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PARIS OPERA COMMISSIONS GLEN KEANE TO CREATE “NEPHTALI”

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 15, 2015

PARIS OPERA COMMISSIONS GLEN KEANE TO CREATE “NEPHTALI,” A SHORT FILM FOR THEIR NEW DIGITAL STAGE, “3RD STAGE”

Glen Keane Productions is pleased to announce the official launch of Glen’s new film, “Nephtali,” which was created for the Paris Opera to coincide with today’s launch of their new digital stage, 3rd Stage (3e Scène, in French). Here is a direct link to the film: https://www.operadeparis.fr/en/3e-scene/nephtali.

Glen was personally invited to join a distinguished list of artists and filmmakers to help launch 3rd Stage by Benjamin Millepied, the new Director of Dance for the Paris Opera. Benjamin and Glen first met while they were both working on projects at Google last year.

“We invited Glen Keane to come to the Paris Opera because he is one of the best artists in the world,” stated Dimitri Chamblas, artistic director of the 3rd Stage of Paris Opera. “It was such a dream to have him working with the dancers to invent a story. He is first and foremost about the movement of his subject, and the very singular and fantastic way he transmits that movement through animation. Glen is a major artist and we couldn’t imagine opening the Paris Opera Digital stage without having him on board.”

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The 3rd Stage’s spectators live all around the globe, speak every language, and love art in all its forms. Stéphane Lissner, Director of the Paris Opera, describes the 3rdStage as “an autonomous venue for digital creation to complement the Palais Garnier and the Opéra Bastille.” He continues, “The aim of this digital 3rd Stage is to commission new works from artists through original pieces offering an original perspective on the world of opera, music, dance, our cultural heritage, the architecture of our two theatres and the skilled professionals working of the Paris Opera. Glen is among 16 other top artists and filmmakers who were invited to create unique works for the debut of the 3rd Stage. The rest of the films can be seen here: https://www.operadeparis.fr/en/3e-scene

“Nephtali”, which refers to Jacob’s blessings and Psalm 42, was born from the comparison between the grace of a dancer and that of a deer. In a choreography which Glen created with dancer Marion Barbeau, he depicts the journey of a soul that is drawn towards a higher power, fights a struggle and is eventually liberated. By using both film and drawing, Glen and Marion manage to overcome the constraints of gravity and attain the freedom towards which a dancer’s body and spirit always aspire.

Said Glen Keane, “It was a humbling experience for me to work as an animator in the Opera Garnier. It is a palace steeped in the heritage of the craft and art of ballet. I was astounded by the expressiveness and power of the dancers I drew. There is a close connection between dance and animation. I was taught by my mentors at Disney to think in terms of “golden poses” that communicate the emotion and attitude of the character. I noticed in ballet the same use of these “golden poses.” Working with ballerina Marion Barbeau I had the impression I was working with a great animator, only she expressed herself through her body’s movements instead of a pencil… and with such rhythm and grace! I am truly grateful to Benjamin Millepied and the Paris Ballet for the invitation to step into their world and live my animation dream for a moment.

ABOUT GLEN KEANE AND GLEN KEANE PRODUCTIONS

A 38-year veteran of Walt Disney Feature Animation, Glen Keane is most noted for creating and animating such legendary Disney characters as Ariel in “The Little Mermaid”, Aladdin, Pocahontas, the Beast from “Beauty and the Beast”, and Tarzan. Glen also served as Supervising Animator and Executive Producer on Disney’s 2010 box office hit, “Tangled”. In the spring of 2012, Glen decided to leave Disney Studios in pursuit of further artistic exploration. In his departure letter he stated: “I am convinced that animation really is the ultimate art form of our time with endless new territories to explore. I can’t resist its siren call to step out and discover them.” In 2013, he launched Glen Keane Productions to pursue his personal projects. Immediately after launching GKP, he teamed up with Google ATAP (Advanced Technology and Projects) to create the acclaimed Google Spotight Story, “duet.”

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The Splat is coming!

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Mtv.com is reporting about a new Youtube channel featuring classic Nickelodeon shows premiered on Saturday called The Splat.

On Saturday, a full-length channel for the network quietly premiered on YouTube with clips from faves including “Rugrats,” “Rocko’s Modern Life,” “CatDog” and “Ren & Stimpy,” among others. A bare-bones website also launched, which links to recently-launched social media channels onInstagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Read the full article here.

