The Raveonettes go vintage in “Dead Sound”

Love the new song. The new video has an eerie vintage vibe. Ghosting characters and all that fun stuff.

Check out a higher quality version here.

Surfwise

Maybe I’m a sucker for surf movies, but this documentary looks pretty awesome. It’s a story about a huge family that essentially detaches from society to travel and surf. The 9 kids grow up in a totally unique liberal environment and get to see the world. The father is legendary Malibu surfer Dorian ‘Doc’ Paskowitz, a doctor who “dropped out” of the social realm, bought a camper, and brought his family with him.

In a way, I wish this could have been me! There’s nothing more free than dropping in on a wave. To be free from everything else would be paradise.

Here’s the first trailer:

Here’s the second trailer that shows a much darker edge to the film:

The film is called “Surfwise” and is directed by Doug Pray.

Check it out on Apple Trailers.

The Incredible Hulk… AGAIN?

First and foremost, I must aplogize for my recent lack of posts. My only excuse, and I think it’s a pretty good excuse, is that I’ve been on music video sets for the last 2 weekends. I was directing the first video for solo artist Jordan James (release date in one month) and producing the second for three-piece band Atrophy Manuscript. Since this is a music video/film blog I don’t feel too bad about it. And, as promised I’ll be posting the work as it gets finished. Lots of VFX.

 Today, I want to take a look at the newly released trailer for the newly made Incredible Hulk. This time around, we have Edward Norton as Bruce Banner turned green beast. I’m not going to lie, the Hulk is probably one of my least favorite comic book heroes. So why is Marvel spitting out a remake only 5 years after Ang Lee’s take on it?

I’m sure the die-hard fans are stoked. Lee’s adaptation of the comic left a lot of fanboys upset. Maybe Louis Leterrier’s experience with action flicks (Transporter 1 & 2,) gives him an upper edge on Ang Lee’s character drama influences.

So here’s the trailer. Another VFX heavy Hollywood film. I still don’t understand why the Hulk’s shorts are the only thing that don’t rip.

Trailer in HD.

Special Effects of the 80’s: Flight of the Navigator

Anybody who grew up in the 80’s will remember the huge surge of adventure fantasy flicks that were released during the decade. With the likes of Labyrinth, Dark Crystal, The Never Ending Story and Princess Bride, it seems like the 80’s mastered awesome analog cheese.

Here’s a trailer for one of the best. It’s the cult film “Flight of the Navigator”. This 1986 disney film is freaking hilarious. The special effects were big budget for the time. My favorite part is probably the dialogue. “Be Cool Dude”

Vanilla Sky Covers Rihanna’s UMBRELLA

I recently stumbled across a fairly hilarious cover of Rihanna’s “Umbrella”. Not only is it a cover of her song, but it’s also a cover (or perhaps parody) of her music video. It’s by a group of dudes from Rome. They’re called Vanilla Sky and after this video, I might just check out their other work. Maybe they’ve done a Britney cover?

What’s so awesome about this is how they so blatantly used every set-up that Rihanna used in the original video. From rapid focus pulls to orange-white hard gradients across the screen, they’ve done it all. Slap in the face to Top 40 formulaic videos.

On their Myspace, Vanilla Sky says they’re “way hotter than Rihanna”. I love it.

Here’s the original “Umbrella” video in case you missed it:

Looking at them both, it kind of reminds me of MTV’s Making the Video. Man do I miss that show! Haha.

Alien VS. Predator: EFFECTS

I went to the Science Fiction Museum in Seattle last month and got to see a bunch of Sci-Fi models, including a life size Alien. If you’re a child of the 90’s like myself, you’ll understand how wicked this is. The original Ridley Scott film spawned a series of sequels, toys and cult following. A lot of the success of the films is due to the SPFX work of two guys. The video I’m posting today is a look behind the scenes of the recent film Alien VS. Predator: Requiem. It was shot in my hometown of Vancouver.

This goes to show that computer effects will never be able to completely replace analog.

Here’s the trailer for the film. Gore, gore, and more gore.

Best Dance Video EVER

This is without a doubt the best dance music video I’ve ever seen. I’m sitting here in the library studying for my Rock and Roll history class and came upon this amazing recording from a 1974 episode of Soul Train. It’s for the song “The Sound of Philidelphia” by M.F.S.B.

Looking at this in the year 2008, this video seems almost a parody of the 70’s. Yet I can assure you, it’s legit. Enjoy.

In further news, yesterday I filmed the first part of a music video I’m currently directing. We used 10 cameras to capture some pretty crazy visual effects. We also filmed in a big bluescreen studio. The video is going to be quite insane. I think my obsession with the videos I’ve been showing may pay off! I’ll try and get some pictures from the shoot up soon.

I’ll also upload the video here as soon as it’s finished.

Banned Super Bowl Commercial

Not a whole lot of VFX in this Bud Light commercial, but I thought it was pretty funny that it was banned on American networks. In Europe, it’s ok to show breasts (see Bodyrox video below) but in North America we censor commercials that make joking references to farts!

Super Bowl ratings are suffering! We didn’t even get a wardrobe malfunction this year.

Vantage Point Behind-the-Scenes Effects

Anyone seen this movie yet? I actually haven’t, but a good friend of mine who does visual effects in Vancouver worked on this film. He had to digitally paint out fake blood from the assassination shot!

When they filmed the shot, the SPFX crew used a squib with a lot of fake blood. When the film went for it’s rating, the board rated it higher because of graphic blood. The film producers / marketers decided that they would then remove blood from a lot of the shots. This is where my friend came in!

What a job. Hours upon hours of compositing just for a PG 13 rating. At least they got it. Now all the kids can give this film their $8.

Pan’s Labyrinth Effects

This movie is amazing. If you haven’t seen it, rent it now. I also interned on a film that Guillermo del Toro executive produced, so that makes it even sweeter.

It’s great that he doesn’t take CGI for granted. They still used a lot of analog effects in this film. The technical blend, I believe, is what made the final product so convincing.

Check it out, how they did it: