Abigail Disney furious on Disney furloughs
www.cnn.com/2020/04/22/business/abigail-disney-furloughs-bonus-pay-coronavirus-trnd/index.html
In a Twitter thread Tuesday, the outspoken family heiress slammed Disney’s decision to furlough theme park employees after the company paid dividends to shareholders and gave executives big bonuses.
Marvel, Lucasfilm, Pixar, Other Disney Units Hit with Furloughs
www.awn.com/news/marvel-lucasfilm-pixar-other-disney-units-hit-furloughs
“An undetermined number of employees at Disney production units including Marvel, Lucasfilm, Pixar, and Searchlight, will be furloughed as of April 19; reports noted marketing and distribution departments were hit the hardest, as the studio’s feature film release calendar has been thrown into disarray.”
“…with no clear indication of when we can restart our businesses, we’re forced to make the difficult decision to take the next step and furlough employees whose jobs aren’t necessary at this time. The furlough process will begin on April 19, and all impacted workers will remain Disney employees through the duration of the furlough period. They will receive full healthcare benefits, plus the cost of employee and company premiums will be paid by Disney, and those enrolled in Disney Aspire will have continued access to the education program. Additionally, employees with available paid time off can elect to use some or all of it at the start of the furlough period and, once furloughed, they are eligible to receive an extra $600 per week in federal compensation through the $2 trillion economic stimulus bill, as well as state unemployment insurance.”
Skydance Media Acquires Animation Madrid Unit of Ilion Studios
variety.com/2020/film/news/skydance-media-john-lassiter-ilion-studios-1234571810/
The acquisition gives animation chief John Lasseter control over all aspects of production. Skydance and Ilion, both of which are privately held, did not disclose a purchase price.
The deal will give Skydance roughly 500 employees across two continents. It comes as Lasseter is trying to transform the company into a major force in animation. That transformation has been bumpy, at times, primarily because Lasseter’s hire was controversial. Lasseter, the major creative force at Pixar and Disney Animation, was ousted from the company in 2018 amid allegations of sexual misconduct with employees.
Why Cinemas will bounce back from the Coronavirus crisis
www.bbc.com/culture/story/20200403-why-cinemas-will-bounce-back-from-the-coronavirus-crisis
“Theatres are closing around the world… No one knows when projectors will be fired up again… Chinese theatres shuttered when the virus hit. In mid-March, an attempt to tentatively start opening cinemas again after the easing of the lockdown saw distributors refuse to release new films and audiences stay at home.”
“Compounding the misery for cinema owners is the fact that film studios have responded by putting films only very recently released in cinemas online.”
“The consequence of all this is that studios may wonder why they’re sharing revenue with exhibitors if they can get a bigger cut by going straight to homes. Indeed, while cinemas are on their knees, streaming platforms are profiting.”
“A century ago, there was even the worry, as there is now, that cinemas would be permanently shut down by a virus. From 1918 to 1920, the so-called ‘Spanish Flu’ took the lives of 50 million people worldwide”
“[But] The British government saw cinema as an essential tool for public well-being. “Cinema was the major leisure activity – it kept people occupied, and it helped keep them calm. It also kept them out of the pubs!” says [film historian Lawrence] Napper. The British government saw cinema as an essential tool for public well-being.”
“[all this] should give us cheer to note that while the film industry in America was certainly impacted, it did not suffer overall but rather changed shape – and in fact flourished even further.”
“Film writer Richard Brody recently noted ….Many smaller companies went out of business, and the resulting shakeout led to a consolidation that made the big ones bigger, creating the studios that became the masters of production, distribution, and exhibition together; the flu, combined with the end of the war, gave rise to the mega-Hollywood that’s being duplicated again today.”
“World War Two was also, against the odds, a time in which cinema prospered. Many countries, including Britain, saw the cinema as a propaganda tool: a place to give information and boost morale”
“Pre-pandemic, there were already signs that the culture of cinemagoing was starting to crack under this {streaming culture] pressure”
“However in the new Coronavirus-afflicted world, the battle with streaming platforms seems like relatively small fry.”
