Linkfest - Fall of Cybertron

It turns out this week’s unintended theme for the link fest is Fall of Cybertron as collected multiple links on the subject including video reviews of Jazz & Shockwave, Achievements, Bruticus release month, and Metroplex screenshots. In addition, another look at the next three Masterpiece toys from Takara-Tomy, Scott Barga gets Academy invite, violin remix of Transformers I Arrival to Earth score and video reviews of upcoming TF Prime toys.

Next Three Masterpiece Transformers Images -
All Three | Hi-Re Gallery
A few weeks ago we got a look at the non-colored prototype of Masterpiece Sideswipe (MP-12) that Takara is releasing in a few months. Now we can get a leak at him in his fully painted glory along with a look at the Soundwave with Laserbeak (MP-13) and Red Alert (MP-14) prototypes that will clearly stick as close as possible to look of the Generation One characters. Of note is it seems Takara isn't going to try to come up with a modern alt mode for Soundwave, choosing to stick with the classic cassette boom box.

Transformers' Scott Benza Joins the Academy
Transformers trilogy animation supervisor Scott Benza was recently invited to join the Academy of Arts and Sciences. Members of the organization are those that vote for the Oscar winners each year and considered a huge honor in Hollywood. 176 members total were given invites this year, most of them either past winners or nominees including Benza who received multiple nominations for the effects work on the Transformers’ films. Congrats to him for the honor.

Linkfest - Generations

Time for another linkfest summarizing the latest in new regarding Transformers. This edition has a look at the concept art for Ironhide, video and galleries of next wave of toys including Transformers: Generations, another Fall of Cybertron Bruticus box set, Cobra Commander crossed with Soundwave, four TF: Prime toy reviews, a stunt award of Transformers: Dark of the Moon, a real life transformers, and more.

Transformers: Prime Ironhide Concept Art
TF Prime artist Ken Christiansen has posted his concept art for Ironhide. At the post he writes about his approach to the character. The result is a pretty "bad ass Ironhide" that seems to combine the classic G1 touches with the physical impressive look of the movie version. While the character has yet to be confirmed as appearing in the TV series, Hasbro has made a Commander class figure that will be coming out soon. A deluxe version is in the works but Kup gets first crack at the mold in release order. (via Seibertron)

Botcon 2012 Display Videos
Hit the link for 10 videos that show off all the products that Hasbro had on display at Botcon a few weeks ago. Most are scheduled for release this year with Generations coming out next Spring.

Dark of the Moon Avoids The Razzies

Thanks to Jack & Jill, Transformers: Dark of the Moon "won" zero Razzies when the winners were announced on April Fools Day. The movie recieved seven nominations in the 10 "Worst of" categories which Michael Bay responded to with his own math for hte movie. In the end Adam Sandler and his movie Jack & Jill made a little Razzie history by being the first movie to sweep all the categories in the awards' 32 year history. The full details are here.

Bay Provides Razzie "Math Equation"

Michael Bay commented today on his forums about the eight Razzie Award nominations that Transformers: Dark of the Moon for being worst of for 2011. As is typical of the director, he breaks it down the film’s success and the temporary jobs its production helped create.

A Math Equation

Math doesn't lie.

I looked into this Razzie thingy. Sounds like a fruit cocktail but it is an apparent award for they say “the worst in film” by respected judges.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon Loses to Hugo for Oscars (Updated)

Tonight the Academy Awards were held, with Transformers: Dark of the Moon nominated in three categories for Best Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Visual Effects. Sadly the film went 0 for three, losing in all three categories to Hugo. The decisions baffle me but its not really a surprise either. The Academy voters are mostly actors and non-technical people who only know if they liked the movie or not. They are unable to separate the technical (and artistic) achievements from the movie itself, for good or bad. Dark of the Moon and the other much superior nominees in these categories are a victims of that ignorance. Which is sadly often the norm for the Academy Awards.

Update: While Michael Bay is unlikely to comment on the utter nonsense of Hugo being voted superior to Dark of the Moon in these Oscar categories, MichaelBay.com's Nelson has posted Film School Reject's rage over the Oscar snubbing here as an indirect way to reflect their likely thoughts on the subject. When my Mom, who barely knows computers much less how films are made found, Hugo's wins in these categories to be ridiculous (and she was upset Hugo didn't get Best Film), then you know there is a serious disconnect between the voters and their knowledge of the categories.

Transformers: DOTM Nominated for 8 Razzies

Yesterday, on the eve of the Academy Awards, the 32nd Annual Razzie Award nominees were announced. The Razzies are an anti-Oscar award that is given out for "Worst Achievements in Film" for 2011. Transformers: Dark of the Moon is up for eight nominations in 7 out of the 10 categories the Razzie's offer "awards" for. While 8 is excessive, on the bright side it seems that Adam Sandler's record breaking 11 nominations (with 12 for Jack & Jill) gives him a real chance of taking any awards away from DOTM. The winners will be announced on April 1st.

