When a young owl is abducted by an evil Owl army, he must escape with newfound friends to seek out the legendary Guardians to stop the menace
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Friday, January 20, 2012
Boardwalk Empire VFX Breakdowns of Season 2
Boardwalk Empire VFX Breakdowns of Season 2
Boardwalk Empire is an Emmy nominated HBO show about the life and times of Nucky Thompson, a fictional Atlantic City gangster. Watching the show, you don’t realize just how much of it is computer generated special effects. The people at Brainstorm Digital have a reel of before and after footage from the show that will blow your mind when you see how much of 1920s Atlantic City is all in the computer.
Boardwalk Empire is an Emmy nominated HBO show about the life and times of Nucky Thompson, a fictional Atlantic City gangster. Watching the show, you don’t realize just how much of it is computer generated special effects. The people at Brainstorm Digital have a reel of before and after footage from the show that will blow your mind when you see how much of 1920s Atlantic City is all in the computer.
Prime Focus Adds thrill in 'Players' with 1108 VFX shots and DI
Prime focus has delivered 1108 VFX shots and DI for the latest fast paced, action centric-thriller Bollywood hit movie – 'Players '. The movie has been directed by the Director duo Abbas-Mustan. Abbas Burmawalla said, “It is our fourth collaboration with Prime Focus. We were truly impressed by the way Merzin Tavaria, Chief Creative Director and his team was involved from the pre- production stage itself, which helped enhance the story-telling of the movie 'Players'”. Prime focus focused on maintaining a glamorous and sleek look while the grading required the glossy effect.
Players' is based on the 2003 Hollywood blockbuster - The Italian Job. In 'Players', a gang of robbers led by Charlie (Abhishek Bachchan) pull off a perfect plan of robbing gold worth $10 billion from a running train, only to be double crossed by one of his own gang member. The movie is perfect mix of action, comedy & drama and has oodles of glamour.
One of the most important and challenging sequence in the movie was the train Sequence, which brings an entire twist to the story. The Prime Focus team planned the sequence from the pre – production stage itself. Talking about the train sequence, DOP Ravi Yadav said, “For such a challenging shot, Prime Focus presented seamless and convincing VFX shots in a short span. Involving Prime Focus helped me to improve the intensity and magnitude of the sequence to a great extent.”
In the sequence, the entire train scene was shot in a static boogie, so guards watching the movement outside the window was entirely shot against chroma and later on moving footage of the Russian background was composited, tracked and rotoed. To create the foggy effect or illusion on the windows of the train, 3D dynamics and matte painting was used and then the entire illusion was composited to make the shot as seamless as possible.
“Very seldom does a single sequence require 305 VFX shots. The scale by itself reflects the complexities involved to deliver a sequence of this magnitude. Our team has added all possible graphical elements to make this sequence as believable as it has turned out”, said Merzin Tavaria, Chief Creative Director and Co-Founder, Prime Focus. “Since we planned the shoot keeping in mind the requirements of post and by utilizing our own internal pipeline, we were able to flawlessly deliver this sequence in 15 days.” continued Merzin.
The train is tracked through a satellite on numerous computers for its security. The monitor inserts having different motion graphics was individually designed and tracked for each computer screen in order to make it seamless with the story line of the movie. The shot when the train passes through a tunnel was completely computer generated, matte painted, tracked and 3D projected. To add glitter to the $10 billion worth gold, each and every individual gold slab was rotoed separately.
“Considering safety hazards, VFX was majorly used for most of shots in this scene. The team used the footage which was originally shot for each character in chroma, rotoed each character and then composited the moving footage of the background. To make the scene as believable, moving reflections and pace were added to the moving background.” said Mahesh Baria, Senior VFX Supervisor. Mahesh Baria continued, “Towards the end of this shot, Charlie and his team member Spider break into a fight. In this particular sequence, since most of the shots were under water, we had to add water bubbles. To make the shot look even more realistic and action packed, a lot of blast enhancements, rig removal, chroma and clean up shots were involved as well. In addition, camera shakes and frame-by-frame roto followed by tracking was carried out to make the shot look believable and authentic.”
