New Steamboy trailer

Latest trailer available for the much-anticipated masterpiece by virtuoso animé director, Katsuhiro Otomo: Official site | Trailer [QT 16.1M] Steamboy is the next feature film by Katsuhiro Otomo. This much-delayed movie, originally dated for release in October 2003, is to be released mid-July, 2004 in Japan. The most expensive anime film ever made at 2.4 billion Yen, Steamboy has involved over 180,000 drawings, 400 CG scenes and 9 long years of production,. The scenario revolves around Rei, a young British inventor in the mid-19th century, just before the first ever World Expo. He receives a packet from his grandfather Roid...

Hollywood opening eyes to gaming

Technology > Out of Hollywood, Rising Fascination With Video Games" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/10/technology/10GAME.html">Out of Hollywood, Rising Fascination With Video Games is a New York Times article illustrating both mainstream media and mainstream directors are waking up to the possibilities of engaging with, and crossing between, film and game worlds. Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings trilogy) frustrated at his lack of involvement in the LOTR games, will be working more closely with Ubisoft and Universal Pictures for games based on his next feature project, King Kong. Andy and Larry Wachowski's involvement in games design and plots for the Matrix sequels...

Koyaanisqatsi for the remix generation?

NOW!, a collaborative film project is seeking contributions of footage to evaluate for inclusion in their VJ-inflected feature project. It marks another step in the growth of 'open source movies', with the potential to be the most high profile of these projects so far. By following the long evolving and well-honed VJ approaches of Coldcut and Hexstatic (see the excellent Zen TV DVD Video Retrospective for further examples), NOW! may well produce a highly individualistic and fresh approach to feature-length audiovisual collage. But the project needs to be especially sensitive to cohesion between multiple sources, both visually and in subject... Read more "Koyaanisqatsi for the remix generation?" »

Posted by Editor on March 15, 2004 02:04 PM | Permalink | TrackBack

ZenTV NinjaTune tour splits

Purveyors of audiovisual club events, and VJ pioneers, the NinjaTune label continues with live events tied in with the excellent ZenTV DVD release. After initial gigs in the UK and Europe the ZenTV line-up splits in East and West directions. Amon Tobin, Kid Koala, Bonobo, Blockhead & Sixtoo continue North American gigs from 17 March. The Euro-contingent of Coldcut, Pest, Skalpel and Hexstatic perform in Paris on the 18 March before moving on to Germany and Japan. Details: US tour | Europe/Japan tour The Zen TV DVD - Video Retrospective is an excellent primer to the emerging hybrid VJ/music video... Read more "ZenTV NinjaTune tour splits" »

Posted by Editor on March 11, 2004 11:01 AM | Permalink | TrackBack

Tokyo Godfathers animé feature film

Tokyo Godfathers is the most recent animé feature film by Satoshi Kon of Perfect Blue fame, noted for psychologically complex plots and subtle animation. The Film received an award for excellence at the Media Arts Plaza Museum -2003 (7th) Media Arts Festival and will be available from April 13, 2004 on Region 1 DVD. Tokyo Godfathers trailers: High (6.5M) | Medium (3.1M) | Low (1M) | TG Japan site Three homeless people—Gin, a former professional bicycle racer; Hana, a transvestite; and Miyuki, a runaway young girl—are living together in Shinjuku, Tokyo. On Christmas Eve, the three discover a baby girl... Read more "Tokyo Godfathers animé feature film" »

Posted by Editor on March 4, 2004 09:54 AM | Permalink | TrackBack

Memories animé on DVD

The Memories animé, one of the most poetic animated films ever created has recently enjoyed a much delayed U.S. DVD release. U.S. DVD release official site synopsis: "Created by celebrated animé master Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira, Roujin Z), MEMORIES consists of three dazzling stories, each delivered with its own astonishing style. "Magnetic Rose," directed by Koji Morimoto (Animatrix) based on a manga short by Otomo, concerns two space travelers following a distress signal drawn into a magnificent world created by one woman's memories. In director Tensai Okamura's (Wolf's Rain) "Stink Bomb," a young chemist accidentally transforms himself into an unstoppable biological... Read more "Memories animé on DVD" »

