“Original T.I.E. Fighter filming miniature and original camera reports from Star Wars: A New Hope. (TCF, 1977) During the nail-biting assault on the Death Star in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, this is the actual filming miniature of the T.I.E. Fighter that bumps into Darth Vader’s fighter knocking him out of the trench, allowing Luke to destroy the Death Star. This historic piece is from the collection of Academy Award-winning Visual Effects wizard, Richard Edlund. The design concepts for the T.I.E. (Twin Ion Engine) Fighters of the Galactic Empire originally came from Colin Cantwell and Ralph McQuarrie. Joe Johnston, who was the visual effects art director and overall storyboard artist for the entire trilogy was very involved in the final finessing of the ships and Death Star designs.
Only four T.I.E. Fighters were built for the first Star Wars film. Grant McCune, head of the model shop, used a fairly heavy but stable resin for the body of the ship and other resins for the tinier parts. It has a central hollow aluminum knuckle with six-way threadings for top, bottom, front, back, left and right side mounting options with 11/16 in. hollow threaded rods as wiring conduits which attached to the various self-lit neon blue pylons. The hexagonal wings are created of fine expanded metal sheeting. Much of the intricate design detail was robbed from plastic model kits, then modified and affixed.
While the rebel ships appeared worn from use with dents, primer spots, oxidation and oil streaks, the Imperial Forces’ equipment was always pristine and appeared in top-notch condition. The corner of the right wing in this fighter was purposely distressed to exhibit the damage resulting from the collision with Vader’s ship; however, this model was also used in its pristine state in other sequences of the film. Included are two original camera reports, dated December 15, 1976, describing the technical details of the shooting day on which this model was filmed. The scene is labeled “417″ and entitled, “Vader Wanks Out”; “Edlund” is listed as the cameraman. Also included is a color image of this model on its rigging in front of a blue screen as it was shot for the film.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 31, 2008 in Science
Sadly you won’t be able to swim in this lake as it’s made of ethane which is a liquid solution of methane, nitrogen and other low-molecular weight hydrocarbons:
“Scientists have confirmed that at least one body in our solar system, other than Earth, has a surface liquid lake. Using an instrument on NASA’s Cassini orbiter, they discovered that a lake-like feature in the south polar region of Saturn’s moon, Titan, is truly wet. The lake is about 235 kilometers, or 150 miles, long.”
I got to see the Batman character that Kubrick did in this series and he wasn’t half as impressive as the Joker. I guess that’s because bad guys are always more interesting character studies than caped crusaders:
“Whereas the Batman is straight-laced and numbingly sober, the Joker is loosey-goosey. If he were candy, he’d be two packs of Twizzler. Jokey doesn’t need libations to get the party started and you can always count on the former Arkham inmate to sport a big red smile. Medicom’s upcoming Joker Kubrick measures 7cm or 2.75″ in height and is dressed in a green vest that’s covered by a purple trench coat. Thick eye shadow gives his face the raccoon look that Goth girls strive for while bright green hair provides a vibrant contrast to Joker’s pallid complexion.
The Joker Kubrick figure is accompanied by a ghastly Bearbrick with a bloody smile and a body that’s charred in select spots. The words, “Why So Serious” are etched across its chest in jagged red letters. In the Dark Knight movie, the Joker recounts a story from his childhood where his father says those words to him before performing minor surgery.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 30, 2008 in Animation
I was watching Adult Swim and came across this amazing commercial for Converse sneakers. As a youth as a designer I use to look down my nose at ad agencies which had long since passed their golden age of creativity in the 60s, but I have to say over the last few years the creative work I’ve been seeing is putting most designers to shame.
This spot incorporates a black and white xerox feel combined with cut out paper animation (like what you;d see in an 80s MTV music video). The entire commercial would be impossible with a computer, yet the animators managed to make it look like traditional animation. The second you get use to the technique in the spot they pull another trick to take the animation to the next level. As a designer I also love the fact that branding isn’t pushed in your face — in fact you want to watch the spot until the end to find out who the sponsor of the spot is.
Credit for the commercial (which is titled Converse: My Drive-Thru) goes to Psyop. The song is performed by N*E*R*D*, Santogold and Julian Casablancas.
Here are four reasons why I’m impressed with Niko Henrichon’s cover illustration for Fantastic Four: True Story #1 which is due to hit comic book shops on Wednesday:
1. Draftsmanship: I always hate how so many comic book covers always feature overly tight artwork, in this case Henrichon does a great job of making the characters cartoony looking enough although while managing at the same time to make them look realistic. He manages to use a nice pencil technique which is very wild around the edges but held within a very tight structure. I love the fact that you can see the pencil line in this illustration.