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Glen Keane- Step Into The Page- The Future of Storytelling

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This five-minute video was created for the Future of Storytelling Summit, an invitation-only summit that takes place in NYC. The Summit gathers leaders in communications, media, entertainment, and advertising to explore the evolution of storytelling from all angles: creative, technology, critical, formal and financial. Glen is a featured speaker at the summit and is sharing his views on the potential of animation and storytelling with respect to virtual reality technology.

Instead of a paper and pencil, Keane draws life-sized versions of Ariel and Beast in the short with an HTC Vive headset and the 3D painting app called Tilt Brush, (which is now owned by Google). Rather than just being static on a page, he’s able to walk around his characters as if they were fully three-dimensional.

A demo for the rather unique software Glen is using can be seen below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=32&v=uFWw6hGIKmc

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Model 86- Self Help Dance Teaser (NSFW)

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Inspired by Jorge Louis Borges, Chris Marker and David Lynch, Dagher’s highly stylised monochrome visuals perfectly complement the music’s filmic style. He says of the piece: “Keeping it black and white and raw was important while trying to translate the feeling of each track into an animated vignette. The tracks are so versatile and eclectic and it was a lot of fun to try and tie them all up together visually.”　
*PRESS RELEASE*
　
‘If debut track ‘Friend’ is anything to go by then Model 86 might just be the most eclectic producer in London at this given moment.’ – NME
‘New EP ‘Self Help Dance’ recalls early 90s Warp – the woozy, hypnagogic realm of Scottish duo Boards Of Canada or the more blissful sides of LFO.’ – Clash
　
Emerging from the electronic music scene is Manchester-born, London-based producer MODEL 86, with his debut EP ‘Self Help Dance’, due for release on 18th September.
　
Enigmas in modern music are no new thing, but MODEL 86, the moniker of Matthew James Wilcock, takes things further than pseudonyms, masks and no shows. His minimalist facebook profile states his gender as neutral, and this refusal to ascribe to cultural definitions translates to his shape-shifting musical style.
　
Written over the past year, ‘Self Help Dance’ defies genres, taking influences from modern electronica, 90’s hip hop, film scores, unusual samples and sound design in a style that calls to mind the likes of Flying Lotus, Boards of Canada and Dorian Concept, while retaining a bold originality.
　
At times soaring and melodic, at others driving and percussive, ‘Self Help Dance’ is an EP of true sonic experimentalism. Whilst tracks such as ‘CTRL’ create an ethereal atmosphere with ambient chimes and progressive highs, tracks such as ‘LA’ and ‘Friend’ combine chaotic beats with melodic tweaks, fizzles and cinematic glitches.
　
Accompanying the EP is a hypnotic teaser video directed by the award-winning Ely Dagher, who also provides the full colour matte print artwork for the vinyl. Inspired by Jorge Louis Borges, Chris Marker and David Lynch, Dagher’s highly stylised monochrome visuals perfectly complement the music’s filmic style. The pair are no strangers to collaborating, having also worked together on the short animated film ‘Waves 98’, for which MODEL 86 composed the soundtrack and Dagher was awarded the highly acclaimed Palme d’Or award for ‘Best Short Film’ at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. A trailer for the film also featured on VICE/The Creators Project.
　
An artist who spent his formative years listening to NY hip hop artists such as MF Doom and Edan, and discovering a range of genres from 70s funk and jazz to Polish progressive rock, MODEL 86 began developing his style at a young age, when he first discovered Acid Pro and bought an MPC 2000XL. Dropping out of art school to pursue his desire to express himself through sound, he perfected his talent by producing music and sound design work for rappers, commercials, TV and film, for which he will produce several new scores this year.
　
Now finally coming into his own, this special 10-track EP features bonus track ‘Swell’ on digital, whilst the vinyl release will feature ‘Friend’ and ‘C.T.A.S’, alongside exclusive 7″ track ‘Hangin With Virginia’.
　
Seeing many people from his youth stuck with narrowed prospects from growing up in one of Manchester’s most　underprivileged areas, MODEL 86 places a strong importance on helping yourself. This, mixed with his own psychological and　physiological　experiences of anti-depressants and a fascination with mental health, is reflected here in the EP’s title ‘Self Help Dance’, making an intimate offering　which is sure to resonate long after listening.
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Gatorade | Fuel the Fire

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Gatorade | Fuel the Fire

GoldenWolf/UK

Anselm von Seherr-Thoss explains how RealFlow was used to make some amazing effects for the Gatorade commercial featuring football superstars Lionel Messi and James Rodríguez.

About the company

Incendii is located in New Orleans, Louisiana. Nowadays New Orleans is known for a lot of filming but not so much for post production or VFX. So it is an exotic entity in this area.

