REELIZE.COM

June 14, 2010
Read how Rhythm & Hues, Weta, Digital Domain and Prime Focus came to the rescue of The A-Team.

For the Joe Carnahan-directed big screen version of The A-Team, James Price, the overall visual effects supervisor, recruited his own vfx A-Team comprised of Rhythm & Hues, Digital Domain, Weta Digital, Prime Focus, Hydraulx, Soho VFX and others. The mission: create the kind of mayhem associated with the popular '80s TV series -- only bring it up to date and make it explosive enough for the big screen.

Rhythm & Hues stepped in for the tank drop and Long Beach sequences. In the former, the A-Team tries to escape in a C130 being pursued by predator drones. Finally, one of the missiles hits and the plane explodes. But somehow the Team knew it was doomed and snuck into a tank that was in the cargo hold, so then it becomes a drop as the tank falls through space under parachute control with the predators still chasing them... Read More

-AWN

June 9, 2010
Visual effects shop leapfrogs into production

Two projects from the development slate of visual-effects studio Rhythm & Hues are moving toward production as the company moves away from being strictly a vendor and looks to become a producer.

Company has even jumped in as an equity partner on a studio feature. R&H, which was lead shop on the Oscar-winning vfx for "The Golden Compass," has an equity stake in Warner's 3D family pic "Yogi Bear" and will get a co-producer credit on the pic... Read More

-Variety

June 9, 2010
Rhythm & Hues Developing Two Features

Rhythm & Hues is close to moving two feature films from development into production, reports VARIETY.

The first project is TOAD TRIP, a live-action/animation hybrid, which will be directed by Stephen Herek (101 DALMATIANS). Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson penned the script. The project was acquired via turnaround from DreamWorks. Social Capital is co-funding the film. Tamasy, Martin Shore and Christopher Tuffin are producing with Johnson, Gordon Steel and R&H's film division president Lee Berger are executive producing.

Additionally, R&H has optioned TALES FROM THE FARM, a graphic novel from Jeff Lemire and script from John Carr. The live-action/animation hybrid will be pitched to actors and directors soon. Lemire will exec produce alongside producers Steven Gilder and Alec Chorches... Read More

-AWN

January 30, 2010
Rhythm & Hues & Brosta TV form creative IP partnership

Rhythm & Hues Studios and Brosta TV LLC, Tokyo have entered into a co-producing relationship with the goal of creating original intellectual properties for the global market. Both parties aim to conceive and produce cutting edge entertainment blending eastern and western cultures designed to appeal to audiences and consumers worldwide. The initial focus of the alliance is on the development of animated characters and ancillaries for mobile platforms, starting in early 2010, with potential for partnerships in other media, including books, manga (graphic novels), games and eventually films or TV series.

Stacy Burstin, executive producer of Rhythm & Hues‘ Design division, shared, "We are very excited about the innovative content this relationship will produce and are confident about its international appeal on the world market. By combining the world-class talent within both R&H and Brosta TV, we will have the ability to create and tell unique stories and produce them through new technologies including mobile and social networks. Our relationship will also take advantage of new and emerging distribution methodologies as well as the traditional entertainment pipeline." ... Read More

-Animation Xpress

January 28, 2010
Hollywood vfx house gets into games Rhythm & Hues teaming with Japan's Brosta TV

Another Hollywood name is taking aim at the vidgame world.

Oscar-winning visual effects studio Rhythm & Hues Studios is teaming with Japan's Brosta TV to create new intellectual properties for the global gaming market. One of the first areas the partnership intends to focus on is the mobile game market.

The first products are expected to be introduced this spring and will blend eastern and western styles in an attempt to appeal to a global audience. ... Read More

-Variety

January 19, 2010
Todd Shifflett tells fxguide how his studio approached the diverse range of Freak Show performers in the film - Paul Weitz's Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant

fxg: What were Rhythm & Hues' main tasks on Cirque du Freak?

Shifflett: We basically made all the freaks a little extra freakish. For example, we had Alexander Ribs, played by Orlando Jones, a character we had to emaciate and augment to the point that he was incredibly skinny and you could see all of his organs and bone structure. We'd do a 3D scan of Orlando's body and then blend from his upper torso and chest area down into his hips. We separated out his whole mid-section, in along the rib cage to give him an entire new body. Another character was Rhamus Twobellies. He was essentially made up of a lot of costume make-up effects that we added on top of in order to help sell the effect. He eats all these metal pieces and then reassembles them into a bicycle in his stomachs. We also did a number of set extensions and matte paintings. Overall, Paul Weitz was very insistent on making sure there was a really colourful nature to a lot of the show. There's a vibrancy to a lot of the characters that we tried to press through in all of our work. Some of these didn't actually make it into the finished film just because of the demands of the story, but hopefully they'll show up at some point on the DVD. ... Read More
-fxguide

January 14, 2010
R&H delivers Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel with NVIDIA Quadro FX

R&H was tasked with developing hundreds of shots for “The Squeakquel” and six movie trailers – a higher shot count than any project in the company’s history. While they were able to re-use some digital assets from the original movie, they also had to design and animate brand new CG characters.

