Voting

I'm happy to announce that I've been selected as a VES Judge for the upcoming VES Awards, coming up early next year! Since I'm down in LA right now, I have an opportunity to judge and narrow down the choices of many submissions. Who knows how long I will be here to take advantage of these options. The top three nominees in each cateogry will then be cast to the entire VES for voting. This event will happen early next year. Like last year, the VES members will be able to vote by proxy on the top three, and there will also be a VES Show & Tell for the top three. I attended the VES Show & Tell in 2005, almost two years. Follow the below links to see a review of what happens!

The Big Reveal, Part I
The Big Reveal, Part II
The Big Reveal, Part III
The Big Reveal, Part IV
The Big Reveal, Part V

Last night I attended a screening of The Good Shepherd, a film by Robert De Niro about the birth of the CIA. It starred Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie, and William Hurt, to name a few of big actors. It was a good movie, and while I had no idea what was going on for the first couple of minutes (my head was totally not into watching a film), I eventually settled into the story and enjoyed it as it unfolded. Some nice invisible effects, and a couple obvious greenscreens were in the film. Nothing too horrible though. The film itself focused on a counter intelligence agent (Damon) who learns his way up the ladder, and finds out that trust only goes so far. Trust not thy friends, trust thy enemy is a theme that's recurring. You never really know who's a bad guy until the end. It was a pretty good drama. I'd recommend it for a DVD viewing, as you may need to pause it to soak it some of the detail and discuss what's been happening up to that point.

Also yesterday I received a package in the mail which contained the latest film I worked on (well almost). Flags of our Fathers showed up on my doorstep, complete with security tags and individually serial numbered. I'm hoping to do an extended breakdown of the shots I did in the Case Studies section of VFXTalk in the new year, so keep an eye over on that forum! And of course I'll eventually be adding it to my Gallery with the other films. Also expect Charlotte's Web to be described as well! If you haven't already, pick up Cinefex 108, which details the work that Tippett Studio and the other companies did to complete that film. And of course, pick up Cinefex 107, which chronicles the work that Digital Domain did on Flags of our Fathers, in addition to an excellent article about Davy Jones from ILM!