Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Username Log In
20
tweets
4Share retweet
Joe Ksander
CREATIVE DECISIONS
As anyone knows, a project is only as good as its
team, so Acker needed the best he could afford
and a team he could trust. Joe Ksander, the
Animation Director, was one of those plus he was
familiar with the short from its early stages.
Ksander met Acker at a storyboard class at UCLA
saw the story reel for the short, called Stitches at
the time. “I saw it and was amazed because most
of the stuff we were seeing was very student like,
and Ackers’ stuff was very cinematic. It reminded
me of the Ray Harryhausen movies which was the
stuff I grew up watching. I was so impressed I
told him if there is anything I could do let me
know, even if it’s just animating a couple of
shots.”
Username Log In
20
tweets
4Share retweet
SEAMSTRESS
The film is miles past the short in terms of scope and number of characters.
Besides the cloth characters, the film includes a variety of mechanical beasts
and a couple of digital humans. The seamstress was the most problematic of
all the characters due to the complexity of movement and controlling the
deformations of the character. She was based on Medusa with other spider,
snake, and crablike elements with a long segmented body and six limbs each
with four joints. That was a fun character to design according to Ksander.
“Shane did the basic design but then we brought in people with architectural
and product design background to flesh it out. The designer that did the
detailing did it on giant drafting sized paper that was then digitized in the
computer, and it has that richness of detail that you get in architectural turn
of the last century European industrial design. But once we started to animate
it, we realized there were limitations.”
That was where VFX Supervisor Jeff Bell came in. “The base controls for the
Seamstress allowed for rooting the skeleton and spine of the character at the
head, mid-section, or tail of the character. The control rig was chosen based
on the motion required within the shot.” Bell gave two examples. “When the
Seamstress leaves the library at the end of the fight sequence with the
characters, she is rooted at the mid-section, enabling the head and tail to be
manipulated with a similar flexibility of motion. In the destruction shot of the
seamstress, as we see her being dragged to her demise, she’s rooted at the
head of the character, allowing her to move her body with a whip like
motion.”
Jeff Bell
FABRICATION MACHINE
To help the design of the fabrication machine,
Ksander and Acker devised a back story: Initially,
the scientist, who tends to have a toymaker
aesthetic, created a clockwork thinking machine.
However, the thinking machine is taken away by
the dictator who tortures and corrupts the
thinking machine until it becomes a factory
producer of intelligent war machines, robots that
eventually destroy civilization. The design is
modeled on the early A-Bomb design in homage
to the Robert Oppenheimer story, and the core,
or brain, is in the center surrounded by layers and
layers of limbs and tools to create- or destroy.
Like a wounded animal, the more the rag dolls
hurt the machine, the more dangerous it
becomes.
FINDING DIRECTION
And now that Ackers’ school thesis is a feature
film, and he has moved up to director? “If you sit
down and try to animate a shot, it’s not a good
use of your time as a filmmaker. But by setting
examples doing a couple shots myself to help the
layout guys understand, it gets everyone on the
same page. Every day was something new,
something I’d never done before, so you have to
trust yourself and your own instincts, make
informed decisions, and rely on your crew. I put a
lot of trust and faith in them and listened to
them. That is what I learned as a director. It’s a
lot about communicating, to inspire, to inform, to
paint a picture where they can go in and do their
job.”
Related links:
9
Shane Acker, Writer, Director
Share This
Username Log In
8 25
tweets
22Share retweet
Even before anyone even knew what it was about, Alan Wake started getting insane
amounts of praise beginning with the ovation that the first ever trailer received at the
2009 E3. Finnish game developers Remedy Entertainment, the creators of Max Payne,
have diverted from developing the familiar city dwelling environments of Max Payne to
a project with much more organic environments in Alan Wake.
FEEL
First step was to determine a clear direction for the game in order to establish the 'feel'
of the whole project. "When you build a thriller like this what you need to do is to get a
"It needs to feel authentic, it needs to feel real and we wanted to really condense the
essence of the Pacific Northwest. We did a lot of location scouting around Washington
and Oregon; we even ventured up into the Canadian side of the border. We tried to Remedy Entertainment managing director
distill down what we saw and really get a body for it." Matias Myllyrinne.
Location reference and ingame Warehouse creation. © Microsoft Games. Image by Remedy
Entertainment.
"We kind of played with the 'intrigue of the mind' idea and kind of go into the
subjective where the player asks 'is this really happening or are you
imagining it?' I think we really have both sides of that coin in the game."
Location reference and ingame range tower creation. © Microsoft Games. Image by Remedy Entertainment.
DESIGN AND
DEVELOPMENT
Alan Wake is far from 'realistic'. Although
much can be found in terms of life-like
visuals, the game is rife with paranormal
aspects.
Loading comments...
Username Log In
0 26
tweets
Share retweet
LIGHTING "One of the things that we found very early on was that we just
couldn't find an 'off the shelf' solution to do that. So having to
Lighting is probably the most important aspect of development in get into building the system from the ground up enables you to
Alan Wake due to the fact that light is a weapon. Depending on fulfill your creative vision for a lot of the things like the long view
how much light is in a scene at any given time should make the distances to being able to show intricate detail on the small
player either feel safe or vulnerable. scale of the world but also having those large environments
which are key for a thriller in the Pacific Northwest. Our
"We built the whole lighting engine from the ground up and a big rendering guys have done a ton of work on the lighting.
part of why we wanted to do that is to get the lighting right Actually, they kept on improving on it until the very end. It was
because light and darkness are key gameplay elements," says never really quite 'done'. Even towards the very end they
Matias. wanted to do this a little more or that a little more."
We took photographs of the real actor with very dramatic lighting Enemies in Alan Wake are, in fact, humanoid and by no means
and distinctive shadows on his face and kind of played with the are they zombies either. "We didn't want to do big monsters like
'light and dark' element there. For a lot of the enemies and the crab monsters or anything like that. We wanted to have a
locals that have been taken over by the dark presence, we distinctive feel and vibe to those characters.
wanted to have them grounded in reality, once again, but
something would be slightly off; there would be a distortion to We wanted them to remain just 'locals who have been taken
them that goes into their audio effects and voice-overs as well." over' so you might have, for example, a lumberjack in the woods
Matias Myllyrinne's intention is that the enemies would not be or a fisherman by the shore; these are people that you can
something you would find in a game like Dead Space. really encounter in a small town but they will be slightly tilted
and twisted"
RELATED LINKS:
Alan Wake
Remedy Entertainment
Perspective Studio
CaptiveMotion
Loading comments...
Username Log In
45
tweets
128Share retweet
A team of only a half a dozen designers were put together to create the "Once we get one where we are satisfied, we take it and add more detail
first concepts of Assassin's Creed 2 not only to create the content but to and polish to it. It then becomes the visual hook of the game, something
also create the feel of the art. that somehow summarizes the art direction. Based on accurate
references and photos we start doing illustrated strips of our generic
"We have six concept artists; for characters, environments, props, buildings to define each of the architectural styles, the colors and
gameplay ingredients, storyboards, posters, mock-ups ...etc. In materials and also its accessories and props. After that we go deeper in
environment concept art, for instance, we started by doing a couple of details by doing some close-ups to illustrate style and color of textures
quick illustrations we call vignettes just to have an idea about the mood, and type of materials and enrich all of that with a lot of photo
the color palette, the dominant shapes and volumes, etc. references."
It goes without saying that the bulk of design had to be centered around the main character Ezio.
He had to be similar to the first Assassin's Creed main character, Altair, but he still had to appear
as a distinguishable character in his own right.
"We knew since the beginning of the production of Assassin's Creed 2 that Altair is a very iconic
character and it's not a good idea to change the aspects that made Altair so memorable so we
decided then to keep all of his main features (white suit, hood, red belt, hidden-blade...etc) and
add to them a different flavor so that the new appearance follows Ezio's characteristics and that
his costume respects the era's fashion. We also decided to move personalities from where Altair
was a cold blooded soldier to where Ezio is a charmer nobleman while still keeping the central ?
Assassin' characteristics. Even Ezio's attire is different to Altair's sober and functional suite to a
more refined and fashionable costume."
The character team was composed of about 11 people. There were six character modelers, the
technical director, the skinner/rigger and the in-game character integrator. Nicolas Collings, Senior
Character Modeler at Ubisoft, talks more about the crew.
"This project was a blast to work on as we had hundreds of characters to bring to life in a
Renaissance style. It was also challenging, because one of the strong aspects of Assassin's Creed, as
opposed to any other games, is the heavily crowded street."
"At some points there were more than a hundred characters on display
at the one moment. This gives an illusion of real life scenery and
inevitably immerges the player straight into the renaissance life. The
consequence resulted in a very tight budget such as low poly count and
low texture resolution by character so we obviously had to optimize as
much as possible every asset.
"Still to counter this aspect and to match the high quality graphic
standard of the latest best games, we developed a few in-game
techniques such as the possibility to overlay onto any desired area
small swappable patterns or colors on top of the diffuse map. To
maximize the workflow even more, we used a mix of 'old school' and
'next-gen' techniques to generate sharp details, normals and alphas."
Collings is proud to point out the character team was full of great
talents such as Michel Thibault, Laurent Sauvage, Francois Levesque,
Alexandre Troufanov, Ian Ladouceur, Yanick Cloutier, Vincent Gaigneux
and many others.