Adding to the complexity of the task was the work required to integrate the CG chipmunks with their live action counterparts in games of dodgeball and football, plus everyday situations. Furthermore, the entire project needed to be completed in just 28 weeks, a short turnaround considering the breadth of the work. ... Read More

-Animation Xpress

December 11, 2009
Rhythm + Hues and James Wahlberg Bring a Game to Scrabble

Rhythm + Hues commercial division's most recent contribution to the game genre offers an intriguing perspective on Scrabble, the venerable board game celebrating its 60th year of success. Live action/animation director James Wahlberg helmed this series of :40, :30, :20, and :15-second mixed-media commercials individually customized for worldwide release.

The premise is simple. A family is going head-to-head in a contest that tests their improvisational skills in classic Scrabble fashion. Only this time, the rules have changed. There's no comfortable living room setting, no game board per say, not even a bowl of popcorn or glass of soda sitting on a nearby coffee table. Instead, each player brings with them a string of icons reflecting their own unique personalities and imaginations onto a grid comprised of intersecting city streets in an effort to lay claim to key architectural pathways designed after Scrabble game board graphics. To view the spot go here . ... Read More

-Shoot

October 28, 2009
Paul Babb on Inaugural AICP Digital Board - Rhythm & Hues

Matt Miller, President and CEO of the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP), and Ed Ulbrich, newly-named President of the AICP Digital Chapter, and President, Commercial Division and EVP at Digital Domain, today announced the makeup of the inaugural AICP Digital Board. The Board members are: Justin Booth-Clibborn of Psyop (he will serve as Vice President of the Chapter); Paul Babb of Rhythm + Hues; Jake Banks of Stardust; Kevin Batten of Superfad; Javier Jimenez of Motion Theory; Chip Houghton of Imaginary Forces; Elizabeth Kiehner of Thornberg & Forester; Jason Mayo of Click 3X; and Danny Rosenbloom of Brand New School.

"AICP Digital was launched as the first-ever issues-based, national chapter of the organization," said Miller. "This Board - which comprises a wide cross-section of companies - will be tasked with managing an agenda that fully addresses and represents the issues and concerns of our member companies producing content digitally." ... Read More

-Shoot

September 20, 2009
Aliens in the Attic - Rhythm & Hues

fxg: What was the scope of the visual effects?

Doug Smith: Well, firstly the film was shot in Auckland, New Zealand but actually takes place at a vacation house in Michigan. Also, because of the way it was staged, the house had to be extended. The entire rooftop set was bluescreen and other rooms had to be extended where necessary. Then of course we had to create the aliens and all the associated effects, plus the Sizematron effects at the end of the film. We did some design work at Rhythm and then I supervised the shooting in New Zealand while O'Neal: ran things back at the studio. ... Read More

-FX Guide

September 16, 2009
SPECIAL AGENT PRODUCTIONS Opens in San Francisco

W!LDBRAIN Alumni Introduce SPECIAL Boutique Animation Studio; "Bollywood" Music Video with "Erin Esurance" Premieres on IFC

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- SPECIAL AGENT PRODUCTIONS (SPECIAL) has opened a new boutique animation studio in San Francisco offering a host of streamlined services to meet the production demands of the new economy and the digital age. Founded by the award-winning team of director Phil Robinson and producer Amy Capen, SPECIAL just wrapped its latest commercial for Esurance. The spot casts their client's sexy, pink-haired pitchwoman "Erin" in a colorful, Bollywood-themed video that premiered on the IFC channel this week -Click Here to See The ubiquitous Esurance campaign has been the perfect platform to highlight SPECIAL's versatile range of capabilities including 2D and 3D animation, and the blending of the two with live action in several commercials. ... Read More

-Reuters

July 31, 2009
Aliens in the Attic

Although its aimed at that vaguely defined, ever-elusive constituency known as the family audience, Aliens in the Attic doubtless will appeal primarily to a more narrow demographic of tweens and pre-teens. Despite the prominent presence of Ashley Tisdale, the nubile note of discord in the High School Musical franchise, its difficult to imagine many ticketbuyers between the ages of 12 and 18 queuing up for this homogenized PG-rated trifle (unless, of course, they buy tickets to sneak into an R-rated pic elsewhere in the megaplex). Pic posted a tepid $7.8 million in its opening frame, but homevid biz may be passable. ...

