Female Representation in Film

More recently than not, especially in this day and age where superhero films dominate the box office and Marvel receives extreme positivity from critics, however one of the biggest problems reviewers have is the lack of female characters in these films. Now I'm a big fan, and I do agree that it is a fault. Luckily they've heard fans crys and in the new movie coming out in May, Captain America: Civil War, there are three key female characters in the story. Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch and Sharon Carter/Agent 13. It's really exciting to finally see such a strong presence of females in these movies, the comics there are so many powerful women that it's quite remarkable to finally see them on screen. Little by little they are diversifying. Check out this women in Marvel featurette that showcases Black Widow, Scarlet Witch, and Agent 13

Deadpool Visual Effects

Deadpool is not only a box office success, that was thought to be an extremely risky movie from Fox,  smashing all records and having more domestic gross then other big box office films like Iron Man and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. I was lucky enough to have worked for Lauren Schuler Donner at The Donners' Company this past Fall and go to hear about a lot of the behind the scenes aspects of the film when it came to budget and story development. Lauren had discussed with me about how since the film had a much lower budget than bigger Fox/Marvel films she had produced ,like all the X-Men films, they had to use their resources. Visual Effects was one of those major aspects. In the industry it can be easier to say have a car chase all visually animated than get a stunt team to make it reality. The lead visual effects company that was responsible for Deadpool's effects released a breakdown video, and Lauren was not wrong Deadpool was animated quite a bit, even in places I thought for sure was real. Luckily Deadpool's costume/design can be more easily animated then say Wolverine or Magneto.

Title Sequence Madness

So while this Title sequence project is the bane of my existence and is the hardest project I have done in this class, it is still definitely my favorite project that I have done this semester.

This project is a very long and hard process that I am still not completely finished with even as I write this post. But I have kind of loved every minute of it. And that isn't even because I love animating in After Effects that much (I mean I like it, but it is not my favorite activity). But I am very excited about how it is going to turn out.

So I started out this project thinking I was going to remake the title sequence for To Kill A Mockingbird, however after really thinking about my skill level, I decided that was totally not going to work. So instead I decided to go with my own new version of the Avengers end title sequence. And while yes, I know, the Marvel titles are all really cool and super 3D and crazy complicated, mine is not like that at all. I know that mine is a very simple 2D small scale kind of thing, but I really like how it looks and I am excited to finish it. I also think it looks pretty good for my skill level.

CINEFEX Magazine

CINEFEX Magazine is a bimonthly magazine devoted to motion Picture Visual Effects, and it is awesome! If you ever wanted to know how they make those amazing visual effects in motion pictures, this is the place to stop by. This Magazine is a beautiful rendition of who did what, and how it's made. It happens to be in the library (Thanks to Arturo's convincing words), and I have been drooling over the pages.

The Magazine covers almost any major film. Films like Oblivion, Elysium, Man of Steel, Gravity, Carrie, Maleficent, Godzilla, Guardians of the Galaxy, Interstellar, and Ant-Man are talked about in depth is some of the more recent issues. Overall, the articles go to great length to describe the process and what the team learned along the way.

This magazine is a great investment for all of those motion graphics lovers who find themselves asking "how did they do that?" Their Subscription cost is a bit steep, but for $50 a year, you can get all the access to specific and exact information to how they did specific things in some of your favorite films.

*Another added bonus for those looking to get in to the Visual Effects Industry:*
*Studios looking for interns or other help advertise in this magazine too!!*

I Would definitely recommend taking a look through next time your in the library!

Marvel behind the cinematic magic.

I found a really cool video that shows some of the Oscar award winning special effects that were used in Marvel's Avengers. It shows various green screens. It has different layers of the same scene in different processes of the animation/special effects before reaching the final cut. I thought it was very cool. I thought it was super awesome, and you should definitely give it a look. 

Behind the Looks: Marvel.

Have you ever wondered how special effects are done for Marvel? Well now they have a site which will soon showcase behind the scenes of the Avengers, as well as how special effects are used and shot. Isn't that incredible?

