Ghostbusters: The Video Game released this week!

The game is out, and being favorably reviewed at Kotaku and other sites, which is always nice. I enjoyed working on Ghostbusters, it is a franchise with a long history and a ton of fans and recognition world-wide, not too often you can work on a property like that.

I will try to post some more thoughts on it soon.

Ghostbusters Game Footage

Here's a compilation of new footage from the game. (video)

It's all coming together, we are working long hours, but the end is near!

The Natural History of Cars

I love the whole thought behind this post, how he is creeped out by living cars, why do then need carseats? I'll have to send this to some friends over at Pixar and get their thoughts on it.

The Natural History of Cars

A disturbing question from my son: “Daddy, is Lightning McQueen a robot?”

I’ve had actual nightmares about the automobile-populated world of Cars. Thinking in terms of evolution, imagine some kind of micromechanical start to life. Instead of clay hosting self-reproducing crystals of increasing complexity (or however earth-based biology got bootstrapped), imagine gear-and-spring level origins, with currents of water or wind supplying wind-up energy; later refinements might have involved burning fuel, taking advantage of solar power or natural radioactive sources, and cannibalizing the power sources of other mechanicals.

Obviously there are plants in Carsworld. Parallel development of a DNA-based biosphere solves the problem of the source of the mechanical’s fossil fuels (they get it out of the ground like we do) and where their oxygen comes from (plants make it).

But separate-but-equal evolution doesn’t solve the anthropomorphic issues. Why do cars have windows and seats and locks on doors? It’s like the people stepped out just before the film was made. It’s spooky.

So I don’t think that Cars evolved on their own. It’s just too much coincidence. We made ‘em, that’s obvious."

(link to rest of post)

Tips for Students - The House of Curves

Saw this link in an Ed Hooks email today, some great advice.

In September 2008, Imagine Magazine released our 2 sided poster, aimed at giving animation students a helping hand with their studies and some advice whilst they prepare for their careers within the industry.

We’re delighted to announce that the full pdf document is now finished and available for downloading.
The full resolution posters are also available.

We’d like to thank FRANK GRIMSHAW editor of Imagine Magazine, for making us follow this through, as well as JAKOB SCHUH of Studio Soi for the amazing illustrations.

SUGGESTIONS / FEEDBACK
If you think we’ve left out a CRUCIAL tip that should be added to version 2.0 of our pdf OR if you have any feedback OR spot any typo’s we’d love to hear from you. Please let us know at tips@thehouseofcurves.com

Film/Animation/Effects potential jobs listing

A friend of mine, Alex Fleisig, posted a ton of potential job links on a list the ex-DNA folks inhabit, thought I'd share it. Times are definitely tightening in the animation industry, so passing info along and networking is really important.

FILM/ANIMATION/EFFECTS

- American Zoetrope <http://www.zoetrope.com/> | Film | San Francisco
Unknown
- *GONE*ESC <http://www.escfx.com/> | Digital Effects | Alameda
http://www.escfx.com/jobs/jobs_main.php
- Giant Killer Robots <http://www.giantkillerrobots.com/> | Visual
Effects | San Francisco
Click on "JOBS" <http://www.giantkillerrobots.com/>
- ILM <http://www.ilm.com/> | Visual Effects | San Rafael
http://www.ldlhr.com/jobs.html
- Lucasfilm <http://www.lucasfilm.com/> | Film | San Rafael
http://www.lucasarts.com/company/job/
- Matte World Digital <http://www.matteworld.com/> | Visual Effects |
Novato
http://www.matteworld.com/hr/index.html
- Palma VFX <http://www.palmavfx.com/> | Animation and Visual Effects |
San Francisco
Unknown
- Phoenix Edit, Effects, & Design | Editing and Visual Effects | San
Francisco
Unknown
- The Orphanage <http://www.theorphanage.com/> | Animation and Effects |
San Francisco
http://www.theorphanage.com/jobs/
- PDI/Dreamworks <http://www.pdi.com/> | Digital Animation/Effects | Palo
Alto
http://www.dreamworks.com/jobs/index2.html
- Pixar <http://www.pixar.com/> | Digital Animation | Emeryville
http://www.pixar.com/companyinfo/jobs/index.html
- Sony Pictures Imageworks <http://www.sonypictures.com/imageworks/> |
Digital Effects and Animation | Novato (Culver City)
http://imageworks.com/hr/index.html
- Skywalker Sound <http://www.skysound.com/> | Sound/Post-production |
San Rafael
http://www.ilm.com/jobs.html#sound
- *UPDATED* Tippett Studios <http://www.tippett.com/> | Visual Effects |
Berkeley
Current Openings <http://www.tippett.com/index.php?pt=3&bc=120&tt=12>
- *UPDATED*W!LDBRAIN <http://www.wildbrain.com/> | Animation | San
Francisco
http://www.wildbrain.com/careers.html
- Zealot Pictures <http://www.zealotpictures.com/> | Film | San Francisco
Posts on craigslist.org<http://sfbay.craigslist.org/search/jjj?query=%22Zealot+Pictures%22>

