "Pacific Rim" is digital, since the giant robots and giant monsters don't exist. The vfx team did shoot images of the real Hong Kong for reference. But for helmer Guillermo del Toro, says De Quattro, "The real Hong Kong wasn't Hong Kong enough. He loved the look of it but he wanted everything 'more'" says De Quattro. "He wanted the lights to be more saturated, he wanted more of them, he wanted there to be more atmosphere. He wanted to take the real look of Hong Kong and kind of turn it up to 20."


De Quattro says for the ILM team, which is used to striving for realism, that was an adjustment. "Guillermo kept telling us 'You need to find your inner Mexican.' By the time we got to our next show, we were thinking 'Wow, that looks really washed out.'"


SEE ALSO: More VFX Bakeoff Contenders

Mega Shark Vs. Mecha Shark Is The Pacific Rim Of Asylum Shark Movies

To fight monsters, we made monsters. And so it is with sharks.



Elisabeth Röhm also has a key role in American Hustle right now. That's a varied CV and no mistake. Most members of our parish will still know her best for Angel, I think, though.


And I wonder if there's such a thing as Mega Shark fans, and if so, I wonder if they went crazy when Deborah Gibson appeared on screen?


Thursday, 12 December 2013

Amazing Pacific Rim Cosplay Made From Rat Traps, Spoons, Everything


If you haven't seen Pacific Rim, there's a Chinese mech called Crimson Typhoon. Well, this is the Brooklyn Typhoon. It may not be as big as its inspiration, but its made of way more interesting stuff.


Built by Brooklyn Robot Works, it took 550 hours to build, and weighs in at 155 pounds. Here's a list of just some of the stuff that went into building such an elaborate outfit.


2 rat traps, 7 mousetraps (2 types), 53 toy truck wheels, 2 business card holders, hockey helmet, 2 plungers, rotating lawn sprinkler, 4 egg slicers, 4 ice scrapers, 4 ladles, 4 slotted spoons, camping thermos, toilet flush valve, 8 ice skate blade guards (2 types), 2 baseball throat guards, trashcan foot pedal, 2 spoon draincups, 2 blender bases, 4 hair cutter spacers, 2 kneepads, thermos base, ski goggles, football shoulder pads, 6 shinguards (3 types), 2 hockey leg guards, wall outlet plate, 3 vitamin cases (2 types), 3 manicure bowls, 3 doorknob wall guards, hand towel holder, 4 bicycle splashguards (2 types), 25 turnbuckles, corner paint applicator, slotted ladle, 2 faucet strainers, paper towel holder, 3 screen door latches, handheld spotlight, 2 flashlights, closet pole mounts, lots of bottlecaps, lots of knobs & pull handles, lots and lots of plastic from trashcans, buckets & food containers... and a whole lotta inspiration!


Plus, you know, it only takes one man to operate, and not three.


Brooklyn Typhoon [Brookyln Robot Works, via technabob]


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Monday, 9 December 2013

Warcraft movie touts cast from Pacific Rim, Vikings, and Mission: Impossible

ShacknewsWarcraft movie touts cast from Pacific Rim, Vikings, and Mission: ImpossibleShacknewsAccroding to Legendary's Twitter (via Joystiq), the cast includes Ben Foster (3:10 to Yuma), Travis Fimmel (Vikings), Paula Patton (Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol), Toby Kebbell (Wrath of the Titans), and Robert Kazinsky (Pacific Rim). Slashfilm ...

Thursday, 5 December 2013

Pacific Rim Open wows spectators for 27th year

OregonLive.comPacific Rim Open wows spectators for 27th yearOregonLive.comThe Pacific Rim Open was called the Pacific Northwest Open tournament up until 1989 when we changed the name to make it international in scope. Fast-forward to the 27th annual Pacific Rim Open held at Beaverton's Tualatin Hills Athletic Center. In the ...

