In Contention

Tag: TRON Legacy

  • TECH SUPPORT: Best Sound Editing — Volume I

    Now matter how many times I watch the Oscars, someone will always ask, “So what is the difference between the two sound categories?”

    The difference is quite significant.  It is so important that the sound branch is only one of two “tech” branches in the Academy (the other being music) that gives out two separate awards.  Best Sound Mixing awards the individuals who bring the entire soundscape – music, dialogue, effects – together into a balanced mix.

    Best Sound Editing, on the other hand (perhaps better described by its previous name, Best Sound Effects Editing), rewards the artificial creation of sounds to be inserted into the film, but were not captured during the shoot.

    The category, despite its very specific nature, is nevertheless like many other “tech” categories.  Both “loud” films (often war films) and blockbusters are among this category’s favorite fetishes.  And like virtually all categories, being a Best Picture contender can be a big help.

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  • COMIC-CON: Wrapping it up…are we getting through?

    My Comic-Con experience ended a bit sooner than I expected this morning when I woke up and decided whatever was on the Sunday docket wasn’t as fetching as a three-hour ride in traffic back to LA. That’s how exhausting the convention was this year.

    Here’s the thing. We all know Comic-Con and its 125,000-plus attendees form nothing more than a marketing bonanza in this day and age. No need to preach down to those who were there if you decided to remain back on your high horse and wait it out. You’re not enlightened. We get it. The event’s roots had a completely different shade and Hollywood has invaded the territory. But at the same time, as Hero Complex’s Geoff Boucher shrewdly pointed out before Saturday’s Warner Bros. presentation, Comic-Con — or comics, in general — has also invaded Hollywood.

    So what we have is a symbiosis that plays right into the hands of studio marketing chiefs. No one can fault businessmen for making business decisions, but I think it would be worth it for Comic-Con brass (whoever they are) to take stock of what’s happening here. A craven desire to sell as many passes as possible, secure as many big names as possible and bloat the festivities with dubious material has taken things far from where they started, yes. But the thing is so stressful, people are stabbing each other!

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  • COMIC-CON: ‘TRON Legacy’ invades Hall H for a third-straight year

    “It proves to me some things, good things, take a really long time to happen,” “TRON” creator Steve Lisberger said to a packed Hall H, looking strikingly like Bad Blake next to a clean-shaven Jeff Bridges.

    And that was the vibe you got from the euphoric crowd this afternoon as Disney revealed eight minutes of footage from the new film “TRON Legacy.” A new trailer was also shown, which was simultaneously “unlocked” by internet users online.

    Actors Bruce Boxleitner, Jeff Bridges, Michael Sheen (in his first Comic-Con appearance), Olivia Wilde and Garrett Hedlund joined Kosinski, Bailey and Lisberger on stage with moderator Patton Oswalt for a discussion on technology utilized by the project, re-visiting the material 27 years later and the underlying themes of the film.

    “We need modern myths,” Bridges said. “And one of the themes in our movie is the dark side of technology. We’re developing it so fast we haven’t developed any ethics.”

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  • TECH SUPPORT: Best Art Direction — Volume I

    As we like to point out in this space each year, the Academy Award for Best Art Direction is presented to two individuals who have different but key roles in designing a film’s sets and props.

    The first of these, the production designer, is the director of the film’s art department, responsible for the supervision of those in it and the overall architecture of the film’s design. The set decorator, on the other hand, is responsible for filling up those sets with proper scenery to fully bring them to life.  When these individuals, and those who work alongside them in the art department, do their jobs well, we can be fully immersed into the story.

    Historically, the nominees in this field fit into one of two categories: historical or fantastical. At least two – usually three or four – of the nominees every year are set in the past. This is not surprising. Being set outside of day-to-day life, such films require a different sort of research and, moreover, draw attention to themselves by not appearing to be what we encounter every day.

    At the same time, fantasy titles show up at least once, often more, every year as well. Last year’s winner, “Avatar,” is a good example of this.  Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg created a completely different world strictly from imagination.

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  • Comic-Con 2010 on the way

    Well, the inbox is getting stuffed with this and that regarding breakfasts and panels and viral marketing and yada, yada, yada.  That can mean only one thing: Comic-Con is around the corner.  And as I poured over the recently released schedule over the weekend, I found myself excited for…very little.

    DreamWorks Animation will make its first appearance with the Will Ferrell-starrer “Megamind.” Disney will pretty much take over the place as “TRON Legacy” makes its third trip in as many years to San Diego.  Sony will be in Hall H two days, first offering up action fare with “Salt” (which opens the Friday of the convention) and “Battle: Los Angeles,” then coming back with comedies “The Other Guys” and “The Green Hornet.”