Worst Picture
Bucky Larson: Born to Be A Star
Jack & Jill
New Year's Eve
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1

Greg Russell on Sound Mixing Dark of the Moon (Updated)

Fifteen time Academy Award nominee Greg P Russell is probably hoping that his nomination for Best Sound Mixing for Transformers: Dark of the Moon will finally give him that much deserved Oscar. In an interview with The Wrap, he discussed a little bit of the sound mixing process for DOTM. Below are a few segments with the full interview here.

Update: The Hollywood Reporter has posted their own interview with the 15 time nominee here.

So other than dialog, just about every sound in these modern action epics is created after shooting?
Every sound you hear other than the dialog is all prepared by the sound editing team -- none of that is recorded while shooting the movie. That means all the helicopters and jets, all the gunfire -- every bullet impact and every whiz-by. Plus, all the robot sounds -- and there are thousands of robot sounds to create the life of these beings and make them believable -- are designed and recorded by our sound team.

They prepare the entire palette of sound to be used in the film, then I take all of those sounds and there’s many food groups of them, to work with.

So Optimus Prime, for instance, is sonically much more complex than any human character could be?
The robots consist of, say, nine 'pre-dubs,’ where the feet are separate from the big thigh sounds and the big, metallic motor sounds, as well as the medium-range integral movement sounds, that are in turn separate from kind of servo-sourced zipping noises. It goes right down to the eye blinks. All that material is prepared, and then I mix them and pan them across the screen. So if that robot is walking from right to left, those sounds have to be right behind the image.

Transformers Wins Three VES Awards

Transformers: Dark of the Moon won two out of the five categories it was nominated in for the 10th annual Visual Effects Society Awards. Transformers: The Ride also won its category of Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project. The awards are given out to honor achievement in visual effects across multiple areas besides movies. DOTM won for Outstanding Created Environment (155 Wacker Drive) and Outstanding Models (Driller) in a movie.

The categories Transformers 3 lost in where Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Feature Motion Picture to Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture to Hugo, and Outstanding Compositing in a Feature Motion Picture to Captain America. In the last 9 years, 7 times the winner of the VES' Outstanding Visual Effects Award went on to win the Oscar for Best Visual Effects. This includes the first Transformers in 2008. This year the win indicates that DOTM’s competition is Apes. The full list of winners can be found here.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon Visual Effects Reel

MichaelBay.com has posted the 10 minute VFX reel that was used to score an Oscar nomination in the Achievement in Visual Effects category for Transformers: Dark of the Moon visual effects team. The reel was presented to members of the Academy's Visual Effects Branch for them to which movies will have a chance to win an Oscar. DOTM is also up for the sound effects and sound editing categories. Paramount is running a commercials in key areas to promote the film's nominations. The winner will be announced live on February 26th. The video isn't a behind the scenes video but highlights of the best visual effects from the entire film. Thanks to Feris Othman for the heads-up.

Paramount Gives Transformers 3 Some Oscar Love

Deadline reports that Paramount Pictures has "decided to finance a big TV buy in voter-centric Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco to promote its summer blockbuster Transformers: Dark of the Moon." The planned TV ad is below. Transformers 3 was nominated for three Oscars in the Sound Editing, Sound Mixing and Visual Effects categories. Winning an Oscar is sort of like running for office as often the studios support TV and print campaigns to support their movies in the various categories and make Academy voters aware of the movie's nomination. Like any popularity contest, familiarity often trumps excellence which can be a detriment to something like DOTM where most of the voters tend to be of the baby boom (or older) generation.

The choice to support DOTM is a bit interesting considering Paramount's Hugo (with 11 nominations total) is competing against TF3 in all three categories. Deadline theorizes the move is in part a show of support to Michael Bay, Steven Spielberg and the movie's other producers. From Deadline:

Although the individual peer groups made the nominations, everyone in the Academy gets to vote for the final award. ”As you know the Academy is comprised of many branches representing the various disciplines in the filmmaking arena. Because not everyone may be an expert in sound or visual effects, we hope that this spot will encourage voters to carefully consider their choices and take into consideration the craftsmanship of each category when voting,” the spokesman said. “This is the culmination of years of hard work creating cinematic sounds and images that are now iconic — we wanted a form of Academy outreach that did that work justice and we simply felt that to see and hear it was very important.”