2. Lighting: This cover has a sort of water color feeling to it which makes it pop out from the usual over saturated moody dark look that’s too common these days. On this cover Henrichon is giving the characters a believable dimension which makes them pop off the page. His light source is also coming off of the upper right of the illustration which is unusual. Also by having the background show a bit of white you get this ambient quality of being under water or in outer space.
3. Coloring: The entire illustration is held together with a cool palette of greens and blues with just a dash of yellow to warm things up. Henrichon is using color to pop each character out of the background. My guess is that Henrichon did the coloring on the computer but the illustration looks like it was done with water colors or even spray markers. With those light white streaks in front of Invisible Woman he cheats a little, but doesn’t over do it.
4. Composition: There is a dynamic triangle of characters which is frames by the rocks — you’ve got the Human Torch at the head of the arrow and Thing and Mister Fantastic anchoring the left and right sides. Invisible stands in the center of the composition with the exploration craft above her head (nice mecha by the way).
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 29, 2008 in Science
It’s still sometimes amazing for me to think that we’ve discovered over 300 planets in the last 25 years — however the start of the search for extra terrestrials won’t be really believable until we find some planets that look like Earth instead of Jupiter. According to this article we may not be closer to find planets exactly the size of Earth, but we may be getting closer to finding more rocky planets which are about five times the size of our home:
“A great new age of the discovery of Earth-like planets has reached the tipping point, according to Harvard Professor of Astronomy Dimitar Sasselov, who heads the Origins of Life Initiative said after the International Astronomical Union (IAU) symposium held this May . “We can say this is the moment where we started the exploration of planets like Earth.” The symposium’s focus was “Transiting Planets,” or the technique of discovering planets by measuring changes in the light of distant suns when a planet passes in front of them.”
“The fashion house of Roen teams up with Medicom once again to create a version of Mickey that few ever get to see. In his latest Roen designed turn, Mickey gets bandaged up like a mummy but not quite all the way. Instead of a neat and concise wrapper that covers the rodent’s entire body, the bandages are loose and haphazardly arranged. Other notable features include a paintbrush in Mickey’s right hand and a tongue that hangs loosely from the Mickster’s mouth. ”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 29, 2008 in Animation
I’m damned impressed with this: It’s a trailer for the game Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Adventures by Telltale Games and I’m blown away by how good a job they did of capturing the look-and-feel of Aardman Animations famous claymation technique.
I count myself as very lucky as my local grocer Sunac Natural (located at 440 Union Ave., Williamsburg Brooklyn) always has a nice selection of various Japanese goodies. During the Summer one of my favorite treats is their selection of ice cream — in this case I got a chance to sample a box of White Rose Almond Crunch Bar which was quite the tasty treat. The nice thing about the ice cream was that each serving wasn’t super sized so I didn’t have to feel to guilty about having a little treat.
“Trek Fans Worldwide Are Invited to MMO Gamplay Reveal at Annual Star Trek Convention August 10, 2008 or Via Live Webcast at startrekonline.com. Cryptic Studios a leading developer and publisher of massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), announced today that it has secured the global rights to develop and publish Star Trek Online, a massively multiplayer online game based on the legendary Star Trek franchise, from CBS Consumer Products.”
Was Back to the Future II made 19 years ago? Ouch! Well if you can’t afford to time travel you can still own a chunk of your youth for a mere $30,000 to $50,000 as the hoverboard that Michael J. Fox used in the last two Back to the Future films is now for sale on eBay:
“This is one of the hero Mattel Hoverboards used by Michael J. Fox in his most famous role as “Marty McFly” in the Robert Zemeckis classic 80s trilogy, Back to the Future. Two styles of Hoverboard were made for and employed in the film – lightweight boards of styrofoam construction and thick and durable wood-based props – this example is the latter, and is recognized as the best example of all wood Hoverboards to have survived the rigors of filming. The illusion of Michael J. Fox as “Marty McFly” hovering through the air was achieved with practical effects, with actors in rigged harnesses being “flown” via cranes, with special effects taking care of the rest.
Of the two styles of props used in the film – styrofoam and wood – the styrofoam examples in collections today have not held up as well, given the more fragile nature of the material and the abuse they endured in production. Few wood examples have survived, and the collector who obtained this specimen from the prop master chose this for his personal collection as the premiere example of those preserved following the film. It is in used but outstanding condition, and is very rare in that it is entirely complete and intact. Given the wood build and use of metal components, it looks and feels like a “real” prop. This piece has the complete fully functional and rear ballbearing-mounted footpad that rotates 360 degrees, as well as the bottom “magnet plates”. Of the two styles of stickers used for the effects, this prop has the “photoboard”-style sticker affixed. In addition, there is other textured styling and hand painting. This Hoverboard also features the hole in the top, representing where the handlebars were that “Marty” pulled off after borrowing the “toy” from the little girl in the film.”