Friday, 29 November 2013

Pacific Rim Review

ScifiedPacific Rim ReviewScifiedPacific Rim is 100 million tons of gorgeous awesomeness! It honours and celebrates Kaiju tradition, the beauty of anime and mecha, whilst creating it's own mammoth universe. Guillermo Del Toro has lovingly crafted practical effects with CGI. He has ...

Wednesday, 20 November 2013

The Greatest Pacific Rim Kaiju?

Unleash The FanboyThe Greatest Pacific Rim Kaiju?Unleash The FanboyWhen Pacific Rim was first announced, the hype was pretty big, mainly at first in the Godzilla community. As the months went on, the general public started to get into it. Marketing was pretty solid, but in the beginning it only showed the Jaegers. The ...

Pacific Rim and Guillermo del Toro's world building

Den of Geek (US)Pacific Rim and Guillermo del Toro's world buildingDen of Geek (US)Pacific Rim and Guillermo del Toro's world building. Feature Ryan Lambie 11/18/2013 at 8:54AM. With Pacific Rim out now on disc, we look at director Guillermo del Toro's talent for creating rich fantasy worlds... His films may be varied in subjects and ...

Pacific Rim premieres in Dhaka today

Daily Star OnlinePacific Rim premieres in Dhaka todayDaily Star OnlineIn continuation of that, they are premiering another major hit of 2013, “Pacific Rim”, in 3D. The science fiction monster film, directed by Guillermo del Toro and starring Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, Robert Kazinsky, Max ...

Sunday, 17 November 2013

Pacific Rim and Guillermo del Toro's world building

Den Of GeekPacific Rim and Guillermo del Toro's world buildingDen Of Geek... their immaculately-crafted worlds. From his first feature, Cronos (1993), to his most recent, this year's Pacific Rim, del Toro's films create their own perfectly-realised reality that gives the impression of more things occurring beyond the ...

Win Pacific Rim on Blu

NZGamer.comWin Pacific Rim on Blu-Ray & DVD!NZGamer.comPictures and Legendary Pictures Pacific Rim. When an alien attack threatens the Earth's existence, giant robots piloted by humans are deployed to fight off the menace. When legions of monstrous creatures, known as Kaiju, started rising from the sea, a ...

Wednesday, 13 November 2013

Opinion: building the Pacific Rim's produce powerhouse

Opinion: building the Pacific Rim's produce powerhouse

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By Produce Marketing Association (PMA) Australia-New Zealand CEO Michael Worthington

The Asia-Pacific Rim is one of the most important geographic areas in the world for the global trade of fresh produce. When you think of all the fresh produce that comes out of the North, Central and South American countries (such as Chile, Peru, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, the U.S., Canada) that are along the Pacific coast, the vast producing and consuming economies of Japan, China, Korea and South East Asia and the smaller (population-wise) Southern Hemisphere countries of Australia and New Zealand, then you get some idea of the importance of this region.


It is no wonder that the Pacific Rim has two-thirds of the busiest ports in the world, supporting 60% of the world's population.


Kiwifruit, apples, stone fruit, grapes, citrus, berries, bananas, cut-flowers, garlic, asparagus, onions and many other products are traded within and between these countries and all indications are that the potential for significantly greater trade will just keep growing. These countries not only produce for their own consumers but are always on the lookout for new cross-border opportunities.


It goes beyond just trading products as there are many other areas where companies are interested in the region; for instance, there are new fruit and vegetable varieties,as well as new technologies on the farm and in the supply chain that companies are keen to learn more about.


And this is one of the reasons why PMA Australia-New Zealand - in partnership with Horticulture New Zealand, United Fresh NZ and The Australian Chamber - has decided to hold its annual premier industry conference and trade show, PMA Fresh Connections, in the fantastic city of Auckland, New Zealand from 24-26 June 2014.


