Aldeus
is a live action film in development, produced by Mireille Frenette
and directed by Benoit Guerville. This epic fable set in a medieval
world of legends is being independently produced in France by Wide.
ALDEUS
NEWSLETTER
MARCH 2001
New collaborators,
new partnerships, new images
Aldeus thrives in this new millennium!
Aldeus
in Hollywood?
Open minds and much interest for Aldeus greeted the film's producers in
Hollywood, where they had gone last fall to meet face-to-face with members
of the American film industry. They met with agents (including from the
huge William Morris Agency), producers, actors, set decorators. They also
had the opportunity to discuss Aldeus' digital special effects with computer
graphics experts from Digital Domain, Rhythm&Hues, and The Secret
Lab (Disney).
Aldeus
website now in English
The official website for Aldeus is now located at www.aldeus.net
. At long last, an English version of site is now available, while many
of the French website texts have also been updated.
Call for
talent
Wide is looking for talented computer graphic artists to work on Aldeus,
particularly in the field of textures, lighting, and animation. Check
it out here.
New designers
Two new designers have joined the Aldeus team:
· Bordeaux artist Gérard Trignac has built an impressive
reputation as a deserving heir to Piranesi, the XVth century copperplate
engraver. His lithographs are sold worldwide (and on Aldeus website in
the very near future). His preferred subject is architecture, which he
studied in depth for almost a decade. In the early 80s, already holder
of the prestigious Velasquez award, he was contacted by Umberto Eco to
work on the sets for "The Name of the Rose". The work he has
produced so far on Aldeus is breathtaking. Working from the director's
precise guidelines, he has designed two key sets for the film, a fortress
and a cathedral of epic proportions, as well as large-scale accessories
such as siege towers. Much of his work has already been translated in
3D for the film by the digital special effects team.
· British artist Paul Staples-Jeacock is known for his work
on the popular SLAINE series. A regular contributor to Games Workshop,
he has created illustrations for Warhammer (rule book) as well as several
comic strips. For Aldeus, the artist has been working on production paintings
and developing designs for the Nightmares. His work to date has already
yielded several astonishing and exciting characters.
Digital
special effects
· Baptiste Firroloni has been promoted supervisor of the
special effects team. Among many other responsibilities, he is currently
overseeing recruitment for the CGI team.
· Romain Buignet has concluded his tests on dynamics simulation
and pyrotechnics and has chosen the solutions that will be used in the
integration of these elements to the film's battle scenes.
· Programmer Tom Berg from Los Angeles has taken the challenging
task of developing a custom computer program to manage Aldeus' battle
scenes. To put this work in perspective, it should be mentioned that several
of the upcoming "Lord of the Rings" movie battle scenes have
been made using a similar custom-designed computer program.
· Finally, we are pleased to announce a new partnership with Modern
Uprising Studios from New York, who will provide the motion capture
data needed to provide life-like animation of the thousands of digital
characters battling on-screen.
Body by
Kameleon
A tip of the hat to Studio Kaméléon, the special effects
house responsible for Aldeus' new armours' prototypes and swords, for
their work on Christophe Gans's "Le Pacte des Loups". Gérald
Mignotte and Morgan Hildebrand assisted by Julie Lepère
and Amélie Heroux produced the lifelike (!) corpses of the
beast's victims, as well as the unusual sword-whip used in the final confrontation
of the film.
Shootings
No shootings are scheduled to take place before key digital special effects
tests are completed. However, thanks to Sony's collaboration, upcoming
shoots will be made with the new 24p HD camera, the same one used by George
Lucas for several scenes of "Star Wars Episode 1".
Music
Opera performers and classical musicians (strings, wind, and brass instruments)
have started to record for Aldeus with composer Sylvain Ballée.
Work is proceedings with Michel Deneuve, an artist who performs
on a crystal organ. This unusual instrument was invented in 1952 by Bernard
and François Baschet. The sound is created when the fingers of
the artist stroke the glass rods of the instrument and generate the vibration
of tuned metal bars amplified by large metal resonators. These strange
eerie sounds are becoming part of the Aldeus soundtrack.
Aldeus
in the news
Although Aldeus has not yet been officially introduced to the press, several
journalists have already heard about the film. Last fall, French magazine
"Repérages" devoted a double page to Aldeus and in January,
French magazine "Starfix" featured Aldeus as part of a subject
on the renewal of genre cinema in France. Excerpts from these articles
will soon be available on the Aldeus website.
In conclusion
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While we cannot respond individually to every e-mail, we will attempt
to cover the items that interest you in our next newsletter.
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