Nelson here...thanks to Adam Lloyd for the heads up on the Steve Jablonsky Transformers scoring sessions .

Click to read the complete article via SoundtrackNet.

Nelson here...we got some new photographs of Michael Bay on the set of Transformers. Click here to view.

Do not repost photos without expressed permission of michaelbay.com.

This is one of two ads Michael shot for the Pepsi One campaign.

Hey, I want to thank everyone for the kind words on the trailer. I'm so used to seeing robots I kind of got bored with the trailer. I forget you have not seen them. When they put the piece together I kept wanting to show our truly awesome shots - but we didn't. I can without a doubt, say we have just teased you on this trailer. We have so many huge shots that will never be in our ads. I bet this will be one of the rare trailers that does not show you the true money shots of the movie.

I would also like fans opinion on opening on July 3rd instead of the 4th. The studio kind of sort of is thinking about which might mean "no". If you spread the word on the Net - everywhere - they might listen. The 3rd everyone is off from work, I say "what the fuck" play the movie - "give'em giant fucking robots early"!!!

Michael

View it in high definition here.

View the international trailer here.

Be sure to watch!

http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/transformers.html

A while ago I spoke to Michael and he indicated he was in the process of writing the script for a video game.

Now, the LATimes reports Digital Domain and Bay are producing a video game with a $25 million budget. Read the article below.



Special-effects house aims to make video games more cinematic

With a movie director as co-chairman, Digital Domain is poised to accelerate the blurring of the two media.
By Richard Verrier

Times Staff Writer

May 14, 2007

A budget of about $25 million may not be much for director Michael Bay, maker of such mega-budget movies as "Armageddon" and "Pearl Harbor."

But it's enough to get him launched on a new passion: creating a video game that matches the quality of a feature film.

Bay's first-person shooter game is part of a larger strategy to transform Digital Domain Inc., where he is now co-chairman, from one of Hollywood's elite special-effects houses into a full-blown production studio, capitalizing on the convergence between games and feature films.

That was a key inducement for Bay in leading a Florida-based investment group, Wyndcrest Holdings, last May in its $35-million purchase of the Venice company.

"I make world-class images," Bay said. "Why not put those images into a game?"

Over 13 years, Digital Domain made its name with computer wizardry that created memorable scenes for "Titanic," "The Day After Tomorrow" and "Flags of Our Fathers."

But differences among the former owners, and a lack of investment capital, hampered the company in recent years. That allowed rivals such as Sony Pictures ImageWorks, Rhythm & Hues and Peter Jackson's Weta to cut into Digital Domain's core effects business.

Compounding matters, Digital Domain and other U.S. visual-effects houses have been squeezed by rising labor costs and competition from rivals in Europe and Asia that are able to produce effects at a fraction of the cost.

Enter Bay and Wyndcrest Holdings. The partnership bought out owners that included IBM Corp., Cox Enterprises Inc. and the company founders — director James Cameron, effects legend Stan Winston and then-Chief Executive Scott Ross.

Former veteran Microsoft Corp. executive Carl Stork, a principal of Wyndcrest, was tapped to lead the turnaround. He hired three top executives from George Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic.

"We see ourselves being the next-generation digital-content studio," Stork said. "It's like we're a new, start-up company."

Beyond fixing leaky roofs and buying ergonomic chairs for the company's 500 workers, the new owners bought a new computer network. They've also worked to improve Digital's relations with major studios, building up feature effects work that helped return the company to the black last year after a loss in 2005.

Company executives won't disclose finances but say Digital Domain will post a double-digit increase in revenue this year, helped by a thriving business working on commercials. Profit, however, will be flat as Wyndcrest pumps up to $100 million over the next three years into equipment purchases, acquisitions and about 100 hires, many of them video-game programmers, Stork said.

Digital Domain plans to develop four or five games over the next two years, tapping into a lucrative industry whose sales in the U.S. climbed 19% to a record $12.5 billion last year, according to research firm NPD Group. As video entertainment becomes more sophisticated, the line between video games and movies is blurring.

Mindful of that trend, Digital Domain is building its own games unit and plans to acquire one or more game firms this year. The games would mostly be tied to Digital Domain's visual-effects projects, appealing to a range of styles and genres.

