'Star Trek Beyond' Makes the MPAA's list of 20 semi-finalists for "Best Visual Effects"

This week the list of 20 films that will advance to compete for the 2016 "Best Visual Effects" Oscar were announced.  I was excited to see that Star Trek Beyond made the list. The full list is as follows (Proof, inc. films in blue):

“Alice Through the Looking Glass”
“Arrival”
“The BFG”
“Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice”
“Captain America: Civil War”
“Deadpool”
“Deepwater Horizon”
“Doctor Strange”
“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”
“Independence Day: Resurgence”
“The Jungle Book”
“Kubo and the Two Strings”
“Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children”
“Passengers”
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”
“Star Trek Beyond”
“Suicide Squad”
“Sully”
“Warcraft”
“X-Men: Apocalypse”

Congratulations to the hardworking artists and production teams who worked on all these films.

"Legend of the Last Lava Pup" commercial

The video for the new Clash of Clans commercial is now online, and is already up to 15 million views in less than a week. I helped previs the animated portions. For a small writeup on the project, click here.

The first 'Star Trek Beyond' trailer is here

I spent a good portion of this year working on the previs team for the latest Star Trek film for Paramount Pictures, both on and off the studio lot. This trailer will also screen before Star Wars: The Force Awakens, so I'm looking forward to seeing those slick finaled shots on the big screen.

Honda's "The Power of Dreams" commercials

Earlier this year I was the Previs Supervisor for five commercials by Honda for their "The Power of Dreams" campaign. Four of them are posted below. For the fifth commercial video and more information on how they were accomplished by my team, visit the Honda page on my portfolio website.

New 'Gods of Egypt' trailer

The work we did at Proof, inc. for the movie mainly focused on a sequence in the third act, which has only a few shots in this trailer. I will be able to share more details as more content for the movie gets released online.

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.

New Extended Look at Furious 7's "Cargo Drop" Sequence (With Posters!)

I'll get right to it:



Suffice it to say that this movie has some wild stunts and sequences like the cargo drop, which was the first part of the movie I worked on when I joined the project two years ago. Those who appreciate how the series is going more and more over-the-top will love it for sure.

Less than a month to go before it drops...

2015 Super Bowl commercials and trailers

At the end of last year, I worked on several commercials at Proof, inc. Two of these commercials, one for Turbotax and one for Pepsi, aired on television yesterday during the Super Bowl. A new trailer for the upcoming Furious 7 feature film aired as well, which contained shots I did previs and techvis for back in 2013.

TurboTax: "Boston Tea Party"
I did previs for the first few shots of the Sons of Liberty storming the HMS Surprise (one of the replica ships in the collection of the Maritime Museum of San Diego), and modeled previs characters for the other sequences. I was a bit surprised at seeing so many YouTube comments showing outrage for the mockery of the founding fathers. I thought it was a funny spoof.


Pepsi: "Halftime Touches Down"
Continuing with their recurring U.F.O. theme that they've done for decades, Pepsi's halftime commercial featured previs by our Proof, inc. team. The segment I previsualized involved teenagers playing music in their garage with a nearby dog:


Furious 7 movie trailer
Coming to theaters April 3, Furious 7 has a new movie trailer to get people excited about the upcoming film. I helped previs and techvis the sequence of a Lykan Hypersport crashing through the Etihad Towers in Abu Dhabi, and did previs for the cargo drop skydiving sequence.


As always, I enjoyed working on the teams for these and learning about new ways to use Maya and After Effects to achieve what our directors were striving for. Each project was a new challenge in its unique way, and I liked how the commercials came out. It will be fascinating to see how Furious 7 turned out this Spring.

Final 10 Visual Effects Contenders Announced

From Oscars.org

Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Godzilla
Guardians of the Galaxy
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Interstellar
Maleficent
Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb
Transformers: Age of Extinction
X-Men: Days of Future Past

The ones I worked on are in bold. Nolan's Interstellar might be a favorite for the statue, but the Academy also loves it some CG main characters, so Dawn of the Planet of the Apes stands a good chance too. Personally, I loved how Godzilla came out, and will be especially rooting for that one (although the variety of work done for Night at the Museum 3 was quite challenging to film as well).

New FURIOUS 7 trailer is now online

After an emotional roller-coaster of filmmaking, the trailer for the new Fast & Furious movie is here. Entitled 'Furious 7,' the movie will have daring stunts and more of the high-stakes action fans of the franchise expect. Working on it was a fun challenge, and I'm happy with how our previs looks to have transitioned to the final photography.

Here is the official trailer. It starts off with our cargo drop sequence and transitions into the bus rescue. These were the first sequences I worked on when I started on the project last year. I hope the fans enjoy it.

Bottle sketch

Value exercise with Photoshop on my new Cintiq (those who've worked with me probably recognize my trusty water bottle). I'm loving it so far, even though there seems to be too few ExpressKeys for using with Maya. As much as I've been addicted to using too many layers for digi-paintings in the past, I tried to restrain myself this time and kept the majority of it to just one.

Writeup about Proof, inc. in the Los Angeles Times this week/release dates for 2014

The Los Angeles Times has a nice writeup today of Proof, inc, the previsualization company where I am currently working on the upcoming film, Night of the Museum 3.:

Los Angeles Times: Previsualization firm Proof helps filmmakers plan for complex scenes

Be sure to look out for Night of the Museum 3 in theaters when it releases on December 19, 2014.

If you are interested to know where else you can see some of the fun projects I've worked on recently, here is a rundown for the release dates in 2014 (bold = available to see now):

300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE   In movie theaters NOW. Released March 9, 2014. (uncredited)

DIVERGENT   In movie theaters NOW. Released March 21, 2014.

DESPICABLE ME: MINION MAYHEM   theme park ride, in 3D. Open NOW at the Universal Studios theme parks in Los Angeles and Orlando, Florida.

GODZILLA   opens in theaters May 16, 2014.

X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST   opens in theaters May 23, 2014.

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES   opens in theaters August 8, 2014.

THE MAZE RUNNER   opens in theaters September 19, 2014.

NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM 3: SECRET OF THE TOMB   opens in theaters December 19, 2014

It's good to be busy. Be sure to check back to this blog for updates with details on what I worked on within each project. Keep in mind that, due to confidentiality agreements, I am not able to write about anything that is not already public knowledge. That said, please come back often and please leave comments when you do!