Mulan arrives on Disney+ today! The film is available to rent on the platform so you can check out our work on the live action reimagining from the comfort of your own home.
Our MTL team’s stunning work can be seen across 320 shots including the mythical Phoenix, a number of action-packed performances paying homage to Hong-Kong cinema as well as impressive, dreamy landscapes.
The reviews started rolling in this week with several saying it’s Disney’s best live action remake yet and lots more saying that it’s very visually impressive.
- Variety: “Disney’s Spectacular Do-Over Deserves the Biggest Screen Possible”
- Insider: “The film itself is just visually impressive.”
- Digital Spy: “If you’re on the fence about shelling out the extra cash, we say do it, and watch it every day for two months, because it is so worth it.”
- Empire: “Such sophisticated sequences wouldn’t look out of place in an adult-oriented high-action American or Chinese production.
Swank’s Away
Also landing on streaming services this week is Away – the new Hilary Swank-fronted science fiction series on Netflix.
The television team in New York delivered a lot of VFX work for the series including space scenes and a completely digital space shuttle interior. We’ll have a case study and breakdown assets to share soon – but until then, blast off over to Netflix and get binging.
Is it No Time To Die yet?
This week we got our latest look at No Time To Die, which is still headed for cinemas this November. Watch the new trailer now for a sneak peek of the seamless, invisible VFX created by our LDN team.
Holy Ghost – Art Department
As each episodes of Lovecraft Country TXs, we get more of a look at the creatures and ghouls that the Art Department breathed life into. This week it was some ghosts who looked a little worse for wear.
Check out the full run down of Art Department work on the show here
What a Beautiful Morning
The new Coors Light commercial shares a fittingly twisted take on classic musicals through the lens of 2020 and features VFX by Chicago and a grade by Beau in LA.
Framestore and EA DICE go AAA
The Art Department have been working with developer EA DICE – the studio behind Battlefield and Star Wars: Battlefront – on an upcoming blockbuster game. It is the first AAA video game the team have worked on.
Read a little more about the project here
While we weren’t able to host the usual Launchpad programme, the last eight weeks has seen teams from London and Montreal working on original short films centred around the theme of ‘The Future of VFX’ which you can watch here.
A big congrats to all the teams
And a big thank you to the judges who took time to review the reels & present the awards that the teams were competing for in ten different categories from ‘Best Story’ to ‘Best Animation’. All of these are below.
AND THE WINNERS ARE:
The People’s Vote: Team Herts
Best Concept: Team Herts
Best Story: Team Herts
Best Character: Team Herts
Best Animation: Team Herts
Best Environment: Team Send Nodes
Best FX/CFX: Team Quarantine Crew
Best Look Dev/ Lighting: Team Animusli
Best Comp: Team Send Nodes
Best Overall: Team Herts
Press
Lovecraft Country
The VFX team behind the show’s Shoggoth talks to ArtofVFX on their work on HBO’s Lovecraft Country. Read the article here.
Christian in Variety
Framestore’s Creative Director, Film, Christian Manz (LDN) spoke to trade bible Variety about how VFX companies are helping Hollywood restart following covid.
What we’ve been up to
Ask Me Anything
Overall VFX Supervisor Ivan Moran did a Reddit AMA on Project Power – and had over 400 comments on the thread. You can catch up on all the answers here.
You’ve been [Framed]
Meet Tottenham Hotspur fan, Andrew McLintock – Senior Color & VFX Producer in LA, but somewhere out there in a parallel universe he might have knocking pucks around for a living as an ice hockey player. Read more about Andrew here.
In Other News
BAFTA Cymru HDM Nominations
His Dark Materials led the pack in BAFTA CYMRU nominations which focuses on film and TV produced predominantly in Wales.
The show bagged noms for best; Television Drama, Actress (Dafne Keen & Ruth Wilson), Costume Design, Make Up and Hair, Editing and two for Photography and Lighting: Fiction.
Army of the Dead will live on
The wider world hasn’t seen much of Zack Snyder’s Army Of The Dead (VFX by team MTL), but it’s already doing something right with a prequel movie and anime series already pencilled in at Netflix – as reported by Variety. Hopefully they’ll let him make it all as he wants else we’ll have another Snyder Cut fiasco.
That’s all for this week!
Just a reminder that MTL & the U.S. have public holidays Monday 7th September. Have a nice relaxed long weekend!
