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The American Society of Cinematographers presented a discussion about artificial intelligence, focused on how it’s being used today in filmmaking and its legal implications, during cinematography festival EnergaCamerimage.

To the latter, there were a lot of questions for panelist Angela Dunning, an attorney at Cleary Gottlieb, including those surrounding copyright class-action suits against developers for the training of AI models.

“The position that I think will prevail in the U.S. when all the dust settles after court decisions and appeals, is that that training is fair use,” she said, noting that this is an area in which she is currently working and suggesting that it’s “very much like the human process of ingesting information.” As an example, she suggested that one might “learn what a flower is from a garden, from your books your mom used to read you, from pictures of flowers in a magazine, from...

Over the past couple of years, conversation around AI has been virtually inescapable for any part of the economy, but especially in entertainment. The dual strikes of 2023 put the technology under a bright spotlight, and a series of deals in the year since labor peace was achieved offer more clues about how it is reshaping the landscape.

This month, at the historic crossroads of Hollywood and Vine, hard by the Capital Records building and the Pantages Theatre, AI talk found a home in the industry’s back yard at Infinity Festival. Unfolding just hours after the jolt of Election Day, the seventh annual edition of the fest brought together various constituencies from across entertainment and technology trying to orient themselves in a changing world.

Co-chaired by Sony Imageworks Cto Mike Ford and production chief Mandy Tankenson, the event welcomed visual effects pioneer Rob Legato; Agbo Chief Scientific Officer Dominic Hughes,...

It’s fitting that the forward-thinking Francis Ford Coppola finally turned to virtual production on his $120 million futuristic passion project, “Megalopolis,” with its reliance on experimental theatricality and fantasy imagery. After all, the director has always been a proponent of tech advancement: “One From the Heart” (1982) introduced the Silverfish electronic hub for enabling simultaneous pre-production, production, and post-production activity. However, his preference for shooting live in-camera effects (“Bram Stoker’s Dracula”) necessitated an embrace of blue screen and LED volume stage work.

But Coppola was in a bind. After disbanding his VFX team (along with his art department) mid-way through production (creative differences became a budgetary necessity), he hired his nephew, Jesse James Chisholm, a Marvel vet, to take over as VFX supervisor (working at Coppola’s new All-Movie Hotel post facility outside of Atlanta).

Chisholm quickly got up to speed with his uncle to understand his creative vision and new streamlined approach.

Shōgun creators and Emmy winners Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo and visual effects veteran Robert Legato are among the notable speakers slated to appear at next month’s Infinity Festival.

The seventh annual edition of the fest is set for November 6 to 9 at the Aster and the next door Avalon Theater in Hollywood. Panels, demos and exhibits will span film, technology, gaming and other areas. Deadline is a presenting media sponsor of Infinity Festival.

Marks and Kondo, recently Emmy-minted for their FX series, will be part of the Entertainment, Technology and Los Angeles Thought Leaders track. Also in that part of the speaker lineup is Legato, known for his work on Titanic as well as the 2019 live-action remake of The Lion King. Other speakers and companies represented include the Russo Bros.’ Agbo; Z by Hp; Nvidia, Intel, Sony Pictures Imageworks, Aws and Etc at USC. David Simon of Echelon Creative...

There are 178 episodes of "Star Trek: The Next Generation," and any devoted Trekkie has likely seen them all. True obsessives, however, probably don't consider the series complete unless they include an episode of "Reading Rainbow" called "The Bionic Bunny Show". "Reading Rainbow," for those unlucky enough not to know about it, was a PBS series for kids, hosted by LeVar Burton, that encouraged kids to read. Burton and others would read picture books to the audience, spur on children to go to their local libraries, and regularly host educational segments. "Reading Rainbow" premiered in 1983 and ran regularly for years, sometimes taking extended breaks, through to 2006. Kids who found the series loved it. They also loved that Burton, so friendly on screen, encouraged them to read. Burton won multiple Emmys for the show, including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022.

Each episode would feature a book, and in the episode in question,...

This year marks the 30th anniversary of Disney’s “The Lion King” (currently in theaters for a limited run), which coincides with the release of Barry Jenkins’ prequel, “Mufasa: The Lion King” (December 20). The 2D blockbuster and pop culture phenomenon (directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff) was an early digital pioneer. This was vital in introducing a live-action aesthetic with dynamic camera movement and dramatic lighting to its “Circle of Life” adventure story, starring Simba and company, set in the African Pride Lands.

This propelled Jon Favreau’s photorealistic remake in 2019, driven by an innovative virtual production workflow and a Nat Geo-like doc aesthetic. Although it was marketed as “live action” and not submitted for animated Oscar consideration, this was clearly keyframe-animated by Mpc, which nonetheless earned a VFX Oscar nomination (production supervised by Rob Legato).

