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João Tarouco wins Best Director!

We are proud to announce that João Tarouco has won Best Director of a Short Film at the Newark International Film Festival for our film The Flight of the Arrowhead! 

We also congratulate Jonathan Mercado for his nomination for Best Actor in a Short Film. 

The Flight of the Arrowhead was produced and created by the students and alumni of the Media Arts Magnet Program from Newark, New Jersey's East Side High School and the Thaumaturge Workshop animation studio. This film, that started as a high school project in 2009, represents over six years of work by a cast and crew that hails from 5 continents.

Honorable Mention Los Angeles SuperHero Film Festival

Official Selection First Annual Newark Comic Con 2015

"Wild fantasy from an unexpected corner." -Wolfgang Baur Publisher, Kobold Press

“Awesome... This blows my mind!” - U.S. Senator Cory Booker

To celebrate 'The Flight of the Arrowhead" as an Official Selection of the Newark International Film Festival we are releasing a select scene as a special preview. Enjoy!

N1-g3l in as a Dungeons and Dragons character in The Tome of Beasts!

Not only has the Thaumaturge Animation Team produced media content for Kobold Press' 'Tome of Beasts,' but our favorite clockwork sidekick, N1-g3l, from 'The Flight of the Arrowhead,' has his own page in the bestiary! Andrew Teheran and Joao Tarouco designed stats for the N1-g3l model, called a "Library Automaton," for the 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons game.

The character N1-g3l was originally designed by Joao Tarouco, Richard Santiago, Leonardo Gulli, Andrew Teheran and the rest of the production team of 'The Flight of the Arrowhead.'

The book 'Tome of Beasts' is available for sale on the Kobold Press website and on Amazon.com.

The Tome of Beasts!

Last year, 'The Flight of the Arrowhead' team began a new partnership with Seattle's Kobold Press, a publisher of 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons rulebooks. Andrew Teheran, Joao Tarouco, Andre Marques, Andre Zatta and Dylan Alves, along with interns from East Side High School's Media Arts Magnet Program, have produced animated content for the game company. This partnership will continue this year with more media content, internships and other amazing geeky stuff. Here is the book release trailer we created for a huge bestiary called 'The Tome of Beasts.' Enjoy!

Newark International Film Festival Nominations

We are proud to announce the nominations of Joao Tarouco for Best Director and Jonathan Mercado for Best Actor at the Newark International Film Festival for The Flight of the Arrowhead.

We are proud to announce that The Flight of the Arrowhead is an official selection of the Newark International Film Festival. It will be screened at the Newark Museum during the Newark Filmmaker Short Showcase on Saturday, September 10th.

This film was produced and created by the students and alumni of the Media Arts Magnet Program from Newark, New Jersey's East Side High School and the Thaumaturge Workshop animation studio. This film, that started as a high school project, represents over a half decade of work by a cast and crew that hails from 5 continents.

For more information please visit the Newark International Film Festival website at www.newarkiff.com.

Honorable Mention Los Angeles SuperHero Film Festival

Official Selection First Annual Newark Comic Con 2015

“Awesome... This blows my mind!” - U.S. Senator Cory Booker

Thaumaturge team working on The Tome of Beasts book release trailer for Kobold Press. We are very excited to be working with Kobold-in-Chief, Wolfgang Baur, one of the top names in Dungeons and Dragons design. Listen to his awesome interview on the official Wizards of the Coast Dungeons and Dragons podcast. The trailer scheduled to be released in June. Look for updates!

Thaumaturge team celebrates the premiere of Flight of the Arrowhead at Newark ComicCon on September 12, 2015. Keep an eye on this blog for the date of the film's public premiere, and more cool updates and Flight of the Arrowhead news.

Crew Builds Miniature Sets Using Games-Workshop Techniques

                                       Michael "Mikey-Mike" Raposo

The tradition of miniature building within the Thaumaturge Wonderworks animation house is a long one. Growing out of after school pen and pencil gaming sessions, scores of highly detailed 1in.=5ft. scale architectural and nautical pieces were made by the students of East Side's New Media Studies Magnet Program. Many of the techniques employed by the team were learned from instructional guides published by the gaming company Games Workshop.

All of the miniatures were built with mostly Styrofoam, card stock and cardboard. They were painted primarily with acrylic paints. Each of the individual pieces represent many hours of work. The images function, along with virtual CGI models as the sets for our film that was almost entirely shot on green screen. Enjoy the images below.