“The effect of the virus has already been to make things that seemed unimaginable a month ago a reality. Hollywood studios have joined Netflix in breaking the theatrical window. ”
“And given that blockbusters rely on huge marketing campaigns, it’s unlikely that studios will want to take an immediate risk with their bigger titles when cinemas do eventually re-open – before they are sure if audiences are ready to embrace cinema again.”
“But for all the sense of impending doom, history suggests that cinema will adapt and bounce back. Crowds flocked to the cinema after the 1918 pandemic, and videos only made people more interested in cinema, not less. After several weeks or, more likely, months cooped up indoors, watching films on our television sets and computer, the experience of seeing a film in cinemas the way they were meant to be seen will be all the more magical”
Jeffrey Katzenberg: Movie industry ‘ready to embrace’ at-home viewing and theaters
www.cnbc.com/2020/04/03/katzenberg-film-industry-ready-to-embrace-at-home-viewing-theaters.html
“Katzenberg’s comments come at a time of disruption for the film industry due to the coronavirus. Movie theaters across the country have shut down, causing studios to adjust their release lineups.”
“Katzenberg used a sport analogy to describe where the movie industry was headed, arguing the embrace of in-person sports and TV broadcasts has been successful despite hesitancy decades ago.”
“Katzenberg’s latest venture is Quibi, a mobile-focused video streaming service that is set to debut Monday.”
“Viewers no longer have frequent stretches of 30 to 40 minutes to watch uninterrupted content, even though they consume 70 minutes of short-form content a day, Katzenberg said. They can use moments of downtime to watch chapters of serialized content in shorter increments of 10 minutes or so.”
“While Katzenberg acknowledged — somewhat humorously — that success in the venture will be “somewhere between improbable and impossible,” he said that Quibi would be “skating to where the hockey puck is going,” rather than pursuing the type of hour-long television shows that everyone else is chasing.”
Best Photoshop Plugins for Photographers 2020
Photo editing
skylum.com/luminar
Photo editing
photolemur.com/
Photo editing
https://skylum.com/aurorahdr
Noise reduction
https://skylum.com/noiseless
Noise reduction
https://www.picturecode.com/showcase/noise.php
Noise reduction
https://topazlabs.com/denoise-ai/
Noise reduction
https://ni.neatvideo.com/examples#kingfisher
Color picker/editor
www.ricoholmes.com/cc-hover-color-picker.html
Texturing
digitalanarchy.com/demos/textureanarchy.html
Photo enhancer
cc-extensions.com/products/alce/
Photo sharpner
https://topazlabs.com/sharpen-ai/
Custom guides
guideguide.me/
Photo editor
www.on1.com/products/effects/
Image scaler
exposure.software/blowup/
Particle support
www.painterartist.com/en/product/particleshop/
Edge enhancer
fixelalgorithms.co/products/edgehancer3/
Jpeg to Raw
https://topazlabs.com/jpeg-to-raw-ai/
Animation editor
https://exchange.adobe.com/creativecloud.details.100950.powtoon-extension-for-photoshop.html
Best free Actions collection
https://blog.spoongraphics.co.uk/freebies/12-free-cinematic-photo-effect-actions-adobe-photoshop
Add-ons collection
https://www.the-orange-box.com/photoshop-add-ons/
Pandemic Production Prospects, Possibilities, Concerns
www.shootonline.com/news/pandemic-production-prospects-possibilities-concerns
“For many, production has stopped in its tracks due to the coronavirus pandemic. ”
“Others have stepped up their in-house activity, tapping into their homegrown production and post capabilities.” [Or working from home]
“While losing the physical proximity and communal nature of collaboration, creatives and artists have managed to stay connected through technology”
“While some projects have “completely died,” said Gavin Wellsman [a creative director at The Mill in New York], others are still in the pipeline and have adapted to a world where social distancing is imperative and live-action production as we’ve known it is no longer feasible at the moment. Clients are turning to visual effects, CG and other options.”
“Still, much work has fallen by the wayside. And many projects don’t translate properly from live action to another [full CG] discipline.”