Besides the shot mentioned above, there is a shot where Charlie and two of his other team members are driving cars parallel to the train in an underground rail system, to eventually drive it in front of the train engine. For this scene, the underground rail system and cars had to be made completely in CG. Another sequence shows Spider's house laden with interactive touch screens. For each screen, different moving shots were shot separately and later on the moving backgrounds were composited and computer generated on the screen to make the shot look flawless. Finally, for the climax sequence, car multiplication, matte painting, compositing and transition shots were involved as the director duo wanted to show a massive traffic jam.
Since the first part of the movie was shot in Goa and Russia, the look that was required to achieve in DI was warm yellow and desat respectively. However, the climax needed to be glossy as it was shot in New Zealand.
Commenting on the project, Rohan Desai, DI Head and Chief Colorist, Prime Focus said “One of the biggest challenges and the most difficult sequence of the entire movie was the train sequence in Russia. Since the entire sequence was shot while it was snowing, and the weather - freezing, a persistent look had to be maintained while grading. Keeping in mind the glamorous look of the movie, the snow was treated with finesse. Post the train sequence, a desat look was maintained for the fight sequence.”
"Since the movie is an action packed movie, we enhanced the original colors to make the movie look sleek, stylish and glossy", said Colorist, Harmeet (Sunny) Singh. “A very warm and glossy look was given to the song- 'Ho Gayi Tun' to make it the most glamorous song of the movie. Extensive work was done to make each character look glamorous and stylish in consistence with the movie.”
One of the other challenges was to match and grade shots from multiple setup cameras and the 5D camera.
Players' is based on the 2003 Hollywood blockbuster - The Italian Job. In 'Players', a gang of robbers led by Charlie (Abhishek Bachchan) pull off a perfect plan of robbing gold worth $10 billion from a running train, only to be double crossed by one of his own gang member. The movie is perfect mix of action, comedy & drama and has oodles of glamour.
One of the most important and challenging sequence in the movie was the train Sequence, which brings an entire twist to the story. The Prime Focus team planned the sequence from the pre – production stage itself. Talking about the train sequence, DOP Ravi Yadav said, “For such a challenging shot, Prime Focus presented seamless and convincing VFX shots in a short span. Involving Prime Focus helped me to improve the intensity and magnitude of the sequence to a great extent.”
In the sequence, the entire train scene was shot in a static boogie, so guards watching the movement outside the window was entirely shot against chroma and later on moving footage of the Russian background was composited, tracked and rotoed. To create the foggy effect or illusion on the windows of the train, 3D dynamics and matte painting was used and then the entire illusion was composited to make the shot as seamless as possible.
“Very seldom does a single sequence require 305 VFX shots. The scale by itself reflects the complexities involved to deliver a sequence of this magnitude. Our team has added all possible graphical elements to make this sequence as believable as it has turned out”, said Merzin Tavaria, Chief Creative Director and Co-Founder, Prime Focus. “Since we planned the shoot keeping in mind the requirements of post and by utilizing our own internal pipeline, we were able to flawlessly deliver this sequence in 15 days.” continued Merzin.
The train is tracked through a satellite on numerous computers for its security. The monitor inserts having different motion graphics was individually designed and tracked for each computer screen in order to make it seamless with the story line of the movie. The shot when the train passes through a tunnel was completely computer generated, matte painted, tracked and 3D projected. To add glitter to the $10 billion worth gold, each and every individual gold slab was rotoed separately.
“Considering safety hazards, VFX was majorly used for most of shots in this scene. The team used the footage which was originally shot for each character in chroma, rotoed each character and then composited the moving footage of the background. To make the scene as believable, moving reflections and pace were added to the moving background.” said Mahesh Baria, Senior VFX Supervisor. Mahesh Baria continued, “Towards the end of this shot, Charlie and his team member Spider break into a fight. In this particular sequence, since most of the shots were under water, we had to add water bubbles. To make the shot look even more realistic and action packed, a lot of blast enhancements, rig removal, chroma and clean up shots were involved as well. In addition, camera shakes and frame-by-frame roto followed by tracking was carried out to make the shot look believable and authentic.”