Username Log In
45
tweets
128Share retweet
Designing the environments of Assassin's Creed 2 "The choice of the Renaissance as a setting had big impacts on art direction choices. We wanted
went much deeper than just modeling and texture to emphasize the richness and beauty that marked a part of this era as we know it, whether in
mapping buildings and streets. It had to feel like terms of architecture or fashion. We wanted to maximize the visual variety so we divided the
Italy. It had to have the same presence and cities and regions into distinct themes such as carnival district in Venice and under-construction
sophistication that surrounds Italy especially in Florence are a few examples. We also gave a different color scheme for each city (more
during a vibrant era such as the Renaissance. obvious during day time) depending on its characteristics; cyan for Venice to communicate water
Specifically, an inescapable challenge was to presence, ocher for Florence for buildings under construction, Green for Toscana for vegetation
absorb the feel of the cities that existed at that presence... etc."
time.
This would be great to see as bonus content in parts of the game: story; gameplay; visuals; sound; AI... to achieve the perfect mix for a unique
the game. Designs that also would have been and memorable experience," says Gambouz.
great to see are "Ezio's appearance at different
ages such as 6, 15, 20 and 30."
Assassin's Creed 2 is out now for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 and will also be released later for the PC;
hopefully with bonus content. Hint, hint Ubisoft.
Assassin's Creed 2
Ubisoft
Nicholas Collings
CGSociety article on Assassin's Creed
Share This
Username Log In
19
tweets
21Share retweet
"When you put him into 3D and turn his head, one of those horns will disappear and he doesn't look like Astro Boy anymore." The
cheat they used was to occasionally switch the horn from the left to the right side depending on the location of the camera. "It's a
nod to the way he's always been portrayed. I think it's important that Astro Boy has the iconic two point shape."
Rowell decided to move directly to 3D and previs the entire terrain, not including the smaller refuse, but the terrain topology. Once
Rowell learned the storyline needed Astro Boy to fall to Earth, then be led to the trap where he would meet the children that were to
become his friends, he knew where the main areas of visibility would be. "We sculpted out from a profile view, looking at the boards,
how Astro Boy fell from Metro City to the scrap heap. The two major angles of that valley, looking to the left and right, and the path
that led him to the trap. That minimized the impact of what we had to deal with, of what the characters needed to interact with. It
was one mountain where he fell, the valley, and a valley path around to the trap. Anything beyond that was displacement maps and
instancing."
Username Log In
19
tweets
21Share retweet
Imagi has offices on both sides of the Pacific Ocean, with Bowers located in the US and the production team in Hong Kong. Years ago,
this would have created a production nightmare, but by working with a proprietary video teleconferencing setup, Imagi became a 24
hour studio. Bowers was pleased with how well the arrangement worked. "There were cultural differences and production pipelines
that are different in the United States than in Hong Kong, but we had great production mangers and a team who made sure
everything ran smoothly. It worked out quite nicely. I would work during the day in LA with my crew over here then have a meeting
at the end of the day from 4:30 to 6:00 or 7:00 PM talking to Hong Kong. Then they would work through the night and the next day
I would come in, and there would be new animation to look at. With video conferencing technology advancing so far in the past few
years, it really is like being in the same room."
Astro Boy
Imagi Studio
Username Log In
8
tweets
10Share retweet
The artistic crew at DICE use Frostbite, Destruction 2.0 and a whole lot of talent
to create new battle levels in Bad Company 2.
Characters
There are a whole bunch of extra characters in
the story of Battlefield Bad Company 2.
Characters with personalities that stay true
through the missions. Many players in Multiplayer
Frostbite
The crew at DICE also wanted Battlefield: Bad
Company Two to feel really big and epic.
Username Log In
8
tweets
10Share retweet
Levels
When the levels in Bad Company Two were
created, the art team started by defining a rough
framework. Firstly there were the overall themes:
in Panama Canal it was destruction; in Atacama
desert there was a sandstorm; in Nelson Bay it
was a night assault.
Related Links:
Battlefield Bad Company Two
DICE
Electronic Arts
Share This
Username Log In
7 14
tweets
Share retweet
core skills that all artists and animators rely on for the
artistic decisions they make on a day-to-day basis.
As an example: our R&D Art Team have been working on some A lot of work went into this; it's not easy to communicate
procedural animation tech as part of our behavioural systems and genuine emotions on an in-game character, but it also had to
emotional display for in-game characters. As the initial research was be a system that was easy for our animators to use. Once it
for a medical simulation for our serious games division, the facial had been well and truly proven in our serious game
movement had to be as realistic as possible as we were prototype, we rolled this tech out in our BlitzTech pipeline for
communicating to doctors in training the physical and emotional use by all our other development teams.
effects of real medical symptoms.
Loading comments...
Username Log In
0 14
tweets
46Share retweet
With the studio's considerable diversity, many different styles of animation are
needed, with different pipelines for getting it all into the game. We have projects
here that require very high quality hand-keyed animation in Maya or complex
performance capture, facial animation and lip-synch. For our recently-released title
Dead to Rights: Retribution we conducted full performance capture for both the cut
scenes and in-game animation, but everything was altered in MotionBuilder after the
processing to give the game a hard-core, hyper-real feel. And it worked; some of
the combat moves and take downs are bad ass!
© Namco Bandai Games; courtesy of Volatile Games, Blitz Games Studio. 'Dead to Rights Retribution.'
© Namco Bandai Games; courtesy of Volatile Games, Blitz Games Studio. 'Dead to Rights
Retribution.'
© Namco Bandai Games; courtesy of Volatile Games, Blitz Games Studio. 'Dead to Rights Retribution.'
© Namco Bandai Games; courtesy of Volatile Games, Blitz Games Studio. 'Dead to Rights
Retribution.'
Username Log In
0
tweets
1Share tweet
Making snow stick. © 2009 Twentieth Century Fox. All Rights Reserved. Photocredit: Blue Sky Studios.
MIST MONSTER
Buck, a new character, has a habit of
exaggerating his memories of the past. In one of
his flashbacks, he climbs up a tall tree through a
canopy of swirling clouds where he encounters a
© 2009 Twentieth Century Fox. All Rights Reserved. Photocredit: Blue Sky Studios. volumetric version of his nemesis, Rudy.
© 2009 Twentieth Century Fox. All Rights Reserved. Photocredit: Blue Sky Studios.
© 2009 Twentieth Century Fox. All Rights Reserved. Photocredit: Blue Sky Studios.
© 2009 Twentieth Century Fox. All Rights Reserved. Photocredit: Blue Sky Studios.
© 2009 Twentieth Century Fox. All Rights Reserved. Photocredit: Blue Sky Studios.
Username Log In
0
tweets
1Share tweet
LIGHTING
There was a great deal of upfront development to
make sure that the teams were able to produce
what the director was looking for. To achieve that,
the FX department worked closely with the
lighting and compositing team, who added their
own Nuke elements in order to marry the FX
departments’ 3D volumetrics with the goal of
filling in the background and empty spaces. This
collaboration helped not to overburden the render
farm or the lighters with too much information.
© 2009 Twentieth Century Fox. All Rights Reserved. Photocredit: Blue Sky Studios.
© 2009 Twentieth Century Fox. All Rights Reserved. Photocredit: Blue Sky Studios.
BUCK
The introduction to Buck pays homage to the
famous scene in Apocalypse Now when Martin
Sheens’ character rises silently from the water,
his fur (Buck, not Martin Sheen’s) soaked and
plastered. “In the past,” said Garfield, “we
haven’t actually been able to get the fur to look
wet. We’ve had wet grooms for the fur, but there
was never a good way to move a sheen or
highlight texture through the fur, and put fluid
effects on top of the fur, drips and things, to
make it look right.” In this movie, Blue Sky took
the time to develop better techniques, combining
the best of both worlds of hand animated FX and
procedural or simulation based effects.
© 2009 Twentieth Century Fox. All Rights Reserved. Photocredit: Blue Sky Studios.
© 2009 Twentieth Century Fox. All Rights Reserved. Photocredit: Blue Sky Studios.
The Blue Sky Research and Technology team came up with their
own footprint technology called bssFootprint, a plugin for Maya
which allowed the artist to see instant feedback of the objects
creating the prints right on the screen using smooth shading,
etc, by deforming the geometry frame by frame. The process
went from a couple of days per shot to a couple of hours. If the
© 2009 Twentieth Century Fox. All Rights Reserved. Photocredit: Blue Sky Studios.
director felt the front of the berm was too high or two sharp,
instead of going back and re-simulate the footprints, they used
the Maya sculpting tools combined with another plugin from R&D
to sculpt the prints frame by frame to finesse the look. “It really
streamlined the process for us. No longer were we afraid of
© 2009 Twentieth Century Fox. All Rights Reserved. Photocredit: Blue Sky Studios.
Related links:
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Blue Sky
Kirk Garfield
Maya
Next Limit Technologies
Realflow
Share This
© 2009 Twentieth Century Fox. All Rights Reserved. Photocredit: Blue Sky Studios.
Username Log In
6
tweets
8Share retweet
Walking the line between film and games, CJ Markham has found a balance in
the animation of characters.
Dreams
Growing up in Huntington Beach, CA, C.J Markham was the little
guy at the back of the class who just sat and drew. The
traditional goals and models for success offered by the school
were not available so he focused all of his energy on art.
