yU+co. Creates Titles for Disney’s Race To Witch Mountain
April 19, 2009How do you distill the world’s collective understanding and evidence of UFOs into three-and-a-half minutes? That was the challenge facing visual design and motion graphics studio yU+co., led by Creative Director Garson Yu, for the main title sequence to Disney’s Race To Witch Mountain, opening in theatres on March 13. Race to Witch Mountain is a sci-fi adventure about two alien visitors and their search for their lost spacecraft. For the main title sequence, yU+co.’s concept was to tell the story of UFO’s from early sightings in the U.S. to present day, using archival newspaper headlines, film footage, photos and eyewitness accounts of UFO sightings. Set to a pulsating orchestral score, the tension-filled sequence immediately pulls viewers into this mysterious world with fast-paced editing of astonishing UFO imagery coupled with a subtle, yet powerful type design that animates on and off as if emanating from an extraterrestrial transmission signal.
For example, yU+co treated some of the clips with film scratches and burns to simulate aging film stock from the 50’s. They also added microfiche animations on the sections that covered the1980’s, and overlaid TV scan-lines to many of the clips that belonged in the 1990’s and later.
”Race To Witch Mountain represents the third time we worked with director Andy Fickman,” says Yu, who previously worked with Fickman on The Game Plan and She’s the Man. ”I’m proud of the fact that so many top directors like Andy, Zack Snyder, Ang Lee and many others continue to come back to us for titles. It says a lot about both the creativity we bring to each project and the collaborative nature between yU+co. and the director. This project was especially challenging, but we’re proud we could bring Andy’s vision for the titles to life.”
”The main title sequence started in the editing room by researching hundreds of pieces of archival UFO footage that would help us tell the story,” says Synderela Peng, yU+co.’s Art Director. ”We delineated decades of UFO discoveries, beginning with the 1950’s to the present day. We also spent a lot of time on details like treating the headlines and the film footage so they reflect the time period they were supposed to be from.”
”The main title went through several transformations,” Peng adds. ”Andy [Fickman, the director] was very specific about what he wanted in the final. He asked for a title sequence that built the mystique and the history of UFO’s and uses the wealth of footage that have been captured throughout time, mixing it with newspaper and magazine headlines to help inform the viewers on seminal UFO sightings. Typographically, we went with a classic font that was reminiscent of what you would see in 1920’s tabloid newspaper headlines.”
”There were some incidents where we had fallen in love with a piece of footage and how it fit into the whole piece only to find out Disney couldn’t secure the rights and we had go back and find something different,” Garber says. ”There was a lot intricate legal footwork happening. In the end everyone was happy with the way it came out and I think audiences are going to be struck by it.”In addition to Race to Witch Mountain, other yU+co. projects include the re-teaming with director Zack Snyder (300) for the main title sequence of Warner Bros.’ Watchmen, and the overall visual design and motion graphics applied as visual effects for Lakeshore Entertainment/Lionsgate’s upcoming futuristic thriller, Game. yU+co. also created the cinematics for Capcom’s new release of the popular video game franchise, Resident Evil 5. About yU+co: Recognized as an industry leader in visual design and motion graphics with offices in Hollywood, Hong Kong, and Shanghai, yU+co specializes in digital content for all media platforms as well as for title design for film and television, visual effects and animation, theatrical logos, game cinematics and commercials. For more information, contact: Dianna Costello (feature film and television); or Michael Bennett (gaming/game cinematics and commercials) at 323-606-5050.
‘Terminator Salvation’
March 11, 2009‘Terminator Salvation’, the fourth in the Terminator film series, is being touted as a science fiction post-aolcalypitc war film, and is the creation of American director McG. ‘The Terminator’, released in 1984 and directed by James Cameron, was followed by two film sequels and a TV series: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Now with talk of two further instalments in the pipeline and Christian Bale signing up for a total of three Terminator films; things look promising for a second Terminator trilogy.
Visual Effects for the movie were undertaken by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), with Asylum fx and Rising Sun Pictures bringing their skills to various sequences.