VIDEO GAMES/COMPUTER GAMES

- Activision <http://activision.com/> | Games | Novato, San Francisco
(Santa Monica)
Careers @ Activision<http://activision.com/en_US/corporate/hr_jobs_frames.jsp>*
Also has listings for Shaba, Toys for Bob, and Vicarious Visions
- AiLive <http://www.ailive.net/> | Artifical Intelligence | Palo Alto
http://www.ailive.net/careers.html
- Atari <http://www.atari.com/> | Games | Sunnyvale (New York, France)
http://corporate.infogrames.com/corp_hrmain.php?action=showjobs&locat...

- Bay Area Sound <http://www.basound.com/pages/home.html> | Sound/Voice
Acting | San Francisco
Unknown
- Blue Shift <http://www.blueshiftgames.com/> | Games | Palo Alto
Unknown
- Capcom <http://www.capcom.com/> | Games | Sunnyvale (Japan)
http://www.capcom.com/jobs/
- Cryptic Studios <http://crypticstudios.com/> | Games | Los Gatos
Current Openings<http://crypticstudios.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=sectional...>
- Double Fine <http://www.doublefine.com/> | Games | San Francisco
http://www.doublefine.com/jobs.htm (bonus points for funny)
- Electronic Arts/Maxis <http://www.ea.com/> | Games | Redwood City
http://jobs.ea.com/<http://jobs.ea.com/pljb/global_jsp/applicant/SearchAgentMgr/SearchPro...>
- Eidos <http://www.eidosinteractive.com/> | Games | San Francisco, Menlo
Park
http://www.eidosinteractive.com/corporate/jobs.html
- Factor5 <http://www.factor5.com/> | Games | San Rafael
http://careers.factor5.com/<http://careers.factor5.com/layout1.asp?Page_id=6867&published=1>
- *UPDATED* Flagship Studios <http://www.flagshipstudios.com/> | Games |
San Francisco
http://www.flagshipstudios.com/jobs_main.html
- Global VR <http://globalvr.com/> | Arcade Games | San Jose
http://globalvr.com/company_career_opportunities.html
- Hyperpia <http://www.hyperpia.com/> | Games/Platforms | Fremont
http://www.hyperpia.com/jobs.html
- Konami <http://www.konami.com/> | Games | Redwood City (Japan)
http://www.konami.com/gs/jobs.shtml
- KRU <http://www.kru.com/> | Games | Santa Clara
Unknown
- LindenLab <http://lindenlab.com/> | MMOG | San Francisco
http://lindenlab.com/employment
- *NEW* Lamplighter Studios <http://lamplighterstudios.com/> | 3D
Models/Animations/Enviros for Games | San Francisco
Posts on craigslist.org
- LucasArts <http://www.lucasarts.com/> | Games | San Rafael
http://www.lucasarts.com/jobs/
- Namco Bandai <http://www.namco.com/> | Games | San Francisco (Japan)
http://www.namco.com/pane_single.php?res=careers
- *NEW* NCSoft <http://www.plaync.com/> | Games | Mountain View (Korea)
http://www.plaync.com/us/jobs/jobs_norcal.php
- Nihilistic <http://www.nihilistic.com/> | Games | Novato
http://www.nihilistic.com/careers.php
- Nintendo <http://www.nintendo.com/> | Games/Hardware | San Francisco
(Japan)
Taleo.net Job
List<https://nintendo.taleo.net/servlets/CareerSection?art_ip_action=FlowD...>
- Page 44 <http://www.page44.com/> | Games | San Francisco
http://www.page44.com/employment.html
- Perpetual <http://www.perpetual.com/> | MMORPGs | San Francisco
http://www.perpetual.com/jobs/
- Planet Moon Studios <http://www.planetmoon.com/> | Games | San
Francisco
http://www.planetmoon.com/contact_2.html
- PopCap <http://www.popcap.com/> | Games | San Francisco (Seattle)
PopCap Games -
Careers<http://hostedjobs.openhire.com/epostings/jobs/submit.cfm?company_id=1...>
- Pronto Games <http://www.prontogames.com/> | Games | Emeryville
Jobs<http://www.prontogames.com/developer/index.php?option=com_content&tas...>
- ROBLOX <http://roblox.com/> | Games | Menlo Park
http://roblox.com/info/Jobs.aspx
- Secret Level <http://www.secretlevel.com/> | Games | San Francisco