Besides the shot mentioned above, there is a shot where Charlie and two of his other team members are driving cars parallel to the train in an underground rail system, to eventually drive it in front of the train engine. For this scene, the underground rail system and cars had to be made completely in CG. Another sequence shows Spider's house laden with interactive touch screens. For each screen, different moving shots were shot separately and later on the moving backgrounds were composited and computer generated on the screen to make the shot look flawless. Finally, for the climax sequence, car multiplication, matte painting, compositing and transition shots were involved as the director duo wanted to show a massive traffic jam.
Since the first part of the movie was shot in Goa and Russia, the look that was required to achieve in DI was warm yellow and desat respectively. However, the climax needed to be glossy as it was shot in New Zealand.
Commenting on the project, Rohan Desai, DI Head and Chief Colorist, Prime Focus said “One of the biggest challenges and the most difficult sequence of the entire movie was the train sequence in Russia. Since the entire sequence was shot while it was snowing, and the weather - freezing, a persistent look had to be maintained while grading. Keeping in mind the glamorous look of the movie, the snow was treated with finesse. Post the train sequence, a desat look was maintained for the fight sequence.”
"Since the movie is an action packed movie, we enhanced the original colors to make the movie look sleek, stylish and glossy", said Colorist, Harmeet (Sunny) Singh. “A very warm and glossy look was given to the song- 'Ho Gayi Tun' to make it the most glamorous song of the movie. Extensive work was done to make each character look glamorous and stylish in consistence with the movie.”
One of the other challenges was to match and grade shots from multiple setup cameras and the 5D camera.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Monday, December 19, 2011
Crystal ball gazing – some possible futures in Visual Effects
Visual Effects is the creation and manipulation of moving images in post-production. It ranges from adding a simple title to creating an entire world like Pandora in Avatar.
Any film can benefit from VFX – there is no need to go to the expense of taking your unit to New York or renting a helicopter when both the city and the aircraft can be digitally created and added to foregrounds filmed at your convenience. Why hire 300 junior actors for a crowd scene when VFX can multiply 50 as required?
Everything we do in VFX depends on computing power. What’s possible depends on the cost and speed of processors and memory.
In 1965 Gordon Moore, who went on to found Intel, predicted the exponential growth in possible processor density that continues today. Simply put, he said that the available power of computing will double every two years. This has held true ever since.
For VFX it means that over time the impossible becomes possible, difficult things become easy and expensive things become cheaper.5
Currently we think about the spatial resolution of an image – how many pixels make up a frame. Images 2000 pixels across are being superseded by images 4000 pixels across, with four times the amount of data of course. Another doubling in resolution (quadrupling the size of the data set again) will give us image detail equivalent to the maximum the human eye can resolve.
Where film currently leads digital acquisition is colour depth or latitude. Better image sensors and faster processors will give us new cameras that match celluloid in this respect – with a commensurate increase in the size of the data set.
The entire path of a movie image, from shooting to the viewer, will eventually be as digits with no compromise in quality.
New file formats will be introduced to store and move that data around. Creative decisions will not have to be committed before the next process in the production chain can occur, as all the data that goes to make up a shot, a scene or, one day, a complete movie will remain live and adjustable until the director or perhaps the viewer decides exactly what they want to see.
Entirely new camera technology will ultimately revolutionise acquisition.
Lytro in the US are prototyping a lens and sensor array that collects light data from a scene in a way that it can be used to reconstruct the geometry of a shot later – the way light falls in 3D space is recorded and understood as a mathematical model. Focus doesn’t matter to the pure numbers and can be set in post-production. Right now there is a consumer level prototype but in a few years when the technology is applied to movie cameras there is the possibility of a total game changer.
Object recognition techniques are being researched and that research condensed into algorithms that take advantage of greater processor speeds. Computers will be able to intelligently isolate an object in a scene without the need for green screen or rotoscopy. Software will understand the volume that an object occupies, giving us the ability to relight and otherwise manipulate it.
We will be able to calculate and recreate backgrounds that are hidden behind foreground objects by detecting patterns and referring to an experiential library. Similar techniques will let us see the back of an object – the side turned away from the camera. Eventually this will be possible for the most complex thing in a shot, a human.
Techniques are being developed that can reconstruct a 3 dimensional model of a face from a library data set, a collection of mathematical relationships and a still photo, then animate that face at will. A recognisable and convincing character on screen will be created from a snapshot of an actor who has since aged or retired.
