2004 Gold Coast Film Fantastic ready to thrill

Preparations are under way for the 3rd annual Gold Coast Film Fantastic.

A major highlight this year will be the inaugural Film Fantastic Fantasy Ball.

Many different genres of film will be on show including kids films, fantasy films, horror films and kung-fu horror films.

This year’s retrospective will focus on ‘the house of horror’, Hammer studios. In 1957 Hammer resurrected Frankenstein and then went on to breathe life into Dracula, the Mummy and many others.

Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee were two actors who were continually used to portray many heroes and villains.

Fim Fantastic Fantasy Ball

This year there will be the first Film Fantastic Fantasy Ball which promises to continue the festival’s central theme of fantasy for all. Gothic costumes will be the theme for the evening with many attendees going all the way with make-up and hair styles to match.

Tickets are $90 per person and includes devilish hors d’oeuves, Angelic treats, Gothic DJ’s and special performers.

The Ball will finish with a mystery midnight movie screening included with tickets.
Appearing on-stage during the evening will be the contestants from the Creature makeup FX competition-all made up and ready to scare!

Judges this year will be

• John Cox –Creature Workshop
• Peter Frampton- Frampton Institute of Makeup
• Kerryn Roberts
• Jan Grew- Councillor
• Academy award winners

To book phone the Gold Coast Arts Centre on 07 5588 4000

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Racing Stripes JANUARY 14 2005

The latest news on Alcon Entertainment’s film, shot in South Africa last year, is that a trailer is now online at www.racingstripesmovie.com.

John Cox's Creature Workshop sent a crew of 15 to the province of Kwa Zulu Natal for 16 weeks to puppeteer the animals that the company built for the film.

‘Filming of the animatronic animals went very smoothly and our animals were not considered a threat by the real animals, in fact the animatronic animals were used when the real animals just didn’t get on!’

Peter Pan on DVD

A 100yr old, one-eyed, peg leg parrot, a giant crocodile and a Saint Bernhard nanny were the creatures built by John Cox's Creature Workshop for PJ Hogan’s version of ‘Peter Pan’.

Although the parrot and dog made the final cut of the film the croc was not so lucky. 3 weeks before the cave scene featuring the croc was due to be filmed the entire sequence was dramatically cut from the shooting schedule due to time constraints.

The animatronic croc appears in the final cut for 22 seconds but only opens his eyes.

To see workshop footage of the croc being built and operated AND to see a rough test of the entire croc sequence visit the video section of our website www.johncox.net.

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Film Fantastic Creature FX Makeup Competition

This years Makeup FX competition promises to be bigger and better than last year with more contestants and bigger prizes.

The aim is to give established and aspiring makeup artists a place to showcase their talents.

This year there are contestants from all over Australia competing for thousands of dollars in prize money and professional products.

The contestants will take to the stage during the Film Fantasy Ball for the judging and presentations.

Gorillas Everywhere

Disney’s ‘George of the Jungle 2’ provided us with a chance to make 5 talking Gorillas. The caricatured designs reflected each gorilla’s personality.

The greatest challenge is to blend in the form of a gorilla onto the face of a human. Certain compromises are always necessary such as the placement of the gorilla’s forehead when using the actors eyes as the gorillas eyes.

The performers inside each suit were kept cool using a combination of a cool suit, fans and in between takes they got paid to lay down on banana chairs. Fun job!!

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Safari in Africa by John Cox

After my work on ‘Racing Stripes’ was completed my wife Julie and I took our 2 boys Matt and Ethan to Africa during October of last year for a series of safaris.

We visited Pilansberg Game Reserve in South Africa where there was an abundance of Rhinos, Elephants and baboons.

We then flew to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwae, to see the falls at sunset. The next morning we were driven to Chobe National Park, Botswana, where we were able to see about 1000 of the 100,000 elephants that inhabit the park. As well as leopards, lions, hippos, zebras there were many spectacular native birds of Botswana. A boat trip along the river was a highlight during which we watched an Elephant swim from one side of the river to the other.

We then flew in a small plane into the Okavango Delta which is also in Botswana. Here the wildlife was different again with many more antelope, birds, hyenas and lions.

This was a real treat for me to get so close to these animals and to see them in their natural habitat. Of course the animals everyone wants to see are the big cats who can be very uninterested in getting photographed and do all that they can to become invisible.

We are all looking forward to returning to Africa some day to visit Kenya and Tanzania.

About Our Organization

John Cox has 25 years experience in the visual effects industry and is the director of Australia's leading creature effects company, John Cox's Creature Workshop. His company specialises in the concept, design and manufacture of fantasy creatures, characters and realistic animals. Large scale projects include the terrifying creatures in the Universal Pictures feature "Pitch Black" and feature characters in the Warner Brothers/Atlas Entertainment production "Scooby Doo".

Recent productions include ‘Peter Pan’ and ‘Racing Stripes’ which will be released in 2005.

John received a 1995 Academy Award for Visual Effects for the movie 'Babe' and in 1999 was elected as a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

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