Transformers: Dark of the Moon Gets 3 Oscar Noms

Today the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the list of nominations for the 84th Annual Academy Awards. Transformers: Dark of the Moon received three Oscar nominations for Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Visual Effects. Scott Benza was last nominated for Transformers (2007) and this is the 10th nomination for John Frazier. Congratulations to the visual effects and sound editing crew for Transformers: Dark of the Moon. The winners will be announced on during the live telecast on February 26th, hosted by Billy Crystal. Click here to view the full list of nominations in all Oscar categories.

Sound Editing
Drive - Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Ken Klyce
Hugo - Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty
Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
War Horse - Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom

Sound Mixing
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce, and Bo Persson
Hugo - Tom Fleischman and John Midgley
Moneyball - Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco, and Ed Novick
Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush, and Peter J. Devlin
War Horse - Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson, and Stuart Wilson

Visual Effects
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 - Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler, and John Richardson
Hugo - Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman, and Alex Henning
Real Steel - Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor, and Swen Gillberg
Rise of the Planet of the Apes - Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett
Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler, and John Frazier

Transformers: Dark of the Moon Nominated for VES Awards

Today the Visual Effects Society (VES) revealed that Transformers: Dark of the Moon received five nominations for the 10th Annual Visual Effects Society Awards. VES is a society made up of visual effects professionals across all aspects of the field including film, animation, television, video games and so forth. Transformers: The Ride also received a nomination for Special Venue Project. The winners will be announced during a ceremony that will be held on February 7th, 2012. The categories that DOTM is nominated are below, the full list of nominations in all 23 categories can be found here.

Transformers: DOTM Remains on Oscar FX Shortlist

Last month, it was reported that Transformers: Dark of the Moon was one of 15 films on the list for a chance at the Achievement in Visual Effects Oscar nomination. The Academy's Visual Effects Branch Executive Committee has announced that DOTM has moved on to another round. To win the FX Oscar there is more or less a 4 step process - 1) make it to the list of 15, 2) remain on the list of 10 (chosen by FX committee), 3) make it to final five finalists (chosen by members of FX branch), and 4) winner on Oscar night (chosen by entire Academy). The Visual Effects branch members will have a chance to view 10 minute excerpts from each film on January 19th and vote for the five which will be announced on January 24th, 2012. Transformers 1 made it to the final five but lost on Oscar night while ROTF did not make the finalists list. The five films cut were Cowboys & Aliens, Sherlock Holmes 2, Sucker Punch, Super 8, and Thor.

The complete list:
Captain America: The First Avenger
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Hugo
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Real Steel
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Transformers: Dark of the MoonThe Tree of Life
X-Men: First Class

Dark of the Moon Nominated for SAG Award

Today the 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Award (SAG) nominations were announced and Transformers: Dark of the Moon received a nomination in the category of "Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture." My guess is this category (along with the TV equivilant) is a means for SAG to acknowledge the hard working stunt crews that make the actors look so good in action scenes. Members of SAG (pretty much any actor that ever had a speaking role and still pay their dues) will have until January 27th to vote. The winners will be announced at the January 29th, 2012 ceremony on TNT and TBS. Congrats to the crew of Transformers: Dark of the Moon.

Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
The Adjustment Bureau
Cowboys & Alients
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
X-Men: First Class

Transformers: Dark of the Moon on Shortlist for Visual Effects Oscar

Friday the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the 15 films that are on the shortlist for a potential nomination for Achievement in Visual Effects for the 84th Academy Awards with Transformers: Dark of the Moon being one of them. The way it works if from the 15 films (list below), 10 will be selected by members of the Academy's Visual Effects Branch Executive Committee. From those 10, all members of the VFX branch will have a chance to watch 10 minute excerpts from each film on January 19th. The members will then vote and choose the five finalists for the category that will be announced on January 24th, 2012. The last step is all members of the Academy (not just the VFX branch) will vote on who will win the award which will be announced on February 26th, 2012.

Dark of the Moon Up for Two People's Choice Awards

Transformers: Dark of the Moon has been nominated for the 2012 People's Choice Awards that will January 11, 2012 on CBS. The categories are "Favorite Movie" and "Favorite Action Movie". The compeitition if fierce so make sure to take a second and click here to vote.

Favorite Movie - TF: DOTM, Bridesmaids, Harry Potter 7.2, The Help, Pirates 4
Favorite Action Movie - TF: DOTM, Fast Five, Harry Potter 7.2, Thor, X-Men: First Class

Transformers' Scott Farrar To Recieve Award

The Hollywood Film Festival has announced that Transformers: Dark of the Moon Visual Effects Supervisor Scott Farrar will receive The Hollywood Visual Effects Award when the 15th annual ceremony is held on October 24th. He has been in the visual effects industry for 30 years starting with ILM in 1981. His recent work is all three Transformers films, received Oscar nominations for his work on Cocoon, Chronicles of Narnia, Backdraft and the first Transformers film.