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The Polar Express (film)
''The Polar Express'' is a 2004 American computer-animated fantasy adventure film co-written and directed by Robert Zemeckis, based on the 1985 children's book of the same name by Chris Van Allsburg, who also served as one of the executive producers. The film features human characters animated using live-action and motion-capture CGI animation. It tells the story of a young boy who, on Christmas Eve, sees a mysterious train bound for the North Pole stop outside his window and is invited aboard by its conductor. The boy joins several other children as they embark on a journey to visit Santa Claus preparing for Christmas. The film stars Tom Hanks, also one of the film's executive producers, in multiple distinct roles, with Daryl Sabara, Nona Gaye, Jimmy Bennett, and Eddie Deezen in supporting roles. Castle Rock Entertainment produced the film in association with Shangri-La Entertainment, ImageMovers, Playtone, and Golden Mean Productions for Warner Bros. Pictures, as Castle Rock ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Zemeckis
Robert Lee Zemeckis (born May 14, 1952) is an American filmmaker. He first came to public attention as the director of the action-adventure romantic comedy ''Romancing the Stone'' (1984), the science-fiction comedy ''Back to the Future'' film trilogy (1985–1990), and the live-action/animated comedy ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' (1988). He subsequently directed the satirical black comedy ''Death Becomes Her'' (1992) and then diversified into more dramatic fare, including ''Forrest Gump'' (1994), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Director and the film won Best Picture. He has directed films across a wide variety of genres, for both adults and families. Zemeckis is regarded as an innovator in visual effects. His exploration of state-of-the-art special effects includes the early use of insertion of computer graphics into live-action footage in ''Back to the Future Part II'' (1989) and ''Forrest Gump'', the insertion of hand-drawn animation into live-action footage in ''Who ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Playtone
Playtone (stylized on-screen as PLAY•TONE; a.k.a. The Playtone Company) is an American film and television production company established in 1998 by actor Tom Hanks and producer Gary Goetzman. It was named after the fictional record company of the same name in the 1996 film ''That Thing You Do!'', written and directed by Hanks; it also uses the same company logo, typically revealed on-screen with a brief instrumental snippet of the titular song itself, with some variations in each film depending on subject manner. The success of the film served as a spring-board to launch an actual Playtone Records label. Playtone has had an exclusive television development deal with HBO since the company was formed. Over the course of that time, Playtone's projects for HBO have won 46 Emmy Awards, while garnering 113 Emmy Award nominations. Films Television series Web series Playtone Records releases * ''That Thing You Do!'' soundtrack (1996) * ''The Sopranos'' soundtrack * ''The Sopr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
North Pole
The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distinguish from the Magnetic North Pole. The North Pole is by definition the northernmost point on the Earth, lying antipodally to the South Pole. It defines geodetic latitude 90° North, as well as the direction of true north. At the North Pole all directions point south; all lines of longitude converge there, so its longitude can be defined as any degree value. No time zone has been assigned to the North Pole, so any time can be used as the local time. Along tight latitude circles, counterclockwise is east and clockwise is west. The North Pole is at the center of the Northern Hemisphere. The nearest land is usually said to be Kaffeklubben Island, off the northern coast of Greenland about away, though some perhaps semi-permanent gravel banks lie slightly clos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas Day, the festival commemorating the birth of Jesus. Christmas Day is observed around the world, and Christmas Eve is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipation of Christmas Day. Together, both days are considered one of the most culturally significant celebrations in Christendom and Western society. Christmas celebrations in the denominations of Western Christianity have long begun on Christmas Eve, due in part to the Christian liturgical day starting at sunset, a practice inherited from Jewish tradition and based on the story of Creation in the Book of Genesis: "And there was evening, and there was morning – the first day." Many churches still ring their church bells and hold prayers in the evening; for example, the Nordic Lutheran churches. Since tradition holds that Jesus was born at night (based in Luke 2:6-8), Midnight Mass is celebrated on Christmas Eve, traditionally at midnight, in c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Motion-capture
Motion capture (sometimes referred as mo-cap or mocap, for short) is the process of recording the movement of objects or people. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robots. In filmmaking and video game development, it refers to recording actions of human actors, and using that information to animate digital character models in 2-D or 3-D computer animation.Andrew Harris Salomon, Feb. 22, 2013, Backstage MagazineGrowth In Performance Capture Helping Gaming Actors Weather Slump Accessed June 21, 2014, "..But developments in motion-capture technology, as well as new gaming consoles expected from Sony and Microsoft within the year, indicate that this niche continues to be a growth area for actors. And for those who have thought about breaking in, the message is clear: Get busy...."Ben Child, 12 August 2011, The GuardianAndy Serkis: why won't Oscars go ape over motion-capture acting? Star of Rise of the Planet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Live-action