This, in turn, has led Jenkins to strive for greater emotional nuance and...

Tom Cruise may have donned a majority of his roles in the action genre to the point where he is renowned for the same, but his one other classic masterpiece from the initial decade of his career literally sets the bar much higher. This movie is none other than the 1994 horror-fantasy film where he played Lestat de Lioncourt alongside Brad Pitt: Interview with the Vampire.

Tom Cruise in Interview with the Vampire.

If anything, what went into the making and the final result was so incredible that the film even scored two Oscar nods. But despite being such an epic piece of work, the movie’s VFX Artist Robert Legato still holds some regrets about one of the most iconic scenes in the film. Why? Well, the reason is simple: Because, in his eyes, “the idea was better than the execution.”

Robert Legato Regrets One Iconic Scene in Interview...

Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese have collaborated 6 times over the years. The director-actor duo have never repeated themselves and have constantly worked on reinventing themselves each time. From historical epics, crime dramas, to psychological thrillers, the two have become the ideal pairing that can do no wrong.

Leonardo DiCaprio as Jordan Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street

One of their wild collaborations was the 2013 biographical black comedy film The Wolf of Wall Street. One of the craziest scenes from the film was a lion casually walking through the Stratton Oakmont firm in the presence of office workers. While Scorsese did use a real lion and real people for the scene, a brilliant strategy was used to seamlessly blend them together.

VFX Artist Took a Unique Strategy to Shoot The Lion Scene in The Wolf of Wall Street

This scene from The Wolf of Wall Street was pulled off by...

James Cameron explores in detail how the Titanic sunk in his 1997 ultra-blockbuster "Titanic." It sideswiped an iceberg on its starboard side, tearing a hole in the hull. The ship began taking on water and the bow began to sink, lifting the stern into the air. The entire ship cracked in half like a Twix bar. The front half continued to sink, shooting to the ocean floor. The stern stuck was next to go, and -- because it was already half-submerged -- stuck straight up out of the water, almost vertically, like a tower. It, too, then slid beneath the waves. It took about two hours and 40 minutes for the ship to sink entirely.

Cameron compresses that sinking time into about an hour of film, careful to dramatize every detail of the ship's final moments. In the final phase of the ship's sinking -- when the stern was standing like a...

Ron Howard's 1995 film "Apollo 13" is an effective thriller even when forearmed with the knowledge that the three astronauts depicted returned to Earth okay. For those unfamiliar with the Apollo 13 mission, in April of 1970, Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert, and Fred Haise took a shuttle into space, hoping to land on the moon. An electrical problem, however, caused an explosion on the craft, and the astronauts lost a great deal of their oxygen supply. With resources nil and communication limited, the astronauts had to find a way to survive in space and return to Earth alive. Sadly, they didn't get to walk on the moon. 

In Howard's film, the astronauts were played by Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, and Bill Paxton, while Ed Harris played their contact back at NASA. The film was nominated for nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and won two for Best Sound and Best Editing. It...

Matt Sweeney, a pioneering special effects artist who was Oscar-nominated for his work on Ron Howard’s 1995 space epic Apollo 13, died February 19 of lung cancer at Burbank’s Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center. He was 75.

His death was announced by the Alliance of Special Effects & Pyrotechnic Operators board of directors. Sweeney was a founder and past president of the trade organization.

“A special effects guru, industry legend, Asepo founding member and past president, recipient of three technical achievement awards, and Oscar nominee, Matt is well recognized for his generous spirit and deep love of his craft,” the board said in a statement posted on social media. “He etched his marks on this crazy business in so many ways that will persist long after all of us are gone. He never quit, even after his retirement.”

Sweeney, whose roster of special effects credits stretches back to such 1980s hits as 9 to 5, The Goonies,...

Matt Sweeney, the inventor and special effects artist who received an Oscar nomination for his work on Apollo 13 and three Technical Achievement Awards during his long career, has died. He was 75.

Sweeney died Monday at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank after a long battle with lung cancer, Dave Burle, who worked alongside Sweeney at his company for many years, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Sweeney also handled effects for films in the Lethal Weapon and Fast & Furious franchise and for 1941 (1979), 9 to 5 (1980), On Golden Pond (1981), Goonies (1985), The Color Purple (1985), The Lost Boys (1987), Big Top Pee-wee (1988), Arachnophobia (1990), Natural Born Killers (1994) and Galaxy Quest (1999), among many other movies.

Sweeney won his Technical Achievement Awards in 1987 for an Automatic Capsule Gun, which simulates bullet hits and is known as the “Sweeney Gun”; in 1998 for a Liquid Synthetic Air system, which mixes liquid nitrogen and liquid oxygen to produce safe,...