http://www.secretlevel.com/main.php?page_type=item_pages&page=jobs_li...
- SEGA <http://www.sega.com/> | Games | San Francisco (Japan)
http://www.sega.com/corporate/corporate.php?item=corporate_jobs
- Slipgate Ironworks <http://www.slipg8.com/> | Games | San Mateo
http://www.slipg8.com/
- THQ <http://www.thq.com/> | Games | Santa Clara (Agoura Hills)
http://careers.thq.com/thq/cc/Home.ss
- Three Rings <http://www.threerings.net/> | Games | San Francisco
http://www.threerings.net/jobs/
- TikGames <http://www.tikgames.com/> | Games | San Mateo
http://www.tikgames.com/Jobs/tabid/60/Default.aspx
- Totally Games <http://www.totallygames.com/> | Games | Novato
http://www.totallygames.com/jobs/
- UbiSoft <http://www.ubi.com/> | Games | San Francisco
http://jobs.ubi.com/

and here's a list of animation studios up here
http://www.wickedsunshine.com/Animation/AnimationLinks-SanFranciscoSt...

YouTube Doubler | Worf, Theory of the Mobius | Star Trek

YouTube Doubler

“Mykonos” Video by Sean Pecknold | Cartoonbrew.com

Mykonos from Grandchildren on Vimeo.

Full video credits, along with a ‘making of’ short can be viewed here.
(full post at cartoonbrew.com)

C'mon Sea Legs by Immaculate Machine. Animation using printed photos

Nice effect, I like how some of the cut-out images still have white areas around strands of hair where they didn't cut it out, just adds to the handcrafted feel of the video.

http://www.immaculatemachine.com
Official music video for C'mon Sea Legs by Immaculate Machine. A stop motion animation using photographs printed on paper. A collaboration between Kimberli Persley, Geoffrey Tomlin-Hood and many others.

Calvin and Hobbes animation | wallyanimations

Saw this while cruising around YouTube, made me laugh. Calvin is up to mischief, but at least he isn't peeing on a logo, the auto industry has it tough enough as it is.

"Click here for a bit of the pencil test: http://fc02.deviantart.com/fs23/f/200...

Made this in my third year of my animation studies, here in Belgium.
Based on the characters and story of the comic 'Calvin and Hobbes'.
Copyright Bill Watterson.

This is just an animationexercice. I don't claim to make the 'perfect Calvin and Hobbes film'. I know the voice isn't very suitable, but i am a Belgian animationstudent. I did what was in my capabilities.