Reality
The next year was a blur. CJ was promoted to senior animator
and was creating NPCs, animation sets, player and character
rigs for the ‘Black9’ game, having a great time. But then the
publisher Majesco pulled the plug on the project. The game was
never released. “I was completely unprepared for it,” says
Markham. “I had put everything I had into ‘Black9’ and to see it
get canceled felt like a year and a half of my life was flushed
down the toilet.” Taldren was a small company, and CJ had a
much broader role there than most first jobs in the industry.
Advent Rising With a good set of tools like an in-house MoCap system, MotionBuilder, Diva,
“I think that every animator in the video game and MOG, the crew were able to take that three week turnaround time down
industry needs to get the opportunity I had to to as little as three hours for a grappling move to a day for an eight-character,
work for a small developer on an ambitious one-minute scene. This new pipeline was built with only six months to the end
project like “Advent Rising’,” says Markham. of the project. Although it took an entire month to get it up and running
smoothly, once the initial setup was done, as a team of three animators we
“I wore so many hats to expand my knowledge, it pumped out two hours of cutscene animation in four months flat.
was an incredible experience for me. I got the
chance to do everything from acting out the Although ‘Advent Rising’ was getting good reviews, the sales were not meeting
motion capture for the main character in cut- expectations. ‘Advent Rising’ was meant to be the first in a trilogy, and Glyphx
scenes, to building everything in them from had banked on their next project being the next game in the series, but with
storyboarding, blocking, staging, directing the the disappointing sales of the first one it became more and more clear that
MoCap, camera work, rendering in the game the publisher wasn’t going to go forward with a second one. “I wasn't really
engine and even some post editing. For the in- looking for a new job at the time, but I was in a prime position to be swept
game side, I animated several characters into a new project,” explains CJ. “Around that time a good friend of mine sent
including three boss fight animation ranges. As me the link to Weta's online recruitment questionnaire, and more for a laugh
interesting and daunting as all these then anything else I filled it out and submitted it. I thought the chances of
responsibilities sound, the most gratifying part for them hiring a video game guy with no film experience were virtually nil."
me was what we were able to do with our
production pipeline.”
Username Log In
6
tweets
8Share retweet
King Kong
“After a week, I had a six-month contract to work on ‘King Kong’
and a ticket to fly to New Zealand. It wasn't until I talked to
some of the other contractors at Weta that I realized how
unusual the speed of my recruitment was. Although I can't say
for sure, I credit the work I did on a particular creature in
‘Advent Rising’ with getting me the job because it showed that
even though I hadn't specifically worked in films, I had already
convincingly animated a large ape-like creature.”
Images courtesy of Weta Digital Ltd. King Kong © 2005 Universal Studios. All
Rights Reserved.
stand for the day of the mocap shoot. Even though they had a
wire-work system at their disposal, CJ wanted to keep the actor
stationary and have them show a series of direction changes in
the legs so he could combine the weightlessness of his lower
body along with the rigid upper body. That would read very well
as someone using a jetpack. All translations were key framed in
and the motion of the legs was placed and timed to give the
feeling that the character was not only controlling and
anticipating the propulsion, but that his legs were still subtly
subject to any change of inertia.
whole capture experience was surreal. There were two guys in the session:
to the next. From watching the reference footage I
the controller and the aggressor. Their names say it all. The attack dog was
was able to improvise the landing and tugging
such a fascinating creature. Under the guidance of the controller it seemed
movements with keyframes. Once I got a human
like any other friendly dog. But once the aggressor came within view of the
character in the scene I was able to set up a series
dog, while wearing a specific attack suit, the dog went crazy.”
of constraints from the dogs’ mouths and the
While the MoCap was eventually successful, as soon as the dog moved, the human’s arm so that I could communicate the
markers flew everywhere, destroying the data. It also didn't help that any pushing, pulling and resistance that flowed between
markers that managed to stay through the initial attack tended to fly off the three subjects. I have since done some
when the dog relaxed afterwards. The only person who could get close experimenting with motion capture of other animals
enough to it to place the markers back on was the controller. Getting an such as cats, but there is still a ways to go before it
accurate solve from that became impossible. The entire experience wasn't a will be as straightforward as capturing a human
complete wash though. character.”
Mentors
ROCKSTAR NORTH An animation pioneer who has effected the way CJ works
CJ Markham worked for Rockstar London, and helped Rockstar North
is Harry Walton. "To not only work with, but to have my
on episodic content for GTA4. Finishing up ‘Grand Theft Auto 4’ took
animations reviewed by someone who created my
some heavy months out of his life and he is happy to be staying on in
childhood favorites was very intimidating at first," says
the city. “Living in the UK is a whole different world from living in LA,”
CJ. "Walton worked on classics like 'Gumby', 'Land of the
explains CJ. “Because the city of LA is about everything that is up to
Lost', Ed209 from 'Robocop', 'Nightmare Before
the minute and new, and the city of London is a unique juxtaposition of
Christmas' and the list goes on. After I found out how
the very old and the very new. Living here can be very surreal at times
much the original 'King Kong' inspired him to become an
because those two exist literally on top of each other. Compared to
animator it opened the door to share stories about
Southern California, working and living in the UK not only has a
working on Peter Jackson’s version of King Kong in
different pace, but an overall feeling of greater permanence."
exchange for stories of the stop motion work he had
“The best experience I can compare to working on GTA4 is working on done that had inspired me.
‘King Kong’. They were both very ambitious projects, but were well
received and acclaimed. The guys at Rockstar North are an awesome "Ruben Apodaca is also a legend for me! He taught me
bunch, and working on GTA4 was a fantastic experience. My most everything I know about 2D animation while getting my
recent work includes all of Yusuf Amir's cinematics from GTA4 Ballad of bachelors degree. Learning all of the fundamentals of
Gay Tony, and several cinematics from Red Dead Redemption. My animation from such a pioneer of the industry was truly
three years at Rockstar were amazing but last month I had a career a great honor, and I savored every last moment of it.
change. The Halo Franchise is what originally lured me to this industry Even though I work in 3D animation I can't help but feel
and I'm ecstatic about working for 343 now. I've worked on some great that he deserves some credit for everything I've
projects in the past and I can't wait to share what I'm working on now achieved in my career."
Markham's Advice:
1. Be willing to relocate. While born in California, my career
has taken me all over the world, and some of my best
experience was gained furthest away from my home town.
Related links:
C.J Markham
Rockstar London
Rockstar North
SCEA
Weta
Advent Rising
Share This
Username Log In
1 1
tweet
Share retweet
An ILM 'Iron Man 2' artist ignites his career, turning down a job as a firefighter
to become a visual effects artist.
Iron Man 2 . credit: © MVL Film Finance LLC & Marvel Entertainment LLC.
JAPANESE GARDEN:
We asked Chris Balog about a shot he composited
for Iron Man 2. The shot takes place in the
Japanese Garden near the end the film with Iron
Man firing everything he’s got against Whiplash.
CB: Well, they gave us some concept art from our Iron Man 2 . credit: © MVL Film Finance LLC & Marvel Entertainment LLC.
art department, but they also gave us freedom to
do what we want to do. The other compositors and
I thought it would be great to put some fire in the
shot, so I found some elements with trees on fire.
And then I started putting in smoke plumes and
added embers flying around from the burning trees.
Someone put ash on the ground. And if you look,
Iron Man is standing in a river, so I added water
splashes. I color corrected the interactive lighting
to match the color of the sparks and timed the
lighting to go off at the same time the sparks went
off, and the muzzle flashes to go off at different
times.
CB: Oh, it’s great. You get asked to have this guy
fire a bunch of guns with tracers and sparks
popping off and whips flying around, and you go,
“Oh. That’s cool.”
Iron Man 2 . credit: © MVL Film Finance LLC & Marvel Entertainment LLC.
Username Log In
0 1
tweet
Share retweet
Iron Man 2 . credit: © MVL Film Finance LLC & Marvel Entertainment LLC.
Iron Man 2 . credit: © MVL Film Finance LLC & Marvel Entertainment LLC.
© 2006 Disney Enterprises, Inc. and Jerry Bruckheimer, Inc. All rights reserved. Image courtesy Industrial
Light and Magic.
Iron Man 2 . credit: © MVL Film Finance LLC & Marvel Entertainment LLC.
Related links:
Chris Balog
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
Rush Hour 3
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Iron Man
Iron Man 2
Star Trek
Share This
Iron Man 2 . credit: © MVL Film Finance LLC & Marvel Entertainment LLC.
Username Log In
2 13
tweets
Share retweet
Artists at Delacave Studio conjure up magic before the clock strikes midnight.
In this composite image from Cinderella, the smoke is in Maya, the background is a mix of MachStudio Pro, camera projection, and a matte painting behind the triangle mountain.
Artists rendered everything else in multiple layers and different sizes in MachStudio Pro, and they used camera projection to improve the stereoscopy compared to a matte painting.
credit: Images: Delacave Studio.
Loading comments...
Username Log In
0 13
tweets
Share retweet
Artists rendered the feather and fur in this composite image from Cinderella using Autodesk’s mental ray; all other elements were rendered in MachStudio Pro. credit: Images:
Delacave Studio.