New Zealand is well known as a major supplier to the Northern Hemisphere - increasingly to the Asian markets - of kiwifruit, apples, onions, kumara and other fruits, but is also a solid importer of citrus, bananas, grapes and stone fruit from the Pacific Rim. Neighboring Australia is a big exporter of products such as grapes and citrus and an importer in increasing volumes of grapes, citrus, asparagus and stone fruit.


So, this event, which is expected to attract over 1,000 delegates, will be an ideal venue for buyers and sellers of a wide range of products and services from throughout the Pacific Rim to congregate and develop trade and business connections, not only with these two countries but also with other Pacific Rim nations.


There are many areas where the various countries are in intense competition with each other, but the reality is that there are many areas where the goals are common, such as how the fresh produce industry can better connect with consumers across the whole region, how the supply chain can be made ever more efficient, or how to tackle looming challenges to find enough labor to sustain the industry.


One of the biggest challenges for the fresh produce industry is to convince consumers to eat more fresh produce - not only will this go some way to reducing the alarming levels of obesity in the world but it will help 'build a bigger pie' which everyone benefits from, whether you are a grower in Chile, a retailer in China, a packer in Australia, an exporter in Peru or a marketer in California.


Through its theme of " Innovate. Collaborate. Thrive.", the conference will have an international line-up of speakers to address this challenge, along with a number of other hot topics.


The fresh produce industry in the Pacific-Rim, already a powerhouse, has a great future. But innovation and collaboration are the most important elements to it being a thriving industry and events such as the one in Auckland are perfect for delegates and exhibitors from across the whole region to learn from each other and create more business.


www.freshfruitportal.com Click here for more news about the global fruit industry. Subscribe to our newsletter here to receive news by email.

Tuesday, 12 November 2013

Review: Pacific Rim


I'll be the first to admit it...when I saw the trailer for Pacific Rim - at the cinema, nonetheless - I wept. Not physically, of course, but for the state of Hollywood and the cinematic art form.


Pacific Rim, as far as I could tell, looked like everything that was wrong with modern day Hollywood - a smorgasbord of CGI-sodden content that had little to no plot, story or general point of interest. Throw in the recognisable face or two, and I was resigned to hating it.


However, having just sat and gorged on all 134 minutes of [Guillermo] Del Toro's recent alien brawl fest, I've got to say...I was very, very wrong.


Plot...let's be having you

Focusing on the futuristic 2020's, Pacific Rim unfolds a world of supernatural disturbances caused by the ever-evolving Kaiju (translated in Japanese as 'strange creature' and first seen courtesy of the Daikaiju Godzilla in the 1954 Japanese release of the same namesake). However, unlike their Daikaiju ancestors Rim's Kaiju are learning, adapting to the struggling human resistance and returning - from an inter-dimensional portal on the floor of the Pacific Ocean no less - bigger, faster and stronger on each occasion.


Our tale, however, is set predominantly in 2025. Five years have passed since the initial Kaiju emergence and, while the Jaeger defence system - a go-to attempt by coastal nations, such as the US, Russia, and China, that created colossal, mind-melding war machines to combat the latest threat to humanity - had been initially successful, the conclusion now was that the program was an unviable option against an increasingly persistent and evolving threat. And so, in a last ditch attempt the remaining Jaeger are redeployed to the Hong Kong coastline to keep the Kaiju at bay while the 'wall' - which is intended to keep the alien-esque foe out - is finished.


However, Jaeger commander Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba) - a former 'pilot' himself - can see that the wall is a futile plan doomed to fail, and so attempts to end the battle once and for all...through the destruction of the Kaiju's sub-Pacific portal. Conversely, Pentecost is aware that he will need his very best Jaeger pilots at hand, and so sets about recruiting Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunnam), a former pilot who turned his back on the Jaeger scheme following the tragic loss of his brother years before.