The study and analysis of human form and movement that is happening in other fields, for example medicine and security, is giving us spatial and behavioral models that will allow better and faster creation of crowds and armies of virtual humans that act like real people without having to be animated frame-by-frame and character-by-character. Ultimately CG actors will have believable facial expressions.
The interaction between human skin and light is incredibly complex, and we’ve all been observing it since birth, so we can easily spot a fake. New mathematical techniques supported by massive processing power will bring us closer to being able to make a digital human that is indistinguishable from the real thing.
Right now we can put a small Computer Graphics (CG) person at the back of a scene and the viewer will have no idea that he isn’t real. Placing him in the mid-ground, closer to the camera, is possible but time consuming and expensive. In the future we will be able to create convincing people in close-up.
Rather than spend large budgets on building complete sets of physical scenery, filmmakers will only need to construct just enough of a real environment for the director and actors to interact comfortably with. The un-built parts will be created in CG, in real time so the complete shot can be watched live on set as it is blocked and recorded. The designer and DoP will be able to make changes after the scene is in the can (or in the memory bank).
We will develop more sophisticated mathematical models of physical things like explosions, the deformation of metal in a car crash, the way water splashes. It will become cheaper and easier to create many more events in CG than shoot them for real.
The lines between movies and computer games will blur. Games will become photo real, stories and assets will be shared between the mediums and viewer interactivity with films will become possible. The audience will decide whether to passively sit and be told a story or to participate in it and influence the plotline and outcome.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Golden Globes Gets Animated
Golden Globes Gets Animated
Grabbing Best Animated Feature nominations today for the 69th Golden Globe Awards are the five studio films you could count on: Steven Spielberg’s The Adventures of Tintin from Weta Digital (Dec. 21); Aardman/Sony’s Arthur Christmas; Pixar and John Lasseter’s Cars 2; DreamWorks’ Puss in Boots; and Gore Verbinski’s Rango, the front runner and ILM’s first animated feature. Gnomeo & Juliet’s “Hello Hello” from Elton John and Bernie Taupin was nominated for Best Original Song.
What does this mean for Oscar? I think it’s a race between Rango and Tintin with the other two or three spots wide open. But don’t be surprised if one of the 2D indies sneaks in, such as A Cat in Paris.
“To make a movie so far afield from the norm was very gratifying,” admits Hal Hickel, Rango’s animation supervisor. “It’s hard to buck the trend but we’re so thrilled to be getting such a great response. And it was a great fit for us to work in a world that had such a photographic and textured look. The freedom not to be in that live-action box was new and exciting and it was helpful having Roger Deakins come in and show us that we had all these lighting options. We looked at There Will Be Blood, and liked the solutions they came up with for those hot, dusty exteriors.
“Where do we go from here? We’re dying to do another one, with or without Gore. In fact, I’d prefer to do something else that’s completely original. We can do so much more.”
For director Chris Miller, Puss in Boots provided an opportunity to do something totally different from the Shrek world and was a liberating experience. “It’s reflected in the movie,” Miller adds. “Guillermo [del Toro] came aboard at a great time for us. It was fated in a way. It was surreal when he asked to participate and helped us achieve the story we wanted to tell. We’ll see if there’s an appetite for the cat to come back.”
“I’m just delighted that the brilliant craftsmanship, hard work, and dedication of the team who made Arthur Christmas has been honored by a Golden Globe nomination,” remarks director Sarah Smith. “Thank you to the HFPA; we hope the movie gives Christmas pleasure!”
The Golden Globes will air live on Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012 at 5:00 pm PST on NBC.
Grabbing Best Animated Feature nominations today for the 69th Golden Globe Awards are the five studio films you could count on: Steven Spielberg’s The Adventures of Tintin from Weta Digital (Dec. 21); Aardman/Sony’s Arthur Christmas; Pixar and John Lasseter’s Cars 2; DreamWorks’ Puss in Boots; and Gore Verbinski’s Rango, the front runner and ILM’s first animated feature. Gnomeo & Juliet’s “Hello Hello” from Elton John and Bernie Taupin was nominated for Best Original Song.
What does this mean for Oscar? I think it’s a race between Rango and Tintin with the other two or three spots wide open. But don’t be surprised if one of the 2D indies sneaks in, such as A Cat in Paris.
