Dragonball: Evolution - International Trailer

WHAT

THE

F*CK !?

Somebody is coming to town

Here's an early greeting for my readers (however few, that is..)

If there are any doubts: yes, the snowflake was painstakingly modeled in 3D. Geez, you geeks.

Dragonball - live action suckfest

Hollywood has proven many times that they have the uncanny knack to bastard-ize whatever original IP from the orient they can get their grubby paws on. One of the latest, and by far the worst, is Dragonball.

This live action adaptation of the iconic manga has apparently been in production for a while. Not only they decided to cast western actors in the place of the original, easternly characters (Justin Chatwin, the f*cking annoying emo son of Tom Cruise from War of the Worlds, as Son Goku), the producers saw fit to make it so that all the characters are almost unrecognizable from their hand drawn counterparts.

Point in case: in the early volumes of the dragonball saga, Goku will transform into a giant ape when he sees the full moon. In the movie, the giant ape has turned into a ogre from a dungeons and dragons game -

If the image above has not scare you away, point your browser here for the trailer. I have tonnes of respect for Chow Yun Fatt, but what in Pete's name is brother Fatt doing in this movie!?

Next up! Akira will be the next victim. Already there are news of the story being set in New York instead of New Tokyo, Tetsuo's name has been changed to Travis and god knows what other heretical "fixes" have they introduce to the movie.

The prevalent mentality of hollywood producers is that they know best how to make an already successful IP "better". While it is fair to say that for an adaptation certain changes has to be made to make it relevant to audiences today, that's not an excuse to arrogantly force those changes simply because you think you know better; As the old adage goes: if it ain't broken, don't fix it.

I shudder to imagine which property they are going to butcher next.

One of those days

I just had a serious mind-lapse, which I've been having alot lately.

Just 2 minutes ago, I found that I couldn't remember my age!

OK, more like I was confused about it, so much so that I had to subtract my birth year (Thank god I still remember that) from the current year to make sure I got it right.

I need a new brain.

Mawi - Perempuan

Before you close this window wondering why am I blogging about Mawi: No, this isn't about Mawi, at least not the way you think.

Circa 2005 or 2006, when I was still freelancing, I was looking around for some interesting animation projects to do. It happens that a client of mine directed a couple of Mawi's music videos, and wanted to do an animated one. Naturally, I jumped at the chance, not knowing what I was getting myself into.

It was a fully animated 4 minute video, with only 1 month to do it and an equally miniscule budget. But I was a struggling artist then (still is now...) so I figured this was my break. I managed to deliver the video (with 3 different endings) in a month, plus another 2 months (!) of changes and tweaks.



As you probably can see, the quality is, for lack of a better word, Crap, although I was immensely proud of myself then because I did 95% of the whole video alone, working through endless nights and even the Chinese New Year holidays even though it was apparent my animation skills sucked then.

Nonetheless, the awful quality meant that I won't be impressing anyone so I opted to leave it out of my showreels. To date, this is still the only music video that I have done and it was a unique experience for me, although I couldn't help but wish I could've done better.

Armored Core - For Answer cinematic

Armored Core 4 had one of the best looking cinematic intro video and was one of my favorite CG game cinematic along with everything produced by Blur, Digic and Blizzard.

Then when you wonder how much better can giant fighting robots look, out comes the cinematic trailer for Armored Core: For Answer.



Watch/download Hi-Def version here.

While you're at it, enjoy the much revered Armored Core 4 cinematic as well:

Sausage omelette

Phoebe's latest tea time endeavour, the sausage omelette sandwich.

So stop asking me why am I gaining weight :P.

Download Red Alert for free (Legally !)

In anticipation of Red Alert 3's launch on the 27th of September and to commemorate 13 years since the release of the original game, Electronic Arts has made the first Red Alert game available for download on the Red Alert 3 website, effectively rendering it freeware.

To download, point your browser HERE . Also included on the site are instructions to run RA properly on Windows XP. Have fun!

Movie - Vexille (Possible spoilers !!)

The film has been release over a year ago, but more on that later.Vexille is a 3D anime movie about a dystopian world in the future, something like the Appleseed films, so be prepared for some comparisons.

In year 2067, the UN declared a ban on robotics and cybernetics research. Japan, under the influence of the Daiwa Industries, protested against the ban and subsequently shut off all contact with other nations by means of a high tech physical and electromagnetic barrier around the archipelago country. A decade later, a US police task force named SWORD was alarmed by an android incursion and a secret meeting between US politicians and a representative from Daiwa Industries. They decided to infiltrate Japan, the country that has now become an enigma to the outside world.

The titular character is the female protagonist of the movie and a member of the SWORD team. When her team is seemingly wiped out and she finds herself in the custody of an underground resistance group in Tokyo, she discovers the horror that has beset the nation of the rising sun since the isolation.

The basic premise presents an epic and intriguing setting, even if it bears some striking similiarity to Masamune Shirow's works. Unlike Appleseed or Ghost In The Shell, however, the flick fails to develop the Vexille as the main character that we are suppose to empathize with. The relationship between Vexille and her lover Leon, who is also her team leader echoes that between Deunan and Briareous in Appleseed. Unfortunately, the romantic aspect was severely underdeveloped even when it was one of the main motivation for Vexille's actions in the film. In fact, I wouldn't know that they are a couple if not for a scene of them in bed together early in the film.

On the other hand, there's also this Maria character who is the leader of the resistance and has a history that was far more interesting than Vexille's. The film could've been named Maria and it would've made more sense.

In terms of visuals and animation, it's a mixed bag. Generally, I find the quality to be a slight notch above Appleseed, though the motion captured actions and facial expressions are somewhat lacking, if not disturbingly stiff in extreme cases. The shading is a hybrid of regular smooth shaded and cel shaded with anatomically correct character design, though I prefer Appleseed Ex Machina's stylized characters and the painterly look. However, what won me over was Vexille's art direction, cinematography and the AMAZING attention to detail (IMHO easily put Appleseed to shame). In many cases, it was the cinematography that saved an otherwise zombie-like motion captured scene.

All in all, I thought it was a solid production. Back to the topic of the film's release: unlike Appleseed, I did not come across any marketing materials related to this movie. No trailers, no nothing. Ironically, I only came across this movie when I was looking up information on Ex Machina and has been looking for a while before I finally bought it. Considering the production value, I'm surprise nobody bothered to come up with a decent marketing campaign!

On a very unrelated note: I also just watched M.Night Shyamalan's The Happening. What a mess. Ever had one of those conversation where you're sure you're talking about a specific subject, but the other guy keep rambling and mumbling on and off topic incoherently? This film is like that.

I cannot imagine how much worse his films can get.

Emergency Evacuation

Another update on the in-house project. The scene below depicts a serene rooftop amidst the chaotic emergency evacuation in a major city in the USA.

If you follow this blog, you might find the gramophone and the helicopters familiar.

I spent a lot of time working on the shading and textures (including the billboards which were blurred to hell, I don't even know why I bothered...). The rendering time was awful because of the raytrace refraction, reflection and shadows, exponentially compounded by the use of radiosity and ambient occlusion.

The final image was composited and DOF blur applied in Adobe Photoshop and After Effects.