Beauty and the Brawn

Up to this point one could be forgiven for blowing off Pacific Rim as 'yet another alien slugfest'; and yet, unlike films such as the later Transformer sequels, Pacific Rim knows exactly what it is and never tries to be anything more. It understands that, at its core, is a testosterone-oozing pandemic, a 'rock-em, sock'em robots for a 21st Century audience, and sets about delivering this with as much eccentricity as it can physically create. And yet, bar a handful of cringe-worthy moments, Pacific Rim delivers more; on a whole spectrum of levels.


Amongst the masculinity is maturity; beneath the brawn is beauty; and within the heavy animation is an acute understanding of what the audience would expect from a film tagging itself as 'Go big...or go extinct'. Sure, it's a CGI-saturated adventure, and cinematic purists may argue that its films such as this that are killing story-based Hollywood - but Pacific Rim is CGI at its very best; uncompromising in its approach and beautifully rendered in its delivery.


What's more, the performances - from a fine array of talent, no doubt - add a degree of realism unbeknown to films of its genre. The despair of their situation resonates well off the likes of Luther-known Idris Elba (whose role, while not quite as dominant as Luther, is another fine example of the mans natural talent), while the quirkiness and far-fetched nature of the tale manifests itself through characters such as 'mad scientist' Dr. Newton Geiszler (Charlie Day, of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia fame) and alien-orifice black marketer Hannibal Chau (the ever-enjoyable Ron Perlman; a regular of Del Toro features ala Hellboy). Better still though is the partnership between our lead protagonists Raleigh Becket(Hunnam) and Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi).


As a returning pilot Raleigh must ease Mako - whose personal ties to the cause remove her, initially, from pilot-selection - into the Jaeger environment, one that is both heavily male-orientated and unforgiving to amateurs. Of course, as is staple these days a blossoming relationship begins to form between the two - you know, a little love story to soften the thought of possible extinction - but thankfully the focus remains on the fight in hand.


As for the rest of the cast, all add a splice of variety to Rim's offering. Whether this is through the Soviet-esque stylings of the Russian Jaeger pilots - both of whom seem to draw heavily from iconic Russian-figure and Rocky villain Ivan Drago; the jock-like behaviour of Australian pilot Chuck Hansen ( portrayed by Robert Kazinsky, in a remarkable step up from his previous employment on Eastenders) or Clifton Collins Jr's Mod-styled Ops controller Tendo Choi, there is enough personality here to hold your attention throughout.


Conclusion

But, the question remains - when push comes to shove, how does Pacific Rim fare? Well, it's hard to put this into words - if you were to combine Avatar, Transformers and War of the Worlds you'd have a good starting point for this film. However, such is Del Toro's attention to detail that none of the aforementioned would do Pacific Rim justice. Ultimately, P.R is a beast unlike any other - an all out brawl-fest that finds a equilibrating balance of comedy, action, passion and despair. If Shakespeare did Kaiju, you'd be hard-pushed to find better.


Of course, when approaching such a title one must have an open mind. If you come into this expecting the story of 2013, the stand alone film that will redefine the Oscars or similar award ceremonies, then you are bound to hate it. When reviewing its original cinematic release, Guy Kelly summed his review up with " It's cliché, but in this case it holds true: if you only see one blockbuster movie this summer, make it this one" - and the same remains with its Blu-ray/DVD release.


Imagine Avatar on speed, playing a War of the Worlds videogame...yeah, that's about it. Del Toro draws you in, then gives you just what you want - a visceral pleasure with enough substance and levity as to justify its 132 minute run time. Better still, if your current setup allows...get the Blu-ray addition. Pacific Rim is a visual delight, so the culmination of Blu-ray clarity can only better your viewing experience.


Pacific Rim...it's what your 12 year old self always wanted to see.


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Pacific Rim Animation Supervisor Hal Hickel On The Secrets Of The Kaiju ...

I recently had a chance to speak with Hal Hickel, the animation supervisor for Pacific Rim, on the occasion of the film's DVD and Blu-ray release.


We started by discussing an often-held misconception about 3D conversions, then pretty quickly hopped over to Hickel's area of expertise: the animation of digital characters.