Speculation has been rife on the subject of Arnold Schwarzenneger, the original terminator, making a cameo appearance in the film. Recent comments from director McG indicate that he is working hard with ILM to bring Arnie back in digital form only.
“The T800s as we know them look like Arnold [Schwarzenneger]. The T800 plays a big role in this movie.. I can’t quite tell you how we express that …. what we’re trying to do is create visual effects and write code that’s never been written before to address this very question … we’re working very diligently on going up to ILM in San Francisco, because soon, to address this very nature …. I don’t want today’s Arnold Schwarzenneger. Cheers [to him], but I just want idealized Griffith park, Bill Paxton, tire-track on a face on-the-face archetype, and we’ll see what we can do about that.” (MCG - excerpts from interview with The Playlist)
Wishing to avoid comparisons with the Transformers franchise, McG has stated “Transformers is an excellent movie, but our film is not about big robots. I wanted it to have lots of hardware and velocity, but I didn’t want to hang the whole movie on it.”
And in addition to the brilliant CG work generated for ‘Terminator Salvation’, McG contracted Stan Winston studios to create real life models of some of the terminator characters that the human cast could interact with.
Stan Winston, the special effects pioneer who designed the original Terminator endoskeleton, worked on Terminator Salvation prior to his death in June this year. McG intends to dedicate the moive to Winston’s memory.
Terminator Salvation will be released in the US on 22 May and in the UK on 5 June 2009.It will compete for box office success with the forthcoming Star Trek, also due for release in May 2009.
About Industrial Light & Magic Since 1975, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) has been providing post-production visual effects services to the entertainment industry. Motion pictures, commercials, trailers, music videos and special venue projects have utilized ILM’s unequalled artistry in techniques such as model making, matte painting, computer-generated imagery, digital animation and a variety of related processes required in the production of visual effects.
Groundbreaking software required for digital image production has been developed and shared with the industry at large and adopted by other companies and software manufacturers. ILM regularly consults with some of the industry’s most highly regarded filmmakers on proof of concept tests. ILM has been associated with fourteen movies which have earned the Oscar for Best Visual Effects and has been awarded seventeen technical achievement awards from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Cast Christian Bale - John Connor Anton Yelchin - Kyle Reese Sam Worthington - Marucs WRight Bryce Dallas Howard - Kate Connor Moon Bloodgood - Blair Williams Common - Barnes Jadagrace - Star Helena Bonham Carter - Serena Roland Kickinger - T-800 Chris Ashworth - Richter Chris Browning - Morrison Jane Alexander - Virginia Michael Ironside - General Ashdown Linda Hamilton - voice Michael Papajohn - Carnaham Beth Bailey - Lisa Anjul Nigam - Rahul Babak Tafti - Malik
CREDITS Director - McG Producers - Derek Anderson, Victor Kubicek, Jeffrey Silver & Moritz Borman Original Music - Danny Elfman Cinematography - Shane Hurlbut Production Design - Martin Lain Distribution North America - Warner Bros Distribution International - Sony Pictures Entertainment
RELATED LINKS http://terminatorsalvation.warnerbros.com http://www.ilm.com/ http://www.rsp.com.au http://www.asylumfx.com
SOURCES: Terminator Salvation official website The Playlist Comingsoon.net
Terminator Salvation – London Preview
December 2, 2008Set in the year 2018, Terminator Salvation depicts a "dirty, gritty, difficult" world set in the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust where human survivors are preyed upon by lethal robots. Directed by McG (Joseph McGinty Nichol) and staring Christian Bale, the fourth installment of the Terminator film series promises to "push the envelope" with its hi-tech visual effects. At a recent special preview of the movie held in central London, attended by McG, a five-minute trailer presented an action-packed montage of explosions and stunts, and revealed the range of robots featured in the film. Terminator fans can look forward to encounters with two-wheeled machines dubbed Mototerminators, tentacled Hydrobots and giant, armoured Harvesters. According to Hollywood director McG, the new Terminator movie is set to "reinvigorate the franchise". With Bale on board as John Connor, leader of the resistance against the cyborg army, "I knew we had the chance to do something special," McG told reporters at the London preview.