Hope Runs High has acquired U.S. rights to Augusto Sandino’s sophomore feature “A Vanishing Fog,” which won the SXSW Zeiss cinematography prize. The film is slated for an early 2024 opening in U.S. theaters. It’s the first feature to be shot in Colombia’s Sumapaz Páramo, the largest ecosystem of its kind in the world.

“In the middle of the staggering and endangered Sumapaz Paramo ecosystem; F, a solitary explorer, strives to protect the mystical and fragile land he inhabits, while caring for his ailing father,” the synopsis reads.

“Augusto Sandino’s incredible blend of playful surrealism and the overwhelming individuality of the environment in which the film is set has stayed with me since my first viewing. I believe his ability to balance visual scale, cinematic playfulness, and true heart make him an artist we should be engaging with frequently,” said Hope Runs High curator Taylor Purdee.

Industry vets Dominic Glynn, Rob Legato, Nancy Richardson, Deborah Scott, Tom Sito and Sharon Smith Holley have accepted invitations to join the Science and Technology Council of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Visual effects supervisor and VFX branch member Legato won Oscars for Titanic, Hugo and The Jungle Book. His VFX credits also include Apollo 13, The Aviator and Jon Favreau’s The Lion King. He most recently served as VFX supervisor and second unit director on Emancipation.

Costume designers branch member Scott also won an Oscar for her work on Titanic and her additional costume design credits include E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Back to the Future, Heat, The Patriot, Minority Report and Avatar: The Way of Water. She was the Costume Designers Guild’s 2023 Career Achievement Award recipient.

Pixar senior scientist Glynn’s work as an imaging and audio specialist helped to launch the world’s first...

(To celebrate "Titanic" and its impending 25th-anniversary re-release, we've put together a week of explorations, inquires, and deep dives into James Cameron's box office-smashing disaster epic.)

"Titanic" is a truly monumental film, an epic the likes of which we rarely get anymore. James Cameron lead a team that crafted a touching and emotional romance for the ages, and a thrilling disaster movie with incredible effects both practical and digital. Few movies can give us the romantic splendor of Jack and Rose's first kiss, while simultaneously giving us the visual splendor and absolute terror of the shipwreck. This may have started as an excuse for Cameron to be able to see the shipwreck in person, but it is hard to argue against the sheer cinematic joy of the final film.

Despite a skyrocketing budget and a very skeptical studio, "Titanic" ended up becoming one of the biggest movies ever made,...

Click here to read the full article.

It’s getting close to the time of year when the executive committee of the Academy’s visual effects branch selects the 10 shortlisted films that will continue in the VFX category race, and among the anticipated contenders, the branch also has some unexpected choices to consider.

While the presumed frontrunner, James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water, won’t be released until Dec. 16, the sequel to the director’s 2009 fantasy film seems a fait accompli for the shortlist. The work was led by Weta FX and four-time Oscar-winning senior VFX supervisor Joe Letteri (who with Weta also led the work on the original Avatar, which won the VFX Oscar). The Way of Water involves new techniques, including those used in performance capture.

Also expected are multiple contenders from the long list of this year’s effects-laden Marvel and DC movies, which include...

James Cameron’s 2009 blockbuster “Avatar” didn’t just decimate previous box-office records — the film that Steven Spielberg once termed an “emotional spectacle” changed the way movies were made and shown. The cultural impact of the sci-fi epic (or lack thereof) continues to be a topic for debate, but its influence on virtual production and 3D viewing cannot be denied. Before Ilm’s StageCraft wrapped Pedro Pascal and Grogu in immersive, reactive “Star Wars” landscapes, before a performance-captured Andy Serkis brought a whole new level of expressiveness as Caesar to the “Planet of the Apes” franchise, before Ang Lee’s mad-science frame-rate experiments in “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk” and “Gemini Man,” there was Pandora, the Na’vi, and the “director-centric” workflow developed for “Avatar” by Oscar winner Rob Legato.

On “Avatar,” Cameron could shoot his actors in the volume like live action using Glenn Derry’s Simul-Cam virtual camera,...

Asg Global has announced the launch of ‘Picturehouse 441,’ a new series featuring intimate virtual Q&As with various filmmakers and actors.

The inaugural edition of the series, created by Adam S. Gordon and Joshua A. Handler, includes Pixar’s Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera discussing 2009’s “Up” on Nov. 1 followed by a Q&a on Nov. 2 at 1 p.m. Pt with Oscar-nominated filmmaker Mike Leigh discussing 1983’s “Meantime.”

“This is a dream come true,” Gordon and Handler said in a joint statement. “We wanted to create a way to bring world-class talent to film lovers across the country, and through Picturehouse 441, we have found the way to do so. Promoting great cinema is a cause close to both of our hearts, and we are incredibly excited to introduce or reintroduce audiences to essential films on a more personal level. We are immensely grateful to the dozens of tremendously talented artists...

