My 1st Visit To ILM Studio

There's a new movie out now everywhere else besides U.S. - The Adventures of Tintin, by Steven Spielberg. Fortunate enough, my pal Cory was invited to a private screening over at ILM (Industrial Lights and Magic) - the visual effects studio behind almost every major hollywood blockbusters - Ironman, Transformers, Captain America, Avengers, just to name a few, and he asked me to be his plus one. So so so stoked!!

I've been really excited about this ever since I saw the teaser trailer

The entrance to the ILM theatre~ That's the Jedi Fountain. How George Lucas was that huh?

Darth Vader: another Lucas icon

What an eye opening visit! Too bad we can only take pictures around the entrance. Back to the movie - it was a really good movie. Best adjective to describe the movie? It's very Steven Spielberg! LMAO. A lot of lens flare shots, 50s jokes (which I really enjoyed - its all about retro peeps! Haters gonna hate!),  Sharks, Indiana Jones vibe and etc. Just the last one makes a movie hella good already. The CG part just blew my mind away, like completely. I like how every scene was transitioned beautifully from one to another - that really takes a lot of effort to make sure the visual flows. Action sequences were really well constructed too. The good thing about Spielberg is, you are always quenching to find out what is going to happen next - because he is just that good at building up the anticipation. I like how the graphic sticks to the original designs of the comic version of Tintin. That really takes a lot of studies. Jamie Bell did a great job breathing life to Tintin too because I can see Tintin as a real life human instead of just an animated character. I've seen The Polar Express but this one is a way better Motion Capture than that one was. So to sum this trip up - go and watch Tintin already!! Definitely gonna be a contender for Oscar's best animated feature next year. Won't be surprised if it wins.

(P/S: I wouldn't mind working at ILM at all!!)

Sunday Portrait

I just don't feel like doing any academic-related work today - So I did this. Guess the sketch?

Vegas!

2D Hand Drawing

Like it but don't love it. Can be better

Drive

I've been thinking a lot lately as of what to blog. Seems like I just ran out of topics or too much happening lately that's unbloggable not worth a mention. Anyway, saw this movie Drive recently and it kills me if I'm not blogging about it. Hmm, so where do I begin with?

One of the screenshot: Perfect poster

Two words: Ryan Gosling. I am willing to pay my ticket for any movie starring Gosling. No kidding. Fortunately, I got my passes for the pre-screening and I ran to the theatre after my class ended early. I was so worried not getting in like the past 40 3 screenings therefore I made Leo queued there 2 hours before the movie started. It worth every second he waited for. LOL

It's such a stylized movie that every shot can be used as a photo, super super cool cinematography. It's such a simple story but the lighting and used of angles made the movie super awesome. Not to mention how minimal the dialogues were, and perfect score and soundtracks. It was such a throwback to the 80s film noir. (love the use of shadows!!! So so inspiring)

Highly recommended for movie lovers who understand film language. Not so for the regular audience like cch because you guys are gonna effing blame me for making you peeps to stay in two hours for a movie like this. (Rating: 9/10)

(P/s: Second watch was even better because I captured more stuffs that I missed during the first watch. Don't cha just love to have a friend who works in a movie theatre? I got a life size Drive poster that I'm about to hang on my wall!!)