Teaser for Animation First’s Opening Night featuring Erotic Animated Shorts

Animation First challenges the public perception that animation is just for kids, which can be exemplified through this clever and funny Opening Night teaser trailer. The teaser begins with some clips from the trailer of the beloved 3D family film Minuscule: Valley of the Lost Ants, followed by a title card that then reads, “Send the kids home, stay for the shorts!” after which, we see clips from the Erotic Animated Shorts, where animators let their imaginations run wild. Sensual, erotic, naughty, poetic or risqué, these fanciful and unconventional shorts celebrate passion, desire and fantasies.
With 12 US and New York premieres, Animation First presents ambitious, innovative, and award-winning animated feature and short films, virtual reality, video games, and more, coming out of France’s most exciting studios and art schools. Animation First features special screenings and events for all ages, putting audiences in the front seat of 3D animation, works in progress, interactive workshops on drawing and sound effects, gaming demonstrations, and panel discussions with leading artists and studio executives.

The Erotic Animated short film titles are:
  • Tempête dans une chambre à coucher (Storm in a Bedroom), Laurence Arcadias, Juliette Marchand, 2011. 11 min. No dialogue.
  • Braise (Ember), Hugo Frassetto, 2012. 7 min. In French with English Subtitles.
  • Tram (Tram), Michaela Pavlátová, 2012. 7 min. No dialogue.
  • Des câlins dans les cuisines (Cuddles in the kitchens). Sébastien Laudenbach, 2004. 8 min. No dialogue.
  • Daphné ou la belle plante (Daphné or the good-looking girl), Sylvain Derosne, Sébastien Laudenbach, 2015. 15 min. In French with English Subtitles.
  • Fol’Amor (Fol’Amor), Augustin Clermont, Gilles Cortella, 2013. 2 min. No dialogue
  • Qui j’ose aimer (Who to Love), Laurence Deydier Hugo Frassetto, 2015. 7 min. No dialogue.
  • Chaud Lapin (Horny Evil), Flora Andrivon, Soline Bejuy, Maël Berreur, 2014. 5 min. No dialogue.
  • Shéhérazade (Sheherazade), Florence Miailhe, 1993. 16 min. In French with English Subtitles.

Extraordinary: Stan Lee Hosted by Chris Hardwick

*** SAVE THE DATE *** SAVE THE DATE *** SAVE THE DATE ***

Extraordinary: Stan Lee

Hosted by Chris Hardwick

on August 22nd at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills

As Part of this Live Tribute Event, Legendary Creator Stan Lee Will Be Joined by a Variety of Stars,

including Tom Bergeron, Lou Ferrigno, Todd McFarlane, Michael Rooker, Andy Signore, and more  

WHAT: Extraordinary: Stan Lee is a highly-anticipated, star-studded live event paying homage to the world’s most iconic comic creator.  The tribute, which is produced by In-Theater Live and Agents of Mayhem in partnership with Stan Lee Collectibles, will bring together heavyweights of the comic book world along with a number of leading TV/film talent.
WHO: Stan Lee

Chris Hardwick (Host)

Presenters/Guests/Celebrity Attendees include: Tom Bergeron (Dancing with the Stars), Lou Ferrigno (The Incredible Hulk),Todd McFarlane (Spider-Man, Spawn), Michael Rooker (Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, The Walking Dead), Andy Signore (ScreenJunkies and Honest Trailers), plus more to be announced.

WHEN: The event begins at 6:00 pm. There will be a red carpet/arrivals line beforehand and those details are forthcoming.
WHERE: Saban Theatre

8440 Wilshire Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90211

TICKETS: Tickets for Extraordinary: Stan Lee live at the Saban Theatre are currently on sale through Ticketmaster ranging from $95.00 for general seats to $350.00 for VIP seats and a meet-and-greet.

Fans can visit Omaze.com for the chance to be flown out to Los Angeles, receive a complimentary hotel stay and enjoy two front-row seats at the tribute. The VIP experience includes a private meet-and-greet with Stan, and tickets to attend the exclusive VIP after party. Proceeds raised from the campaign will support Make-A-Wish® to grant life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses.

The ceremony will also be streamed live in movie theaters nationwide, allowing real-time access for fans outside of Los Angeles to share in the extraordinary experience. Full list and ticket info to be announced. ‘Nuff said! 

About Stan Lee: Known to millions as the man whose superheroes propelled Marvel to its preeminent position in the comic book industry, Stan’s co-creations include Spider-Man™, The Incredible Hulk™, X-Men™, The Fantastic Four™, Iron Man™ and hundreds of others. He introduced Spider-Man™ as a newspaper strip, which became the most successful of all syndicated adventure strips having appeared in more than 500 newspapers worldwide. Stan currently remains Chairman Emeritus of Marvel, as well as a member of the Editorial Board of Marvel Comics.

About Omaze: Omaze is an online fundraising platform that makes giving fun and easy by offering once-in-a-lifetime experiences and exclusive merchandise in support of critical causes. Our campaigns connect influencers, nonprofits and donors to create lasting impact, and have raised funds and awareness for more than 200 charities with donations from over 175 countries.