“The Midnight Sky” and “Soul” were the big film winners at the 19th annual Ves Awards, which were presented on Tuesday night by the Visual Effects Society.

George Clooney’s cautionary sci-fi drama “The Midnight Sky” won two awards, including Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature, the Ves category that most closely corresponds to the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. Winners in the category have gone on to win the Oscar 10 times in the past 18 years, but the last film to do so was “The Jungle Book” in 2017.

The Pixar film “Soul,” which was shortlisted but not nominated for the VFX Oscar, won five awards, the most of any film or television program. In addition to Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature, it won for its animated character, created environment, effects simulation and virtual cinematography.

“Project Power” also won two awards, while additional film prizes went to “Mank,...

Pixar’s “Soul,” George Clooney’s “The Midnight Sky” and “The Mandalorian” led the winners at the 19th annual Visual Effects Society (Ves) Awards.

Comedian Patton Oswalt served as host for the 10th time for the virtual ceremony which celebrated the art of visual effects across 25 categories.

“Soul” was named top animated film, winning five awards. “The Mandalorian” was named best photoreal episode and garnered three awards, and “The Midnight Sky” was named the photoreal feature winner, garnering two awards.

Sacha Baron Cohen presented the Ves Award for Creative Excellence to acclaimed visual effects supervisor, second unit director and director of photography Robert Legato, ASC. Cate Blanchett presented the Ves Lifetime Achievement Award to Peter Jackson. The “Lord of the Rings” filmmaker was lauded in a virtual tribute that featured Andy Serkis, Naomi Watts, Elijah Wood, Sir Ian McKellen, James Cameron and Gollum.

Full List of Winners:

Outstanding Visual Effects...

One night during production of 1997’s Titanic, visionary VFX supervisor Robert Legato got a call from Jim Cameron, asking for reassurance that the motion-captured CG actors that would populate sweeping shots of the ship and digital stunt performers employed during the sinking would work. Legato remembers that the call followed an on-set accident involving a stunt performer while shooting a sinking scene, even though safety measures were in place. “He said, ‘Just tell me you can pull it off. Cause I can’t injure anybody.’ And I said, ‘Well, it’s going to work.’ And I kept my fingers crossed....

One night during production of 1997’s Titanic, visionary VFX supervisor Robert Legato got a call from Jim Cameron, asking for reassurance that the motion-captured CG actors that would populate sweeping shots of the ship and digital stunt performers employed during the sinking would work. Legato remembers that the call followed an on-set accident involving a stunt performer while shooting a sinking scene, even though safety measures were in place. “He said, ‘Just tell me you can pull it off. Cause I can’t injure anybody.’ And I said, ‘Well, it’s going to work.’ And I kept my fingers crossed....

The Visual Effects Society has named Oscar-winning director-producer-screenwriter Peter Jackson as the forthcoming recipient of the Ves Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his contributions to filmed entertainment. The award will be presented at the 19th Annual Ves Awards, streaming worldwide on April 6 or 7 (depending on time zone) and hosted by comedian Patton Oswalt.

The Ves Lifetime Achievement Award, bestowed by the Ves Board of Directors, recognizes an outstanding body of work that has significantly contributed to the art and/or science of the visual effects industry. Ves will honor Jackson for “his consummate artistry, expansive storytelling and profound gift for blending iconic imagery and unforgettable narrative on an epic scale.” Indeed, Jackson made history with the Lord of the Rings trilogy, becoming the first person to direct three major feature films simultaneously.

Ves also cited “Jackson’s ability to harness craft to bring his unique visions to life and...

Filmmaker Christopher Nolan and three-time Oscar-winning VFX supervisor Robert Legato are among the members of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers’ new creative and technology advisory council.

Announced on Tuesday, the first day of standards-setting body Smpte’s virtual tech conference, the council is made up of tech-savvy members of the Hollywood community that will offer input on their needs for new creative tools, standards and services.

In addition to Nolan and Legato, inaugural members include Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Google Research’s Paul Debevec, Geoff Burdick of James Cameron’s Lightstorm Entertainment, Ian Bidgood of Peter Jackson’s Park Road ...

Filmmaker Christopher Nolan and three-time Oscar-winning VFX supervisor Robert Legato are among the members of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers’ new creative and technology advisory council.

Announced on Tuesday, the first day of standards-setting body Smpte’s virtual tech conference, the council is made up of tech-savvy members of the Hollywood community that will offer input on their needs for new creative tools, standards and services.

In addition to Nolan and Legato, inaugural members include Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Google Research’s Paul Debevec, Geoff Burdick of James Cameron’s Lightstorm Entertainment, Ian Bidgood of Peter Jackson’s Park Road ...

