Mike Conte

Husband, father of two teenage boys, visual effects artist.

[Mike Conte @michael_j_conte]

@calebgamman Some lightsaber history:

On Phantom Menace I worked on the final battle with Darth Maul. The actors held sticks. I asked George Lucas if I should add light from the sabers onto the actors.

He said no, sabers don't cast light.

So I was a bit surprised when... (1/)

[Mike Conte @michael_j_conte]

@stephanfleet It’s partly small screens and partly rooms that are not dark enough, but mostly about not having smooth uncompressed 24fps playback.

IMO anim and comp both benefit from occasionally sitting in the same room as their supe reviewing the work together on a big screen.

[Mike Conte @michael_j_conte]

@slam415 @TheSpaceshipper @ILMVFX Nice Sam! I've been telling people that for years but had no idea it was your idea.
I was also told that the ship was designed to look like a toilet seat.
Do you know the meaning of the number 3120 (was it intended to be 3210)?

[Mike Conte @michael_j_conte]

A cookie from the Lucasfilm/ILM holiday lunch!

[Mike Conte @michael_j_conte]

@PaulPessimist @rltsports Per John Canzano this week, the $50 million number came from the president of Utah, who claims it was intended as the start of negotiation and not an absolute number:
https://t.co/4fr8lreod9

[Mike Conte @michael_j_conte]

@michaelmariant @peterhartlaub It's a party boat that caught fire a few days ago.

There's a story about it on SFGate today:

https://t.co/lg9szJa8EF

[Mike Conte @michael_j_conte]

@tvaziri I've done my share of ugly shots.

It's a good exercise to think about how you could have improved a shot.

There's no benefit in publicly crapping on another artist's work, especially without knowing the backstory. It might actually be amazing work given the limitations.

[Mike Conte @michael_j_conte]

@tvaziri How about Strange New Worlds s2 ?

SNW is my 2nd favorite Star Trek series after Deep Space Nine.
It might become my favorite by the end of its run.

[Mike Conte @michael_j_conte]

@ShmadsYoDad @PaulPessimist @clutch_87 @rltsports I was asking @PaulPessimist where they heard it was Stanford. I had heard Arizona, but USC/UCLA would make more sense.

Yes, the Pac-12's fatal mistake was assuming that every school was worth that much.

[Mike Conte @michael_j_conte]

@ShmadsYoDad @PaulPessimist @clutch_87 @rltsports Right, I've read stories that one professor told one Pac-12 president that their school was worth $50M.

But I've never seen a confirmed report which school that was.

USC & UCLA genuinely were worth $50M+ to the B1G, so if it were one of them, the analysis was right.

[Super 70s Sports @Super70sSports]

Someone told me Cannonball Run II is better than Cannonball Run. I’m not here to debate that, just to point out that anyone who has an opinion on the relative merits of the two films is an automatic friend of mine.

[Mike Conte @michael_j_conte]

@charmainesmchan Very cool! Really looking forward to this one, Charmaine!

[Mike Conte @michael_j_conte]

I love this project: gorgeous fake book covers based on movies!
https://t.co/LCoVn1OAQ7

[Brian Collins @briancollins1]

“For those who love movies and pastiche, Matt Stevens combines them into book covers of well-known and lesser-acknowledged films. 

Now, the traditional sequence of events usually goes like this: An author writes a book, a producer buys the film rights to it, and a director transforms the narrative into moving images; if the film was born of a screenplay, it is then sometimes adapted by an author into a novel. Matt Stevens turns the whole process upside down. These are not all books made into films, but films made original as imagined books. It’s an interesting twist—and here we talk about Stevens’ work and inspirations.”

Steven Heller serves up the best graphic design story of the summer - and just when everyone is finishing up their paperbacks for the beach.
https://t.co/nRTbSQQnUF

[Mike Conte @michael_j_conte]

@stewart_reads @The40AcresRollo @rltsports I missed the 2018 Cotton Bowl which wasn't an ACC game.
But OK the ACC is 2-28 against Notre Dame in the last six years.
My point is, Stanford has beaten Notre Dame more times in the last six years than the entire ACC conference did.

[Mike Conte @michael_j_conte]

@The40AcresRollo @rltsports Since UT's championship appearance in 2009:

UT: 91-72, 5 losing seasons, 1 NYS bowl appearance
Stanford: 108-55, 4 losing seasons, 5 NYS bowl appearances

[Mike Conte @michael_j_conte]

@The40AcresRollo @rltsports In the last six years:

Stanford vs. Notre Dame: 3-3
all ACC teams vs. Notre Dame: 1-28

[Mike Conte @michael_j_conte]

@b_allison @WildcatAgenda I've been to 11 of the Pac-12 campuses and close to the last one (Utah).

Out of all of them, Corvallis exceeded expectations the most. It's a surprisingly cute little college town.

[Mike Conte @michael_j_conte]

@tvaziri My first thought was Tom Cruise and Philip Seymour Hoffman in M:I3, but I'm going to have to go with Eastern Promises (2007).

[Mike Conte @michael_j_conte]

@MuseZack @ZaidJilani An Officer and a Gentleman (1982)

[Mike Conte @michael_j_conte]

As a point of clarification ILM was union until 2008 (IATSE Local 16) and many animators are still members of IATSE Local 839.

It's more correct to say, as IATSE does, that VFX professionals are mostly non-union.

[More Perfect Union @MorePerfectUS]

BREAKING: Visual Effects (VFX) workers at Marvel have filed for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board.

If they’re successful @vfxunion will be the first visual effects professionals to unionize.
https://t.co/apd7ZzjkZE