On the other side of the fray, the four aliens are armed with a brain-implant dart gun that allows them to manipulate humans with a device that conveniently resembles a vidgame controller. This does cue some genuinely funny physical comedy (tweaked by the f/x wizards of Rhythm & Hues Studios) by Doris Roberts as a doting grandmother who becomes a high-flying, butt-kicking martial artist and Robert Hoffman as Bethanys sleazy overage boyfriend. Latter is especially hilarious as his jerky character becomes a herky-jerk puppet. ... Read More

-Variety

June 8, 2009
Plenty of New Skin & Muscle in Land of the Lost

Bill Westenhofer talks about raising the dino bar for Rhythm & Hues in this new take on the old Sid & Marty Krofft series with Will Ferrell on the loose.

There is plenty of new skin and muscle on display in Rhythm & Hues' dinosaur work for Land of the Lost, providing a welcome respite from their recent fur work.

Rhythm & Hues did all of the dinosaurs and set extensions encompassing 536 shots (Hammerhead handled the interior pile on sequences). The cast of characters include the T-Rex called Grumpy and the Alisorus named Alice, along with various Deinonychyuses, Compsognathuses and Teradactals. ... Read More

-VFX World

June 28, 2009
Land of the Lost : Rhythm & Hues

In Land of the Lost, a Brad Silberling film starring Will Ferrell as an alternate world explorer, Rhythm & Hues created hundreds of visual effects shots to depict a universe populated by dinosaurs and other creatures. Ian Failes talks to visual effects supervisor Bill Westenhofer about the project.

fxg: Which shots did Rhythm & Hues do for the film?

BW: We did the vast majority of the effects - pretty much everything except for the stuff inside the pylon, the white crystal table. Those shots were done by Hammerhead. Another company did some footprint removal for the sand dunes at the beginning. We did the dinosaurs and other beasts, the set extensions, the waterfall and raft sequence at the beginning, the Zarn creature and the Sleestaks at the end. ... Read More

-FX Guide

May 26, 2009
Night Turns to Battle of the Smithsonian

Rhythm & Hues adds some new CG characters, including a giant octopus and the Lincoln Memorial, to Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.

Three years ago, the first Night at the Museum turned to Rhythm & Hues to create its fantastical CG characters. From a playful T. Rex skeleton to talking Easter Island heads, the crew was charged with the responsibility of bringing the exhibits of New York's American Museum of Natural History to life after hours. Now, with the sequel, Battle of the Smithsonian, the plot expands to include the entire Smithsonian in Washington D.C. and Rhythm & Hues has returned to significantly up the stakes.

Leading the team is Visual Effects Supervisor Raymond Chen, whose 13 years of work for Rhythm & Hues has included (most recently) The Golden Compass and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. For Smithsonian, Chen found that the sheer scale of the film's storyline was a call for some ambitious planning. ... Read More

-VEX World

March 3, 2009
Wildbrain to open studio 'Yo Gabba Gabba' co. expands to L.A.

Wildbrain, the entertainment shingle behind kids fave "Yo Gabba Gabba," is opening an animation studio in Los Angeles.

Expansion comes as the San Francisco-based Wildbrain continues to expand its animation work in TV, film, gaming and commercials -- and is also busy producing product for other studios, including 20th Century Fox TV's animated pilot featuring Jeff Foxworthy.

The new Wildbrain space -- located in Sherman Oaks -- was announced by Marge Dean, Wildbrain Animation Studios general manager.

Dean said the growth of Wildbrain's work-for-hire business, as well as its own production slate, led to the decision to open an L.A. outpost.... Read More

-Variety

March 4, 2009
Wildbrain Expands to Los Angeles

W!LDBRAIN has expanded their animation studios into Los Angeles.

With W!LDBRAIN's growing pipeline of motion pictures and television series, and a steady increase in long-form, work-for-hire business, the impetus of this move can be attributed to the growth of 3D animation in television. The new W!LDBRAIN Animation Studios space is located in Sherman Oaks, California and is up and running, effective immediately. The Los Angeles-based studio is being headed by Chris Staples and Michelle Papandrew (FOSTER'S HOME FOR IMAGINARY FRIENDS). W!LDBRAIN Animation Studios' San Francisco-based operations will continue to serve as a principal hub for commercial work, television, motion pictures and game animation, as well as original content development. "The accelerated growth of our own intellectual property production slate and our work-for-hire business led to our decision to expand the animation studios to Los Angeles," said Marge Dean, General Manager, W!LDBRAIN Animation Studios. "There are a number of studios that are looking to produce 3D CGI television series based on their respective 3D animated box office hits. This creates a great opportunity for us to expand our future work-for-hire business as one of the few studios that has an experienced and tested CG pipeline for television." ... Read More

-AWN

March 3, 2009
Wildbrain to open studio 'Yo Gabba Gabba' co. expands to L.A.