And finally, there's a nice, simple anecdote about how a little narrative hole in the film was sewn shut.


So, here we go. Here's some of what Hal had to tell me:


I think there's still a perception that native 3D yields a better result. That said, everyone who has spent any time doing a converted film knows that if you spend the time and have the taste you can get an excellent result that way as well. It's still just seen as "If you can do it for real, do it as real" and there's a lot of subjective calls you have to make when converting but if it's done for real you know that what you're getting, even if you want to fudge it for a different visual result, you know that what you're starting out with is what the real scene would look like. People do think, generally, that the best result is gotten natively so where they could on this film, they went that way. I don't think we've had a show here yet where the animators worked viewing the monitors in 3D. The only exception might be some ride filmwork, such as the Transformers ride. On Pacific Rim, no, the animators worked on a normal 2D monitor and artists didn't see anything in 3D until... well, to be honest, the decision to go 3D was made after we were well into post production. A 3D supervisor was brought on and they went through the camerawork retroactively, did new camera layouts and reviewed the work that way. I would occasionally peek in to see what they were doing. [Our visual FX supervior] John Knoll had been involved over the previous year or two on the 3D conversion work on [Star Wars] Episode One and Episode Two, and I know that he had steeped himself in 3D and was really into it. He and Guillermo had a lot of conversations about how to do this film in 3D. The big risk was that people might say "I'm not seeing enough depth, push the depth more" but the problem with a film like Pacific Rim is, if you can imagine, we have these great big wide shots of Kaiju and Jaegers, essentially buildings fighting one another, and it shouldn't look depthy unless somebody wanted to push the depth and that would end up miniaturising them. The results were, at the end, good for both native and converted work. As the animation supervisor I looked at any character work in the film as well as machines - CG helicopters and things like that. All of the Kaiju stuff and Jaeger stuff fell in my department - at least, the performances of those characters.There were three big challenges with the Jaegers. The first one, obviously, is the scale. To make them feel huge, the first you'd do is slow them down but with these guys, most of the sequences they're in are action sequences. It was a matter of how fast we can go but still have them feel huge, and we needed to use some editing tricks. Scale was challenge one. Then the second thing was differentiating the Jaegers from the Kaiju. The Kaiju had to feel organic and the Jaegers had to feel mechanical. Ordinarily you'd think of a robot and how you'd make it feel robotic, maybe, would be with a lurching start-stop, start-stop kind of feel to it but the problem with that here is that you'd need these guys to get up to speed and stay at speed not start and stop at every step. We had to look at smaller ways, the ways the arms swing or the way the torso rotates, a mechanical feel with hard stops and recoils. We ruled out motion capture for this very reason early one. Even though they're controlled by humans on the inside we realised.The third thing was differentiating the Jaegers from one another, giving them different personalities. Gipsy is kind of the gun slinger, Eureka is the captain of the football team, Crimson Typhoon is a nimble martial arts expert, Cherno is the big brawler. The designs helped differentiate them but it was also how they carry themselves and act. And we tied it in to the crews inside them too. Raleigh has a kind of swagger and we put a little bit of that in Gipsy, then the Australian crew, Chuck and Herc, have bravado and ego and all of that is apparent in Striker Eureka. There was a lot of though upfront about tying the humans and Jaegers together. Raleigh had a couple of fight scenes in the original plans for the film - it's down to one now because the film was whittled down. He used to have another fight, with his foreman at the construction site, and between that one and