Live action (or live-action) is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live-action with animation to create a live-action animated film. Live-action is used to define film, video games or similar visual media. According to the Cambridge English Dictionary, live action " nvolvesreal people or animals, not models, or images that are drawn, or produced by computer." Overview As the normal process of making visual media involves live-action, the term itself is usually superfluous. However, it makes an important distinction in situations in which one might normally expect animation, such as when the work is adapted from a video game, or from an animated cartoon, such as ''Scooby-Doo'', ''The Flintstones'', '' 101 Dalmatians'' films, or ''The Tick'' television program. The phrase "live-action" also occurs within an animation context to refer to non-animated characters: in a live-action/animated film such as ''Space Jam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Executive Producer
Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights or royalties). In films, the executive producer generally contributes to the film's budget and their involvement depends on the project, with some simply securing funds and others being involved in the filmmaking process. Motion pictures In films, executive producers may finance the film, participate in the creative effort, or work on set. Their responsibilities vary from funding or attracting investors into the movie project to legal, scripting, marketing, advisory and supervising capacities. Executive producers vary in involvement, responsibility and power. Some executive producers have hands-on control over every aspect of production, some supervise the producers of a project, while others are involved in name only. The creditin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adventure Film
An adventure film is a form of adventure fiction, and is a genre of film. Subgenres of adventure films include swashbuckler films, pirate films, and survival films. Adventure films may also be combined with other film genres such as action, animation, comedy, drama, fantasy, science fiction, family, horror, or war. Overview Setting plays an important role in an adventure film, sometimes itself acting as a character in the narrative. They are typically set in far away lands, such as lost continents or other exotic locations. They may also be set in a period background and may include adapted stories of historical or fictional adventure heroes within the historical context. Such struggles and situations that confront the main characters include things like battles, piracy, rebellion, and the creation of empires and kingdoms. A common theme of adventure films is of characters leaving their home or place of comfort and going to fulfill a goal, embarking on travels, quests, tre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fantasy Film
Fantasy films are films that belong to the fantasy genre with fantastic themes, usually magic, supernatural events, mythology, folklore, or exotic fantasy worlds. The genre is considered a form of speculative fiction alongside science fiction films and horror films, although the genres do overlap. Fantasy films often have an element of magic, myth, wonder, escapism, and the extraordinary. Prevalent elements include fairies, angels, mermaids, witches, monsters, wizards, unicorns, dragons, talking animals, ogres, elves, trolls, white magic, gnomes, vampires, werewolves, ghosts, demons, dwarves, giants, goblins, anthropomorphic or magical objects, familiars, curses and other enchantments, worlds involving magic, and the Middle Ages. Subgenres Several sub-categories of fantasy films can be identified, although the delineations between these subgenres, much as in fantasy literature, are somewhat fluid. The most common fantasy subgenres depicted in movies are High Fantasy a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Computer Animation
Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating animations. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both static scenes (still images) and dynamic images (moving images), while computer animation refers to moving images. Modern computer animation usually uses 3D computer graphics to generate a three-dimensional picture. The target of the animation is sometimes the computer itself, while other times it is film. Computer animation is essentially a digital successor to stop motion techniques, but using 3D models, and traditional animation techniques using frame-by-frame animation of 2D illustrations. Computer-generated animations can also allow a single graphic artist to produce such content without the use of actors, expensive set pieces, or props. To create the illusion of movement, an image is displayed on the computer monitor and repeatedly replaced by a new image that is similar to it but advanced slightly in time (usually at a ra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the United States. The publication has won more than 40 Pulitzer Prizes. It is owned by Patrick Soon-Shiong and published by the Times Mirror Company. The newspaper’s coverage emphasizes California and especially Southern California stories. In the 19th century, the paper developed a reputation for civic boosterism and opposition to labor unions, the latter of which led to the bombing of its headquarters in 1910. The paper's profile grew substantially in the 1960s under publisher Otis Chandler, who adopted a more national focus. In recent decades the paper's readership has declined, and it has been beset by a series of ownership changes, staff reductions, and other controversies. In January 2018, the paper's staff voted to unionize and final ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bloomberg Businessweek
''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City in September 1929. Bloomberg Businessweek business magazines are located in the Bloomberg Tower, 731 Lexington Avenue, Manhattan in New York City and market magazines are located in the Citigroup Center, 153 East 53rd Street between Lexington and Third Avenue, Manhattan in New York City. History ''Businessweek'' was first published based in New York City in September 1929, weeks before the stock market crash of 1929. The magazine provided information and opinions on what was happening in the business world at the time. Early sections of the magazine included marketing, labor, finance, management and Washington Outlook, which made ''Businessweek'' one of the first publications to cover national political issues that directly impacted the b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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