SIGGRAPH 2011

Starting last Monday through the end of this week is SIGGRAPH 2011, a conference/exhibition in Vancouver concentrated on the latest and greatest computer graphics technology.

Pixar made some exciting announcements about its RenderMan platform, including a release later this fall of RenderMan for Maya 5.0. And, as always, the RenderMan team showed off their annual RenderMan Walking Teapot, seen above. This year's theme is racing, in honor of Cars 2 (last year's was Mr. Potato Head for TS3). Titled "The Road to Point Reyes," the background for the official image of the teapot is a rendering from Pixar made in 1983, at which time that was state-of-the-art graphics. Attendees of the conference could stop by the Pixar booth to pick up their very own walking teapot, too. Oh, and La Luna got a screening at SIGGRAPH last night. I want to see it so badly . . . lucky SIGGRAPHers.

Some talks at the conference include Pixar discussing the difficult ocean sequence in Cars 2, Disney talking about the difficulties involved with Rapunzel's hair in Tangled, technicians from the Mouse showing off the tech used to convert traditional 2D films to 3D, Pixar's Mitchell Kopelman chatting about lighting Tokyo in Cars 2, among lots of other interesting things from the talented technicians behind Disney, Pixar, Kung Fu Panda 2, Rio, Rango, and others.

Although the talks usually don't get recorded or uploaded, let's hope some of these see the light of day outside the walls of SIGGRAPH; they sound very interesting.

Many people focus on the more "creative" sides of filmmaking and animation, but the technical aspect is just as important--although Story is king, without the tech to tell the story, we wouldn't have all of the great films we do now.

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First Look at 'Tick Tock Tale'

Above you will find the very first look at Disney's upcoming short Tick Tock Tale. This is the first I've heard of the short, and it looks interesting. Although the plot is, I'm guessing, almost identical to Pixar's Red's Dream, the score and animation and character acting is enjoyable and every well-done.

My guess is that this short is going to show before all showings of Tangled. But I could be wrong, since it is possible that The Ballad of Nessie could already have filled that spot.

More on this as I find it....

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15 Seconds of 'Tangled'

Above is the very first that anybody has ever seen of Disney's upcoming animated film, Tangled. It's short and has quick cuts, but I can already tell that it is going to be a gorgeous film--while computer-generated, it looks like it will retain the quality and depth of the hand-drawn Disney films we all love. Here's hoping...

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'Tangled' Teaser Leaked

After having it's name recently changed from Rapunzel to Tangled, Disney's next animated picture has just had its teaser trailer leaked online for your viewing pleasure. Not much is revealed yet, except that her hair has magical powers. The animation looks stunning, almost a cross between CG and hand-drawn animation. Another interesting thing I noticed is that the teaser says "In Theaters this Fall," when the film is set to come out on Christmas. Do they know something we don't know?

The film is being directed by Bolt's Byron Howard and Nathan Greno, and will star Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi. Also, it features the gorgeous artwork of directing animator Glen Keane (Tarzan, Pocahontas, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, etc.) who is also listed as the film's executive producer along with someone by the name of John Lasseter.

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Disney's 'Rapunzel' is Now 'Tangled'

Rapunzel, the Disney CG flick scheduled for release later this year, has been re-named. It will now be called Tangled. This is because Disney wants to market to both boys and girls, especially after the somewhat disappointing performance of The Princess and the Frog at the box office. I guess the execs figure a boy would rather see Tangled than Rapunzel...

You can see the new logo for the film, released earlier today. The film is being directed by Byron Howard and Nathan Greno (the co-director and head of story on Bolt, respectively). This classic fairy tale with a twist will take audiences “to a stunning CG fantasy world complete with the iconic tower, an evil witch, a gallant hero and, of course, the mysterious girl with the long golden tresses. Expect adventure, heart, humor, and hair, lots of hair.”

The leading lady will be voiced by Mandy Moore, while the "dashing bandit" Flynn Ryder will be voiced by Chuck's Zachary Levi. It is scheduled to hit theaters around Christmas of this year.

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New 'Rapunzel' Pictures

A Brazilian blog, Animations, has several magazine scans featuring the first photos of Rapunzel, the new CG Disney film which will transport audiences to “to a stunning CG fantasy world complete with the iconic tower, an evil witch, a gallant hero and, of course, the mysterious girl with the long golden tresses. Expect adventure, heart, humor, and hair, lots of hair.”

The film is being directed by two bigwigs from Bolt: Byron Howard and Nathan Greno.

As you can see, the style of the film (as made by Glen Keane) is very interesting. It is said to be in the style of the painting "The Swing" by Rococo artist Jean-Honore Fragonard. The film 'uses a non-photorealistic rendering technique which will make the surface look like it is painted but still containing depth and dimensions.'

The animated film will come out on Christmas of next year (with the first trailer most likely surfacing as an attachment to the summer release of Toy Story 3), and is rumored to have a cast consisting of David Schwimmer, Kristin Chenoweth, and David Fogler, among others.

Source: /Film

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