“London-based independent production house MindsEye launched HomeStudio…. HomeStudio brings together a lineup of directors who have their own equipment, DPs with studio space, and stop-frame animators who can turn out content in this period of imposed self-isolation. This isn’t a roster of talent that a company has signed in the traditional sense; rather it’s a collection of talent that’s being made available to agencies and brands.”
“However, ingenuity, imagination and improvisation can only go so far when production and post companies are suffering from poor cash flow, a situation which is exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis. …many companies would settle for–or at least welcome with open arms–getting paid in a timely fashion by marketers and ad agencies for services already rendered. ”
“In a live poll of over 500 AICP member participants during a Zoom Town Hall last month, the issue of outstanding receivables was the most immediate concern. It was found that 28% of companies reported that they are owed in excess of $1 million, while 23% are owed between $500,000-$1 million and 34% are owed between $100,000-$500,000. The members were also polled on how late these payments are: 29% reported that payments are 45 or more days late (per their contracted terms), and one-third are 30-45 days late. Extrapolating across the industry, conservatively, this is well in excess of $200 million.”
“Matt Miller, president and CEO of AICP: A healthy production and post community is integral to the overall economy’s recovery once we are clear of the pandemic. Production and post talent will be needed to help brands connect with the consumer marketplace and bring it back to life. It’s thus in the interest of [all] marketers and agencies to do what they can–and should do–to contribute to keeping the production and post sectors whole. “
StratusCore – Web based virtual studio
StratusCore will provide the following to VES members:
– 40 hours of Virtual Workstation use per month
– 25 render credits per month
– 50 GB of hot storage
– 50% off all purchases
New Apple iPad Pro with LIDAR scanning support
www.zdnet.com/article/apples-new-ipad-pro-arrives-with-updated-chip-and-lidar-scanner-for-ar-apps/
The LiDAR scanner — a technology better known in self-driving cars — measures the distance to surrounding objects up to 5 meters away. New depth frameworks in iPadOS combine depth points measured by the LiDAR scanner, data from both cameras and motion sensors, and is enhanced by computer vision algorithms on the A12Z Bionic for a more detailed map of a scene. The aim is to boost the quality of AR experience created on the iPad Pro.
Apple said existing ARKit apps will automatically get instant AR placement, improved motion capture and people occlusion.
The tablet will have a 10-hour battery life, a 12MP Wide camera which can capture 4K video, and a 10MP Ultra Wide camera that zooms out two times to capture a much wider field of view.
Apps like DoubleTake by FiLMiC Pro, available next month, leverage the pro cameras and studio-quality mics to turn iPad Pro into a mobile video production studio.6
With iPadOS 13.4, Apple brings trackpad support to iPad, giving customers an all-new way to interact with their iPad.
A question of ethics – What CG simulation and deepfakes means for the future of performance
www.ibc.org/create-and-produce/re-animators-night-of-the-living-avatars/5504.article
“When your performance is captured as data it can be manipulated, reworked or sampled, much like the music industry samples vocals and beats. If we can do that then where does the intellectual property lie? Who owns authorship of the performance? Where are the boundaries?”
“Tracking use of an original data captured performance is tricky given that any character or creature you can imagine can be animated using the artist’s work as a base.”
“Conventionally, when an actor contracts with a studio they will assign rights to their performance in that production to the studio. Typically, that would also licence the producer to use the actor’s likeness in related uses, such as marketing materials, or video games.
Similarly, a digital avatar will be owned by the commissioners of the work who will buy out the actor’s performance for that role and ultimately own the IP.
However, in UK law there is no such thing as an ‘image right’ or ‘personality right’ because there is no legal process in the UK which protects the Intellectual Property Rights that identify an image or personality.
The only way in which a pure image right can be protected in the UK is under the Law of Passing-Off.”
“Whether a certain project is ethical or not depends mainly on the purpose of using the ‘face’ of the dead actor,” “Legally, when an actor dies, the rights of their [image/name/brand] are controlled through their estate, which is often managed by family members. This can mean that different people have contradictory ideas about what is and what isn’t appropriate.”