Posted by Editor on March 3, 2004 10:14 AM | Permalink | TrackBack

Ken Ishii DVD

KENISHII.COM features new release, Interpretations for Ken Ishii: Future in Light Visualised and Remixed. Ishii has been at the forefront of electronic music, and visualising this with previous projects featuring the innovative animation and motion graphics. This DVD carries that forward with contributions which extend the music video artform from an international selection of some of the most innovative visual creators working today. nowondvd.net features a sample stream from the disk. DVD tracklisting: 1.Visionary World by Neo 2.Presto by Elecrotnik, Machihiro Yawaka and Imaitoonz 3.Beep Twist by Logan 4.Future Is What We Are by Yuji Nukui 5.Strobe Enhanced by Teevee...

Radiohead Gigantic Lying DVD

Radiohead's The Most Gygantic Lying Mouth Of All Time DVD contains all four episodes of The Most Gigantic Lying Mouth of All Time, originally broadcast via the Radiohead.tv internet site, with a total running time of 110 minutes. Expect to see exceptional visuals by Johnny Hardstaff (Push Pulk/Spinning Plates), and Ed Holdsworth (Sit down. Stand up) Release date: April 19, UK/Europe | April 20, US [Via: Treefingers ]... Read more "Radiohead Gigantic Lying DVD" »

Posted by Editor on February 16, 2004 02:58 PM | Permalink | TrackBack

.HACK anime/computer game crossover

Atari and Bandai are bringing the cult .hack hybrid series of anime and video games to Western audiences: Global site | Japanese site The computer game simulates the online gaming experience of a MMORPG, and comes with an exclusive 30m OVA (animation episode) containing clues to help players complete the game. Animation centres around Mai and Tomonari who both lose conciousness while playing the online game, The World. CC Corporation, the game creators, insist they are not responsible, but Mai recovers, and with a mysterious man Junichiro, set out to investigate the link between the comatose phenomenon and CC... Read more ".HACK anime/computer game crossover" »

Posted by Editor on February 14, 2004 07:05 PM | Permalink | TrackBack

Bodysong DVD release

Simon Pummell's Bodysong, with a soundtrack by Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood is available to buy from February 16. Highly recommended feature combining myriad sources of found and archive footage. "Pummell weaves found footage together to create the story of an archetypal human life: a master recording of the experience phasing between birth, growth, sex, violence, death and dreams." Extract from forthcoming book, The End of Celluloid Interview with the director, Simon Pummell....

Appleseed Japanese site

[Babelfish translation:] ' GHOST IN THE SHELL/attack shell riot squad ': the original author of ' the apple seed ' Maki Noboru supervises (' bubble gum crisis ') ... as worldwide first 3D live animation perfection filming. In 2131, the near future, the human and the clone coexist in a planned ideal city. Film includes complex motion capture for heightened character animation. UK release can't come soon enough... Official Appleseed site | APPLESEED QT trailer at Apple Jp...

New onedotzero_select motion graphics dvd

onedotzero_select Vol 2: New volume features Hardstaff's seminal Future of Gaming short, and other award-winning graphic-influenced work. onedotzero_select Vol 1: Stand out shorts by Shynola and Pleix on this original volume, alongside award-winning Salaryman 6 short by Jake Knight....

UK Animate! scheme / Tim Hope film

Having seen the Wagner remix of Hope's Coldplay video work, this animate! entry holds immense promise... A collection of bizarrely original animated stories from scripts written by young children. Emulating the approach of New York's 52nd Street Project and London's Scene & Heard theatre groups, the film is voiced by professional adult actors and directed to render the children's dramatic intentions as sincerely as possible....

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Teaser site launched for Michel Gondry's new feature film, following from the criminally underrated Human Nature, is up at Lacuna Inc. Tricksy trailer looks to incorporate all Gondry has learned from his immaculately conceived music videos....

Directors Label

Definitive collection of cutting-edge styles and special effects within the music video arena: The first slate of The Directors Label series of DVDs have finally been released. Features the finest promo work from a trio of some of the finest exponents of the genre: Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze, and Chris Cunningham. (All @ Amazon UK) Each is a masterclass in the form. Directors label Websites: U.S. | Japan Japanese site has neatly renamed Cunningham's Windowlicker video, Windowflicker. Somehow even more obscene......