10 Film Stills from the New Teaser Trailer for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

The teaser trailer for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009), which premiered tonight during the Super Bowl, did not disappoint. The amazing Peter Sciretta of /Film published a poll after the Super Bowl and 58% of voters thought that the Transformers trailer was the best movie ad during the game. Star Trek currently holds second place, with 18%, while GI Joe, Land of the Lost, and Pixar’s Up fight for the rest of the pie.

Of course, I headed straight to Apple’s movie trailer website where I could watch the entire thing over and over, frame by beautiful frame. Special effects porn has never looked so good.

I grabbed 10 screenshots and uploaded them to Flickr for everyone to enjoy. I tried to choose frames with as little motion blur as I could find, plus did a little sharpening in Photoshop to enhance the images. Here’s a few of my favorites. The rest are right over here: “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” Stills. Make sure you check out the originals!

The movie comes out on June 26th, 2009.

Copyright © 2009 Dreamworks LLC and Paramount Pictures. All rights reserved. Hasbro, Transformers, and all related characters are trademarks of Hasbro © 2009.

The Fall of the Sci-Fi Genre in Film

Kristin Thompson, of the Bordwell-Thompson duo that studies and writes on various topics related to the art of film, recently wrote an interesting article, titled “Swords vs. lightsabers”, regarding the recent fall of the science fiction genre in film and its replacement by that of fantasy. Audiences have apparently become so turned off by science fiction that producers, directors, and Hollywood studio executives persistently avoid labeling their films as sci-fi, either explicitly denying their film’s relation to the genre, or using terms like “post-apocalyptic” instead.

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A Terrific Teaser

Last weekend I went to see Scary Movie 3 (hey, I heard that!), and during the previews, a particular teaser trailer really caught my attention. In fact, I thought it was so clever that I have decided to share it with the rest of you: Resident Evil: Apocalypse.

I never saw the first Resident Evil, and never planned on seeing this new sequel, but the teaser has definitely tickled my curiosity. I guess I’ll just have to wait for the full-length trailer before I can decide whether or not to spend $8.50 to go see it.

The Art of Finding Nemo

Welcome to the first entry in a new category called “Recommendations,” where I’ll keep entries that act as, you guessed it, recommendations!

A couple weeks ago, I was browsing through a Borders bookstore, when I found myself in the “Film” section. I eyed through the shelves and shelves of big, colorful books, and “The Art of Finding Nemo” caught my eye. No surprise there: when I saw Finding Nemo, it quickly became a favorite.

So, I grabbed one of the five or six copies, thumbed through the pages, and instantly became engulfed (no pun intended) in some of the most amazingly gorgeous artwork I have ever seen. Without hesitation, I purchased the book.

If you saw Finding Nemo and, like me, were entranced by it’s beauty, then you need to at least have a look through “The Art of Finding Nemo.” Every page is filled with vibrant pastel drawings, flawless digital renderings, and breathtaking charcoal pieces that take you through every concept, every scene, and every character. Much of the artwork takes up entire pages and even spreads.

Once you pick up this book, you literally will not set it down until you have seen and read everything that it has to offer.

Stream of Consciousness

If the process that a designer follows to create a one-of-a-kind design is complex, which it is, then the process that goes on within a designer’s head while creating a one-of-a-kind design is inconceivably labyrinthine.

Likewise, if putting the indescribable workings of a designer’s mind into words would be a feat, which it would, then putting it into the form of a moving image would be a tour de force. Enter Armin Vit and his marvelous movie, “Stream of Consciousness: Listening to Your Inner Designer.”

“As all (or most) designers know, while designing we tend to have supra-hyper- streams of consciousness”

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a “stream of consciousness” is “the continuous unedited chronological flow of conscious experience through the mind.” As all (or most) designers know, while designing we tend to have supra-hyper-streams of consciousness and, as I mentioned above, to put this supra-hyper-stream of consciousness into the form of a moving picture would be quite the task. Well, Armin Vit has accomplished just that task.

Throughout his movie you’ll experience the thoughts, sounds, and visions that a designer encounters through the design process, including such tangents as “should I join green peace,” to “did I feed the cat,” to “I wonder what ever happened to my high school sweetheart?” At one point the designer even wonders what the tune is to “that Billy Joel song,” and then proceeds to hum “We Didn’t Start the Fire” as it comes to him. According to the narrator, these streams, or, perhaps, raging rivers, in a designer’s case, make up 80% of the things taking place within your head.

“Design is not about the end result. It’s about the process, the fun, and the possibilities.”

“Stream of Consciousness” concludes with this final message: design is not about the end result. It’s about the process, the fun, and the possibilities.

Better words have never been spoken. Armin’s movie reminds us to be open-minded and have fun with the design process. If your process simply includes step one, two, three, four, done, then you’re missing out on all of the amazing possibilities that lie between day one and day one hundred, when you finally finish your most worthy design and can say to yourself, “gee, that was really fun.”

Way to go, Nemo!

Congratulations to Disney and Pixar on their new animated film, “Finding Nemo.” According to CNN.com, Nemo set a new opening record for an animated film with a grand total of $70.6 million in ticket sales during the opening weekend. It clobbered the previous record of $62.5 million set by another Disney/Pixar film, “Monsters, Inc.”, in November 2001.

I have yet to see it, but trust me, it’s on my list!