The house used to film Home Alone is up for sale – though it has been thoroughly modernized. I personally think the remodel was terrible, but you can make up your own mind. Only $5.25 million, and it appears to already be pending sale.
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/671-Lincoln-Ave-Winnetka-IL-60093/3360197_zpid
AI video platform LTX Studio is now open for users to get stuck in and make short films, storyboards and other generative productions all from a simple text prompt. Simply type the film idea or a full synopsis of your desired creation and then set the visual aesthetic, aspect ratio, inspiration and your virtual casting for a selection of AI generated characters.
It utilizes dozens of AI models to generate the script, add voice narration, background music, sound effects, and generate the image and video elements.
Other AI video tools create more realistic video, speech tools with more realistic speech and lip sync available in both Pika Labs and Runway — but for each of those you still have to make a series of short clips and they have poor character consistency.
It has a lot of limitations; but it absolutely could be used for previsualization and concept pieces.
Articles:
Dune 2 cinematographer Greig Fraser talks about using Unreal Engine to visualize the shots he wanted in the movie. It’s part of a trend of using Unreal as a previsualization and rendering engine for a variety of high quality, high budget movie productions.
Articles:
Mr. Plinkett put together one of the biggest collections of video bloopers in Star Trek TNG. From carpet shims to exposed wires to visible equipment to black paper to malfunctioning doors to countless reflections.
Sergio Leone was inspired by Akira Kurosawa who in turn was inspired by Dashiell Hammett.
I think Kurosawa had a solid leg to stand on when his studio sued (and won a settlement) with Leone over what was essentially an unlicensed remake.
Blender Guru walks us through how a modern CGI workflow would work for a scene everyone knows – the elevator scene in the Shining.
He breaks down all the tools and rendering tricks he uses as well as points out 3 key elements that most VFX artists get wrong and makes CGI workflows look bad: grain, focus, and levels.
He shows why CGI has gained so much traction. The cost for the practical effect version of the elevator scene would likely now run around $50,000-$100,000. The CGI version? $14,000-$20,000.
He needed about 6 days to re-build the CGI version of the scene and 4 days of rendering. He does a fantastic job showing off how modern workflows work.
Tools he used:
If you watch the BBC, you’ll recognize that a shocking number of their shows start like this…
Japan has some amazing commercials that have even inspired a Simpsons episode (back when Simpsons was still good).
One of the best is a series of commercials I have seen is for Sakeru Gummy candy. The episodes is often just known as Long Long Man about a young couple and their running into a mysterious man who likes a longer version of the candy.
It is honestly some of the best commercial making around – and I hate to say – has better acting and story than probably 75% of the constant re-hashed old franchises, superhero stories, and movies/TV we see today. For a series that last a total of only 6 minutes over 11 thirty second clips – it delivers an amazingly engaging story.
Here’s the whole series:
What’s awesome is the actor Yukiyoshi Ozawa even does a short interview. He put some emotion and thought into his role.
OtaKing Animation gives a step-by-step rundown of one method to combine 3D and 2D to animate spaceships, cars, planes, etc.
A Ghost Story for Christmas was a series of annual British short television films originally broadcast on BBC One between 1971 and 1978, and revived sporadically by the BBC since 2005. The majority of the stories were from the collections of classic English ghost stories. Authors like M.R. James and others.
They’re definitely worth checking out, and it turns out a lot of them are online. You can also see them on Britbox. A Warning to the Curious is particular well done favorite of mine.
| Broadcast order | Title | Air date | Video link | Christopher Lee’s Ghost Stories for Christmas | Audiobook version |
| 1 | The Stalls of Barchester | Dec 24, 1971 | Here | Here | Here |
| 2 | A Warning to the Curious | Dec 24, 1972 | Here | Here | Here |
| 3 | Lost Hearts | Dec 25, 1973 | Here | Here | |
| 4 | The Treasure of Abbot Thomas | Dec 23, 1974 | Here | Here | |
| 5 | The Ash Tree | Dec 23, 1975 | Here | Here | Here |
| 6 | The Signalman | Dec 22, 1976 | Here | Here | |
| 7 | Stigma | Dec 28, 1977 | Here | ||
| 8 | The Ice House | Dec 25, 1978 | Here |
The series ended in 1978. Maybe because of the two less than stellar final two entries: Stigma and The Ice House. Sadly, most of these are not online, but you might be able to find them via BBC and BritBox.
| Broadcast order | Title | Air date | Video | Christopher Lee’s Ghost Stories for Christmas | Audiobook |
| 9 | A View from a Hill | 23 December 2005 | Here | Here | Here |
| 10 | Number 13 | 22 December 2006 | Here | Here | Here |
| 11 | Whistle and I’ll Come to You | 24 December 2010 | 1968 version | Here | |
| 12 | The Tractate Middoth | 25 December 2013 | Here | ||
| 13 | The Dead Room | 24 December 2018 | |||
| 14 | Martin’s Close | 24 December 2019 | Here | ||
| 15 | The Mezzotint | 24 December 2021 | Trailer | Here | |
| 16 | Count Magnus | 23 December 2022 | BBC iPlayer | Here | |
| 17 | Lot No. 249 | TBD | Here |
If you’re looking for a really reasonable playlist, try this YouTube playlist by bonpourvous.