In Japan today. After a month and half seven days a week most days going till midnight me and my crew have just about finished Transformers. I have never seen such a level of dedication from every crew member in a movie before.
Even today after the press in Japan and right before the première tonight, I have to sneak out to a digital house to approve the last few effect shots.
It has been a long hard road, but really fun one to travel. What you will notice that is strikingly different than Transformers 1, is the level of animation detail. The robot characters (42 in all), you really can feel empathy for them. What is also very different is the sheer scale of the movie. We have been very tight holding back much of the best imagery in commercials and trailers.
The way to see this movie is on IMAX. Never before has there been 4k rendered character animation shot on full IMAX 70 mm film. This is a first and the results are stunning. You will see Optimus Prime in a few shots where he is actually perfectly to scale on the IMAX 50 foot tall screens.
For IMAX, I created a slightly longer cut with more robot fighting. Four scenes were shot on IMAX cameras so the screen will fill the full IMAX screen for these scenes.
Lots of small Revenge of the Fallen press articles and news bits are coming out every day now as we ramp up for the movies release. Time for a summary.
TF2 cut complete
This Friday actors viewed the fruits of their efforts, as reports Tyrese on his twitter:
What is gonna be the best part of your Friday?? I’m gonna go first. Today @3pm me ; the cast are gonna see the final cut of Transformer 2!!
Chevy Camaro commercial
GM have started airing a new Chevy Camaro commericial that features Bumblebee and a slither of new footage.
Bay has been talking money with Forbes — interesting facts from the interview; Bay takes approximately 8% of profits from toys based on the movies. As a producer Bay brings in an average 8% of a film’s net earnings. Bay also made a whopping $40m from the atrocious Pearl Harbor movie.
Transformers 2 contests
The Vancouver Province newspaper are offering two passes to a Revenge of the Fallen screening two days prior to release, posters and video games for runners up. View contest
Total Assault are giving away a Linkin Park and Transformers 2 themed guitar. View contest (Thanks Deanna!)
More video game footage from E3
New Divide Making of
Shia & TF2 secrets
Talking with Yahoo movies, about injuries on and off set:
“He hurts his hand in the middle of a human transfer,” LaBeouf explains cryptically. “Sorry this is so mysterious. There’s just certain words I can’t say.”
“Revenge of the Fallen” begins with LaBeouf’s character, Sam Witwicky, heading off to college to distance himself from his shape-shifting robot friends. Sam’s beloved Camaro, which transforms into Bumblebee, sits in the garage “sort of like his (parole officer), his guardian,” LaBeouf said during a recent interview.
While at school, Sam starts seeing symbols through “epileptic seizure-type fits of information transfer,” LaBeouf said. “He just becomes a factual volcano.” The symbols form a map to an energy source the robots need to control sentient beings, LaBeouf said.
The actor becomes visibly excited when talking about “Transformers,” his slight frame buzzing in a button-down shirt and skinny black tie. His left hand is wrapped in gauze, with a splint propping up one finger. “It’s like 11 days out of surgery,” he said, referring to a procedure to remove screws that stabilized his digits after the accident. “It’s not broken, but it’s newly not-broken,” LaBeouf said.
“There’s far more stunts this time,” he said. “Aside from the fact that I was making the whole movie with a broken hand, my knee has stitches, my eye had stitches, my back was gouged.”
During one scene, LaBeouf said he “literally stabbed myself in the eye” and had to be treated at a military hospital. Though credit may be due for toughness, it’s LaBeouf’s natural warmth that makes him perfect to play Sam, the film’s screenwriters say.
Slightly earlier than expected, pre-order tickets for Revenge of the Fallen are now available across the US. Estimated running time is currently somewhere between 142 mins and 151 mins according to ticketing sites. Tickets are also on sale at UK IMAX cinemas, although these begin from June 26th, with a 3:20am showing — strange considering the expected 19th June release date.
Some theaters that claim to be an IMAX do not give you the full IMAX experience, with this in mind SlashFilm have linked to a handy map showing the nearest true IMAX theater: Google Maps IMAX theaters
A green marker indicates a “real” IMAX screen, meaning a screen that is totally immersive and fills your field of vision. A red exclamation mark indicates a “fake” IMAX screen, meaning a screen that is branded “IMAX” the same as giant screens, but is not that much larger than regular movie screens, and does not fill your field of vision. OMNIMAX or “domed” screens are indicated by a purple orb shape.
A new set of screenshots from The Revenge of the Fallen has surfaced, showing Bumblebee in various states of stress, Optimus Prime with swords out and Devastator in the desert. Each of the images can be clicked for a higher resolution version.
IGN have posted up two E3 2009 Transformers 2 video game previews, showing Bumblebee kicking some ass, and then not doing so well as he gets destroyed by Megatron.
Empire have posted the final Transformers 2 poster which is in a similar vein to the existing ones; Shia and Megan Fox are running away, a pyramid appears in the background and Optimus Prime and Bumblebee stand over the whole affair — although this time their poses are little more aggressive.
LG are using Revenge of the Fallen to promote a number of new products, including their ‘Versa’ phone. The ad, featuring Optimus Prime and a transforming phone is embedded below:
LG have also launched their tie-in website that focuses on NEST with various missions, wallpapers and ringtones.
Images
Some of the shots in their images section are new:
Wallpapers
Examples of LG’s Transformers wallpapers (1280x1024 resolution)
