Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Gatchaman & AstroBoy The Most Highly Anticipated Among CG Film Projects With Anime Roots

還記得約一年前第一次在機場書店看到這本書Japanamerica: how Japanese pop culture has invaded the U.S.,馬上翻來看看了目錄,更嚇一跳。
Chapter 1 : May the G-force Be With You
Chapter 2: Atom Boys
世事真的巧合,還是大家有相同的視野,imagi 所開發的兩套電影正正就是 Gatchaman 和 AstroBoy。英雄所見略同,Roland Kelts認為日本的潮流文化正續漸入侵美國。於是請他來分享...

Roland Kelts (author of Japanamerica) calls
Gatchaman and AstroBoy as the most highly anticipated CG film projects with anime roots with his latest article posted exclusively on Imagi's website.

Hong Kong (October 30, 2007) -- A new article by noted author and lecturer Roland Kelts will be posted exclusively on Imagi Animation Studios' website (www.imagi.com.hk) on October 30, 2007.

In this new essay, Kelts examines Imagi's next two upcoming movies -- Gatchaman and AstroBoy -- and places the studio at the crest of the current wave of Hollywood movies with Japanese pop culture roots.

Kelts' acclaimed book, Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded the U.S., explores the American experience and fascination with Japanese pop culture. The paperback edition—updated and with a new epilogue by the author—will be released on November 13.

Click on "What's New" on the Imagi website to read more about why Roland Kelts calls Gatchaman and AstroBoy "the most highly anticipated" of all projects, reflecting the rising convergence of American and Japanese cultures.

About Roland Kelts
Roland Kelts is the author of Japanamerica, the first book that directly addresses the American experience with the Japanese pop phenomenon. He is also a Lecturer at the University of Tokyo and a co-editor of the New York-based literary journal, A Public Space. His first novel, Access, will be published next year. His articles, essays and stories have been published in Zoetrope, Playboy, Doubletake, Salon, The Village Voice, Newsday, Cosmopolitan, Vogue and The Japan Times, among others. He has lectured at New York University, Rutgers University and Barnard College, and he is a graduate of Oberlin College and Columbia University. He currently divides his time between New York and Tokyo.

如果你有看近年來製作的美國電視動畫,便會發覺在表達方式及風格上都有很多日本動畫的影子。其中最佳的例子是 Teen Titan,Superhero竟然會"大粒滴汗"....

Happy Halloween!!


I don't have time to draw a new picture, I just reuse the last year version.
wooo wooo wooo! Happy Hallween to everyone ! ! ! 哈佬喂 !!!

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Imagi:Challenging Pixar from China

一篇關於Imagi的有趣文章:Imagi:Challenging Pixar from China,以下是轉載自Ming在動畫筆記本內的翻譯版本

一年前,Tim Cheung 在人人夢想的地方 -DreamWorks Animation 製作 Shrek 系列長片,不過今天,這位35歲從德州來的美裔華人在香港郊區一棟舊倉庫中教新手如何製作電腦動畫,手下這54個動畫師中,有些之前作推銷,有些之前是工程師,還有一個之前在7-Eleven工作。香港或許是中國電影的中心,不過據 Cheung 指出,這些員工大部分缺乏經 驗,顯然香港並非製作動畫的理想環境,不過 Cheung 和其他從Imagi過來的人才將改變這樣的狀況,他們一直從好萊塢業界中延攬知名老將,其中許多來自 DreamWorks,這些人都將擔任領導的腳色,訓練 Imagi 的員工如何製作電腦動畫。

不過這不是個簡單的工作,Imagi 在 2000年時創立,它曾經是一家製作塑膠耶誕樹的公司,不過2002年時,工廠賣給了 Carlyle Group,並且將經營重心放在動畫上頭,之後在2004年他們替NBC製作了一齣叫作 Father of the Pride 的電視卡通,不過NBC數月後取消了這個節目。至此之後,Imagi 將目標放在大銀幕上,並在今年3月時推出了他們的首部動畫長片-忍者龜 (TMNT),影評有好有壞,雖然上映首週登上美國票房冠軍,不過這部影片迅速地流失掉它的觀眾,目前為止票房94 million,一家跨國投資集團- Goldman Sachs 在 4月的一個研究報告中指出,票房急遽下跌可能是因為影片是在香港而非好萊塢製作,因而犧牲了該有的品質。

在Imagi的首部 電影上映之前,投資人將它的股價往上膨脹,期望電影能夠因此獲得大勝,不過之後電影雖然表現不錯,卻不如預期中的優秀,股價應聲下跌。Douglas Glen,之前在Mattel當副總裁,目前擔任 Imagi 的 Co-chief Executive Officer和 Executive Director,他說,影片首映之前股價是有一些非理性的上揚,雖然之後股價下跌,不過TMNT還是可以稱作一部成功的電影,更何況它是第三部在美國票 房冠軍的亞洲電影。