Go Behind the Special Effects of Marvel’s The Avengers

I think this is a great idea, and an interesting way to be able to see exactly how much green screens, and what the sets actually look like before Marvel creates this other world that is entirely different. 

Marvel's Daredevil

The Marvel cinematic universe is massive, and it is only getting bigger, with a dozen movies and a dozen more on the way, a couple of cable TV series, and a few series being released on Netflix. One of the most recent additions to this ever growing universe is Marvel's Daredevil, a Netflix original series that had full season released on the streaming sight just two weeks ago.

The series follows the character Matt Murdock, a blind lawyer who beats up criminals at night as the the costumed vigilante known as Daredevil.  I've only gotten into the first two episodes, but so far I'm pretty captivated. Character of Murdock is pretty interesting, the setting of Hell's Kitchen in NYC seems pretty well done, and the choreographed fight scenes are really satisfying. One thing that I thought was really cool, and may interest those in this class, was the title sequence. It's a captivating sequence that makes use of this really interesting melting wax effect.

So if you like Marvel superheroes, gritty backstories, or just watching a bunch of bad guys get the crap beaten out of them, give this series a try.

Burka Avenger

The Superhero industry, has been, for the most part, fairly exclusive since its origins. Most of the characters have been white males who save the day. Although the industry have been becoming more progressive as of late with the introduction of characters such as Kamala Khan as Ms. Marvel, it still has a long way to go. Recently, a Pakastani company released The Burka Avenger, a cartoon about a female, Muslim superhero. Not only will this cartoon serve as a big step forward in the Middle East, it will also offer something for western superhero creators to emulate. I'm very excited to see the full series!

Lego Dimensions?

Over the past few years, there has been an increased amount of commercialization between tangible toys and digital downloadable content. Companies such as Disney have been able to profit off of the success of toys such as Disney Infinity and Skylanders. Now Lego, in partnership with DC comics, is releasing Lego Dimensions, which follows the same business model as Disney. Buying this product allows access to downloadable in-game content. This drives consumers to both purchase new products as well as play the existing game. I am looking forward to seeing how this product competes in the existing market. 

Shared Universes Across Media

Although brands often synergize in order to reach the widest audience, it is not often that those media exist in the same universe. For example, there have been many iterations of Avengers cartoons over the past few years, but none have actually been included in the actual canon in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Although the characters are the same, their stories exist in completely different spaces; if something happens in a cartoon, it won't affect the events that occur in the movies.

However, there has been a recent call to consolidate the varies forms of media into one collective storyline and canon. The biggest industry to do this is the superhero industry. Two of the largest organizations to do this are Disney's Star Wars and the DC Television Universe. Back in the eighties, there were a number of Star Wars comics that were released by Marvel. Although they contained numerous adventures of Luke and the gang, they were never considered to be part of the actual Star Wars canon. Now, Marvel has decided to change that.

The company has decided to release a series of comic titles, including Darth Vader and Princess Leia, that tell the tale of what happened between the events of episodes IV and V. This is the official story and will be considered part of the official canon, even though they occur in a completely different medium than the films.

Likewise, DC Television is doing something similar. The group has received great critical acclaim for the shows Arrow and The Flash, which both air on the CW. Now, they have announced a cartoon titled Vixen, which will exist in the same universe as the live action shows. Both Flash and the Arrow will make an appearance in the show (in cartoon form) and will have the same exact story line as before.

I think this is a really cool way to integrate various forms of media with each other.

Synergy

Disney and Marvel have had great success recently through their live action features. Guardians of the Galaxy took this summer by storm, and Marvel has treated that success as a launching point for other media based on the film. They've recently announced the creation of a Guardians of the Galaxy cartoon.

Now, this is nothing groundbreaking; superhero cartoons have been a staple for a long time. What is interesting, however, is how Marvel is using the show as a launching point for other media. They recently released a comic book of Guardians that has the same exact art style as the cartoon.