February 25, 2009
The army of Narnia: Bill Westenhofer reveals the magic behind the beasties

Bill Westenhofer of Rhythm & Hues Studios in Los Angeles has worked on "Spawn," "Men in Black II," "Stuart Little," "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" and last year he won an Academy Award for his labors on "The Golden Compass." Right now he's working on "Land of the Lost," the Will Ferrell special-effects comedy based on the old Krofft Brothers television show.

My most memorable scene on film is the opening scene of the Battle for Narnia (“The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe”). It’s still my favorite.

It starts with a gryphon flying in over the fields, sweeping over a completely computer-generated army of 60 unique creature types from centaurs to fawns to various exotic cats and rhinos, all moving in different ways. ... Read More

-LA Times

February 19, 2009
Hollywood Movie Magic Made in Mumbai

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

... See More

-NBC

February 11, 2009
Rhythm & Hues Enters Feature Biz

VFX studio Rhythm & Hues will start developing feature projects as well as open a new studio in Asia for work on an all-CG feature, per VARIETY.

The Culver City-based company has hired Vanguard's Venecia Duran as director of development and has accelerated plans for a Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia facility. The development department is now taking script submissions and hopes to make an announcement on a feature co-production in a few months. "We're looking ideally for four-quadrant family films, though we have a few projects in development that are a little more adult," Duran said. The slate includes "blended cinema" projects that combine CG and live-action and fully CG animated projects. ... Read More

-ANW

February 9, 2009
PandaPanther Onitsuka Tiger: Zodiac Race

The Onitsuka Tiger is back to celebrate it’s 60th anniversary, a milestone of major significance to Japanese culture that is laden with symbolism around the “Cycle of Life”. As a result, Amsterdam Worldwide has created a campaign to celebrate the Zodiac Legend of the race of the sacred animals to secure spots on the Zodiac calendar.

Tapped for the Zodiac Race was New York studio, PandaPanther, who once again prove that they are the class of the character design/animation studios. Setting their animation around the hand built Zodiac Race sneaker diorama (that will be on tour in Europe, Asia, Australasia and the USA in selected trade and fashion shows), PP seamlessly mix their trademark cg characters with the environment and polish it off with touches of cel animation. Not to be forgotten is the audio mix that successfully brings all these characters to life and gives just the right touch of odd to make it all work. ... Read More

-Motionographer

February 8, 2009
Rhythm & Hues - Company hires Duran to head development

Visual effects studio Rhythm & Hues has entered the feature development business and is expanding further into Asia to prepare for production on an all-CG feature.

Company has hired Venecia Duran, formerly of Vanguard, as its director of development, and is accelerating plans to open a facility in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

R&H's development department is already taking script submissions and hopes to announce a feature co-production within a few months.

"We're looking ideally for four-quadrant family films, though we have a few projects in development that are a little more adult," Duran said.... Read More

-Variety

February 2, 2009
Picasso Pictures/Tokyoplastic - Nike Cortez Brothers Release at Overkill

Inspired by two special characters representing the vision of Nike co-founders Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight, the Cortez Brothers Double Pack sees this vision manifested into a set of old school meets new, showcasing Bill’s throwback style and Phil’s modern day cutting edge innovation. Although the pack is scheduled for a worldwide February 14th release, Berlin’s Overkill hosted a pre-release launch over the weekend in celebration. Check it out!...

Also Check out the cortez Brothers in action - Nike Ad

Read More

-Hypebeast

January 14, 2009
W!LDBRAIN's Animated In-Flight Safety Video for Virgin America Makes Impact with Travlers

W!LDBRAIN, the award-winning entertainment company that develops and produces television programming, motion pictures, commercial content and licensed merchandise, created an innovative, animated in-flight safety video for Virgin America, the next-generation airline. The in-flight safety video debuted in winter of 2007 and has gained a loyal fan base and following since its debut. The video informs passengers of FAA regulations in a creative and entertaining way that supports Virgin America’s “creating an airline people love” brand. The humorous and much-talked-about animated video is currently featured on Virgin America’s flights to San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Washington DC and Las Vegas. The safety video has been routinely receiving applause and cheering from airline passengers and has been widely circulated on the Internet. The in-flight safety video was produced by W!LDBRAIN Animation Studios in conjunction with Anomaly NYC, the advertising agency that helped lead the Virgin America launch. W!LDBRAIN’s Gordon Clark directed the animated in-flight video. The video can be viewed at: W!LDBRAIN

-Wildbrain

January 14, 2009
Hollywood coming to Malaysia

Los Angeles-based award winning visual effects studio, Rhythm and Hues Studio, will be setting up a high-tech studio on par with its LA studio in Malaysia.

With more than 100 feature films to its credit such as Babe, The Hulk, The Golden Compass, The Chronicles of Narnia and Night In The Museum, Rhythm is internationally recognised as one of Hollywood’s top visual effects and animation facilities.

