Blur Studio
The Head logo of Blur Studio | |
Incorporated | |
Industry | VFX, Animation, Design |
Founded | 1995 |
Headquarters |
Venice, California, United States |
Key people |
Tim Miller David Stinnett Al Shier |
Owner | Tim Miller (Creative director) |
Number of employees | Around 51-200 (employees) |
Website | Blur.com |
Blur Studio is an American visual effects, animation and design company. Blur produces 3D character animation, motion design and visual effects for feature films and television, game cinematics and trailers, large format films, location-based entertainment, commercials and integrated media. The company is located in Culver City, California.[1]
History
Blur Studio was founded in 1995 by David Stinnett, Tim Miller and Cat Chapman.[2] In 2004, Blur was nominated for its first Academy Award for its original short film, Gopher Broke. This is one of five original films the studio has written, directed and created over a few years to develop original content and build a solid pipeline that can expand for feature film production. They have several projects in development, spanning all genres; sci-fi, action/adventure, fantasy as well as family features. And in addition to in-house development, Blur has also joined forces with several accomplished directors and writers to develop feature films. They also created the "Heaven and Hell" sequence for South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.[3]
Recently, Blur created the opening title sequence for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, based on the first book of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy and directed by David Fincher. The noir black on black abstract is a visual highlight of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, along with the rest of the Millennium Trilogy. Blur collaborated with director David Fincher on other numerous projects and was Fincher's only choice for The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. His creative mandate to Blur consisted simply of "CG, very adult, super dark, leather, skin, blood, snow, breasts, vaginas, needles, piercings, motorcycles, vengeance." 'He wanted it to be like a fever dream, with a lot of abstract imagery'[4] while reinventing title sequence expectations. Blur co-founder, with the project’s creative director Tim Miller, the graphic design side of the team Jennifer Miller, and Fincher, selected key aspects of the Trilogy to translate into abstract imagery and visual metaphors. Additionally, Blur chose high-gloss, black on black concept art with a liquefied, macabre style; this was done with the goal of captivating the audience from the outset, then holding their attention with the title sequence's provocative visual storyline.[5]
Blur created all the space sequences in James Cameron's 2009 blockbuster film Avatar, and produced the trailers for LucasArts' Star Wars: The Old Republic and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II. They were also responsible for the cinematic trailers of Batman: Arkham City, Batman: Arkham Origins and Batman: Arkham Knight. They remastered Halo 2 cutscenes for Halo: The Master Chief Collection (2014)[6] and are currently working on the cutscenes for the upcoming game Halo Wars 2[7] after doing so for the first Halo Wars (2009).[8] On the commercial front, Blur is currently spearheading two large campaigns for Toshiba's new products and playful Goldfish Crackers for Pepperidge Farm. In large format films, Blur is working on a 3D ride experience in Dubai featuring immersive stereoscopic animation.
References
- ↑ "Blur Studio About | Animation, Design, VFX". Vz3.blur.com. Retrieved 2012-06-28.
- ↑ Intergraph Computer Systems (February 12, 1997). "Intergraph Workstations Play Starring Role in "The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest" at Blur Studio.". Business Wire. The Free Library. Retrieved January 18, 2014.
- ↑ Felperin, Leslie (September 1999). "South Park Bigger Longer & Uncut". Sight and Sound. British Film Institute. Retrieved July 8, 2015.
- ↑ "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) — Art of the Title". Artofthetitle.com. 2012-02-21. Retrieved 2012-06-28.
- ↑ "Blur Studio: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo ~ Titles (2012) | ventilate". Ventilate.ca. 2012-01-10. Retrieved 2012-06-28.
- ↑ Dornbush, Jonathon (November 10, 2014). "'Master Chief Collection' developers discuss 10-year evolution of 'Halo 2' cinematics". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved December 17, 2014.
- ↑ "Halo Wars 2 BLUR". BLUR Studio. June 14, 2016. Retrieved July 26, 2016.
- ↑ "Halo Wars BLUR". BLUR Studio. 2009. Retrieved July 26, 2016.
External links
- Official website
- Blur Studio at the Internet Movie Database
- Blur Facebook group
- Blur Studio API's, Libraries and Tools (blur-dev)
- The Making of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning Trailer at Gnomon Events