'French Roast'

'French Roast' is a short film that started out from school, continued through a studio and headed into numerous festivals, including the Academy Award for best animated short film category. The story is simple but captivating, and the technical aspects are amazing, down to the little details. There's not only 1 or 2 readings, but layers of it. Every time I watch it, I just found myself marveling at the details that the artists have added into it. It makes the film that much more fun to watch. Be sure to visit their production blog page for more information about the film.

'Lost and Found' - A Beautiful Film For All Ages

'Lost and Found' is a beautiful film adapted from the best selling book by Oliver Jeffers. Unfortunately, the film isn't shown to the public. Only a trailer version can be found. I was lucky enough to have watched it and those who have watched it too agreed that this film is truly beautiful.

The DVD is not available in North America. To get your hand on it, you'll need to go through Amazon UK. Be sure to check if your DVD player can play multi-region DVDs prior to buying it.

'Father And Daughter' - Powerful and Emotional

Father and Daughter is a film that's very emotional. Despite not having a single dialogue, the film conveyed the story very clearly. After watching the film, I wanted to cry. That's how powerful the film is.

'Fly'

'Fly' is a hilarious film that's definitely not the norm coming from Aardman Studios. The story is very simple and it's based in one location. However, the scenes helped to build up the pace. I found myself laughing towards the end of the film.

After watching the film, I saw a message in it: "Sometimes, things are simpler than it seems." Only if I could see that in real life, and clearly, that message was for me.

'Sintel' - Durian Open Movie Project

Sintel, Blender foundation's third project, is coming along nicely. The latest clip shows the main character with her dragon pet. The results are beautiful. I have been following this short film's progress since it was first announced. The early takes weren't impressive, but they were very encouraging, especially to those who are interested in making their own 3D short films. As time passes, their progress became better and better. Now that the film is almost done, the quality has gone way up. And knowing that the project uses all open source programs, it really inspired me greatly. I can't wait to see the finished film.

For more information about the project, visit the durian open movie website.

'How To Train Your Dragon' - A Great Film On Multiple Levels

'How To Train Your Dragon' is an absolute blast to watch. Having no expectation prior to the viewing, the movie took me for a ride that I haven't felt for a long time. There's humor, excitement, romance, relationship between father and son, between friends, between human and dragon, and most importantly, there's emotion and a few unforgettable scenes. Not only is the story well written, the score is beautiful and the 3D is amazing. I've seen it twice and I can't wait for the home version to be released. It's just that good.

Click here to view CG society's production focus article of the movie.

Assassin's Creed II:Cinematic Trailer

The cinematic opening of Assassin's Creed II has beautiful art direction, amazing details, breathtaking cinematography and much more. It's a whole new level when compared to the first game's trailer, which is considered one of the best cinematic in its year. Not only is everything more detailed, the quality is much higher than before. I'm truly amazed at what has been created here.

'The Making of Oblivion' Documentary

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is one of the most well received RPG both on Xbox 360 and the PC. Having released in 2006, it has garnered numerous awards and launched a huge fanbase with tons of great mods to enhance an already great game. ThinkFilm released a 40 minutes documentary on the making of Oblivion showing their progress right up till the E3 event.

To watch Oblivion's 20 minute demo clips, visit their movies site and scroll down to 'OBLIVION E3 2005 DEMO VIDEOS' section.

To access ThinkFilm's making of Oblivion documentary from YouTube, click them below:
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

'World Builder' by Bruce Branit

What an amazing and powerful film this is. I couldn't help but think about the film long after I finish watching it. It definitely deserve to win an award for it.

Click here to watch the film.

'Wrath of the Lich King' Cinematic Trailer

 

Blizzard has released the cinematic opening of 'Wrath of the Lich King', a game expansion to their immensely popular online game, World of Warcraft.Be prepared to feast your eyes on a beautifully crafted cinematic film.

Pigeon Impossible Podcasts

CGArena has posted 'Pigeon Impossible Podcasts - Part 1' describing the general outline of how Lucas Martell worked on his film. He's a humorous guy and his videos are fun to watch. The podcast on 'Multipass Compositing' explains the compositing workflow he employed in his film, which is a great overview on the topic of compositing.

Here are some of the links to artists interested in making good compositing:
For 'Lighting, Compositing, Setup Guide' by Bank Affairs, click here.
For 3D Compositing Guide by Simon Reeves, you can access both part 1 & part 2.

Lastly, be sure to check out Lucas's blog page on Pigeon Impossible by clicking here.

(Update: The website currently has up to 19 podcasts as of December 2009.)

Diablo III

The Diablo series has come a long way. Currently in its third series, Blizzard has updated its fans with the Diablo III cinematic teaser. Like always, it's of the highest quality one could dream of, and a feast for all CG and gaming fans. GameTrailer has also uploaded the artwork teaser of Diablo III, which consists of numerous beautifully drawn and painted fantasy art.