有著製作預算上的優勢,Imagi打算贏得更好的成績,上個月底,Imagi 宣布與 Warner Bros 和Weinstein 的合作關係,在 TMNT 總製作預算的32.5 million中,這兩家好萊塢發行商就提供了27 million,他們宣布將發行另外兩部Imagi即將推出的影片,兩部均由非常知名的日本動畫改編而成,分別是 Gatchaman 和 AstroBoy。

Glen說那些對 Imagi 心存悲觀的投資者應該看看Imagi影片在香港製作的預算優勢,Imagi 就像其他好萊塢動畫公司, 使用一流的好萊塢導演、編劇還有設計師,不過勞力密集的工作都在香港製作,以便達到價格上的優勢,Glen 說,基本上我們是間好萊塢的公司,只是我們可以 付給員工加州一般薪水的1/6。Imagi 不是唯一一家試圖登陸美國市場的亞洲公司,先濤數位製作公司(Centro Digital Pictures) 是另外一個例子,它製作過昆丁塔倫提諾的 Kill Bill 中一些特效畫面,同時也和Disney共同製作長片寶葫蘆的秘密 (The Secret of the Magic Gourd),這部影片是 Disney 第一部與中國公司共同製作的長片。

還是有人懷疑這些本土 製作是否可以與好萊塢的大公司競爭,David Webb是其中一個,他說,不是每個人都可以成為Pixar,這是個競爭激烈的市場,不是贏就是輸,他之前一直將Boto列為年度最優股,不過最近他發現 Imagi 已經不再賺錢(去年虧損了9 million),忍者龜的熱潮並沒有持續太久,事實上自從他們結束賣聖誕樹的生意後,就一直在虧錢的狀態。但儘管如此 ,其他人還是對Imagi抱著正面的態度,Goldman的分析報告也說,我們相信Imagi還是可以獲利,只要他們接下來的影片可以達到跟 TMNT 一樣 的成績,關鍵在他們製作預算上的優勢,Imagi 每部影片平均花費35 million,這個價位比 Pixar 的94 million或是 DreamWorks 的130 million都低得多,所以Imagi每部影片應該都可以賺44 million。

Image 在好萊塢召兵買馬,也愈來愈多人加入他們的的團隊,10月時,Imagi宣布之前Mainframe Entertainment 的 Senior Vice-President, Ken Tsumura 將成為新的 Executive Vice-President,掌管製作部門,而 Jakob Jensen,一位在 DreamWorks 及 Disney 的老將,則將擔任 AstroBoy 的動畫指導。另外一個新員工就是 Cheung了,他將擔任 Vice-President for Animation,他說香港公司的氣氛就像 DreamWorks 在作 Shrek 第一集前一樣,在Imagi工作,就像在8或10年前在 DreamWorks 沒什麼差別。

閱讀原文
Imagi:Challenging Pixar from China
有關 動畫筆記本︰是近期喜歡的部落格,有很多有關動畫的資料及獨到的分析,喜歡動畫的朋友不要錯過。
◎imagi press release: Tim Cheung's Appointment: VP of Animation
imagi press release: Jakob Jensen Named Animation Director on AstroBoy
imagi press release: Ken Tsumura to Oversea Production at Imagi Hong Kong

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Imagi x Hot Toys -> 1/6 Astroboy + Gatchaman High-end Figures

IMAGI ANNOUNCES DISTRIBUTION AGREEMENT WITH HOT TOYS FOR GATCHAMAN AND ASTROBOY TOYS


Hong Kong (October 23, 2007) – Imagi Animation Studios (Imagi) today announced that it has entered into a licensing relationship with Hot Toys Ltd. (Hot Toys) for collectors' action figures based on the studio's next two CG-animated feature films, Gatchaman and AstroBoy. Under the agreement, Hot Toys will design, manufacture and globally distribute highly detailed 12-inch models of the principal characters in the two movies.

The Gatchaman and AstroBoy toy lines are expected to include high-end collectible figures. "We are delighted by the new collaborative relationships we have formed with Imagi, which extends our collectibles product line to CG-animated film-related characters. Many of the Hot Toys staff are long-time fans of Gatchaman and AstroBoy, including myself. With our experience in producing classic AstroBoy collectibles and other finely crafted products, the Gatchaman and AstroBoy collectibles will closely replicate the look and story line of the films," said Howard Chan, President of Hot Toys. The toy lines will ship with the release of the two films, to maximize impact and generate greater interest in both the movie and toys. Gatchaman is slated to release in Spring, 2009 and AstroBoy in Fall, 2009.