The problem

Besides the Gatorade fluids itself a lot of atmospheric effects like dust and smoke needed to be created. The fluid was definitely the secret here besides the actual soccer icons like Messi, etc. So getting the message across that Gatorade refuels and powers the athletes was crucial. Lots of high velocity flowing through tiny tubes and pipes which called for pretty significant detail even given the more toon-ish, not 101% photorealistic look. Besides the pipes and objects emerging out of volumes of fluids we made a bunch of generic splash and paint bucket type elements to be added as needed on the motion graphics side.

We worked on these commercials for two months on and off. Incendii also helped pitching the project prior to the production schedule earlier. I would say on the Gatorade team there were about ten over all at GoldenWolf and on the Incendii side two artists for fluid simulations and dust/rubble/fire, etc. But the lines blurred here. Whoever was free for a task picked it up. Time is always against you on a commercial project. With budget constraints come time constraints come shortcuts. But I think we managed well! The team was GREAT! Constant communication was very important.

The solution

RealFlow was used in connection with Houdini for the Gatorade simulation splashing and running through pipes of all sorts and for the big splashes where barrels are poured over. We also emerged a running engine from a pool of Gatorade and filled up a battery all using SPH.

The techniques applied were a mix of RealFlow and Houdini. In RealFlow for small confined spaces SPH works better with Hybrido. Hybrido shines when you have large pools of fluids or huge pours. We used both on a per task basis. Great to have them both in there! The new node based interface is making it easy to even take on shots from other artists because the connections are so clearly visible and notes can be put beside to get everybody up to speed.

Some of the pipes the fluids go through were very small in diameter; it took a bit of testing to get the detail we wanted to achieve. SPH worked better on some, Hybrido on others. It was great to have a choice. Also the emerging engine was a bit of a task since the pistons were running at a high speed. Adjusting the sub samples took care of a good bit as well as the new meshing options. Small droplets required quite a bit of detail.

Why RealFlow?

With the exchange plug-in for 3ds Max it is very easy to render in VRay and Krakatoa or even just loading the RealFlow particles into Particle Flow for further treatment like shape instances. Sometimes particles get cached out of 3ds Max and then meshed in RealFlow or even used as drivers. I use it both ways really. Especially with tools like Thinkbox’s Stoke you can generate nice motion easily and then pull that into RealFlow for meshing or emitters.  I love the node based interface and interchange features with 3ds Max and others. Now I am no RealFlow expert by any stretch, but I like what I see and so do the clients. The rental option is also nice for a project which requires a little extra for a limited time.

The greatest benefit of RealFlow is how well it plays with 3ds Max with its exchange plug-in. Also since Thinkbox products can write BIN files now making motions in other tools and importing it into RealFlow for further treatment works nicely. I like meshing in RealFlow over using Frost some times as well.

The team at GoldenWolf was awesome to work with. This project was different from what I usually get to do so I really like the look and feel of it. It is more toony/stylized than photorealistic. Great job everyone!

GoldenWolf/UK 

Incendii LLC – Visual effects

Credits


 

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VIEWSTER TO LAUNCH SUBSCRIPTION BOX / DIGITAL SERVICE

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VIEWSTER TO LAUNCH SUBSCRIPTION BOX / DIGITAL SERVICE
With Exclusive Gold-Foil ‘Kill la Kill’ Hardcover

Special gold-foil cover edition of ‘Kill la Kill’ manga

Online video service Viewster will launch Omakase, its new subscription box/streaming service with an exclusive gold-foil hardcover edition of the Kill la Kill manga.  With Omakase, inspired by “chef’s choice,” Viewster is employing a clever new twist on the subscription box phenomenon by bundling a bi-monthly box of unique merchandise with an online subscription to ad-free Viewster video content.   Exclusive digital content will also be added, including min-EP albums featuring new music from popular artists and original comics by well-known creators.

Detail of back cover of gold-foil cover edition

’Omakase,’ a term seen on sushi menus, “is when you let the chef make a selection of sushi for you, and that’s what Omakase by Viewster is all about,” Viewster USA CEO Rob Pereyda explained.  “Everything together – the video, the merchandise, and the digital goodies – makes up Omakase.  Just like a patron to a nice sushi restaurant would trust the chef, we hope that fans will ‘leave it to us’ in the same way.”The theme of the first box, scheduled for this fall, is Kill la Kill, anchored by the exclusive gold-foil manga volume.  Future boxes may be anchored around single IPs, or general themes, such as “back to school.”

The initial launch, with the two-month subscription priced at $25 plus shipping and handling, will be for customers in the U.S., Canada, and the United Kingdom.

You can read the whole article here.