‘1917’ leads the way; Joaquin Phoenix, Renée Zellweger, ‘Parasite’, ‘Bait’ among the winners.

The 2020 Bafta Film Awards are taking place tonight (2 Feb) at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

Screen will be posting all the winners on this page and on Twitter as they are announced.

The ceremony started at 18:45 UK time and finishes at approximately 21:30, with Graham Norton on hosting duties for the first time.

Joker leads the way with 11 nominations. The Irishman and Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood follow on 10, with 1917 earning nine nods.

Winners as they happen in bold (latest first), below.

Leading Actress Jessie Buckley...

The VFX wizard behind such films as Titanic and Apollo 13, Robert Legato has made it his mission in recent years to advance the art form of photorealistic computer-generated animation.

Winning his third Oscar in 2016 for his work on Jon Favreau’s The Jungle Book, Legato then reteamed with the director on a CG remake of The Lion King, taking the techniques and technology he’d developed for the former film to new heights, and a new degree of sophistication.

Referred to now as “live-action animation,” the visual style Legato developed for Jungle Book was immediately appealing to Favreau, because it gave him the ability to tell spectacular, otherworldly stories with a pristine live-action aesthetic.

Filmed on a blue screen stage in Los Angeles, The Lion King was carefully crafted by a team of live-action filmmakers, with state-of-the-art rendering tools and Vr technology at their disposal. The latter allowed cast...

With 10 Oscar overall nominations, Sam Mendes’ World War I epic “1917” is tied with “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” and “The Irishman” as the second-most nominated film at the 92nd Academy Awards (“Joker” leads with 11 bids). One of those bids is in Best Visual Effects for VFX supervisors Greg Butler, Guillaume Rocheran and Dominic Tuohy, where the movie competes alongside “Avengers: Endgame,” “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” “The Irishman” and “The Lion King.” It currently tops the predictions in Gold Derby’s combined Oscar odds, and here are four reasons why it should be topping yours as well.

SEENo female writer has won an Oscar in 12 years — and only 2 have a chance to do so this year

1. It’s a Best Picture nominee.

Since all branches of the academy vote for the winners in all categories at the Oscars, we typically see most races, above and below the line,...

Disney’s “The Lion King” was the big VFX winner Wednesday at the 18th annual Ves Awards at the Beverly Hilton, grabbing three prizes. Meanwhile. Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman” won for supporting VFX and feature compositing.

This now gives the edge to “The Lion King” (supervised by three-time Oscar winner Rob Legato) in the VFX Oscar race. Jon Favreau’s breakthrough virtual production and faux live-action aesthetic was due to Mpc Film’s accomplished photoreal animation. Of course, “The Irishman” has been given a boost, too. And we shouldn’t count out “Avengers: Endgame,” seeking to become the first Marvel movie to win the VFX Oscar, even though it came away empty-handed for its extraordinary end battle and outstanding character work on Thanos and Smart Hulk.

Laika’s stop-motion “Missing Link,” the Golden Globe animation winner, took two awards (VFX for animated feature and the Susan Sasquatch animated character...

“The Lion King,” the Disney “live-action” remake that is made up almost entirely of computer-generated characters and backgrounds, has won three awards at the Visual Effects Society’s 18th annual Ves Awards, which were handed out Wednesday night in Los Angeles.

The film won for its virtual cinematography and created environment, and also took the award for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature, the Ves category that corresponds most closely to the Academy Awards’ Best Visual Effects category.

“The Irishman,” with its extensive use of de-aging technology, won two awards, including Outstanding Supporting Effects in a Photoreal Feature. “Missing Link” was the top animated feature with two awards.

Also Read: 'The Lion King' Crosses $500 Million Domestic, Will Soon Pass 'Beauty and the Beast'

In the television categories, “Stranger Things” and “Game of Thrones” each received a pair of awards. So did “The Mandalorian” — including one for “The Child,...

The Visual Effects Society is handing out its 18th annual Ves Awards tonight at the Beverly Hilton, and Deadline is updating the winners list live as they are announced. Check out the list below.

Patton Oswalt is hosting the ceremony, which recognizes and honors the most outstanding visual effects work of the year and honors the artists who created them. Check out the latest winners and the nominees in all remaining categories below.

Since the Ves Awards launched in 2002, the winner of its top film category — Best Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Motion Picture — has gone on to score the Best Visual Effects Oscar in 10 of the 17 years. (Hugo won the Ves in the Feature Motion Picture category in 2011 and later won the Oscar.) But Ves and the Film Academy have differed in each of the past two years, with War for the Planet of the Apes losing the...