"Hot Toys has demonstrated an ability to craft collectible figures with an extraordinary level of detail and realism," said Felix Ip, Imagi's Creative Director. "Imagi's richly-detailed CGI characters are a perfect fit with Hot Toys' meticulous modeling approach."

www.hottoys. com.hk
imagi press release

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

a limitedtoysdesign G-force teaser

Thierry from Limited Toys Design drops a teaser image of his upcoming G-Force (Gatchaman) 1/6-figure series (utilizing Darkbox Workshop's Shadowman as base):

source: toysrevil.blogspot.com/
The atmosphere of photo looks cool, but the figure proportion is not that good.....PS* this is not a official figure for the Gatchaman movie

Monday, October 22, 2007

White-03

white-03s
actually this is just a color test... sometime i like draw something abstract...

Friday, October 19, 2007

NYC in TMNT

There is a interesting article from Ironic Sans to review and analysis look of New York City in animation, here is the one talking about TMNT's NYC...
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The TMNT have once again been adapted for the big screen. According to the movie’s opening narration and also the official movie summary, the movie takes place in New York City. But while it sure looks like it takes place in New York, something’s missing. See if you can figure out what it is.

Here’s a shot of the city from the movie:

TMNT

Okay, it looks pretty good. I don’t really recognize any of the buildings in this view, but they got the general feel right, down to the water towers on the rooftops. Here’s another shot:

TMNT

That’s a pretty good rendering of a New York City streetcorner. Okay.

TMNT

Another lovely skyline shot. I still don’t recognize any buildings, but I suppose that could be the Brooklyn Bridge in the image. Kinda hard to tell.

TMNT

But wait. What the hell is this building? I guess I’m fine with fictional buildings in a fiction movie, but if it’s supposed to be New York City, shouldn’t we see some of the real buildings, too? [Read full article from Ironic San]
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

What do you think? Do you agree with those comment? : )

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Sucks or Rules



有個新的網站專搵嘢來比試,讓網民投票來分勝負。各式各樣項目都有,如 Google vs Yahoo、PS3 vs Xbox360Roadkill vs Happy Tree Friends etc. 有d都幾無聊...
其中一項是 : Live Action TMNT vs CGI TMNT

到我post
為止結果是 90% : 10%.... (79 vote) ,未完結的,有興趣的可以 Reg做 memeber改投一票。 SucksorRules.com

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Sunday, October 14, 2007

White-01

white-01
just a loose painting with all my beloved elements:
robot + white + orange + circles + close up + graphic front view...

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Kung Fu Panda Teaser Poster

做齣好戲...

這段時間一直在想,究竟 Production Management 的精義是什麼 ?
其實不就是這個嗎?

Give the best to the "show" within the budget !

所有管理上如人手及資源上的安排都是基於這個前設。做齣好戲...

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

New Astro-boy website


A new Astro-boy website called http://astro-boy.rightstuf.com/
There are many stuffs about
classic Astro-boy , take a look.

Sunday, October 07, 2007

Gatcha-Links


I did some research on Gatchaman before, i share the links i found for all Gatchaman fans:

Gatchaman Movies
Imagi Official Sites
http://www.imagi.com.hk/web/
Go to top menu and click [Our Films], then click [Gatchaman]

Gatchaman Movies on Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_Ninja_Team_Gatchaman_%28film%29

ScFi Japan's Gatchaman Movie Report
http://www.scifijapan.com/articles/2006/06/10/gatchaman-returns-to-the-big-screen/

Gatchaman on IMDB
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0818257/

ADV official Gatchaman official site
http://www.advfilms.com/titles/gatchaman/

Gatchaman General
Gatchaman on Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatchaman

科学忍者隊ガッチャマン at japan wikipedia
http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=29992049&postID=1807063893685469679

Tatsunoko Database
http://www.tatsunoko.co.jp/tatsunocomm/Database/Gatchaman/gatcha.html

Artists
Amano, the orginal Gatchaman Character Designer
http://www.amanosworld.com/

Alex Ross's Battle of Planet Gallery
http://www.alexrossart.com/artforsale.asp?sc=ARBP1

Fans Site

Gatchablog from Wendy, lots of Gatchaman news
http://gatchablog.blogspot.com/

Gatchaman- Home of the White Shadow
http://www.chronicsite.com/gatchaman/

Kagaku Ninja Tai Gatchaman
http://www.vacuform.com/Gatchaman/GatchMain.htm

Gatchamania.net, fan art and forum
http://www.gatchamania.net/

Veronika's Gatchaman page
http://www.gatchaman.com/

Gatchaman Link List
http://www.ajpmak.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/a/g/

Kena's Gatchaman Base (Taiwan)
http://gatchaman.tw/

Kagaku Ninja-Tai Gatchaman (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=4

Utoland Chronicle
http://www.utolandcity.com/

Transmute! Gatchaman
http://www.gatchonline.com/

Tatsunoko Fan Club USA
http://www.tatsunokousa.com/

Jun's Joint
http://junsjoint.com/


Related
Gatchabin
http://gatchapin.com/

To be continued...