Related links:
Delacave Studio
Mach Studio Pro
Extra galleries of artwork
Share This
Username Log In
19
tweets
44Share retweet
OLYMPUS
Olympus, home of the gods, was handled at
Framestore. During preproduction, Olympus was
one location that had an extremely limited
budget, resulting in the decision that all of it
would be done in camera. But in postproduction,
that decision changed. The filmmakers took a look
at the footage of the 12 actors shot on a
soundstage, and just didn’t feel they looked like
gods in a god-like place.
© Warner Bros.
© Warner Bros.
PEGASUS
Anyone who knows horses will tell you that they
are a bundle of twitch and muscle and a coat that
reflects every breath and flex in multiple
directions. It was why I was so impressed at how
seamless Pegasus’s wings were attached. MPC
developed a method of being able to track the
wings on, putting tracking markers around the
horses shoulder areas. “Then it was just a matter
of really pushing the tracking software to make
sure we came up with a methodology to lock the
Username Log In
19
tweets
44Share retweet
credit: Cinesite.
SCORPIONS
Another creature achievement was handled at
Cinesite, who delivered the terrifying scorpions.
The sequence was shot in the Canary Islands at
9,000 feet where the pristine environment
provided a harsh and stark grandeur to
compliment the giant killers. Davis explains, “they
had already been through development of the
animatics and previs, working with the director
and the stunt department. We created this action
sequence based around the location and what we
credit: Cinesite.
KRAKEN
And then they released the Kraken. The climatic
battle sequence, running around eight minutes,
was handled by MPC and was the bulk of their
contribution. It involved a full CG environment, a
cast of digital doubles and fantastical characters,
layers upon layers of water effects, and the
Kraken, a 500 foot tall, 10 million-plus polygon
creature that fully interacted with water, the city
and its entire environment. “The Kraken was the
most complex, time consuming, render intensive,
design intensive and challenging part of the
whole movie,” said Davis.
Related links:
Clash of the Titans
Nick Davis, VFX Supervisor
Patric Roos, CG Supervisor, MPC
Ray Harryhausen
Moving Picture Company (MPC)
Framestore
Cinesite
Share This
Username Log In
20
tweets
19Share retweet
History
For many years, the founding partners of Image
Engine, namely Robin Hackl, Christopher
Mossman and Greg Holmes wanted to nurture
the company into new areas, to start taking on
more film work. They'd grown a primarily
television-focused business over the previous
ten years, just like other boutique shops in
Vancouver. When Neill Blomkamp arrived with
the feature film pitch for 'District 9', this was
Film
When Peter Muyzers and Shawn Walsh went to
New Zealand to flesh out the film plan, Neill was
very responsive to their suggestions regarding
the visual effects process and to some degree
handed the torch to them. "He'd been carrying
the ideas for visual effects on 'District 9' for
some time, and I think he really wanted
someone to take up the charge. Neill's ideas
and our plan to facilitate them held up
throughout the entire production at Image
Engine, from the initial scrums at WingNut Films
back in New Zealand."
Username Log In
20
tweets
19Share retweet
Staffing
There were a lot of other people involved in the
hiring process, but ultimately Peter Muyzers
(Digital Production Manager), Stefanie Boose
(Visual Effects Producer) and I really put a lot of
effort into reaching out into the visual effects
community and qualifying people to work at
Image Engine on this project. We were fortunate
in that the previous three years had seen a slow
and steady accumulation of talent at Image
Engine. At the start of the project we had
assembled a great core crew of about 50 at
Image Engine. But for 'District 9' I flew to
London, Toronto and Montreal to conduct
Artist, modeler
Marco Menco began his dream job working at Image-Engine (IE) after
searching Vancouver VFX houses for a few months. After traveling from Italy
with his partner and fellow CGTalker Vivien Hulbert, Marco started in the TV
department of IE working on 'Stargate: Atlantis'. The aliens he created for that
show gave proof to his managers he was able to handle the alien for 'District
9'.
Marco's specialty was poly-modeling and texturing of the aliens and the
clothes. Starting from a 3D scan of the clay model provided by WETA
Workshop, the IE crew re-topologized the model and then cleaned the
geometry in Maya to prepare it for rigging. Playing with lots of different
aspects of character creation, they used ZBrush mostly for texturing, for gross
displacement for background clothes. "I was pretty excited to work with the
'marquette' of Christopher Johnson (the main alien) on my desk, especially
thinking that was done by the great artists at WETA," explains Menco.
Marco Menco.
Jabuka
Image Engine's Digital Asset Management
system was written in-house by the Digital
Asset Lead on the project, Nigel Denton-Howes.
IE looked at various asset management systems
that are marketed solutions, but none of them
seemed to be able to match their necessity for a
flexible, robust solution that would tie into the
existing pipeline which had facilities for
animation caching, version control, etc. The
house needed the ability to modify the look of
the aliens almost on a shot by shot basis and to
maintain visibility and ease of management. The
variation would take shape via texture map
changes, shader changes, additional rigged CG
assets on the aliens. Many small details that
had to be tracked on a per set-up basis. "Nigel
is one of the most naturally talented folks I
have ever worked with and he was the ideal
combination of an artist with programming
capabilities to take on the asset management
system," says Walsh. "We needed that process
to be open and easily manageable by artists
and coordinators alike. Jabuka allowed us to do
all that and more."
CJ in close up. © 2009 Columbia TriStar Marketing Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
Related links:
Image Engine
District 9
Neill Blomkamp
Shawn Walsh
Dan Kaufman
James Stewart
Jelmer Boskma
Gus Yamin
Marco Menco
Alexander Lehman
Nigel Denton-Howes
Joe Eveleigh
Julianna Kolakis
Anna Ivanova
Discuss this article on CGTalk
Share This
Username Log In
29
tweets
37Share retweet
The Mission
It's no secret Neill Blomkamp has always had a keen interest in seeing
Vancouver prosper as a center for filmmakers. Post production services and
visual effects are crucial to being able to execute whatever he has in mind -
which almost always includes computer generated images.
It's also true that the film was originally imagined as a Weta Digital project,
but with major projects like 'Avatar' having a huge effect on their workforce,
Neill argued for the opportunity to take the film elsewhere and Peter Jackson
agreed.
"I think it had more to do with focus than anything," explains Shawn Walsh.
"Neill just wanted a passionate group of his own that was going to embrace
his film." Blomkamp vetted the project to various houses, but he was really
encouraged by [eventual] On-Set Visual Effects Supervisor Peter Muyzers and
Shawn Walsh showing him what was going on at Image Engine and they
pitched successfully for the work. "That had a lot to do with Peter and Neill
connecting with respect to how the film was going to be shot on location in
South Africa because Peter would be responsible for the on-set supervision,"
explains Walsh. "It is great when you see two people connect like that
because you know you can support and foster that relationship."
Muyzers and Walsh were surprised by how much Neill already knew about
them. "He really keeps tabs!" exclaimed Walsh. "I think that softened the
landing on his leap of faith. Once we got the ball rolling, we worked very
closely with Line Producer Trisha Downie and Post-Production Supervisor
Pippa Anderson at WingNut, along with the film's financiers, to ensure that we
were working with a budget and plan for visual effects that would stand up
over the whole duration of the project."
Challenges
Neill presented Image-Engine with an amazing
challenge. Take something completely foreign
and seamlessly insert that element into a
cinematographic shooting style that is designed
to feel overtly unpolished and raw: a
documentary film sensibility. There are aspects
to many of the shots that are simultaneously
bizarre and surprising, yet totally believable and
completely integrated into the live action
photography. That challenge was not sequence
based, but rather existed in all of the shots. "We
had many short sequences and one-offs that
proved very challenging from a tracking and
digital management perspective," explains
Walsh, "but ultimately our work was like one 27
minute sequence dealing with variations on
similar digital assets."
screen."
Username Log In
29
tweets
37Share retweet
Julianna Kolakis
Julianna Kolakis first worked on the look
development of Christopher and little CJ with
James as well as the look dev lead Joe Eveleigh,
the lead lighter Robert Bourgeault, and later Anna
Ivanova, the second texture artist who came
aboard to help with maps for the aliens and other
models. The artists all contributed to the
character development gathering references and
giving artistic feedback on how materials such as
the skin, shells, and tentacles should look.
MoCap
© 2009 Columbia TriStar Marketing Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
© 2009 Columbia TriStar Marketing Group, Inc. All rights reserved. © 2009 Columbia TriStar Marketing Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
© 2009 Columbia TriStar Marketing Group, Inc. All rights reserved. © 2009 Columbia TriStar Marketing Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
Keyframe
Many of the alien scenes and all of Little CJ was
just straight keyframed by a small talented team
of animators.
Budget
Image-Engine managed to maximise the budget they had available through a
combination of 'getting Neill's vision' and making that vision work within the
budget that was available, with British Columbia's tax incentives for Vancouver
© 2009 Columbia TriStar Marketing Group, Inc. All rights reserved. VFX houses. "The important thing to remember was that we had a business to
run and we knew if we couldn't make totally brilliant VFX with whatever
budget there was, we were doomed to go under," admits Peter Muyzers. "It is
important at all times to ensure that the business model is a solid one, and
this was the case with Neill's project. There was very little 'excess' money
available on the 'District 9' project."
