Secrets of blockbuster FX

I admit that I can’t just watch a video or a movie without trying to figure out how the effect was created. And, I may not be the first to write this, but it is true that the best VFX are the ones you don’t notice.

I would also add that whatever help the software provides you still need a human being to add the zing of brilliance and interpretation. Here is something about the companies and their creative talents.

Brainstorm Digital

This company is based in Brooklyn, NY, created among others, the lion walking through the office for the Wolf of Wall Street. You can find their site here  and click on The Wolf of Wall Street so see how those effects were created. There are other videos that you might find interesting on the same site, showing different aspects of this company’s work.

Framestore

The Oscars have been and gone, but perhaps some of us did not remember that the Best Visual Effects category was created in 1977, which was won this year by Gravity. The FX were created by Framestore in Soho, London, supervised by Tim Webber. If you want to read more about this company and its work go here.

You can take a quick look at the creation of some of the FX here:

Rhythm & Hues

Going back a little to Life of Pi, you can take a spin through Rhythm & Hues special projects here. A six-minute video from the same folks: http://www.rhythm.com/labs/ demonstrates the use of Voodoo Framework used. You will learn that, thanks to this software, the film Life of Pi had only three riggers.

Click HERE for full size image

Weta Digital

If you saw Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit, An Unexpected Journey, released in 2012, you will remember the hundreds of fantastic mythical beings, which must have been an animators dream to work on. Here is a link to the short video showing how some of the scenes were put together.

Weta Digital was behind the VFX for this film, which required up to 22 000 VFX shots to be taken and the senior visual effects supervisor was Joe Letteri. There is a lot out there about how this film was made, cramped looking spaces in caves were built so the walls could be moved to position cameras. Some of the creature actors wore digital links so their gestures could be interpreted using movement capture software.

The above is a still from the video (no video) Source: https://www.wetafx.co.nz/

Lola VFX 

In Captain America, the winter soldier (2014), Chris Evans the actor has to start out as a little, wimpy guy and ends up a bulked up Captain America. This work was done by Lola VFX in Santa Monica, California, which usually only work with 3D for reference, as most of their work is with 2D compositing. More about this can be found at fxguide.

Industrial Light & Magic

To finish, here is a short video on the Avengers movie. Put together by Industrial Light and Magic the company behind the special effects:

Below is a still from Captain America : The First Avenger (2011)…

Source: http://www.moviemistakes.com/film8983/photos/8983_4e265ad8c26d4.jpg

Although the field of CG VFX seems to be vital and necessary for the film industry, next time we will take a look at why this may not be so.

-Val Cameron/Dreamlight

PS: If you want to learn how to create cool backgrounds For Dreamlight’s bestselling “Movie Maker DS 4.6” Plug In, For Fun Or For Cash…go HERE.

Val Cameron