Additionally, they've used the same style for the Disney Infinity toys. This streamlining of look of the superheroes shows a strength in brand which I find to be very cool. 

Marvel Sony Spiderman Deal

In the realm of CGI and animation lies a genre a movies that has gained a lot of popularity over the past decade, superhero movies. That being said, if one company had to be given credit for said rise in popularity it would have to be Marvel. Since creating the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2008 with Iron Man, Marvel has built an extremely successful franchise filled with individual movies for each character as well as The Avengers, where they all team up. However, not all Marvel movies were able to be part of this universe. The X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Spider-man movies, were all owned by different companies making it impossible for them to be a part of the MCU...or so we thought.

This past week, Marvel Studios and Sony struck a deal regarding Spider-man. According to the deal, a new Spider-man will first appear in a MCU movie and then Sony will release the next installment of the series. Unfortunately for Andrew Garfield this does mean another reboot of the Spider-man series. However, for everyone else, this is really exciting.

Fan Created Superhero Media

I'm a big fan of the superhero genre. I watch all the films, I read the comics, and I binge all the superhero TV shows. As I often peruse comic book websites, a big thing that they feature is fan created videos. Most of these are videos are mashups of various movies, cut to look like two characters exist in the same universe and, usually, fight each other. Although they're never spectacularly well-made, they can certainly be entertaining.

Every once in a while, there some really brilliant videos that play on the superhero genre and have some really decent animation and visual effects. The effects are cool and are fairly easy to do, I've found upon looking up various how-to videos. These videos just go to show how the market is drastically expanding, and how anyone can be a content creator. Here's my favorite one: It's Batman vs. Darth Vader.

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

I recently noticed on Netflix that the ABC show Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was available on Instant Watch so I figured I'd give it a go and jumped in. Aside from some funny Joss Whedon dialogue and cool comic book story lines, what really impressed me with this show were the visual effects. Having been a lover of Science Fiction movies and TV shows my whole life, I've gotten used to campy special effects and have learned to ignore how low-budget it looks (here's looking at you every movie SyFy channel has ever produced). In the case of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. the visual aesthetics really do justice to the super-powers and weird alien technologies they are demonstrating. After looking more in depth about the show when I decided to write this blog post about it, I was pleased to learn that the show was nominated for an Oustanding Visual Effects Emmy. Similarly, I was pretty pumped to find a Youtube show that dedicates an episodes focus to different behind the scenes aspects of the show and luckily they rightfully reserved an episode for the Visual Effects department and here that video is.

PEACE OUT
           &
HAVE A HAPPY
THANKSGIVING

Minimalist Comic Art Style

This week I decided to take a slight detour from talking about movies, to discussing another popular visual medium, comic books. One artist that has recently come to my attention in the Marvel sphere is Javier Pulido. Based on what I've been able to find about this artist was he originally worked as an artist for the Incredible Hulk back in the 1990s at Marvel. Later he worked on titles The Batman Chronicles and Robin Year One at DC.

The main thing that I found interesting about this artist was the style he employees for some of his comics. This art style seems minimalist and for me was a little bit of shock to see considering I was mainly used to the highly detailed comics I often have come to expect from Marvel.

Incredible Hulks #635
Tom Grummett

New Avengers

Here are a few examples of what Pulido has done. 

Hawkeye
2012

Black Cat
2010

She Hulk #1
2014

It was mainly Pulido's art in these new She-Hulk stories that I found interesting. Not only is his style sort of minimalist in comparison to some of the more detailed books these days but also this style reminds me of a comic art style from an earlier era. But the thing that drew me the most this comic was a combination of the water color style cover art and the way Pulido makes use of the space in the pages of the book.

She Hulk Regular Issue Cover
Kevin Wada

She Hulk #2

In this particular set of pages as She-Hulk and the woman and yellow move across the hallway the full immense scape of the area shown, as well as other bits of action going on in the background as well.