“Rhythm is not outsourcing or doing back office work in Malaysia. The work done here will be the same sort of thing being done in LA. The Malaysian studio will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rhythm in the US,” said Rhythm senior advisor Shahril Ibrahim.... Read More

-The Star

December, 2008
Project news: Fishdog for Volkswagen Spacefox - Bitt Animation

How long did the project take? The project took about five weeks to be done.

What tools were used? The fishdog was modeled directly in Modeler, inspired by a sketch previously approved by the client. For surfacing we started using nodes to achieve the best results but as we didn't have much time to finish the project we changed to classic surfaces and got similar results with faster render time. For lighting and rendering we used Radiosity – Final Gather with two indirect bounces and always a directional or area light as the main light in the scene. We also used a polygon plane with the live action projected as ground for each shot. For deformations in general we used classic rigging tools like bones combined to good weight map setups and endomorphs. The tracking of the camera was made directly in Layout during the rotoscoping process using the live action footage as background. ... Read More

-NewTek

October 27, 2008
They Came From Upstairs Trailer Emerges

A family finds CG-animated aliens living in their vacation home in 20th Century Fox’s upcoming family flick They Came From Upstairs. Starring High School Musical phenom Ashley Tisdale, the movie is slated to hit U.S. theaters on July 31, but the trailer has already hit the web. Watch it below.

They Came From Upstairs seems to play like a cross between E.T. and Gremlins, with perhaps a bit of Lilo & Stitch thrown in for good measure. One good alien is befriended by the family, while several ill-intentioned extra-terrestrials wreak havoc on their vacation. The cast includes Saturday Night Live alumni Kevin Nealon and Tim Meadows, as well as Doris Roberts (Everybody Loves Raymond) and Andy Richter (Andy Richter Controls the Universe). The CG characters were animated by Rhythm & Hues... Read More

-Animation Magazine

October 27, 2008
Behind the Scenes of The Incredible Hulk

At Rhythm & Hues Studios, magic is real. It's not so much wand waving as it is deft digital artistry. The visual effects house is one of the premiere establishments of its kind in the business. Rhythm & Hues has garnered two Academy Awards for achievement in visual effects, one for Babe and another for The Golden Compass. From the "Sizzle Reel" playing in the screening room deep inside their Los Angeles facility, it's clear that their digital wizardry is as real is it gets. Rhythm & Hues has transformed classic figures such as Scooby Doo and Garfield into vibrant, living and breathing entities on screen. However, one of their best accomplishments was 2008's The Incredible Hulk, for which their staff truly created a "human" superhero. Giving ARTISTdirect an exclusive tour of their headquarters, they gave us some insight into "going green" for Hulk... Read More

-Artist Direct

October 2, 2008
Digital Kitchen Creates Tactile Tequila Tale For El Jimador

Digital Kitchen recently worked with ad agency DraftFCB on a viscerally stylish campaign for El Jimador tequila. The spot began exclusively airing in Mexico on October 1, 2008.

"This project gave us a perfect opportunity to create a piece of rich, tactile storytelling," says Brian Behling, Producer at Digital Kitchen. "The team at DraftFCB had already created a print campaign and a rough storyboard, which gave us a good start, while leaving plenty of room to have some creative fun. We wanted to reveal the wealth of Mexican culture, featuring the agave plant in an iconic way, while also maintaining El Jimador's position as a 'top-shelf' tequila. That said, the schedule was pretty intense, and I don't mind saying that, along the way, most of us became big fans of El Jimador."... Read More

-AWN

October 13, 2008
Hulk Blu-ray Smashes Standard Def

The visual effects artists who brought The Incredible Hulk to life showed off some of their work to a select group of journalists invited to the Rhythm & Hues studio in Marina Del Rey, Calif. The Hulk DVD and Blu-ray Disc street Oct. 21, and the artists behind the film’s visual wonders were sensitive about its hi-def exhibition.

Visual effects producer and supervisor Kurt Williams said that fans could pick any frame from the Incredible Hulk Blu-ray Disc and observe top-quality images...Read More

- Home Media Magazine

September 14, 2008
Levi’s, Unbuttoned and Out of the Closet

DECADES ago, networks titled shows for the sponsors that paid the bills, among them “Kraft Music Hall,” “Schlitz Playhouse of Stars,” “Camel News Caravan” and “Colgate Comedy Hour.” Now, a familiar apparel label is teaming up with a cable channel to lend its name to 30 weeks of “unbuttoned” programming...

The programs will also be on a Web site and on mobile phones as well as on TV. In all outlets, there will be commercials and video clips, created by an agency named Digital Kitchen, featuring gay men and lesbians talking frankly about trying to live life “unbuttoned.”... Read More

- New York Times

September 18, 2008
Give HBO Some Credit

Even as American TV has evolved, one of its most charming aspects—the title sequence—has become scarce. To save precious seconds, many shows have jettisoned opening credits in favor of a brief flash of a logo, a la "Lost." It's a shame. A great title sequence is a gilded invitation to join the show's universe.