Jon Favreau's The Lion King won the Visual Effects Society Awards' top category for outstanding VFX in a photoreal feature. The photoreal retelling of the Disney animated classic — made using newly-developed virtual production techniques — bested a field of nominees that also included Alita: Battle Angel, Avengers: Endgame, Gemini Man and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker..

The award went to Robert Legato, Tom Peitzman, Adam Valdez and Andrew R. Jones, and the work was created at VFX house Mpc. The Lion King won two additional trophies, for outstanding creating environment and virtual production. The team ...

Jon Favreau's The Lion King won the Visual Effects Society Awards' top category for outstanding VFX in a photoreal feature. The photoreal retelling of the Disney animated classic — made using newly-developed virtual production techniques — bested a field of nominees that also included Alita: Battle Angel, Avengers: Endgame, Gemini Man and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker..

The award went to Robert Legato, Tom Peitzman, Adam Valdez and Andrew R. Jones, and the work was created at VFX house Mpc. The Lion King won two additional trophies, for outstanding creating environment and virtual production. The team ...

How do you translate the “crown jewel of Disney animation” into something that looks and feels like a live-action film? That was the challenge for “The Lion King” visual effects supervisor Robert Legato. The multi-Oscar winner wanted to take what he had accomplished on “The Jungle Book” (2016), which also featured a variety of talking animals, and see “what we could do better and what we could do more realistically.” Watch our exclusive video interview with Legato and his fellow visual effects artists Andrew R. Jones and Elliot Newman above.

See Oscar for Best Song: Elton John (‘Rocketman’) may battle ‘The Lion King’ 25 years after winning for ‘The Lion King’

Directed by “Jungle Book” filmmaker Jon Favreau, the film takes a photorealistic approach to the 1994 animated classic, which centers on the quest of young lion prince Simba (voiced by Jd McCrary as a child and Donald Glover as an adult) to...

Disney dominated the 18th annual Ves Awards with five nominations apiece for Jon Favreau’s frontrunner “The Lion King” and Robert Rodriguez’s surprising “Alita: Battle Angel” (acquired from Fox). Joining them for the top photo-real prize were the Disney-led “Avengers: Endgame” and “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” along with Ang Lee’s “Gemini Man”. The Ves Awards will be held January 29th at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

Competing for supporting VFX were Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman”, Sam Mendes’ “1917,” (which stitched together the World War I thriller as one continuous shot and offered various enhancements), James Mangold’s “Ford v Ferrari,” Todd Phillips’ “Joker,” and “The Aeronauts.”

In animation, Disney also fared well, with Pixar’s “Toy Story 4” (which grabbed five nominations) and “Frozen 2.” They were joined by Golden Globe nominee “Missing Link” from Laika, surprise nominee “Klaus” (the innovative 2D feature from Netflix and Spanish director Sergio Pablos), and,...

The Visual Effects Society has unveiled nominations for its 18th annual Ves Awards, which honor VFX work in film, animation, TV, commercials and video games. Winners will be revealed at a ceremony January 29 at the Beverly Hilton.

Disney’s CG redo of the The Lion King and 20th Century Fox’s Alita: Battle Angel lead all film nominees with five apiece, joining the top animated nominee Toy Story 4. In TV, Disney+’s Star Wars spinoff The Mandalorian and the final season of HBO’s epic Game of Thrones lead the field with six nominations each.

Along with naming winners in 25 categories, the group’s ceremony later this month includes honoring Martin Scorsese with the Ves Lifetime Achievement Award. The Ves Visionary Award will be given to Roland Emmerich, and the Ves Award for Creative Excellence will be presented to VFX supervisor Sheena Duggal.

Here’s the list of noms:...

Disney dominated Saturday’s Academy VFX bake-off with five out of 10 contenders, but Jon Favreau’s “The Lion King” stole the show with the best presentation by three-time Oscar-winning VFX supervisor Rob Legato. He entertainingly touted the stunning, faux live-action aesthetic. Disney franchise heavyweights, “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” and “Avengers: Endgame,” also did well in boasting their cutting edge, high-octane work.

Faring surprisingly well, though, was Robert Rodriguez’s “Alita: Battle Angel” (which Disney acquired from Fox), thanks to Weta Digital’s impressive humanoid cyborg (Rosa Salazar). However, there’s plenty of character competition from Weta’s breakthrough CG human (the young Will Smith clone) in Ang Lee’s “Gemini Man,” Industrial Light & Magic’s innovative de-aging of Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci in Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman,” and, yes, even the ambitious furry body replacements in Tom Hooper’s much maligned box office bomb,...

Three-time Oscar-winning visual effects supervisor Rob Legato has translated virtual production into a live-action methodology that serves as recognizable filmmaking tools for such directors as James Cameron, Martin Scorsese, and Jon Favreau. That’s because Legato, who’s also a cinematographer, has emphasized photographic realism in VFX.

