Proof CEO Ron Frankel to Speak about Previs and Postvis at FMX

For those attending FMX this year in Stuttgart, Germany, the Proof, inc. CEO Ron Frankel will be presenting there on May 7th. He will go in depth on the work done on Guardians of the Galaxy and Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb. For more details, click this link for the FMX post.

Godzilla previs article on Animation World Network

Roaring Through the Previs of 'Godzilla' (full article, with previs/final comparison pictures)

Here are excerpts that describe two of the parts that I helped with when I was on the previsualization team:

"Dan Sarto (AWN): In terms of the third act, what were the biggest challenges you faced in with the previs?

Eric Carney (The Third Floor): The sequence consists of Godzilla, who is fighting two other creatures, the Mutos, in San Francisco. We've seen Godzilla before, and he's kind of like a big lizard, so we had a fairly good idea of how he might move. But one of the biggest challenges was figuring out how to animate the Mutos. When we were given the designs of the creatures, they were still in development actually. There was a lot of exploration work with Gareth in order to figure how the Mutos would fight and how Godzilla would fight them.

We started to look at footage of animals - Komodo Dragons, bears, even some winged creatures. Gareth sent us a lot of reference material of real animals fighting. So we started out doing a lot of fight tests and sending them over to Gareth, figuring out what he liked and didn't like and developing it further. He had a vision for the film, that even though it's a monster movie, it would feel very grounded in reality. So with that in mind you have to think of these monsters just as big animals, and research how big animals fight each other. A lot of the things you might think would be cool for a monster fight aren't the kind of things real animals do. So there was a lot of exploration in finding the right tone."
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DS: Any highlights from your work on this project?

EC: It was a great project. In the end we had about 40 minutes of previs, once everything had been edited down. So there was a large amount of footage. The halo jump was definitely a highlight, and a lot of the imagery in the final sequence, the trailer, and the poster are close to the previs we did. Working with Gareth too was really a fantastic experience. He was a very collaborative director and a lot of the suggestions we put forward made it into the movie. Seeing the final product was great!

It really was. As mentioned in an earlier Godzilla post, the first Maya scene I animated after graduating from Vancouver Film School was a fight between two enormous monsters in downtown Vancouver. To think that the experience from back then would help inform the motion of the real Godzilla all those years later makes my head spin.

Red Dead mentioned on The Daily Show this week

It's good to see Red Dead back in the news...

Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem to Open at Universal Studios, Hollywood in 2014

Well this is nice to hear. The Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem ride I worked on--which is running now at Universal Studios in Orlando, FL--apparently is planned to open right here in Hollywood for next year. This means I'll be able to see my work as it was intended! Here's the news article, and here are other times I've written about the VES award-winning ride.

'Jack the Giant Slayer' interviews, images, and videos

The press embargo was lifted for media reporting website Collider and their site features a "slew" of  blog posts covering the upcoming movie Jack the Giant Slayer. I recommend listening to the audio interviews with Bryan Singer and Ewan MacGregor in particular. Both include mentions of how The Third Floor's previs was utilized throughout the production, such as this excerpt from Singer's interview:

[Collider]: Can you talk about the previz, is there a team that does this?  Are you sitting there designing this in the editing room?  Can you take us through how the previz comes together?

SINGER:  It begins with the story board artist, I’ve worked with a couple of artists, Doug Lefler this one guy Doug’s worked with Sam Raimi for years, he’s a really good guy.  We sit down and talk through story points, talk through the scene and he draws pictures and from those pictures, the team at Third Floor which is this previz company, it’s a whole company, I had been working on this and X-Men: First Class at the same time, they do tons of movies, they’re probably one of the top in their field, I’ve known the guy who runs it since the company only had three people so I always go to them.  They take the storyboards and they embellish them to some degree and they craft it into a sequence and I look at the sequence animated and I go, “Ok, that’s too slow, that’s too fast, or can you speed up this?  Lose that shot, give me a better composition.”  And they do performance capture too, when they do their previz, they put on Moven suits, which are basically suits with a very high-grade sophisticated oscillator that you have in your iPhone, like a military grade version, and then they act out the scene.  Do you have another previz you want to show?  Show that.  [Previz clip plays]  So these are all people in Moven suits, that are acting out the scenes, that’s not a cat, the cat is animated, f----g cat.  You have no idea.  The bane of our existence, the cat’s in water and rain, you’re like come on, come on.  Don’t listen to that.  Stick with the action.

Jack comes out March 1st. I'm looking forward to seeing how the previs I worked on comes together in the final movie.

Daily Show has a Red Dead Redemption reference

Saw this video and thought the graphic gag was worth sharing (It comes on at 8:16 and 11:02). Nice to see the references continuing in outlets like this.

"A Day in the Life" at The Third Floor, in Animation Magazine

I meant to post this when it first came out. You can see me in the bottom left picture at our 10th floor patio (left side, all the way down at the end, wearing red).
http://www.animationmagazine.net/a-day-in-the-life/issue-214-the-third-floor/

Video article on The Third Floor's previs for X-Men: First Class

TheDaily.com has a new video featuring interviews and footage from The Third Floor. You can learn about the previs process as well as see what our shots look like before they're handed off for the final effects work.