The credits for the new HBO series "True Blood" (from Alan Ball of "Six Feet Under" ) are the perfect amuse-bouche. The show is about vampires assimilating into rural Louisiana, and the credits are a flip book of Deep South postcards: images of hungry gators and modest homes, neon crosses and dirt roads. In the final shot, a woman is dunked for a river baptism and appears to emerge in hysterics. Either she's in rapture, or just a hairbreadth from drowning. This is the world of "True Blood," where quaint, romantic notions of the South are recast with dread.

The package was made by Digital Kitchen, the agency behind "Six Feet Under's" Emmy-winning sequence. Read More
- Newsweek

August 28, 2008
Mirror - Jeff Feuerzeig Anheuser Busch

Mirror Films director Jeff Feuerzeig recently wrapped the first spot in the latest campaign for client Anheuser Busch via Waylon Advertising. Focusing on the beer giant's 'green strategies,' as told by various employees, the spot Grain features manager Jerry Nolan and the tale of the brewing grain once they're through with it. Let's just say that there are some very happy dairy cows that benefit (who knew cows had happy hour, too?)
- SourceEcreative

August 1, 2008
Mummy Rises Against Batman

The O’Connells are back in action to take on a legion of the living dead and other CG beasties in Universal’s The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. The heavily promoted, vfx-driven action-adventure entry is sure to lure moviegoers with the promise of dumb summer fun, but can it stop the box-office behemoth that is Warner Bros.’ The Dark Knight?

Brendan Fraser returns for another battle with resurrected evil and is joined this time by Maria Bello in the role played by Rachel Weiss in the first two films, as well as martial arts stars Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh. This third installment is directed by Rob Cohen (Stealth, The Fast and the Furious), taking over for franchise helmer Stephen Sommers, who stayed on as producer. Rhythm & Hues and Digital Domain handled the dragon’s share of the visual effects work... Read More

- Animation Magazine

July 13, 2008
Radiohead and director James Frost make a video without cameras

Radiohead's latest video, for the track "House of Cards" from the In Rainbows album, uses real time 3D recording instead of cameras, utilizing highly technical structured light and Lidar laser-enhanced scanners to model lead singer Thom Yorke and provide an otherworldly narrative accompaniment to the song.

Blip Boutique creative director and Zoo director James Frost took us through the exceedingly complex, innovative process, which used on-set engineers and technology support instead of a film crew and required massive amounts of rendering and the sculpting of mountains of data in post--not to mention 64 lasers (on the Lidar system alone). Read on past our interview with Frost for behind-the-scenes footage and to visit the video's interactive component, hosted by Google in it's developer area, code.google.com. Radiohead is encouraging fans to use the 3D data of Yorke's head and make their own videos using the point cloud data and Processing. ... Read More

- Creativity

June 23, 2008
Ellen Wolff catches up with Michael Holzl, a Rhythm & Hues lead animator on The Incredible Hulk.

The Incredible Hulk, Marvel Pictures' new version of the comic book classic (now playing from Universal Pictures), has more than a couple of fresh twists. While we've seen versions of the character on both small and large screen (as recently as director Ang Lee's 2003 movie Hulk), this time there was a team of collaborators who brought a different take on the material. Notable among them was director Louis Letterier (best known for The Transporter films) and actor Edward Norton as Dr. Bruce Banner/the Hulk. In this telling of the tale, when Banner mutates into a muscle-bound, raging green Hulk he meets his match in an equally muscle-bound villain called The Abomination -- a mutation of a character played by Tim Roth. Making two world-class actors transform into massive CG mutants was the assignment given to the animators at L.A.-based Rhythm & Hues... Read More

- VFX World

June 15, 2008
Making 2008's 'The Incredible Hulk' more than a shade better

WHEN Marvel and Universal studios decided to reboot the Hulk just a few years after director Ang Lee brought the mean, green comic-book creature to multiplexes, they quite literally went back to the drawing board. Director Louis Leterrier's $150-million "The Incredible Hulk" has involved not only a tonal overhaul -- specifically, scrapping Lee's psychodrama in favor of fugitive suspense recalling the Lou Ferrigno TV show -- but also, just as crucially, giving the character a complete visual makeover".

So while Edward Norton might be taking over as gamma-irradiated scientist Bruce Banner, he's actually only the second most prominent new face on the Hulkscape. The new man-monster, created by lead digital effects house Rhythm & Hues -- with a look markedly different from the '03 model designed by effects giant Industrial Light & Magic -- ranks first... Read More

- Los Angeles Times

May 12, 2008
Chipmunks Return in 2010

When the first movie based on Ross Bagdasarian’s high-pitched trio of rodents made more than $358 million worldwide, a sequel became inevitable. Now Daily Variety reports that 20th Century Fox is planning to release Alvin and the Chipmunks II on March 19, 2010. The studio also set a date Feb. 27 as the release date for its adaptation of the Street Fighter video game series.