About Make-A-Wish: Make-A-Wish grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy. According to a 2011 U.S. study of wish impact, most health professionals surveyed believe a wish-come-true has positive impacts on the health of children. Kids say wishes give them renewed strength to fight their illness, and their parents say these experiences help strengthen the entire family. Headquartered in Phoenix, Make-A-Wish is one of the world’s leading children’s charities, serving children in every community in the United States and its territories. With the help of generous donors and more than 33,000 volunteers, Make-A-Wish grants a wish somewhere in the country every 34 minutes. It has granted more than 285,000 wishes since its inception in 1980; more than 15,300 in 2016 alone. Visit Make-A-Wish at www.wish.org to learn more.

 

PRESS CONTACT:

 

Megan Levy & David Gardner, The Lippin Group: megan@lippingroup.com, dgardner@lippingroup.com

 

Luma Creates Dynamic CG Vulture for Spider-Man: Homecoming

Luma Creates Dynamic CG Vulture for Spider-Man: Homecoming

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Award-winning creative studio Luma teamed up with Director Jon Watts and VFX Supervisor Janek Sirrs to deliver stunning visual effects work for eleven sequences in Spider-Man: Homecoming, which is being praised as the best Spider-Man movie to date.

Marvel’s fun new take on the friendliest superhero around features a standout villain that audiences can truly empathise with: the Vulture is a regular, street-level guy who turns to illegal activities to take care of his family. Luma worked on key sequences featuring the cunning Vulture, many of which required creating and animating an impressive and weighty CG Vulture wing-suit that goes toe-to-toe with a speedy Spider-Man.

PERFECTING THE VULTURE LANDING
In the beginning of the film, Adrian Toomes builds his alien technology empire after being fired from his previous blue-collar job. Eight years later, his guns are bigger and badder, he’s naturally grown greedier and his mechanical wing-suit is the size of a small airplane. He makes his first grand entrance into the lab as the ceiling door opens up, he spreads his wings and swoops onto his platform in a hard landing and smugly boasts that “business is good!”

It was up to the Luma crew to create this epic landing scene, which required a full CG Vulture and landing platform with articulated arms. Luma used Vulture’s geometry from two other vendors on the show and incorporated that into their pipeline. “We were aiming to tie the suit and the warehouse into the same world to make it feel industrial and real, but also not as refined of a suit as Iron Man’s. The mood and contrasting raw metals of the wings helped bring Vulture’s suit into the same world as the set”, says CG Supervisor Andrew Zink.

Animators then brought the domineering Vulture to life, which proved to be a complicated thing: he is a dynamic tank that hovers over the ground, his two turbines are controlled by exoskeleton arms which act as the sole propulsors, so the amount of RPMs and the angles in which they lean creates a push and pull effect. Animators also had to consider his unique wing shape, flight trajectory and predatory poses to perfect his flight and fast landing.

THE ICONIC VULTURE GRAB
A rookie Spider-Man discovers Vulture’s henchmen selling alien technology to a wanting criminal and chases after their van as he runs through backyards, unapologetically destroying everything in his path (the scene is a parody of the famous Ferris Bueller’s Day Off “The Race Home”). Vulture saves his henchmen as he violently swoops in and grabs Spider-Man in the same way a real vulture would grab its prey. He rapidly ascends into the sky travelling at a whopping 208 mph before dropping him into a lake.

To create this completely virtual sequence, “animators began blocking with simplistic Google Maps photography and drone photography to work out the aesthetics of what the surroundings would look like”, recalled VFX Supervisor Kevin Souls. For Vulture’s character, animators tackled the challenge of animating the hefty wing-suit that, while also making sure it was dynamic enough to fight with a swift and speedy Spider-Man. “We like to ground our characters in real world physics, so our animators use a variety of Luma created tools to track speed, gravity and archs—it’s easier to bend the rules once you understand them,” explains Animation Supervisor Raphael A. Pimentel.

DAMAGE CONTROL
Luma worked on the first fight battle between Vulture and Spider-Man, where Spider-Man interrupts Vulture from stealing supplies from the Damage Control truck. Initially tasked with enhancing the sequence, Luma realized early on that it would be easier to recreate the sequence in full CG in order to add camera moves and to work with the portal (the alien technology that allows Vulture to travel through the roof of the truck). Since this was a close-up and constrained fight, animators had to ensure that Spider-Man looked weighty and in control, while also ensuring that the Vulture build was dynamic enough to fight with him.

Luma didn’t just create a stunning villain for Spider-Man: Homecoming, the studio’s varied scope of work in this action-packed blockbuster also included creating and animating a full CG Spider-Man for various sequences, the disintegration effect on Bryce’s character, the ATM sequence, and the Crime Fighting sequence where a rookie Spider-Man head outs into the city attempting to stop petty crime.

“This is definitely the proudest I’ve been of the crew that I work with. The passion and hard work they put into this film really shows the kind of talented people we have at Luma and how much care about the artistry of their work they have”, says VFX Supervisor Brendan Seals.

Luma is currently working on Marvel’s Black Panther, Thor: Ragnarok and Disney’s A Wrinkle in Time.

CREDITS:

Director:  Jon Watts
Creative VFX Studio:  Luma Pictures
VFX Supervisor:  Janek Sirrs
VFX Supervisor:  Brendan Seals
VFX Supervisor:  Kevin Souls
CG Supervisor:  Andrew Zink
CG Supervisor: Alexandre Cancado
Animation Supervisor:  Raphael A. Pimentel