“To make a movie so far afield from the norm was very gratifying,” admits Hal Hickel, Rango’s animation supervisor. “It’s hard to buck the trend but we’re so thrilled to be getting such a great response. And it was a great fit for us to work in a world that had such a photographic and textured look. The freedom not to be in that live-action box was new and exciting and it was helpful having Roger Deakins come in and show us that we had all these lighting options. We looked at There Will Be Blood, and liked the solutions they came up with for those hot, dusty exteriors.
“Where do we go from here? We’re dying to do another one, with or without Gore. In fact, I’d prefer to do something else that’s completely original. We can do so much more.”
For director Chris Miller, Puss in Boots provided an opportunity to do something totally different from the Shrek world and was a liberating experience. “It’s reflected in the movie,” Miller adds. “Guillermo [del Toro] came aboard at a great time for us. It was fated in a way. It was surreal when he asked to participate and helped us achieve the story we wanted to tell. We’ll see if there’s an appetite for the cat to come back.”
“I’m just delighted that the brilliant craftsmanship, hard work, and dedication of the team who made Arthur Christmas has been honored by a Golden Globe nomination,” remarks director Sarah Smith. “Thank you to the HFPA; we hope the movie gives Christmas pleasure!”
The Golden Globes will air live on Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012 at 5:00 pm PST on NBC.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
15 Compete for VFX Oscar Race
15 Compete for VFX Oscar Race
The list of films qualifying for the VFX Oscar has been narrowed to 15. Not too many surprises. All of the usual suspects are there, with the likely contenders consisting of Captain America: The First Avenger, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Hugo, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and Transformers: Dark of the Moon.
The Tree of Life happily made the cut for its spectacular birth of the universe sequence, yet Anonymous did not for its superb virtual recreation of Elizabethan London. Also, The Adventures of Tintin was overlooked. Then again, it’s competing in the animation race, which was probably a major factor.
The films are listed below in alphabetical order:
• “Captain America: The First Avenger”
• “Cowboys & Aliens”
• “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2″
• “Hugo”
• “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol”
• “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides”
• “Real Steel”
• “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”
• “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows”
• “Sucker Punch”
• “Super 8″
• “Thor”
• “Transformers: Dark of the Moon”
• “The Tree of Life”
• “X-Men: First Class”
In early January, the members of the Academy’s Visual Effects Branch Executive committee, who selected the 15 films, will narrow the list to 10.
All members of the Visual Effects Branch will be invited to the annual bakeoff to view 10-minute excerpts from each of the 10 shortlisted films on Thursday, Jan. 19. Following the screenings, the members will vote to nominate five films for final Oscar consideration.
The 84th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.
Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2011 will be presented on Sunday, Feb. 26, 2012, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center, and televised live by ABC. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries worldwide.
The list of films qualifying for the VFX Oscar has been narrowed to 15. Not too many surprises. All of the usual suspects are there, with the likely contenders consisting of Captain America: The First Avenger, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Hugo, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and Transformers: Dark of the Moon.
The Tree of Life happily made the cut for its spectacular birth of the universe sequence, yet Anonymous did not for its superb virtual recreation of Elizabethan London. Also, The Adventures of Tintin was overlooked. Then again, it’s competing in the animation race, which was probably a major factor.
The films are listed below in alphabetical order:
• “Captain America: The First Avenger”
• “Cowboys & Aliens”
• “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2″
• “Hugo”
• “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol”
• “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides”
• “Real Steel”
• “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”
• “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows”
• “Sucker Punch”
• “Super 8″
• “Thor”
• “Transformers: Dark of the Moon”
• “The Tree of Life”
• “X-Men: First Class”
In early January, the members of the Academy’s Visual Effects Branch Executive committee, who selected the 15 films, will narrow the list to 10.
All members of the Visual Effects Branch will be invited to the annual bakeoff to view 10-minute excerpts from each of the 10 shortlisted films on Thursday, Jan. 19. Following the screenings, the members will vote to nominate five films for final Oscar consideration.
The 84th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.
Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2011 will be presented on Sunday, Feb. 26, 2012, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center, and televised live by ABC. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries worldwide.
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