After successfully morphing live-action footage with VFX on “Titanic,” Legato tackled virtual production more forcefully on Scorsese’s Howard Hughes biopic, “The Aviator.” He had to photograph a plane crash for the first time, so he ingeniously used animation software and a hand-operated pan-and-tilt wheel to photograph a plane crash live in real-time.

Then Legato took a bold step with his “director-centric” workflow for “Avatar,” which enabled Cameron to make his revolutionary sci-fi hybrid. With a customized hand-held virtual camera, Legato gave Cameron a powerful tool for camera layout on a motion capture stage.

Legato refined the virtual production process further with Scorsese on “Hugo.

Oscar hopefuls The Lion King and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood won Hollywood Professional Association (Hpa) Awards, Thursday night at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. 

The VFX team behind Jon Favreau's virtual production of The Lion King collected the trophy for best feature VFX. Lion King's VFX supervisor, three-time Oscar winner Robert Legato, was additionally recognized with the Hpa Lifetime Achievement Award.

The honored Lion King VFX team also included Andrew R. Jones, Tom Peitzman and VFX house Mpc's Adam Valdez, Elliot Newman and Audrey Ferrara.

Editor Fred Raskin won the award for ...

Oscar hopefuls The Lion King and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood won Hollywood Professional Association (Hpa) Awards, Thursday night at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. 

The VFX team behind Jon Favreau's virtual production of The Lion King collected the trophy for best feature VFX. Lion King's VFX supervisor, three-time Oscar winner Robert Legato, was additionally recognized with the Hpa Lifetime Achievement Award.

The honored Lion King VFX team also included Andrew R. Jones, Tom Peitzman and VFX house Mpc's Adam Valdez, Elliot Newman and Audrey Ferrara.

Editor Fred Raskin won the award for ...

Peter Caranicas Variety managing editor, features, will be honored with the first Hpa Legacy Award.

Caranicas joined Variety as features managing editor in 2008, and currently serves as both deputy editor and managing editor, features. He has developed the editorial franchises Dealmakers Impact Report, Hollywood’s New Leaders, Legal Impact Report and Business Managers Elite. Caranicas also reports on aspects of film and TV crafts in Variety‘s Artisans pages. He will be honored along with Hpa Lifetime Achievement Award honoree Robert Legato (“Hugo”) on Nov. 21 at the 14th annual Hpa Awards gala at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles.

The Hpa Legacy Award honors those inspiring leaders and industry mentors that “have made consistent and valuable contributions to the industry.”

“The board of directors and the Hpa Awards committee are delighted to present the first-ever Hpa Legacy Award to Peter,” said chair of the Hpa Awards committee Christine Purse.

Decision to present senior Oscars during commercials derided in open letter.

More than 90 distinguished filmmakers including Oscar nominee Spike Lee, Martin Scorsese, Damien Chazelle, Rachel Morrison and Emmanuel Lubezki have blasted the Academy’s plan to present four Oscars including two from senior categories during commercial breaks at the upcoming show.

“Relegating these essential cinematic crafts to lesser status in this 91st Academy Awards ceremony is nothing less than an insult to those of us who have devoted our lives and passions to our chosen profession,” the directors, cinematographers and editors – many of whom have won the Academy Award or...

Director Jon Favreau has assembled quite an incredible cast of actors for Disney's realistic CGI animated remake of The Lion King. Most of the actors on the list we've already known about, but the one big confirmation is that Beyonce will officially be providing the voice of Nala. Here's the synopsis that was released:

From Disney Live Action, director Jon Favreau’s all-new “The Lion King” journeys to the African savanna where a future king is born. Simba idolizes his father, King Mufasa, and takes to heart his own royal destiny. But not everyone in the kingdom celebrates the new cub’s arrival. Scar, Mufasa’s brother—and former heir to the throne—has plans of his own. The battle for Pride Rock is ravaged with betrayal, tragedy and drama, ultimately resulting in Simba’s exile. With help from a curious pair of newfound friends, Simba will have to figure...

The all-star lineup for director Jon Favreau’s new take on Disney’s 1994 classic animated film The Lion King includes stars from the film, TV, theater and music arenas. Featuring pioneering filmmaking techniques, the film welcomes back to the big screen iconic characters that audiences have long treasured—but in a whole new way.

From Disney Live Action, The Lion King is slated for U.S. theaters on July 19, 2019.

“It is a director’s dream to assemble a talented team like this to bring this classic story to life,” said Favreau.