Saturday, October 06, 2007

Imagi Animation's AstroBoy


Shown above is the still of the new CGI AstroBoy (from imagi internal teaser version only). It does not reflect the final look of AstroBoy.

Jakob Jensen Talks AstroBoy

"For Danish-born animator Jakob Jensen, to animate Japan's classic manga "AstroBoy" at Hong Kong's Imagi Animation Studio seems like a difficult challenge, despite his background at DreamWorks. After all, AstroBoy is virtually a national treasure of Japan, but far less well known in the rest of the world. But Jensen has confidence that he can make "AstroBoy" fly.

" 'I want to apply my DreamWorks experience and implement philosophies I learned at that company into the work flow and the pipeline of the studio in Hong Kong to make AstroBoy as empathic in the U.S. as he is in Japan," said Jensen, 32, the animation acting director for "AstroBoy" at Imagi.".........
Source: The Holywood Reporter
JAKOB JENSEN NAMED ANIMATION DIRECTOR ON IMAGI'S “ASTROBOY”
News on Twitch
imagi official website


"拗柴"



打籃波是我唯一的運動。一向打波都很少"剷籃"、"爆籃"、甚至入籃底搶籃板。原因如下︰
1. 懶... 2. 身形力量技術都唔夠... 3. 害怕與別人交換體液... 4. 最大的原因是儘量減少身體撞而受傷,年紀大身體壞,每次受傷都很長手尾...

意外始終是意外,在你最估計不到的情況下發生....
昨晚打波在幾無厘頭的情況下"拗柴"!Damn! 今早起來,完全不能行走。原本安排的工作,全都被打亂了。一下"拗柴",就馬上換來金錢及時間上的損失.....幸好有買保險,最討厭還是要在超忙的日子天天抽時間做物理治療。超痳煩呀!!

對上一次意外是一年前,又是打籃波"吉魚蛋",竟然可以"吉"到手指骨裂,做了個幾月物理治療.... 嗚~嗚~嗚~嗚~嗚~

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

TMNT Up for Scream Award

The CG-animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles feature, TMNT, is listed among the contenders for the second annual Scream Awards, a two-hour event that will recognize the best in horror, sci-fi, fantasy and comic books next month in Los Angeles. The ceremony will tape on Friday, Oct. 19, at the Greek Theatre, and will premiere on Viacom’s Spike TV on Tuesday, Oct. 23 at 10 p.m. (ET/PT). No host has yet been announced to succeed actor Samuel L. Jackson, who presided over last year’s festivities.

Animated by Imagi, the Weinstein Co./Warner Bros. release TMNT has been nominated for Best Comic-to-Screen Adaptation. Based on the comics by Peter Laird and Kevin Munroe, the movie is up against Warner Bros.’ 300, 20th Century Fox’s Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Paramount’s Ghost Rider and Sony/Columbia Pictures’ Spiderman 3.

Warner Bros. came out ahead of all other studios with a total of 20 nominations. Adapted from the graphic novel by Frank Miller, 300 leads the pack with 12 nominations, including The Ultimate Scream, Breakout Performance (Rodrigo Santoro), Most Vile Villain (Rodrigo Santoro), Most Memorable Mutilation and Best Director (Zack Snyder). Grindhouse and Spider-Man 3 tied for second with 11 noms each.....
source: animation magazine

Monday, October 01, 2007

R4-02

Hero-R4-02s

Reebok x Voltron


Reebok Voltron Lion Force Pack
Reebok is going strong this year with many different releases and here is a preview of their latest project. Their latest series is the Voltron Lion Force Pack which consist of five different shoes that is inspired by an early eighties Japanese animation called Voltron. All the colorways of the shoes in this pack are inspired by a character in this animation and the materials used are mainly patent leather and leather. Animation inspired sneakers just might be the new thing as Nike will be dropping the Transformers Air Trainer III and now Reebok with these. Watch for these Voltron sneakers to drop this Fall in October.
Voltron is of course one of the better cartoons / toy lines from the 80’s and if you’re unfamiliar with the show then please just move along because these sneaks won’t interest you. For the rest of us each pair in this line is colored and patterned according to each of the 5 lions in the cartoon. The shoes include the Court Victory for the black lion, the Pump Omni Lite for the yellow lion, the Ventilator for the blue lion, the ERS Racer for the green lion and the Insta Pump Fury for the red lion. It’s also rumored that each pair will include the corresponding figure basically forcing nostalgic collectors to buy each one in order to complete their Voltron collection. (Optionally you can just grab the Voltron 20th Anniversary Masterpiece Edition like yours truly recently received for his birthday.)

R4-01


隨意揮筆遊走, 腦海裏不斷4字。粗糙的質感、混濁的顏色、不清潔的黑影、一點暖色是一點希望吧!
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...