These are about 300 drawings handdrawn with pencil and all inked by hand. All scanned one by one and made the sound."

Saw 'Coraline' today

I definitely recommend everyone see it, and see it in 3D if you can. In the past I have shied away from initially viewing animated films in 3D, but this was really nicely done. A friend of mine, Ray Chase, told me that he saw 'Bolt' in 3D and loved it.

The look of the movie is gorgeous, and the animation was top notch! This is a film I can't wait to get on DVD to frame through and study different bits of motion. The music was great (go to the main movie site, you'll hear it looping), the choir voices lent a lot of magic and tension in all the right places.

Cartoon Brew has a good opening day write-up on Coraline. Rotten Tomatoes is scoring it very high, close to 90%, and I think it is well deserved.

One thing that impressed me was how far they pushed the stylized look, very distinct characters and the movements fit the body types. Coraline's new friend in the movie, Whybie, has a really interesting way of moving, a slouching, head-tilted, head down sort of posture that I really liked.

A lot of times in animated features I catch myself pulling out of the story experience trying to figure out how certain things were done. I did that, of course in this movie too, but it didn't distract me at all like it usually does. There were a couple of spots where it felt long for me, pacing-wise, but nothing that made me squirm.

(*UPDATE* Oops, I don't know why I thought Burton was a producer on this, must have been a mental wire crossover from watching the '9' trailer right before 'Coraline. So I thus remove that bit. The cat in 'Coraline' did make me think of the black cat in 'Vincent', though...) I won't be a spoiler for the visual nod from the past from Selick, but if you have seen 'Slow Bob in the Lower Dimensions', you'll immediately get it when you get to that part in 'Coraline'. I'll leave it at that.




Kudos to everyone at Laika for such an excellent movie. It is not for little kids, and I'm glad they pushed the boundary and didn't knuckle under and pander to the '4 and younger' market. It's a critical success so far, hopefully it will do well financially. I did see a few young children in the audience, they were pretty quiet during the movie, so I wonder what they thought of it, if some of the spookier moments really creeped them out or not.

I'm looking forwards to seeing this on the big screen again, I think I'll watch it next time without 3D, see how my perception of it changes.

UPDATE: By the way, stay all the way through the credits! This won't ruin anything, at the end, the text says: For those in the know: JERK WAD

I asked Jenny Macy about it (she is credited in the movie, did some wire/rig digital removal) and she said that JERK WAD is a password that can be entered in somewhere on coraline.com to get put in a drawing for a free pair of Coraline Nike Dunks. (image downloaded from sneakerfiles.com) I couldn't find the link in the site, it has crashed my browser 3 times now, so I'll just pretend I found it. :\

Acknowledging the upcoming Ghostbusters video game | cinemassacre.com

He runs a video of cuts from the FMV material for the Ghostbusters game we are working on. The gist of his commenting is to get people to stop emailing him that the game is coming out.

Of course, I imagine people will now email him even more now that they know it irks him a bit. I like how he rips into old video games, like the old Ghostbusters game.

The Handmade Tale: Coraline's Inventive DIY Effects

Very short article on Wired, so I found a much longer interview at shocktillyoudrop.com:

"Some of the costumes are constructed from scratch. There's one woman who was brought onboard who specializes in miniature knitting, making sweaters as small as an inch big. Equally impressive, though, are the costumes made from everyday objects. One of the models - a background townsperson - sits on the desk with an outfit made from an ordinary tube sock, recognizable only when it's pointed out as anything other than a sweater."

Also, RottenTomatoes has some 'behind the scenes' footage on crafting the film. Something interesting I had read a while back was that there were visible seams on the faces of the characters, those sections can be swapped out for facial animation. The director, Henry Selick, supposedly was in favor of leaving the seaming visible, but it was eventually decided to remove the seams digitally.

You can see the seams on the Mom at the 1:42 mark on the 'Crafting the World of Coraline' video at RottenTomatoes, I would love to see some longer scenes before/after the seam removal, perhaps they will show it on the DVD when released.