Starring Jason Lee (My Name Is Earl) as Dave Seville and three CG characters animated by Rhythm & Hues, Alvin and the Chipmunks was released on home video in late march and sold more than 2.6 million copies on the first day alone to become the year’s fastest selling home video title... Read More

- Animation Magazine

March 27, 2008
India finds its Rhythm F/X shop opens facility in Hyderabad

Culver City-based vfx shop Rhythm & Hues, which won the 2008 Oscar as the lead effects shop on "The Golden Compass," has opened a facility in Hyderabad, India.

Some 100 of the 210 employees at R&H's Mumbai facility moved to the new location. The two facilities now sport a total of about 250 employees, and more expansion is planned.

R&H's India facilities are teaming with its California HQ on "The Incredible Hulk" and "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor."... Read More

- Veriety.com

March 17, 2008
In Animation, Indian skills are making a difference

While the supervisor of effects for the academy award-winning Ratatouille was a US-based Indian, a team in Mumbai can boast of its contribution to The Golden Compass. Such recognition of this expertise has brought to the fore an industry which, though still in its infancy, is making big inroads in entertainment.

The Mumbai wing of the LA-based Rhythm and Hues, which worked on the effects in The Golden Compass, is currently creating effects for the Incredible Hulk, The Mummy 3, Fast and the Furious 4, Land of the Lost, Cirque Du Freak and They Came from Upstairs, according to digital production manager AR Sheshaprasad.

Says Alpana Mishra, senior Vice-president, Motion pictures production, UTV, "Our big project at the moment is the two-film deal with Will Smith's production firm. One a live-action film, while the other would be an animated feature. But we are equally bullish about our domestic productions, Alibaba, Arjun and The Dream Blanket, which will have theatrical releases across the world by 2009 or 2010."... Read More

- Televisionpoint.com

February 6, 2008
Digital water sends vfx sparks flying Fluid simulations shine even with no H2O

The tide has rolled in for computer scientists and digital artists working on fluid simulation, bringing with it a flood of recognition in this year's Academy Awards.

Long a task that challenged computer scientists and digital moviemakers, water simulation has made rapid advances in recent years, ramping up its 'wow!' factor through "The Day After Tomorrow," "Poseidon" and into this year's visual effects and animation nominees, "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," "Surf's Up" and "The Golden Compass."

Bill Westenhofer, who supervised Rhythm & Hues' work on the effect, says overall supervisor Mike Fink had requested an organic look that other kinds of particle simulators couldn't create... Read More

- Variety.com

December 14, 2007
Rhythm & Hues was a natural for 3D-animating Alvin and the Chipmunks, and Ellen Wolff discovers how it met the "cute critter quotient" for this iconic project

Rhythm & Hues has become a digital Animal Farm with its animated virtual menageries. The studio created 500 CG shots for Alvin and the Chipmunks. All images At the LA-based visual effects shop Rhythm & Hues, the "cute critter quotient" runs pretty high. Following R&H's Oscar-winning visual effects in Babe, the studio has animated virtual menageries for Mousehunt, Charlotte's Web, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and The Golden Compass. The veteran animation team also has created fanciful animal characters for Scooby-Doo and Garfield, so when Garfield director Tim Hill took on Alvin and the Chipmunks for 20th Century Fox Animation (opening Dec. 14), R&H was a natural choice to create 500 CG shots that the show required. Todd Shifflett, who has worked on several of the shop's critter features, including Charlotte's Web and both of the Babe and Scooby-Doo movies, brought an experienced eye to the post of visual effects supervisor on Alvin and the Chipmunks. Read More

- vfxworld.com

December 11, 2007
Frame by Frame, Animation Moves to India

If you have a date to go to the movies with a child this week, chances are good that part of the movie you'll see was made in India. Both The Golden Compass and Alvin and the Chipmunks used digital animation that was created in Mumbai.

India is rapidly becoming a player in the global cultural marketplace, and animation is no exception. Los Angeles-based animation company Rhythm & Hues worked on the films from their Hollywood offices — and from the offices that they have opened in India. Employees stay in contact through daily video conferencing, bridging 12 time zones and 13,000 miles.

John Peskavich, sequence supervisor on The Golden Compass says that images are sent back and forth as revisions are made.

"It's tricky because you can't sit with the individual artist," Peskavich says. "But we can look at the shots together in real time."... Read More
- npr.org

October 25, 2007
Network toons translate over borders Foreign shops see jump in animation gigs

Perhaps the most unique example of how the Web is helping independent animators get discovered is the breakthrough of Tokyoplastic. Its website sparked the interest of advertising agency McCann-Erickson/San Francisco, which offered Tokyoplastic the chance to pitch ideas for a nine-spot Microsoft campaign. Of course, the agency had no idea that these artists weren't Japanese, recalls company co-founder Sam Lanyon Jones. "We were just two pasty English guys, so we thought about hiring sumo wrestlers and flying them to San Francisco. We'd pose as their translators."