    Warner Bros. will tease “Green Lantern,” “Sucker Punch” and the new “Harry Potter” while Overture will have “Let Me In.”  Lionsgate will break out “The Expendables” and Universal is planning some hijinks for “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” to go along with Hall H presentations for the new Greg Mottola film “Paul” and the more appropriately positioned “Cowboys & Aliens.”

    Oh, and fresh off of giving Edward Norton the heave-ho for, I imagine, deigning to try and make “The Avengers” a better movie than it’s likely to be, Marvel Studios will strut its stuff with “Thor” and “Captain America: The First Avenger.”

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  • AMPAS will vote on expanding visual effects category to five

    Expansion is the thing these days.  And after last year’s shift from five Best Picture nominees to 10, it’s looking like the wheels are in motion to finally cough up another two slots in the category of Best Visual Effects, a move I think many will agree is a long time coming.

    But we’re not there yet, mind you.  Variety’s David Cohen reports that the VFX branch’s executive committee voted “yay” on the proposal and that it now must be approved by the Academy’s Awards Rules Committee.  If they’re on board, we get five.

    Cohen tries to use the old “move would help the Oscars’ efforts to bring popular pics to the show” line, but we all know Best Visual Effects is generally a haven for critically dismissed cotton candy.  Still, given the rise of effects wizardry over the years, a limited slate of three has left more than a few eyebrow-raising bridesmaids.  I’m fully in favor of this and hope it passes.  But cui bono?

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  • Check out the full Daft Punk ‘Tron Legacy’ theme song

    (Courtesy: Latino Review)

  • COMIC-CON: Wrapping it up

    2009 San Diego Comic-Con InternationalI wish I could tell you how awesome the “Iron Man 2” footage form yesterday’s Paramount panel was, but Hall H was packed to the gills and even us schmoes int he VIP line couldn’t get in because it was at capacity.  Without a doubt, the event was the most popular attraction at this year’s Comic-Con.

    It sounded good muffled through the walls.  That’s all I got.  Hoping for another screening in LA soon.

    By far the highlight for me was the Entertainment Weekly Visionaries panel with James Cameron and Peter Jackson.  It’s a pretty big leap from last year’s set of Zack Snyder, Frank Miller, Kevin Smith and Judd Apatow.  Let’s hope next year isn’t a step backwards at the crew responsible for this momentous occasion gets creative and puts a few equally brilliant minds together on that stage once again.

    Speaking of Jackson, “District 9” made a major splash here.  The screening was very well-received on Thursday and the Saturday panel got the crowd chomping at the bit.  In this community anyway, the film is sure to be a runaway hit.

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  • ‘Tron: Legacy’ footage

    Coverage of the “Tron: Legacy” Comic-Con panel here.

  • New ‘Tron’ lightcycle at viral Comic-Con event

    I covered yesterday’s “Tron: Legacy” panel with as much diligence as I could summon, but the fact remains I’ve never seen the original film and don’t consider myself part of the flock on this one.  That said, there was an intriguing viral event last night that plenty of the web press attended.  Devin Faraci from CHUD snapped this shot of the new lightcycle for the film, and the pic is so gorgeous in its composition and lighting that I just had to pass it along:

    Lightcycle from Tron: Legacy

  • 7/24 Web Round-up

    Audrey Tautou in Coco Before Chanel• Sam Toy reports from the set of “Coco Before Chanel.” [Empire]

    • Evan Davis on the cinema of Nicolas Ray. [The Auteurs’ Notebook]

    • Peter Sciretta (who I finally ran into yesterday) video blogs “Avatar” footage reactions with his crew (which is hitting the pavement hard at the Con). [/Film]

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  • COMIC-CON: Disney showcases ‘Carol,’ ‘Alice,’ ‘Tron’

    (from left) Patton Oswalt and Tim Burton at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con InternationalThe first opening day studio panel has just concluded as Walt Disney Pictures brought Robert Zemeckis (“A Christmas Carol”), Tim Burton (“Alice in Wonderland”) and the “Tron: Legacy” principals to Hall H for a hefty three-dimensional dose.

    The “Christmas Carol” footage, which was an extended version of the Marley’s ghost sequence Disney has been showing for a few months, seemed to leave the audience dizzy with glee.

    Patton Oswalt sat down with Zemeckis before the unveiling for a brief Q&A, leading by questioning the director’s reason for tackling the Charles Dickens classic after so many incarnations have already been filmed.

    “If you read the actual novel, it’s very, very trippy,” Zemeckis said.  “It’s very surreal and it’s really cool, and it’s very cinematic.  I think we now have the filmmaking tools to film what Dickens wrote.”

    Oswalt addressed the issue of “dead eyes” in the performance capture technique and a term applied to the uneasy visceral feeling it summons: “the uncanny valley.”

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