How to Blow Up a Helicopter: The "Takers" Way

Picked this one up on The Big Picture blog a few days ago. It's a clip from the Takers DVD on how they staged a killer helicopter explosion through a little special effects elbow grease and a little visual effects know-how. Definitely worth a look!

Valleywide Inter-College 48 Hour Film Challenge

It’s Back! The Valleywide Inter-College 48 Hour Film Challenge!

March 25th through 27th, 2011

Kickoff – Friday, March 25th, 6:00 pm
University of Advancing Technology - Theatre
2625 W. Baseline Road Tempe, AZ 85283

Turn in your finished film by 6:30pm on Sunday, March 27th at UAT

A panel of industry judges will choose the winners and trophies will be awarded at our Screening and Awards Ceremony – Wednesday March 30th at 7:00 pm in the UAT Theatre

To participate – email UAT Professor Paul DeNigris (pdenigri@uat.edu) by March 23rd

The Rules:

1. Each school may be represented by as many teams as they choose.
2. A line of dialogue, prop, and genre will be assigned at the kickoff on March 25th. The line of dialogue must be spoken onscreen and the prop must be handled by a character in the film!
3. ALL preproduction, production, and post MUST be done during the 48 hours immediately following the kickoff.
4. Professors may provide creative and technical advice to their students – but CANNOT do any of the work for them!
5. Films must be NO LESS than 2 minutes and NO MORE than 4 minutes long, including credits!
6. Films must be turned in as an H.264 file. No exceptions! Make sure you leave yourself enough time at the end for compression.

Francis Ford Coppola: On Risk, Money, Craft & Collaboration

The99Percent.com recently ran a great interview with master filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola:

Over the course of 45 years in the film business, Francis Ford Coppola has refined a singular code of ethics that govern his filmmaking. There are three rules: 1) Write and direct original screenplays, 2) make them with the most modern technology available, and 3) self-finance them.

Anyone who has taken UAT Digital Video classes surely knows the esteem in which Mr. Coppola is held by your professors. Check out the article for some insight into why.

Phoenix Film Festival "Show Us Your Shorts" Contest!

ATTENTION FILMMAKERS!
SHOW US YOUR SHORTS AND WIN!

Who loves short shorts? We love short shorts! Grab your camera and create a :30 second promo for the Phoenix Film Festival (PFF). Get people excited about attending this year's festival while showcasing some of Arizona's local talent.

ONE GRAND PRIZE
-Two festival passes to the 2011 Phoenix Film Festival (takes place March 31-April 7, 2011)!
-Your film showcased on the festival homepage!
-Bragging rights!

Three runners up will also have their films shown on the festival homepage.

RULES
-You must use the official PFF logo, dates, and location image found at phxfilm.com/​logos.zip
-Your film must be 30 seconds long. No more. No less.
-Your film must be PG rated. No nudity, no swears, no gratuitous violence.
-You must own the rights to everything in your film (music, etc.) or it must be royalty-free

TO ENTER
-Download and use one of the required logos at www.phxfilm.com/​logos.zip
-Shoot and edit your promo
-Submit your completed promo to our Vimeo group by 11:59 PM on March 14, 2011. Title your film, "PFF Promo Contest Entry." Be sure to include your full name in the video description.

JUDGING
Films will be judged on creativity, originality, and effectiveness of message. We want your short to get people pumped to come watch films at Arizona's biggest and best film festival.

NOTES
You may submit up to two entries. Good luck!

ENTRIES MUST BE RECEIVED BY 11:59 PM ON MARCH 14, 2011!

stillmotion Short Film Contest

Found this cool opportunity on the planet5D blog a couple of days ago. Planet5D and the folks at stillmotion education are partnering for a short film contest, and the grand prize is one of these babies, a Kessler CineSlider:

The theme is "discovery" and the due date is March 7th. Entries must be 30 to 60 seconds long, must be uploaded to Vimeo, and the link emailed to shorts@stillmotion.ca

Read all the rules here!

Adjunct Digital Video Professor New Executive Director of IFP/Phoenix

Congratulations to University of Advancing Technology adjunct Digital Video professor Webb Pickersgill for his appointment as executive director of Independent Feature Project of Phoenix.

IFP/PHX is an influential organization for Arizona filmmakers, organizing events like the annual Phoenix Film Festival and the 48-Hour Film Challenge.

Pickersgill will assume the role after the 2011 Phoenix Film Festival in April.

Innovation: The Ice Book

Here's an amazing piece of film/theatre we first spotted over on Philip Bloom's excellent blog.

The Ice Book (HD) from Davy and Kristin McGuire on Vimeo.

"All we had was a 5D Mark ii, an old Macbook with After Effects, some builders lights and a green cloth that we improvised as a makeshift green-screen. Before we started we had no idea how to make pop-up books let alone how we could combine them with projections."

Brain Farm is Revolutionizing Filmmaking with Technology

Curt Morgan, the director and producer behind Brain Farm Cinema, has pioneered an entirely new style of action-sports filmmaking. Using cutting-edge cameras mounted on trucks, helicopters and snowmobiles, Brain Farm captures intense action without sacrificing scenery.



Originally posted on Motherboard.

FALLOUT Trailer now online!

The trailer for UAT Digital Video's epic sci-fi action thriller "FALLOUT" is now online. You can check it out on our YouTube, Facebook, or Vimeo pages, or watch the embedded version right here!

FALLOUT Short Film Trailer from UAT Digital Video on Vimeo.

SIGGRAPH 2011 Call for Student Volunteers

Have you ever wrangled a batch render to the floor of your lab at 2:00 am with your bare hands? Are you best known for your hobbies, like writing programs and taking apart your Wii remote? Do you like pressing buttons on shiny things? When you see the color red, do you imagine 300+ graphics students wearing red vests and volunteering at the largest international graphics conference in the world?

The SIGGRAPH 2011 Student Volunteer program wants  to put you in a red vest with the network of students who facilitate the needs of the conference and give you the opportunity to meet and  learn from industry professionals, artists, and teachers. As a Student Volunteer, you will form relationships with other students that will last for your entire career.  The industry's future leaders are encouraged to apply: students who demonstrate leadership, service, and a passion for computer graphics.

Benefits of being a Student Volunteer include: Free full admission to the complete SIGGRAPH 2011 program. This includes Courses, Talks, Technical Papers, Panels, the Reception, and much more. In addition, the benefits of being a Student Volunteer extend beyond the conference schedule to professional development and private Student Volunteer Special Sessions with top professionals who were once Student Volunteers themselves.

All of this is available to high school, undergraduate, and graduate students with a current passport who are enrolled full time for at least one semester during the 2010-2011 academic year and are at least 18 years of age. Students can apply to volunteer for either 18 or 30 hours (approximately) during the conference. Volunteers who are willing to commit for at least 30 hours are eligible to apply for Travel Assistance Awards, which offer financial help for travel to and from the conference.

Also, extraordinary 30-hour applicants who live outside the Vancouver area may be selected to receive complimentary housing during the conference.

The SIGGRAPH Student Volunteers of today are the computer graphics leaders of tomorrow. I encourage you to take advantage of this unique opportunity! Begin your contribution to the world of computer graphics as a SIGGRAPH 2011 Student Volunteer!

Join us in Vancouver in 2011!!
Maya Karp

SIGGRAPH 2011 Student Volunteers Chair