Articles on The Third Floor's new partnership with Silverdraft

Good reads for those interested in visual effects and the way previsualization is changing the game:

FXGuide: Introducing Silverdraft Mobileviz

Hollywood Reporter: Silverdraft Rolling Out Mobile Digital Studio

New interview and info about my latest print series at 8-bit Cubist.com

Over the last couple months I made a mini-series of video game-themed prints for the upcoming PAX East convention. Exclusive pictures of the prints and an interview I did about them are now available over at 8-bit Cubist.com, so check them out and let me know what you think!

Red Dead Redemption gets 2010 "Game of the Year" award at GDC

Red Dead Redemption, was given "game of the year" in San Francisco this week at the Game Developer's Choice Awards.

From the article:

"There was no shortage of groundbreaking titles across platforms and genres this year. From big-budget blockbusters like Red Dead Redemption and Mass Effect 2, to indie darlings such as Minecraft and Limbo, 2010 was truly an incredible year for games, and we're delighted to honor them here," said Meggan Scavio, Event Director of the Game Developers Conference.

Congratulations to all my former teammates on that great project who took home awards for Design, Technology and Sound. (Maybe one day animation will be recognized at the GDCAs) For my comprehensive list of awards RDR2 has garnered, visit this blog post.

The Complete List of Awards for Red Dead Redemption

This weekend Spike TV held its annual Video Game Awards. Red Dead Redemption was nominated in the following categories:

Game of the Year
Best Song in a Game ("Far Away")
Best Original Score
DLC of the Year
Studio of the Year (Rockstar San Diego)
Character of the Year (John Marston)
Best PS3 Game
Best Action Adventure Game
Best Graphics
Best Performance by a Human Male (Rob Wiethoff)

When all the dust had cleared, Red Dead won the coveted 2010 Game of the Year award, along with Best Song, Best Original Score, and DLC of the Year. In what has been the most incredible year of all my time working on video games, I can't think of a better way to wrap up 2010. All three games I made at Rockstar San Diego went on to be nominated in their respective categories at the VGAs, but Red Dead Redemption was the first one to take the grand prize. I want to take this space to congratulate the massive team that made it such a great work of quality, and thank the fans who have supported the game since its release. It's been a very special thing to be a part of, and I'm happy to be able to look back on RDR2 and see that it got its due.

Update: There are many more awards rolling in. Here is an ongoing update for the other awards Red Dead Redemption has won for 2010:

X-Play's Best of 2010 Awards:
Best Action/Adventure Game
Best DLC

Machinima 
Game of the Year
Best Narrative
Most Compelling Character
Best Original Score
Best Sound Design

ShortList
Best Game of 2010

The Times of London
Game of the Year

GamesRadar
Game of the Year
Reader's Choice Award
Runner Up: Most Graphics
Runner Up: Cutscenes You Actually Want to Watch

IGN
Funniest Game (Undead Nightmare)

GameSpot (nearly a clean sweep, taking awards in the following categories)
Game of the Year
Best DLC
Best Story
Best New Character
Best Atmosphere
Best Original Music
Best Voice Acting
Most Improved Sequel
Best Writing/Dialogue
Best Ending
Best Action/Adventure Game
Best PS3 Game
Best Xbox 360 Game

Game Developer's Choice Awards
Game of the Year
Best Technology
Best Game Design
Best Audio

New job!

After more than five years and three games at Rockstar San Diego, I'm moving on to join the previs team at The Third Floor in Los Angeles to work on feature films and game cinematics. I'll miss the excellent teammates I came to know at Rockstar over the years, but I'm excited to be moving on to work in the film industry.
For those curious about how the previs process works at The Third Floor, here's a video they made for Autodesk:

'Thick Kids' Blog Mention & Latest 'RDR' News

The new comedy art blog "Thick Kids and Their Thick Parents" has my Brian Posehn and Louis C.K. caricatures reposted on it. More of my stuff might appear there as I create more comedian caricatures, so give it a look every once and a while.
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In Red Dead Redemption news, here are some of the latest web articles to be posted this week:

Brad Pitt to star in Red Dead Redemption movie?  (a complete rumor, but that hasn't stopped people from pitching their own casting ideas)
Take-Two Trumps Estimates, Rides Red Dead Redemption to Q3 Profits
Red Dead Redemption Hits 7 Million Sales
And finally, here's G4's verdict on the recently-released "Legends and Killers" DLC for Red Dead Redemption. Pick it up now!

Now on DeviantArt

I want to plug in to a community of artists to see more work that's out there and to get feedback on my pieces, so I'm now on DeviantArt.com:


http://joshmlange.deviantart.com/


Right now I plan for that page to have my crossposted work without the Red Dead promotional posts, so if you're on DeviantArt, let me know and I'll 'watch' your page. I'll continue posting in this blog as normal.
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Red Dead Redemption has less than a week to release. Have you preordered your copy already? If you go through Amazon or WalMart, you'll get a discount card (Amazon's is $20). Definitely the best deals out there.