"We're not just talking about the convergence of film and video games," said Ed Ulbrich, president of Digital Domain's commercial division. "It's no longer a theory."

The video game industry, however, is fiercely competitive, dominated by such established players as Activision, Electronic Arts and THQ Inc.

"It's going to be very difficult" for Digital Domain, said Michael Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities. "The skill set of a game maker is very different from the skill set of a graphic artist."

Nonetheless, company executives say they have a competitive advantage: a network of A-list directors that includes David Fincher ("Fight Club"), Rob Cohen ("The Fast and the Furious") and, of course, Bay, whose latest movie, "Transformers," is one of the summer's most anticipated releases.

Most film-based games are developed through third parties, and filmmakers often have little or no creative control. By contrast, Digital would let filmmakers direct their own games.

Beyond video games, Digital Domain also wants to make computer-animated feature films, following a path of other effects houses such as rivals Rhythm & Hues of Los Angeles and Sony ImageWorks. ImageWorks helped spawn a new animation division last year at Sony Pictures, which releases "Surf's Up" next month.

Unlike Sony, however, Digital Domain won't compete in the crowded family market but will make animated films targeted to teenagers and young adults that cost $30 million to $50 million.

To keep costs down, the animation will be created using video game software in real time, rather than the slower frame-by-frame technique. Creating digital characters used in both a movie and a video game also would reduce costs.

A recent TV ad that Digital Domain made for "Gears of War," the popular Microsoft science-fiction game for Xbox 360, showed off the new direction.

Instead of relying on conventional software, Digital Domain's visual-effects artists created the 60-second spot using the same software that the game runs on. The commercial featured realistic effects and took only five weeks to make, about half the regular time, said Jay Wilbur, vice president of business development at Epic Games Inc., developer of "Gears of War."

"It was a massively successful campaign for us," he said.

Hard to believe it really is Bruce saying that stuff on AICN. I loved working with Bruce. He gave me a big hug one month ago at the GM party and we talked for 20 minutes. We even talked about working together again! I mean it would be sad if he felt this way - he's never one to hide his feelings - I say sad, in that he wouldn't be man enough to say it to my face. But truly sad that such a big time actor would have to hide on a little talk back section. So I really don't believe this story.

I find it also totally odd that my agents at William Morris got the call from Bruce's people to inquire if I would like to helm Die Hard 4, but I was already on Transformers.

Michael

Click on the thumbnails to view larger versions.

View the Transformer robots and read in amazing interview with ILM.

Link.

Join Michael Bay, a panel of Cisco and other entertainment industry executives in an interactive discussion about the impact the digital video revolution has had on the entertainment industry. Hear how digital video technology has influenced the film-making process. Get a behind-the-scenes glimpse into how some of the world's biggest brands are connecting themselves to entertainment, and learn how companies like Cisco are using this connection to redefine how they reach their target audiences. See how Cisco's enterprise video solution is changing the way people communicate with one another and view their entertainment content.

The Digital Video Revolution and the Empowered Consumer
Wednesday, July 25
8:15 a.m.–9:30 a.m.

For more information, read the complete details.

Nelson here.

It's with great pleasure that I announce Bonecrusher Bay. Bonecrusher is Michael's new mastiff.

Sadly Mason passed away 6 weeks ago. He had been around a while and had parts in Pearl Harbor and Bad Boys 2. He will be missed.

*****

In other news, there have been a couple folks in MySpace that have been pretending to be Michael. Like this loser here.

Michael's true MySpace placeholder page can be found here. Sadly, www.myspace.com/michaelbay is owned by someone else.

Hence I've set a page at the VIRB online community. You can find it at http://www.virb.com/michaelbay.

VIRB is what Myspace would be if they cared about design and layout. VIRB is fresh and small as we speak. I expect it to be popular but niche online community. We'll see.

Nelson here.

A little update: I just spoke to Bay and he's just putting the finishing touches of the new Transformers theatrical trailer.

It will be attached to Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.

A very good article about Bay and the production of Transformers.

Read the entire article.

Original source: LATimes.