the one you can still see, with Chuck, there were some moves that he does, kind of signature fights. Guillermo intended to echo these when Gipsy is fighting later. That went, a little bit, by the wayside for editorial reasons and story reasons, some of that got pared down. We thought a lot about how we'd carry the way the actors moved inside the Conn Pods to the movements we see outside, syncing them up, but when it came down to it, it really got down to making things slow not "We have to have the same walk, the same cadence, the same gait." We thought about it a lot up front but we were able to strip things away until we got to the things that we needed to tie them together. It wasn't about "Here's a really particular pose that Chuck keeps hitting so we're going to echo that with Striker" it was more about an attitude. One exception is that there's a signature move when the Australian guys open the chest where they step back and throw their arms out and that we match very closely. There's just a few places where we had to echo exactly what an actor had done. We didn't build every Kaiju all the way from the inside out, with organs and bones. Sometimes we do - it depends on the creature - so, for instance, the baby Kaiju had really translucent skin so we had to build a lot of internal stuff there. Then Leatherback, the one who's like a Gorilla, he gets blown apart rather gruesomely so we had to build quite a bit of his skeleton and some organs inside. That said, even with the characters that don't have their insides built specifically, we do think a lot about it. The modelling lead for the Kaiju, Paul Giacoppo, he was OCD about anatomy. He can transpose real human anatomy onto a creature and say "The tricep needs to go here, these quadraceps aren't quite right" and he'll think a lot about what the skeleton is doing underneath and what will make it look like it's moving correctly. It comes down to the visual, and the artist using their eye to see what looks right. But we do occasionally have a creature where it's important to show flesh sliding over bone - the Thestrals in Harry Potter, for example - in which case we'd definitely build all of the layers. Pacific Rim didn't require all of this. We did do a lot of flesh simulation on them after the animation, to jiggle the flesh and jiggle the muscle groups. One neat thing was that the animators had some shapes they could dial in to make, for instance, the forearm muscles flex, let's say. They might be dialling those in and out as, for instance, Leatherback is running forwards. The fist might land on the ground and the animator would dial in this flexing shape, and then when the flesh simulation artists go in to take over after the animation is final, to do all of the jiggle, the trouble they have is that it might override the shapes and just make all of the skin look jiggly. We did something pretty neat here where it would know where the shapes were activating and it would tighten up the skin around those areas. The flesh sim and the shapes worked well together to give this really great sense of the skin being lose where it was meant to be lose and then tightening up around these muscles as they flex. There's a bit at the end of the film, after the nuke has gone off, where Gipsy Danger is still heading towards the breach. We though there were originally some issues of clarity there with the audience as we'd already been told that they'd have to take a Kaiju through the breach with them or they won't be able to pass through. But now we're at a moment where we believe that all of the Kaiju have been killed and Gipsy is heading towards the breach anyways. I remember having quite a few conversations with Guillermo about "How do we make sense of that to the audience?" This was one of the great examples of Guillermo being really open. We weren't speaking to him specifically about visual effects, we were saying to him, "Hey, this story point isn't as clear as maybe it can be. Is there any way we can help with that?" And that's how we ended up contributing the idea of Gipsy grabbing hold of a half of a Kaiju and dragging that to the breach. It's a nice example that goes to showing how collaborative he is and how open he is to conversations of that kind. And in the end, we did provide a kind of visual effects solution to this one thing.