“The advance of performance capture and VFX techniques can be liberating for much of the acting community. In theory, they would be cast on talent alone, rather than defined by how they look.”
“The question is whether that is ethically right.”
‘A race to the bottom’: What’s the story behind bad CGI?
“When something in the design goes wrong, creating a furry Lovecraftian horror who repulses the human eye, all the blame lands on the VFX. And when something goes right (like Sonic’s cuddlier redesign) the team sees no reward, not even job security.”
“Those who work in post production are “much more vulnerable than almost any other industry”, “No one has job security, not even the higher-ups. No one knows where they’re working next year, or three months from now. The industry is in a race to the bottom – everything has to be done quicker and cheaper than the last project. And we’re treated as a disposable short-term workforce.”
“The infamous “crunch” which animators have blamed for rushed work like Cats is a reference to “crunch time” – the period before a film’s release where artists have to work staggering amounts of overtime in order to get a job done before the money runs out. The instability of the VFX industry, and the inconsistency of the work it produces, may be due to these tight schedules.”
“Unpaid excessive overtime is the default,”“Some places are better than others. But generally speaking, when you get a contract somewhere big in London like ILM, the first thing you get is an overtime waiver. At the minute, EU rules limit how much overtime employers can ask for, so workers have to waive their own rights before they begin. These companies plan for unpaid overtime in their spreadsheets before they even start a project.”
Animation Price Guide by getwrightonit.com
getwrightonit.com/animation-price-guide/
“Estimate the cost of animation projects for different mediums, styles, quality and duration using our interactive instant animation price calculator. Use this price guide to calculate a ballpark figure for your next animation project.”
Animation cost per minute inflation adjusted
getwrightonit.com/animation-cost-per-minute-inflation-adjusted/
“The cost per minute to produce the traditionally animated films from the 1930s – 1960 was much lower than today even when adjusted for inflation. This is likely due to low paid animators pulling excessive unpaid overtime, including an army of women in the Ink and Paint department who barely made enough money to cover the rent.”
“Overall, animation is a high cost and labor intensive way to get a story to the screen, but there are big returns to be made, particularly with re-releases as a new generation of young audience members discover the films.”
Kitsu Today CGWire – production tracking – pipeline
https://www.cg-wire.com/en/kitsu
Kitsu is a web application to track the progress of your productions. It improves the communication between all stakeholders of the production. Which leads to better pictures and faster deliveries.
CGWire PRESS RELEASE
“We noticed that a good way to improve the quality of CG movies is to improve the communication inside the studio. That’s why we made a software that is easy to use. All the stakeholders of the production can add and get data efficiently. Everyone is better informed and take better decisions.
The most notable features of Kitsu are:
– The listing of all elements of the production: assets, shots and tasks.
– A powerful commenting system that allows to put notes on tasks while changing status and attaching previews.
– A playlist system to view, compare, annotate and comment shots in a row. It’s super easy for the director to perform his reviews.
– A news feed to know in real-time what is happening during the production.
– Quota tables to evaluate the productiviy of the studio.
Aside of that we added other tools to simplify the daily usage : timesheets, scheduling, production statistics, Slack integration and casting management.
Kitsu Today CGWire is deployed in 25 studios. Most of them are split in different locations. So, our users are spread in more than 15 countries working on production of all kinds: TV series, feature films and short movies (our customers are Cube Creative, TNZPV, Miyu, Akami, Lee Film, etc.). Once shipped, all productions tracked with Kitsu met success by receiving awards or getting millions of views on Youtube or on TV.
Another good thing is that Animation Schools really enjoy our product, 10 of them are using Kitsu to manage their end of studies projects (Les Gobelins, Ecole des Nouvelles Images, LISAA, etc.).
Our goal in 2020 is to make the ingestion process even better with a stronger import system, software integration and production templates. With these features, we want to be the reference software for building animation productions, especially for TV series.”
Edwin Catmull and Patrick Hanrahan have won the $1 million Turing Award
The two men who invented game-changing 3D computer graphics techniques now widely used in the film industry have won the highest distinction in computer science: the Turing Award