After Effects used on Iron Man

    In college we're always learning how to use new programs. I've always been interested in knowing what professionals are using these programs and how are they using them. Well I did a quick search on what movies used After Effects as part of their creative design and Iron Man 3 was one of the first movies to pop up. Was I surprised? No way, there are no limits in adobe after effects so I would be surprised if movies didn't used this program. After Effects was used to create the HUD (head up display) of Iron Man.

 Watching the video gives you a glance of the work being done and if you pay close attention you will see a ton of layers listed in the after effects program. It just goes to show you how extensive a project can be and how advanced After effects is.

   It's both exciting and challenging learning how to work with after effects. I know the if I acquire the necessary skills in after effects I can create awesome work and obtain money doing something that is pretty cool and can possibly be seen be hundreds or thousands or even millions of people.

Here's the link that shows the video, as well as other videos. Click here.

Even Thor Plans Ahead

  Pre-visulization is crucial for movies that depend on visual effects, and as FX become more popular and advances each year, pre-visulization becomes more prevalent. Third Floor in London and LA did pre-visualization for the box office hit Thor:The Dark World.

Pre-visualized

Final

  Pre-visualization helps pace out time, set shots, and help make FX seem as realistic as possible. I feel in our course we should focus more on Pre-Visualization for each of our projects. Without this step, projects can be scattered and unfocused. 

Be like Thor and plan ahead. 

Thor - Ending Titles

The ending sequence to Marvel's hit superhero movie, "Thor", is a sight that has to be seen to be believed. Based off of images from the Hubble Space Telescope, the ending titles to Thor take us on a journey through our universe and beyond, focusing in on galaxies, nebulae, stars, and other such space-worthy existences.

This all takes place immediately after Thor blasts off from Earth, leaving a comet-like trail in his wake as he returns to Asgard. Simple titles of those who helped to create the film are displayed, without interfering with the beautiful scenes, on the screen. It all cultimates on a journey through unknown stellar formations, all the way until the camera reaches Asgard itself, a kingdom built on the clouds of its own galaxiular disc.

It's a sight to behold, and also created in After Effects! With a little help from the likes of Maya, anyone could create a sequence of this caliber.

Steve Viola and Captain America: The First Avenger title sequence

       
            Steve Viola is a creative director, title designer and head of Method Design (formerly Rok!t Studio), located in Santa Monica, California. Viola has some elite title sequences working as both creative director and or title designer including The Avengers, Captain America: The First Avenger, Madea's Big Happy Family, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. One of his latest title sequences Captain America: The First Avenger began when Rok!t's EP David Garber collaborated with the director of The Wolfman, Joe Johnston, to generate ideas and eventually pitch the idea to Marvel. The idea behind the title sequence is a spin on the black and white Nazi propaganda films. The really cool part about this sequence is how the production team of Rok!t Studio's took existing Nazi propaganda to create the stereoscopic effect. While this might be a little advanced for our class an animation with depth like this one should be something to strive for in the future. The team created the title sequence by using Adobe Photoshop, After effects,  Illustrator, 3D was done in Autodesk Maya and all 2D /3D composting was done in Nuke. Viola stated, "As a team we took a lot from Joe himself. From a concept perspective we tried to take inspiration from the WWII period and abstract/environment-based titles like the Bond title sequences and Thank You for Smoking." Here is the Captain America: The First Avenger title sequence, Enjoy!

                     

  Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) — Art of the Title

Here is The Wolfman intro title sequence created in Adobe After Effects by Joe Johnston and his team, Johnston again was the director of the title sequence for Captain America: The First Avenger.


                            

The Avengers

So the Avengers comes out in a week and I for one am very excited.

In case you haven't seen it here is the trailer.  Lots of explosions, lots of superheroes, what could be better?!  I'm sure the effects are going to be insane.  I personally love Tony Stark's computer interface at his house and in the iron man suit.  I thought those 3-d graphics were awesome in the Iron Man movies and I hope they are prevalent again.  Basically I'm just really excited for this.