R.I.P. Ray Harryhausen

I'm in a process of watching the most iconic films in different genres and I was really curious to see Jason and the Argonauts for the amazing skeleton sequence. That is absolutely brilliant... The genius behind the special effects in those days is inspiring... So, it was with great sadness that yesterday's news that Ray Harryhausen has passed away. He was one of those pioneers in VFX, an inspiration for George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Tim Burton or Peter Jackson.

Jason and the Argonauts

May the 4th be With You - Having Fun

They must have had a lot of fun... At least judging by these photos! Carrie Fisher looks delightful!

May the 4th be With You - Group Shots

The crew must have thought that they were leaving a mark on movie making history. These are group photos of cast, crew and promotional photos.

May the 4th be With You - Wookies and Robots

As a kid, my favorite characters in Star Wars were C3PO and R2-D2. Silly me, I thought that R2 was really a fully functioning robot... Part of the magic, I say.

May the 4th be With You - Monsters and Makeup

Before CGI took the movie industry, every creature needed sculptors and makeup artists to be created. The puppets and silicon prosthetics, the hair and clay and the imagination of these brilliant artists, now on display.

May the 4th be With You - Big guys with Toys

George Lucas approached ILM with a sole purpose: make it work. He had the ideas and needed them to come alive. ILM did just that and still sets the bar for quality and innovation in special and visual effects nowadays. Back then, making spaceships fly, AT-AT's walk, asteroids fly-by... all done by hand, stop motion and a lot of patience. Btw, can I take the Millenium Falcon home?

May the 4th be With You - Lights, camera, ACTION!

Production photos are always a beauty to see... In the oldest Star Wars movies, green or blue screen was used a lot, but not at a scale like we see nowadays and still, most of that we owe to ILM... The sets were amazing and very detailed and the tricks to get us to think that we were in a different planet, a spaceship or in space were a must.

May the 4th be With You - George Lucas

The man behind the story, George Lucas is the creator of one of the most popular movie series of all time. He's the one responsible for the birth of Industrial Light and Magic and for all that legacy, we hereby salute you!

May the 4th be With You - Concept Art

Every movie starts out with an idea. George Lucas envisioned this space world and then brought it to life. Some of the concept art created for the first Star Wars movies (IV, V and VI) is posted below for your enjoyment.

Zombies, the trend

So... it seems that nowadays the trend has settled in a new kind of supernatural creature...

This Spanish short film is the fine example of "everything is better with zombies". Oh, and if you like it, they are trying to raise money to take this short into a full feature film!

Clever, clever ad!

Clever advertisements are always welcome and Microsoft has done a few lately. This one, promoting their Windows phone smartphones is really, really funny! It reminds me a bit of the ad wars between BMW and Audi...