Pixar has a habit of sneaking in-jokes and self-references into their feature films and shorts.
Whether it’s bringing characters from different Pixar projects together or referencing earlier and/or upcoming productions, Pixar likes to fill their films with Easter Eggs and secrets for you to find.
Some of them are rather hidden, and most take a keen eye, so for those of you who don’t want to weed through your old DVDs with a fine toothed comb, Jim Hill has put together a definitive list of locations and screen shots for the doubters.
When you’re the lead animator for The Matrix Reloaded, it’s probably a good bet that you’ve got some skills behind a computer.
Four years ago, Jeff Lew decided to take those skills and use them to make his own feature film, so he quit his job to follow his dreams.
Finally, after working at his computer for 14 hours a day, 7 days a week, spending his entire life savings, and maxing out his credit cards, he’s almost done.
(Keep in mind, this was all done by a single person.)
Want some facts and figures to ogle over? How about:
The current length of the movie is 85 minutes.
The screenplay was written over a a 1 ½ year period.
Previsualization took 9 months.
Modeling and texturing took about 6 months.
Animation took about 2 ½ years.
Final renders are in high definition.
Rendering final shots started well over a year ago and still continues.
There are over 1000 shots.
The longest shot is a continuous 1 minute 16 seconds shot.
The shortest shot is 8 frames long.
The renderfarm started with 3 dual core computers. They have now been replaced with 4 quad core computers.
Each rendering computer is equipped with 2 gigs of ram.
The maximum amount of polygons rendered for a single shot is 1.9 million polygons.
Every shot is rendered using a simulated physical camera using true depth-of-field.
When I heard the words ‘fixed gear bikes’ and ‘DVD’ used together, I had my doubts about how good a movie about the somewhat artsy bikes could be, but after watching the trailer, I will humbly accept defeat.
Despite a lack of gears, pegs, shocks, or comfort of any kind normally associated with trick bikes, the Mash SF crew manages to make this sport look like a ton of fun.
The DVD includes their hour-long feature film, an extra hour of outtakes, and a 120-page book of project photos and explanations.
Four Eyed Monsters is a full length feature film that has been released to YouTube for one week only.
It’s about our lives. Being alone in a city, wanting to be in a relationship but feeling there are no good ways to start a connection and then breaking out of a rut, jumping feet first into something deeper and crazier than either of us expected.
What’s interesting is the steps they’re taking to monetize the film.
First, they’re asking everyone to join Spout, a movie review site that has agreed to give them $1 for every user that signs up (to a max of $100,000).
Second, they’re selling their film on a variety of DRM free media, from downloads to a full featured DVD.
Third, they’re running co-branded advertising on YouTube, similar to Rolling Rock, which is something I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of as YouTube tries to figure out how to get back it’s Dollar Eyed Monster of an investment (though I’m thinking this is a good thing, seeing as advertising linked to the video you are watching is much better than a flashing Crazy Frog).
The movie is over 70 minutes long, so be prepared to sit for a while, but if you want a peak at the way media is going to be distributed in the future, look no further, because this is it.