                                       CGI Artist Leonardo "Da Vinci" Gulli

                                       Port Keel

                                       Composited Frame (with CGI and live footage)

                                       Hugo "Kid Slow-Mo" Santos with "The Old Lager"

                                       Caroline "Carrie" Sincaruk at work

                                                Director Joao Tarouco and Keenen Jones build a church

                                       Jose "Shadow" Perez and Luiz Ataides

                                       Greco-Roman style piece for climactic final battle of film

                                       Final composite for Port Keel establishing shot

Thaumaturge Wonderworks Desktop Wallpaper

Please download, enjoy and distribute this early holiday gift! These awesome desktop wallpapers, in various sizes, feature our new robot animation 1u-C.

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New robot animation from East Side New Media Studies Magnet Program

Here is an animated PSA by Andre Marques, a sophomore in East Side High School's New Media Studies Magnet Program. It was created as a submission for East Side's robotics team. The music and audio was done by David Barbosa. They were helped by graduate mentors Joao Tarouco, Andre Zatta and Leonardo Gulli.

Flight of the Arrowhead team meets with Pigeon: Impossible creator Lucas Martell

On Saturday, The Flight of the Arrowhead director João Tarouco and chief animator Leonardo Gulli met with Pigeon: Impossible creator Lucas Martell. The talented filmmaker took time out of his busy schedule to sit with the Thaumaturge team and discuss his work, the inspiring story behind its creation, and his career path through the world of filmmaking.

Pigeon: Impossible is an six minute animated short where a super-spy is harassed by a common pigeon. Mr. Martell's brainchild took five years to complete and exploded onto the animation and film festival circuit, winning numerous awards and having over seven million views on the internet.

Leonardo Gulli described the event,"I was very excited for the meeting. It was the first time I have spoken, in person, with such a successful filmmaker." João Tarouco was impressed with Mr. Martell, "Lucas was a really cool guy. It is amazing how he kept working on the long term goal of completing his animation. It is very inspirational for my team and I as we are producing The Flight of Arrowhead."

For almost two hours the group spoke about the intricacies of the latest animation applications and the importance of scripting. Mr. Martell gave a lot of advice about submitting to film festivals and the importance of a clear production pipeline when making a film.

After watching an exclusive preview roll of The Flight of the Arrowhead, Mr. Martell was impressed with the quality of work from the Thaumaturge team especially considering their young age. He wished the team luck and is anicipating its completion.

Check out Pigeon: Impossible!

Here is the first in a series of production journals that will chronicle the making of the film. :D

Production Journal #1

SPECIAL FEATURES!!!!

Enjoy this sneak peak at the inner workings of the post-production of The Flight of the Arrowhead.

The Arrowhead

Test render of The Arrowhead flyingship CGI model.

Sneak Peak at Advanced Storyboards

Here is a little taste of some upcoming teaser content. Stephanie Garcia as the fairy Lee-Lou courtesy of the talents of the new addition to our design and storyboarding team Joseph Gutierrez.

Thaumaturge 365 @ the Prudential Center

The Thaumaturge 365 creative team has created original animations for the mega-screen on the side of the Prudential Center. The lead students of the team participated in City Without Walls Newark New Media artist residency and apprenticeship program. Working with their mentor, Andrew Teheran, they produced thirty-second animations that are currently in rotation on the screen through the end of July.

Flight of the Arrowhead Team Dominates Newark Public Schools Film Festival

Students of East Side High School led by kids from the Thaumaturge 365 animation and FX team won in seven film categories at the 7th Annual Newark Public Schools Film Festival which was held at the Newark Screens on Springfield avenue on Wednesday night. The team won the Animation Award for their music video, Chickens In Love and won in the Commercial Category with their Flight Of The Arrowhead trailer. The chief animator of The Flight of the Arrowhead, Leonardo Guilli, won best animator along with Joao Tarouco, Andre Zatta and Carina Alves. Actress and founding member of Thumagturge 365 Stephanie Lee Garcia won the Graphics Award for her original illustrations for Chickens In Love. In The Flight of the Arrowhead Stephanie plays two characters. She reprises her role as the mercurial fairy Lee-Lou and adds to her repertoire the austere enchantress Lady Ursula Seraphane. "It is extremely challenging to play two roles that are so distinct, especially when they are in a scene together and have to interact."

Dorian Sabae and Felipe Dos Santos, the composers and performers of the original soundtrack of The Flight of The Arrowhead won the Best Music award for their work on the trailer for The Flight of The Arrowhead.

It was a great night where all of the student filmmakers in the City of Newark screened their work. The night was made possible by the School-to-Careers and College Initiatives office of the Newark Public Schools.

New Trailer in Glorious HD!