Lions rule the African savanna in The Lion King which welcomes Donald Glover (“Atlanta,” “Solo: A Star Wars Story”) as future king Simba, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter (“Dreamgirls,” “Lemonade” visual album) as Simba’s friend-turned-love interest Nala, and James Earl Jones (“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” “Field of Dreams”) as Simba’s wise and loving father, Mufasa, reprising his...

Disney’s D23 Expo in Anaheim once again demonstrated its unrivaled franchise power through Marvel, Lucasfilm, Disney and Pixar, as well as the unique mining of its animated legacy. And, in highlighting its social relevance, the emphasis was on diversity and unity in conquering prejudice and hate.

On Friday, the Expo was ecstatic over the hilarious clip of Vanellope (Sarah Silverman) getting snarky with all of the Disney princesses in “Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2” (November 21, 2018) — the ultimate Mouse House strut. It was also refreshing to learn that Holly Hunter’s mom, Helen/Elastagirl, will be the star of Brad Bird’s “Incredibles 2” (June 15, 2018), picks up where the last one left off in 2004, with the Underminer (John Ratzenberger) wreaking havoc.

However, on Saturday, Disney wowed them with clips and behind-the-scene footage from “Mary Poppins Returns,” “A Wrinkle in Time,” Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” “Avengers: Infinity War,” and “The Lion King.

Underscoring just how fast filmmaking technology is advancing, three-time Oscar winning visual effects supervisor Rob Legato dazzled Nab attendees on Sunday with a look at the virtual production process on The Jungle Book, while adding that “this is so outdated from what we are doing on the next movie.”

While he never mentioned the title, Legato — who won Oscars for Titanic, Hugo and Jungle Book — is reteaming with Jungle Book director Jon Favreau on Disney’s live-action retelling of The Lion King, which will incorporate virtual production techniques.

During his Future of Cinema Summit keynote Sunday at Nab Show in Las...

Disney’s got a great circle of life going with the hybridization of its animated classics.

It’s a different aesthetic, thanks to virtual production: animation has become more like live-action and live-action has become more animated. But it’s intensified with “The Jungle Book” (this years’s VFX Oscar winner) and “Beauty and the Beast.”

While “The Jungle Book” achieved a new level of photographic-based realism, with everything virtual except for Neel Sethi’s real-life Mowgli, “Beauty and the Beast” utilizes more live-action, but also emphasizes photoreal CG characters; the Beast (Dan Stevens), who is performance captured by Digital Domain 3.0, and the enchanted characters that inhabit the castle (created by Framestore).

Read More: Meet ‘The Jungle Book’ VFX Master Rob Legato

Yet the key to both movies is staying true to their original DNA while grounding them in believable and immersive worlds. This way our familiarity with the beloved...

Another Oscar season wraps up. It's all over but the memories and the future debates. Here is a complete guide to our coverage in case you missed any of these pieces...

• New Facts & Trivia Interesting developments

• Twist Ending & The Winners List Surreal but fascinating

• Jimmy Kimmel How'd he do as host?

• Emma Stone ♥︎s Moonlight In the press room

• Pic / Director Split Is this the new normal?

• Moonlight's Missing Speech What we lost in the snafu

• Oscar Packages they really biffed the craft presentations this year!

• Viola's Speech Great or too much?

• Best Oscar Tweets Fun 140 character reactions

• Oscar Stage Design They're obsessed with art deco

• Warren vs Faye Reader poll - Vote

• Only one "Woke" at a time - Oscar = always problematic

• Faces in the Crowd So much variety in the surprise looks

• 5 Most Handsome Men Chris, Riz, Mahershala, Ryan, Dev

• Kevin O'Connell Wins! It only took 21 nominations

• 13 Fav...

Rob Legato, Adam Valdez, Andy Jones, and Dan Lemmon won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects last night for their work on Disney’s The Jungle Book. The remake of the Disney animated feature of the same name from 1967 is considered a live-action film although there is very little live action to be seen. Best Visual Effects […]

Source: uInterview

The post Oscars 2017: ‘The Jungle Book’ Wins For Best Visual Effects appeared first on uInterview.

Visual Effects (VFX) artists are spectacular. Their intense discipline for creating seamless digital worlds tricks viewers into believing that what they’re seeing is real. Last night at the 89th Academy Awards, the Oscar for Best Visual Effects went to Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Andrew R. Jones and Dan Lemmon the VFX team behind “The Jungle Book.”

Read More: 2017 Oscars: Full Winners List

Funny or Die, always with great wit and swift action, wanted to pay “tribute” to a film that got snubbed for a VFX nomination. This year, Funny or Die recognized Kenneth Lonergan’s Best Original Screenplay– and Best Actor–winning “Manchester By the Sea” for its fantastical visual effects. The team was able to craft the world of Manchester so beautifully, it actually looks as if Casey Affleck is there. If you really think about it, the VFX are so good, it’s like there aren’t any at all.