Just a few years (and TV campaigns) later, London-based Jones says the success of Tokyoplastic "has been completely viral. We've gone from being two guys sitting in their bedrooms doing fun stuff to having relationships with Nicktoons, Disney and Cartoon Network. We're doing four short films right now, and we'd love to do animated features. One of the great things about the Internet is that if what you've done is really great, it will rise to the top." Read More

- Variety.com

October 25, 2007
We Visit: The Daemons of The Golden Compass

In the upcoming epic fantasy film The Golden Compass based upon the novel by Philip Pullman, humans in a parallel universe have souls that "live" outside their bodies as animal companions. When you are young, your "Daemon" or soul animal will morph into several critters depending upon your shifting moods and emotions. Once you are an adult, the Daemon will settle into a shape that will be your soulmate forever.

In Playa Vista, California, Rhythm and Hues, the effects studio which was Oscar-nominated for the first "Narnia" film, is busy creating and wrangling digital Daemons galore for the film. We got to visit the effects house and were treated to the recently-released trailer for the movie and got to watch some step-by-step demonstration footage showing how the adorable and awesome creatures were created as sketches and maquettes then realized from scratch in computer and blended seamlessly into the film's live action footage. Read More

- Teen Hollywood

October 19, 2007
Rhythm & Hues Shows Glimpse of Golden Compass

A sneak peek this week of Rhythm & Hues' work on THE GOLDEN COMPASS (opening Dec. 7 from New Line Cinema) –- the Los Angeles-based company's most extensive in its 20-year history -- provided a glimpse of the daemons: the animal-like creatures that are manifestations of people's souls in this parallel universe where children are kidnapped by a mysterious organization. The Chris Weitz-directed fantasy is based on Phillip Pullman's award-winning HIS DARK MATERIALS trilogy.

Mike Fink is the overall visual effects supervisor, with Rhythm & Hues and Rhythm & Hues India contributing 800 shots and more than 500 artists combined. Other vendors include Framestore CFC, Cinesite, Rainmaker, Tippett Studio and Digital Domain.

VFX Supervisor Bill Westenhofer, Co-VFX Supervisor Raymond Chen and Animation Director Erik-Jan De Boer lead the Rhythm & Hues team... Read More

- VFX World

September 11, 2007
The Kingdom

Shouldn't terrorism be treated as crime -- that is, as a civil rather than military matter? It's a question that's at the heart of the Iraq War debate, and it's one raised loudly and clearly by "The Kingdom," a realist thriller that mixes crowd-pleasing mayhem with provocative politics. Although burdened by far more procedure than plot, this Jamie Foxx vehicle -- which owes a great deal to the high-caliber style of its co-producer, Michael Mann -- is quietly jingoistic, in a way guaranteed to sell auds on the idea that what's truly American is about more than disputed foreign policy.

It's unlikely that the Saudi Arabian tourist board will be putting its imprimatur on this Peter Berg-helmed thriller: The entire kingdom within "The Kingdom" is portrayed as a seething snake pit of insurgent cells, the country's legitimate authority holding on by its fingernails to any sense of civil order... Read More

- Variety.com

August 14, 2007
Tokyoplastic Inspirations

Among many other incredibly cool ventures, the talented duo that make up Tokyoplastic, Sam Lanyon Jones and Drew Cope, have been responsible for bringing to us a stunning range of stylised Japanese inspired toys that have since proved an incredible success selling out soon after release.

It all started with the creation of their flash animated masterpiece that is the Tokyoplastic website, which managed to push all boundaries of what was conceived visually possible through the web. Inspired by the work of Japanese artist Takeshi Murakami, as well as the clean, highly stylistic design adopted in Japan, Tokyoplastic created their trademark iconic Geisha character for the online audience.

It was on the back of the huge success that followed the launch of the Tokyoplastic website, which at its peak was receiving 140,000 hits a day, that Tokyoplastic teamed up with toy manufacturer, Flying Cat, to put their wonderful creations into the mould for a select few of us to own and enjoy... Read More
- tokyocube.com

August 14, 2007
Tokyoplastic & Motorola

Remember Motorola used to be the most boring phone manufacturer, with the dullest looking phones? Since a few recent phones, that seems over now, and here’s an example of what I believe to be the advertising of the future: Tokyoplastic creating a wonderful interactive 3D animated viral for Motorola
In a world where more and more audiovisually highly advanced, psychologically well constructed commercial messages are being sent to our brains through a growing number of different devices, many people get close to immune to these messages. Read More

- dwerf.wordpress.com