The team made a point of separating themselves from what definitely could
not be done and what could. "Neill had a great knowledge of what was
possible, for instance we stayed away from cloth synth, which is expensive,"
explains Muyzers. "We were advising even before we started shooting on the
approach, and Neill was very comfortable with that."
Peter Jackson's involvement was definitely a cache for recruiting the best for
the project. People had not heard of Neill Blomkamp, but they had definitely
heard of Peter Jackson. But the story holds some very pertinent issues for the
world situation today. Set in real-world, gritty environments, top line crew
© 2009 Columbia TriStar Marketing Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
became interested because they respected Neill's vision.
Peter draws the parallel to the feeling at ESC during the production of the
'Matrix'. Cool ideas, top VFX, great results from each department, a 'similar
buzz' around the studio, which was great to be a part of.
On Set
Peter Muyzers had on-set VFX Supervision
experience while working at Moving Picture
Company in London on the 'Harry Potter' series
and many other projects. He knew that he had to
make sure what was brought back to the studio,
could be used to its maximum edge, for the
production. Because Neill knew a great amount of
what was possible, Peter Muyzers could be almost
invisible to the camera, talent and direction on
set. "They could pretty much go on shooting 360
degrees what was needed and the HDRIs, texture
plates and lighting maps could be generated on
the go, despite the environment also being
extremely harsh," says Muyzers.
BC Advantage
Share This
Username Log In
15
tweets
Share retweet
A common, and valuable bit of advice for people who would want a career in visual
effects is to invest in art courses, photography, filmmaking, animation, and so forth.
Dan Kaufman, visual effects supervisor at Image Engine for the highly acclaimed scifi
feature 'District 9,' provides the exception to that rule.
Kaufman's first job, while still a computer science and EE major at UC Berkeley
(California) in the late 1980's, was developing graphical user interfaces for software
running on Commodore 64 computers. Although he was interested in computer
graphics, the university offered only one basic CG class at the time. So, after
graduation, he found a job as a lead programmer and project manager for a game
developer, Spectrum Holobyte. "I souped up the 3D engine for a flight simulation
program," he says, "and then I started working on arcade games." Soon, he was
designing and writing Welltris, the 3D sequel to Tetris.
But, he was in his twenties and it was time for a change. "The downside of doing
games was that we always had to make them for the lowest common denominator
system, which, with the technology at that time, was never as cool as I wanted," he
says. "I wanted to make images that looked completely real." He wanted to make
movies. This wasn't an idea out of left field. Dan Kaufman, VFX Supervisor, Image Engine
"I always liked movies and special effects," he says. Although his parents weren't involved with the film
industry, the family lived in Newport Beach, California, near Los Angeles, so filmmaking was in the air. At
age nine, inspired by Ray Harryhausen's effects in 'The Golden Voyage of Sinbad,' Kaufman talked his
'Meet the Artist" parents into giving him a Super 8 camera so he could make stop-motion films. "I animated clay stuff
thread moving around," he says. "I made a robot out of paper and animated it.
I scratched film to make laser beams. I even tried to do double exposures, which was hard with a super 8
camera. I had to cover the film advance with tape. But, I got one shot with a space ship model I built
flying away from camera."
In junior high, he found a friend who was also interested in special effects and together they created more special effects films. That
friend, Everett Burrell, also grew up to become a visual effects supervisor ('Pan's Labyrinth', 'Hellboy') after first working as a make-
up effects artist. "Even in junior high, he had lots of great designs," Kaufman says. So, after five years working on software programs
and games, Kaufman switched from employee to consultant, sold his house in Northern California, and went home. Well, he first
bought a round-the-world ticket and traveled for three months. Then, he moved home to Los Angeles intent on working in the film
industry.
"I considered going to UCLA film school when I got back from my trip, but I talked to people I knew who were in the program and
they said although it was good for making connections, it was expensive," he says. "They told me to just jump in." Nice idea. But. "It
wasn't that easy," he says. "There was no direct route for getting into visual effects at that time. There were no schools. I think it's
easier for people now to build up a reel and get a job."
When his film project fizzled, he quickly got antsy without anything to do, so he leveraged his game development experience into a
job with Pacific Interactive, a company that created educational multi-media CD-ROMs for Disney with funding from Electronic Arts.
And, as sometimes happens in life, that move resulted in his first job at a visual effects studio. The studio was VIFX, founded by
Richard Hollander, Greg McMurry, John Wash, and Rhonda Gunner, after working at EEG on 'Bladerunner' and 'Brainstorm.'
Hollander's wife, a creative producer at Pacific interactive told Kaufman her husband was looking for people to hire.
"She had no idea I was interested in visual effects," Kaufman says. "I didn't have an interview. John Wash showed me around the
studio and when he finished, I asked if I had a job. He said, 'yes.'" He was a perfect fit: Kaufman didn't need to know anything about
visual effects; they wanted someone to do screen graphics - the user interface and graphics that appear on computer screens and
'Castaway'.
'Dark City'.
'Supernova'.
"I haven't done anything on the box for a while now," he says. "I began tapering off at CIS Hollywood. I wrote some shaders - it's
hard to find people to do that - but, that was about it. I was mostly supervising - trying to make sure everything comes together in a
final product, a final shot that looks good with everything working that's what the director is looking for."
So, when Image Engine executives Shawn Walsh and Peter Muyzers called, at a friend's recommendation, to see if he'd be interested
in supervising their shots for 'District 9,' he was more than ready. "I'd seen [director] Neill Blomkamp's short and his commercials,
and I was impressed," Kaufman says. "When they gave me the run down on their work for the movie, I was sold. It was exactly the
kind of movie I like. Aliens, space ships, ray guns. Sign me up."
Username Log In
15
tweets
2Share retweet
It's only a construct; we fill in huge gaps in our perception. And, all
the different physical interactions end up in being a photon
bouncing off something. CG is such a cheat. You have to grab the
important parts, which are the subtleties that give verisimilitude,
and hope that's close enough."
District 9
Image Engine Design
Share This
Username Log In
38
tweets
85Share retweet
Lust, Greed and Gluttony. © Image courtesy of Electronic Arts and Visceral Games.
THERE BE DRAGONS
That was half of the characters. “The other half
were dragons who were… even worse!” Ring was
grateful they weren’t furry. “They had at least
four times the number of controls a human would
have, because they had spines down their backs
which all had animation controls, the tail rig was
complicated, the tongues, the faces were weirdly
shaped but still needed to emote.” The design of
a dragon by nature is a challenge due to their
having wings, a tail, and often four limbs. The
two headed dragon called the Hideous Zippleback
had roughly 90 spines running down his back
that were rigged. “The big challenge rigging the
dragons was the character complexity. They were
so many controls and the rigs were so
complicated that we had to spend a lot of time
trying to optimize, how to turn off parts of the
rig, how can we hide things that aren’t being used
Username Log In
38
tweets
85Share retweet
Related Links:
How To Train Your Dragon
DreamWorks Animation
Craig Ring
Roger Deakins
Dick Walsh
Syflex
Share This
Username Log In
1
tweet
1Share retweet
On most films, the plates are shot with minimal VFX input. The
editor cuts them together, and the sequence is sent to the VFX
team with instructions how to add their work. Follow-up meetings
with the director usually revolve around individual shot topics such
We may have made choices about which takes we use or the order
we put the shots that don’t serve the animation. So as you get into
the animation, feel free to look at other takes and choose them
instead, or reorder the shots and pitch it to us.’ It wasn’t like ‘do
whatever you want and its fine with me,’ he was saying do whatever
you want and show it to me, and if I like it, I’ll put it in. Because
maybe we haven’t hit on the right combination of things yet, and as
you put your animation in you will discover things, and I don’t want
to get locked in too early. I want to take advantage of those
discoveries.’”
In their first meeting with Favreau, they were prepared for the
standard critique, but instead, explained Hickel “Jon would say,
‘Lets take a couple steps back and look at this whole sequence and
its place in the movie, how it’s serving the story. This shot might not
even work anymore, we might not even need this shot.’ At first, we
were like ’oh, boy’. But once we got our heads around what he was
asking, we realized this was fantastic, awesome! For me, that was
the most rewarding about this project creatively.
It was a neat project, a lot of fun to work on. I’m somebody who
loves robots, mechanisms and technology, so there are a lot of
reasons like that to be excited about this movie and have fun with
it. But I think the thing I will remember and always want to talk
about, was working with Favreau and how that differed from other
projects I’ve been on. It was really pretty cool.”
The live action Iron Man suit created by Stan Winston Studio was
ideal for static shots, but a digital one was needed for movement
and of course anything where Iron Man would fly. The practical
version wasn’t just to be digitally matched, it needed to exceed it
with better mobility and heroic proportions. “Marvel Comics seemed
to have a precise mathematical formula to make him look more
heroic, how the big the chest is supposed to be compared to the
waist and the legs,“ said Smythe.
Marvel wanted the torso elongated, and the waist shrunk down,
unlike true human proportions. “We had to make something that
looked photoreal and be able to intercut with the live action suit,
sometimes within the same shot, have part of the suit be real and
another part be CG while making it look clean with nice motion and
shape of the character.
Iron Man is about 6’3“, whereas Robert Downey Jr. is not that tall.
