Pacific Rim "Before and After's"

The breakdowns and overall presentation in this movie are insightful and inspiring. Be sure to check out their website below. Mirada Studios Fire it up!

Imaginary Forces - Demo Reel

Siggraph 2013 Rewind: Imaginary Forces from Cineversity on Vimeo.

Imaginary Forces is a VFX motion graphics house responsible for creating the opening title sequence of Pacific Rim. They work exclusively in C4D and in this movie, not only do they feature a slick opening reel, but go into the creation of their project in C4D. Enjoy. You can visit their site here >>

Grayscale Gorilla

We fell in love with Greyscale Gorilla initially for their C4D After Effects integration tutorials. The blog is quite robust, check out their blogpost about how they did the CGI opening title sequence in Pacific Rim.

Visit the Greyscale Gorilla site here >>

"Beyond" by Raphael Rogers CG VFX Short

I'm a big fan of the storytelling and overall presentation of Raphael's piece. See how many VFX shots you can spot. You can do many of these shots, but his refinement and attention to overall detail makes them superb. Also, pay attention to their duration and its use in the context of the film. This is just as important as the actual CG effect.

Ryan Prestridge: Matte Painting TD Reel

World War Z - CG Jerusalem Breakdown

The Hobbit 2: Desolation of Smaug - UK Trailer

Stick around, they actually show the dragon at the end.

Iron Man 2 - HUD Design Breakdown

Inspiring breakdowns. I've always been amazed at the look and feel of these designs which appear complex, the main shapes are basic and simple, but have numerous levels of detail in the forms of little tick marks and numbers for added texture.

Post Viz Documentary

Post Visualization is the process by which actual plates used in a film are given to a vfx artist. The vfx artist blocks in the animation to give the director/producer an actual working piece that exists within the current movie. From this point, refinement can occur. This documentary filmed in 2011 describes that process. We've actually been using it quite a bit, but nobody has articulated the process. This video does a great job in doing that. Fire It Up! Randolf

Matte Painting VFX Breakdown Reel : Carlos Nieto

If you are going to put matte painting examples in your reel, its a good idea to think ahead and to save the various layers of detail used to create your scene. Not only is it helpful to have the final composited shot, but if you can animate the various layers and assemble the piece, it lends insight and understanding into your creative process, especially to your attention to detail and presentation, in many cases this goes a long way. Check out Carlos' reel, not only are his examples very good, but he's included simple effective breakdowns for each. Well done. Fire It Up! Randolf

Pacific Rim: Trailer 2

"Thor - Dark World" Trailer

Loki looks like he could be the lead singer of a band in this trailer.

Man of Steel: Trailer 3

Elysium: Trailer

Something really cool about this movie. Let's hope its cool.

The Hobbit: Post Production Featurette

Bought The Hobbit on Bluray about a week ago, and haven't stopped watching it. I love this move even more, even after seeing it on the big screen. The video blogs that accompany the bluray give a nice tour into the creation of the film, and if you haven't seen it, here is video blog 9 about the post production process. Items covered in this featurette include: sound design, sound engineering and foley, color correction, animation, and compositing - subjects that are right up our alley. In a small way, you'll get a taste of the stress involved in creating all of the work in a compressed timeframe. Enjoy!