Thanks again to Hal for speaking to me. Pacific Rim is out on DVD, Blu-ray and digital download in the UK next Monday, November 11th. I love it.


In the meantime, you can explore more of the Pacific Rim world with this specially built archive of interesting materials.


Pacific Rim Mining Corp : ISS And Glass Lewis Recommend Pacific Rim Mining ...

11/12/2013 | 03:37pm US/Eastern



Recommend:



November 12, 2013 ISS And Glass Lewis Recommend Pacific Rim Mining Shareholders Vote In Favour Of Plan Of Arrangement With Oceanagold Pacific Rim Mining Corp. ("Pacific Rim") announces that Institutional Shareholder Services ("ISS") and Glass Lewis & Co. ("Glass Lewis") have both recommended that shareholders vote FOR the special resolution to approve the plan of arrangement (the "Arrangement") between Pacific Rim and OceanaGold Corporation ("OceanaGold"). The resolution will be considered at the upcoming special meeting of shareholders of Pacific Rim to be held at the offices of DuMoulin Black LLP, 10th Floor, 595 Howe Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, on Thursday, November 21, 2013 at 3:00 p.m. (Pacific time). Both ISS and Glass Lewis are independent proxy advisory firms who, among other services, provide proxy voting recommendations to pension funds, investment managers, mutual funds and other institutional shareholders. In its analysis, ISS said* that:"The acquisition appears to make strategic sense as the acquirer is a much larger and well established player in the same sector and is expected to diversify Pacific Rim's asset risk profile and provide exposure to OceanaGold's diversified portfolio of producing gold mines in New Zealand and the Philippines. Overall, in light of the significant implied premium, the favorable market reaction, and the reasonable strategic rationale, a vote FOR this resolution is warranted." How to Vote A proxy form or voting instruction form accompanies the meeting materials you were sent on October 24, 2013. Instructions on how to vote, which vary depending on whether you are a registered or beneficial shareholder, are provided in the information circular included in the meeting materials. Most Pacific Rim shareholders are beneficial shareholders. Registered shareholders who hold Pacific Rim shares in their name and represented by a physical certificate may vote in person at the Meeting, by mail or by using one of the following methods:


Internet: vote online at www.investorvote.com using the control number located on your proxy. Telephone: 1-866-732-VOTE(8683), toll free in Canada and United States. Facsimile: 1-866-249-7775, toll free in Canada and United States. Beneficial shareholders who hold Pacific Rim shares through a bank, broker or other intermediary will have different voting instructions and should carefully follow the voting instructions provided to them on the voting information form included in the meeting materials. In addition, Pacific Rim may utilize the Broadridge QuickVoteTM service to assist beneficial shareholders in voting their shares. Eligible beneficial shareholders may be contacted by Pacific Rim's proxy solicitation agent, Laurel Hill Advisory Group, to conveniently obtain a vote directly over the telephone. Shareholder Questions Shareholders, whether registered or beneficial, who have questions regarding the voting process or have not received their proxy or voting instruction form may contact the proxy solicitation agent at: Laurel Hill Advisory Group Toll free: 1-877-452-7184 1-416-304-0211 (banks, brokers or collect calls from outside Canada and the US) Email: assistance@laurelhill.com About Pacific Rim Mining Corp. Pacific Rim is a mineral exploration company focused on high-grade, environmentally clean gold deposits in the Americas and committed to excellence in environmental stewardship and social responsibility. Pacific Rim's primary asset is the advanced-stage, vein-hosted El Dorado gold deposit in El Salvador, where Pacific Rim also owns several grassroots gold projects. Pacific Rim's common shares trade under the symbol PMU on the TSX and on the OTCQX market in the US under the symbol PFRMF. On behalf of the board of directors,"Thomas C. Shrake" Thomas C. Shrake President and CEO For further information, contact Pacific Rim at 604-689-1976 or 1-888-775-7097 or general@pacrim-mining.com or visit www.pacrim-mining.com. *Permission to quote from the ISS report was neither sought nor obtained. The TSX has not reviewed nor accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

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Sunday, 10 November 2013

Author: Obama's 'brilliant' statecraft costs the US worldwide influence [VIDEO]

Daily CallerAuthor: Obama's 'brilliant' statecraft costs the US worldwide influence [VIDEO]Daily CallerAs evidence, Loudon points to the fact that China, rather than America, is now training the Fijian military and displaying belligerence in the Pacific rim. “A few months ago the Australian minister of defense was up in China for talks, and a top ...

Monday, 4 November 2013

Effects animator Hal Hickel on Pacific Rim, Toy Story, ILM

Den Of GeekEffects animator Hal Hickel on Pacific Rim, Toy Story, ILMDen Of GeekThe work of animator Hal Hickel and his team at ILM is perfectly showcased in Guillermo del Toro's monsters-versus-robots fantasy Pacific Rim - a loving tribute to the kaiju movies of Japan, and also glimpse of what's possible with current computer ...