The practical suit is built to fit his physique and size, so we had to
have our suit be able to mix and match with the practical suit as
There was also the issue that Downey found the practical suit
restrictive to his acting, as explained by Hickel. “Winston’s guys
made these beautiful suits that were faithful to the Iron Man design,
but they were hard to move in. We told Robert Downey Jr. if he
couldn’t get into the pose or move the way he wanted to, we could
add the suit digitally. When he saw that, he didn’t want to wear the
practical suit at all, to the point where there were times when we
almost wanted to bribe him to put the practical suit on.
Username Log In
1
tweet
1Share retweet
That was a good starting point for us all to see how Iron Man is
different from some of the more traditional superhero stuff that has
been out before.”While Iron Man was ground based, he needed to
have naturalistic movement. Though ILM assumed they would use
Mocap or the IMocap process developed for Pirates of the
Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest for much of the animation, they
wound up doing a lot of keyframing, and there is little straight
forward motion capture in the film.
Kent Seki from Pixel Liberation Front (PLF) did the previs, and
Favreaus’ encouragement of creative freedom allowed for Hickel
and Smythe to suggest ideas PLF was happy to implement.
According to Hickel, Favreau apparently used previs to try out ideas
rather than to work out issues that would be more or less locked.
I suspect that it’s probably similar to the way he works with actors
in, say, a comedy. The writer’s don’t write the final work that makes
it to the screen. The actors start improvising, adding their stuff.
Maybe shoot seven different versions with different ideas and jokes,
then it goes through editing, maybe the ADR adds some more
funny lines for the over the shoulder shot later on- it just keeps
building and adding and changing. I think visual effects people
aren’t used to that, they expect more structure. Previs, lock it down,
shot what we prevised- but that’s not how Jon works.”Favreau had
ideas about the character, but didn’t specify instructions like Iron
Man should fly with his head up. Favreaus’ suggestions “had to do
more with the vibe of the character, it should feel realistic, or heroic,
or feel a missile or a jet plane. Some directors are very, very visual,
and they give you more of a framework to work inside, so maybe
you have less room to move but there are other aspects of it that
are fun. Favreau was less visual and more about vibe and
character. You had a lot of room to run, but you also had a lot of
rope to hang yourself.”
“My personal favorite shot,“ said Smythe “is a scene where Stark is
testing out the silver Iron Mark 2 suit, testing out his gear, and the
camera starts at the floor and cranes up to the top of the suit
where you finally reveal Iron Man in all his glory. It's geeky
hardware worship at its finest. The flaps are flapping, the blue lights
are on in the suit, and the suit is 100% CG. The target audience is
going to go nuts.“
It was also important to Favreau that the camera felt like a real
camera. When Iron Man is flying, the camera is made to feel like it’s
on a long lens covering the action. And when it’s on the ground,
they attempted to make it feel like it was on a tripod with pan and
tilt, or on a track, or a boom arm. They avoided the camera just
magically flying through space. “We did the same thing with the
action, where we wouldn’t break the fourth wall or characters doing
things that felt like goofy comic book acting.“
“It’s nice to see actual film making and storytelling going on and be
involved in that process, both directly and to watch the director at
work,“ said Smythe.
really nice thing, and once you taste that fruit you want to keep
doing it. It was really nice to work with Jon and all of his team, to
have that kind of creative input.“ Judging by the response at the
box office, it was a decision favorable to all.
Iron Man
Doug Smythe
Hal T. Hickel
ILM
Stan Winston Studio
The Embassy VFX
Gray Matter FX
The Orphanage
Pixel Liberation Front
Giant Studios
Gentle Giant
New Deal Studios, Inc.
CA Scanline Production GmbH
Cafe FX
Prologue Films
Lola Visual Effects
Lucasfilm Animation
Share This
Username Log In
15
tweets
8Share retweet
'Killzone 2' © 2009 Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd. All rights reserved.
I ran into Arjan Brussee and we met up on several occasions after that. At the time he managed his own game development studio,
Orange Games. It was a real start-up company, run from Arjan's living room, but I wasn't yet convinced I should drop my career in
advertising and join his studio. A couple of years later I ran into him again, right around the time his small studio joined forces with
two other small game development studios. Suddenly, their development team was thirty strong with solid financial backing, which
made the prospect of moving into games a lot more appealing to me. I joined as a freelancer in 1999, to help create the demo for a
game called Marines. We had no idea what the future held at that point, and certainly never could've guessed Marines would grow
into Killzone
'Killzone 2' © 2009 Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd. All rights reserved.
'Killzone 2' © 2009 Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd. All rights reserved.
'Killzone 2' © 2009 Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd. All rights reserved.
'Killzone 2' © 2009 Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd. All rights reserved.
'Killzone 2' © 2009 Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd. All rights reserved.
Username Log In
15
tweets
8Share retweet
'Killzone 2' © 2009 Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd. All rights reserved.
'Killzone 2' © 2009 Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd. All rights reserved.
We use Maya's Hypershader system for editing and tuning our shader, since that system works well and most Maya artists are
already familiar with it. Of course, it's been vastly expanded upon with additional nodes, creating shader effects that Maya doesn't
normally support. The lighting in Killzone is based on Image-Based Lighting, a technique also used in movie special effects. The only
way to properly evaluate the way the shader interacts with the lighting is to see it in the game engine itself.
'Killzone 2' © 2009 Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd. All rights reserved.
Guerrilla Games
Killzone 2
Playstation article
Share This
Username Log In
32
tweets
55Share retweet
Weta is again synonymous with fantastic landscapes, but in Lovely Bones the greatest
accomplishments were extreme imagination. It's rumored that Joe Letteri said it best:
"Avatar's challenges were obviously really technical, and Lovely Bones challenges were
more creative."
Two of the Lovely Bones team who offered insights to brightening the grey area of
creativity were Art Director Michael Pangrazio and Compositing Supervisor Charlie Tait
as they tried to find the purity of a child mixed with the brutality of her own murder,
and her attempt to find her way from the dimension of the living to her next
destination.
"I might want to do two side by side "They were going to basically accept the work I generated from the script pages, and it
concepts with an impossible lens was up to me to be self-motivated and to generate the images and ideas based on the
situation, like a fisheye next to another words on the page. This went on for about six months. It was difficult in that I didn't
fisheye to give a 180 of what the world get assurance I was on the right track for anything, I was just sending work out and
could look like. not getting any information back." However, setting him free had some beautiful
results.
"It's not relevant how I present the work
in terms of camera. It's information, the
atmosphere of the scene that is more
important than the specific camera lens.
They will decide that later; or in the case
of Previs, it's already decided.
"There is nothing too low-res. 100x100 pixels? Fine, because it look like a painting. I just find that I can't paint with a pen, I just
doesn't matter for concept work. It doesn't matter if it's don't get the right feel for painting out of Photoshop.
pixilated or blurry, because I'll use so many layers of different
transparencies and different filters that all that disappears. If I "It ends up evolving into its own creation. Sometimes I don't even
need a highlight, I'll grab a highlight. It's got a spectral falloff know how it's going to end up looking, I might find something
that is accurate, different color temperatures on the outside, that I use a part of, and it changes the whole image and moves it
and that gives me the amount of complexity that I can't seem in a different direction. That is the fun of what I can do. I have
to get in Photoshop in a traditional way." some freedom here to explore and present what is my vision."
Those weekly meetings, presenting ideas, hearing Jackson's' thoughts, and making the
required changes went on for two and a half years, right to the end.
Compositing Supervisor Charlie Tait's
fondest memories were "the way I got to The process put Pangrazio under a tremendous amount of pressure to come up with
work with VFX Supervisor Christian fresh and unique concepts "Imagine," said Tait "being under that sort of pressure, to
Rivers, Director Peter Jackson, and come up with these amazing ideas, all the time, late into the night. Something that
Michael Pangrazio. can't be described very well, everyone having their own vision, and direction like 'I want
it to be surreal, and it can't have architecture, and maybe there could be a bird?.' It's
"We had these meetings weekly, way really hard to come up with all these things day after day." For that reason, Pangrazio
back before there was a script. For me, would have to do the designs in a sketchy manor.
this was the most exciting part of the
project, to be involved with the whole
creative process. Compositors, we are
always right at the end of the line. We
take everything that's been done so far
and we're the last to touch it before it
becomes film. We were trying to help
Peter obtain his vision, coming up with all
kinds of crazy looks.
Pangrazio would "paint these amazing illustrations in Photoshop, At one point, when Pangrazio was up-res'ing one of his own
then in the next meeting present perhaps ten or so he had done concepts into a final matte painting, he shared the office with
that week, and Peter would jump on something he liked or make Tait. As Pangrazio painted, Tait composited in collaboration.
suggestions or zoom in on one concept in particular. I would Pangrazio would shoot his matte painting over to Tait who would
take that, find a bluescreen shot it would go with, and put it place it in the top of his flowgraft, render it, render another
together as a moving shot so Peter could see it in context with script in Nuke, and they would review the results together,
(lead character) Susie in the foreground to get the idea if it was deciding what needed to be altered and which of them needed to
going to work for him or not." Some would be accepted, some make the tweaks.
would not. "That was a really fascinating process."
"I don't know how many people have had the opportunity to
If Jackson still liked the concept, either Pangrazio or another work with Michael like that. It was a really good, fun thing to do.
matte painter under his guidance would recreate the design from He normally sits in his own office, creating these concepts, but to
scratch, but at a much higher resolution. be working on something to go into a finished shot is different for
him. For me to sit by him and work with him was a real privilege,
I really enjoyed it."
Username Log In
32
tweets
55Share retweet
ups?
Image © Paramount Pictures.
It was initially filmed in live action with the girls walking along a Since the girls were filmed in daylight, both had a light
very wild New Zealand beach during daylight. It was beautiful, background behind them, so comping Holly into the matte
but it wasn't the serene beach Jackson imagined. Consequently, painting wasn't so difficult. However, when the camera cuts
the beach as well as everything above the horizon had to be across to Susie, the shot required hair roto, separating her from
replaced with a matte painting. The beach, water, and the plate, and a day-for-night grade on the background.
specularity was created in 3D, the waves lapping on the shore
were created from elements in 2D.
Lovely Bones
WETA Digital
Michael Pangrazio, Art Director
Charlie Tait, Compositing Supervisor
Share This
Username Log In
66
tweets
121Share retweet
Even though they are scattered around the Czech Republic, the
core business of Amanita is online games. However there are
always side-projects that keep the gang fresh and original.
Vaclav Blin is preparing a very strange interactive music video,
Jakub is working on production design for an animated feature
film, Adolf Lachman is a freelance painter and sculptor. The
cities of Prague, Brno and Pardubice bubble along with all kinds
of creativity from this troupe.
Username Log In
66
tweets
121Share retweet
"That's why we implemented into the game the hint system and the comic book walk-through. The hand-drawn walk-through is part
of the game so you don't need to feel ashamed if you'll use it now and then, but only when you are really stuck."
Amanita Design
Machinarium
'Samorost 1
'Samorost 2
Share This
Username Log In
5
tweets
0Share retweet
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 developer interview with Lead Artist Brent Gibson
and Lead Animator Adam Olshan from Vicarious Visions.
What once began years ago as a small, hopeful title called 'X-Men
Legends' has now been shaped into a mainstay in the game industry.
The Marvel Ultimate Alliance series is now considered an anticipated,
ongoing series. The production of 'Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2' brings a
typical question to artists and animators working on a recognizable
series. How do you take a recognizable universe with iconic
characters and reshape them into a new title? Lead Artist, Brent
Gibson and Lead Animator, Adam Olshan talk to us about the
painstaking challenge that faced the Vicarious Visions crew when
creating 'Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2'.
Dealing with any Marvel piece means that you have to stay true to the source
material. Unlike previous titles such as 'X-Men Legends 2' where many artistic
liberties could be taken, MUA2 has a much more serious, 'real world' feel to
the story so the visual feel also has to be taken seriously. In MUA 2 we find
that a law has been passed that requires anyone with special abilities such as
over to Xpec to be made into game assets. Once they passed our quality
benchmarks they would be handed back to us for final touch-ups and
preparation to go in game. From there our army of animators, engineers,
effects artist, and audio folks would bring them to life. Each character went
through a lot to become playable, and it still blows my mind that we have so
many that are playable.”
Username Log In
5
tweets
Share retweet
environment.”
Related links:
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2
Activision
Vicarious Visions
Pixologic ZBrush
Discuss this article on CGTalk
Share This
Username Log In
28
tweets
116Share retweet
As the New Moon rises, so do the stars "Strong concept art will save a lot of steps in the CG process;
at Tippett Studio. Charged with creating
the Quileute Wolf Pack for the Twilight it helps to keep the artists from meandering from the final goal." -
sequel, some of the industries leading
character artists sunk their teeth into Aharon Bourland, Technical Art Director,
just under 60 shots ranging from three
to twelve seconds that were pivotal to
Look Development.
the storyline. And those shots are
getting noticed.
The trip was extremely fruitful, but Phil Tippett, with his
honed eye for perfection, added a second method to study
fur under different controlled lighting and wind. "We had a
bunch of photographs of wolves that we were studying but
Phil was insisting that we take it to the next level and have
something to touch, walk around, and actually do your own,"
explained Fredenburg. This resulted in the creation of what
became affectionately known as the "Frankenwolf".
Tippett bought wolf pelts and cut them up with an Exacta
knife and pasted it onto a taxidermy blank "so that we could
do a lighting lab in two conditions? controlled lighting on our
stage where we could shine very specific lights and look at
how the fur responded, then we took it outside on an
overcast day, which was perfect for New Moon. We came up
with strategies for how to artistically make the wolves look
better in flat lighting, which is what we were dealing with
and is a very difficult lighting situation."
Hair Raising
One of the key observations we made at Wolf Mountain was
the complexity of the fur. From nose to tail the fur quality
changes, prompting the painters to create a zone chart of
the animal that divided the wolf up into fur zones; on the
nose and the legs the hair was short and velvet, on the neck
the mane was thick and long, belly clumped and long, the
back more medium length while the tail was bushy. The
coloring was not only unique over the length of the body, but
the hair follicle had unique color ticking from root to tip.
same effect.
Username Log In
28
tweets
116Share retweet
look.
With eyes, the surface quality is not hard to This was particularly challenging on one extreme close-up shot, as explained
achieve but there's something intangible about by Bourland.
eyes that is hard to get right. There are all kinds
of subtleties that go into eyes that make them "We had to re-write our fur shader for this show. It was so close on the eye
alive. The life in the eye comes from the way you could see individual hairs coming out of the skin. We had to write a new
light plays on the eye when it's refracted shader that would shade a cylinder so you could see each hair was rounded
through the lens. "It's not by mistake that when you were close, but as you backed away it would shift to a flatter
people say they're windows to the soul. They're shading model, which worked better at a distance. It would use LOD (Level
a focal point. There's a lot of unconscious stuff of Detail) to determine which shading model it was using, and transition
that we read from eyes that we still don't between them as you pulled in and out. We also re-wrote the GI (Global
understand. Illumination) setup so it would solve on the hairs. Before it was too
expensive to solve GI on the hair but we improved the fur shading so it
Eyes are doing things we know and register? like would solve occlusion and color bounce on the individual hairs."
we can read emotion on people through eyes?
but if I were to try to draw a sad eye or an
angry eye there's a subtly there that eyes can
express that we cannot necessary see but just
perceive, and that's very hard to get into CG."
Related Links
New Moon
Tippett Studio
Tippett Studio New Moon site
Tom Gibbons, Animation Supervisor
Aharon Bourland, Technical Art Director, Look
Development
Nate Fredenburg, Art Director
Stephen Unterfranz, Character Supervisor
Wolf Mountain
Username Log In
25
tweets
23Share retweet
Creation of the models from hand-drawn sketch characters, brought across from the original video game Sonic image, was the major
job here in modeling. There are a few differences though. These character models need to be able to stretch and deform. Go from a
small ball to a towering giant. As there are no spoken lines in the cinematic, the story would need to be propelled as these characters
act out their thoughts.
Username Log In
25
tweets
23Share retweet
SEGA
Username Log In
26
tweets
49Share retweet
CGSociety :: Tutorial
8 December 2009, by Aurelien Rantet (Aurel0988)
It took me one second to give up my first idea and to start working on this competition. I thought that having participated in an
international competition would be a good thing to have on my CV. When I saw the theme, I could not resist. Then I won. I'm pretty
new in the CG world so this award is a real honor for me, especially considering the level of the other participants.
Texture Studies.
complete control.
Username Log In
26
tweets
49Share retweet
Secret Agent
Aurelien Rantet's entry
Seceret Agent CGChallenge results
Aurelien Rantet's CGPortfolio
Autodesk 3ds Max
Adobe After Effects
Share This
Username Log In
0 1
tweet
5Share retweet
As the Shrek franchise marches off into the DVD player sunset, the
fourth installment of the DreamWorks creation leaves us wanting
more- and more and more, because the film is such a joy to watch.
Under the guidance of VFX Supervisor Doug Cooper, his stellar team
produced the most visually sumptuous Shrek to date. Alex Ongaro,
Head of FX, and Cooper, who last graced these pages from his
Supervisor stint on BEE Movie, share information to help you create
your own fantasy world.
“We’ve had improvement of our FX tools,” said Cooper when asked about
advancements since his last feature film and subsequent CGSociety article.
“I don’t think we’ve ever been able to do this scope or complexity. Even
though we have a lot of the same rendering technology we had before, we
have made our renderer distribute across a large number of machines so an
individual artist can sit at their desk and have a mini-farm dedicated to them,
they can have perhaps 40 machines that feed into their machine.” This is a
good thing, since some of the scenes would test any render farm. From
Fiona’s long flowing curly red hair. “the best hair I think we’ve ever made,” to
the alternate reality transition, to working in stereo 3D (S3D) the artists were
put to the test, and rose to the challenge.
Doug Cooper
“When Shrek is first whisked away and Rumple’s carriage tears apart and rebuilds itself,
that sequence begins Shrek’s perfect day, being the ogre he wanted to be.”
Doug Cooper, VFX Supervisor
ARTISTIC CHOICES
Cooper, who as a VFX Supervisor focuses more on
the final look than how it was done, helped to
The director wanted an effect to take Shrek from this world to the alternate
world, but wanted to avoid the overused wormhole effect. It also had to work
in both 2D and S3D. To accomplish this, DreamWorks went with the concept
of tearing up paper, symbolically the contract, in a tornado-like cloud of chaos Alex Ongaro.
created within a sphere. This particular shot used Houdini for the paper effect
and the tornado effect was handled with Maya particles before fine-tuning the
scene in proprietary software. Head of FX Alex Ongaro explains: “In a typical
particle sim, we do 80% of the shot in the application before the proprietary
format, where we can do a lot of post processing on the particles, such as fine
tune the color of the particles without having to go back to the original
software."
“Because the whole movie was about the contract, we went with the concept of paper
tearing apart, so we made the world rip apart like it was like paper.”
Alex Ongaro, Head of FX
Username Log In
0 1
tweet
5Share retweet
FILIGREE POOF
There is also the 'rumple poof' that he disappears in, developed by Andrew Kim. As explained by
Cooper, “we spent a lot of time working with Andrew on the art direction to comes up with something
that had an intricate filigree design pattern and still have an organic quality. He really nailed that, and
that was a really difficult thing to achieve. We tried to do that kind of effect in films before, but Andrew
pulled all the stops and came up with a great technique that lets us get the intricate design detail that
also works in stereo.” None of it is cheated, and you can really feel it live in the space of the stereo
image.
This process will be covered in a SIGGRAPH paper this year, but above is a sneak peek of how it was
done. Inspired by the banf effect from one of the X-Men movies, DreamWorks used procedurals instead
of relying on nondeterministic simulation. According to Ongaro, “we created a library of particles doing
this filigree effect and those particles that were already saved on disk were placed in each scene to
create this poof.”
Used in both an early scene as Shrek first celebrates his perfect day and as a group scene at the end,
the mud angels was a process that evolved as much as the storyline. “I can explain both, because they
share a technique. Then I can explain the one at the end, because it was a big hack,” Ongaro chuckled.
MUD ANGELS
The first mud angel was with Shrek only, using Maya particles. That took quite a bit of iterations to get
the thickness and viscosity right, and the shading to feel wet and have a glistening quality. The effect
worked extremely well but it was ridiculously slow, with simulation taking three to four days.
Fortunately (or unfortunately!), the shot worked so well and the director loved it so much he decided to
add it to the end with all the main and many secondary characters included. On top of that, the artist
that worked on the single mud angel shot was now working on the tornado shot, so a different artist had
to be assigned. That artist was versed in RealFlow, so selected that software for the job. While RealFlow
was excellent with the particles, it proved difficult to art direct.
The solution was to use RealFlow on the close-up characters at the beginning, Shrek, Fiona, and some
other ogres, a simulation that took 20-30 hours per character, much faster than Maya but still too
prohibitive to use for all the characters in the wide shot. To complete the required number of characters
scattered around the outside of the screen, Ongaro proposed a simple but sparkling solution, using
displacement maps. “We created a system that was emitting particles from the characters arms and
legs. Those were rendered as black and white images which were projected on to the plane and used as
displacement maps. It’s kind of a foot print system, but because the mud had to be viscous, we thought
doing particles would be easier. Then, we could add practical expressions to make it look more alive.”
Some particles dragged a bit, others matched the speed of the characters movement and even change
the opacity, all resulting in a convincing look that blended well with the simulation. The two methods
work together so well you can’t really see where the breaking point is.
THE END
So sadly, it’s time to allow a little alone time for Shrek and Fiona, and Donkey and Puss in Boots. I’m
sorry to see them go. But they’ve made us laugh and cry while they’ve taught a valuable lesson: While
each day we whittle away the hours in our own alternate realities don’t forget to read the fine print, or
you may never get home again.
Related links:
Shrek
DreamWorks Animation
Doug Cooper
Alex Ongaro
BEE Movie
Maya
Houdini
RealFlow
Loading comments...
Username Log In
0 1
tweet
Share retweet
CGSociety talks to
'Singularity' Art Directors Brian Pelletier and Charles Morrow.
Concept
Charles Morrow introduces the whole theme of
Singularity. “Believability was first up and a few
Design
'Uncanny' is the single word that Charles Morrow
uses to describe Singularity which is a rightly
fitting term for Raven Software as they have
probably created every great X-Men game in the
last seven years from X-Men Legends 1 and 2 to
Marvel Ultimate Alliance to X-Men Origins:
Wolverine. “Not too much rocket science here,”
says Art Director Brian Pelletier. “It was useful to
often go dark, wet, and windy. Imply as much as
Username Log In
0 5
tweets
Share retweet
Controlling Time
Getting the animations to look right when altering
the time of certain objects and characters was my
main interest in Singularity. Pelletier tells us how
the Raven crew came up with the time-
manipulating animations. “Generally we had two
different kinds of age events; one while using the
Time Manipulation Device (TMD) and the other
was world environmental age events. The TMD
glove effects were meant to feel like time was
being pushed into an item or character; or pulled
from them. Items affected by the TMD were a
different matter. We had to determine what a
Development
Typical tools of the trade were used in creating
Singularity but it’s also nice to know that the
Raven team still likes to put out concepts on good
old paper. “We still sketch on paper and sketch
and paint digitally using mainly Photoshop using a
Wacom Cintiq – all of our artists have them,” says
Pelletier as I jealously wait for him to continue.
Related links:
Raven Software
Singularity
© 2010 Activision Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved
Activision
Share This
Username Log In
1
tweet
3Share retweet
© Warner Bros. All Rights Reserved. Image Courtesy Industrial Light & Magic
© Warner Bros. All Rights Reserved. Image Courtesy Industrial Light & Magic
© Warner Bros. All Rights Reserved. Image Courtesy Industrial Light & Magic
Username Log In
1
tweet
3Share retweet
© Warner Bros. All Rights Reserved. Image Courtesy Industrial Light & Magic
© Warner Bros. All Rights Reserved. Image Courtesy Industrial Light & Magic
© Warner Bros. All Rights Reserved. Image Courtesy Industrial Light & Magic
© Warner Bros. All Rights Reserved. Image Courtesy Industrial Light & Magic
© Warner Bros. All Rights Reserved. Image Courtesy Industrial Light & Magic
Username Log In
1
tweet
3Share retweet
© Warner Bros. All Rights Reserved. Image Courtesy Industrial Light & Magic
© Warner Bros. All Rights Reserved. Image Courtesy Industrial Light & Magic
© Warner Bros. All Rights Reserved. Image Courtesy Industrial Light & Magic
© Warner Bros. All Rights Reserved. Image Courtesy Industrial Light & Magic
were blowing up a huge portion of San Francisco, or an entire skyscraper, Kerner Optical CGS story
or an entire SkyNet installation, we used miniatures and built them at a Brian Gernand
smaller scale, 1/12 or 1/24,” he notes. Kerner was able to “precisely time Matte World Digital
and compose explosions and place them into shots, exactly to our Craig Barron
requirements. It’s very, very seamless. You don’t really know where the Rising Sun Pictures
full-scale work stops and the animation work starts.” Whiskytree Inc. CGS story
The A-10 planes that the Resistance is using against Skynet and its Discuss this article on CGTalk
Terminators were a combination of large miniatures of the fighters with
10-foot wingspans, computer generated A-10’s and the real thing. The Air Share This
Force was willing to do some flybys “and we were able to weave them all
together, sometimes into single shots. You weren’t able to identify any
particular technique."
Username Log In
30
tweets
45Share retweet
While tackling the issue of funding, Gilliam and his concept artists assembled a book of
roughly 20 Photoshop renderings consisting of "the stuff that is in the darkest recesses
of Terry's mind," Warren laughed.
"Some of it's been in there for twenty years, and it all came out. I don't know where
the transvestite police came from, do you? I wouldn't know where to start but I think,
in working with him, you very, very quickly get to know that almost anything is
acceptable as an idea as long as it fits in with the taste of the piece."
For example, when Jude Law is marching around on stilts, Gilliam was very conscious
that if they simply made him hang on to two sticks standing on the ground, the weight
and motion would have been completely wrong. Instead, they did intensive previs of
walking on stilts to get the gait they liked, then used a physical motorized rig that Law
I asked David Warren if any ideas that started out as practical wound up as digital.
"That's a really good question, very difficult. I've got to think now," Warren quipped.
"There were more ideas initially where they, from my experience, would have worked
better as miniatures because they needed that kind of depth and texture and lighting,
but it just wasn't worthwhile. The only way to allow the film to expand as Terry shot it
was to do the amount we did digitally, especially all the landscapes."
Username Log In
30
tweets
45Share retweet
"I took every camera setup and started moving the camera shots They used every nearly every major software: Maya, XSI,
around in a 3D space within Shake, so it was a Shake composite Houdini and other propriety software. They composted on Shake,
to start with. We weren't aware what the choreography was, and Fusion, Nuke and Inferno for high speed compositing. Mochi,
it was pretty much decided on the day what the camera setups Vue, Terragen for some mountains, all orchestrated through a
would be." render manager they called Rush.
A free form camera unit around Waits and Cole was used, then "It was pretty nuts," said Docherty. "We had gigabytes of
the sequence was edited together. They had to work out what references, paintings and drawings and production drawings for
the CG would entail, so building a 2D environment was the most every sequence."
expedient way to handle that scene.
"That was as much work as the digital work on the final shots, "We would dump what we had and transfer it up the next day. It
getting it down to the point where we weren't wasting big was an ongoing process that had to happen all the time, or else
renders, large particle systems and caches, and we had to fine we didn't stand a chance of the stuff joining up. The heavy
tune the edit to the point that the heavy duty digital work was previs and midvis allowed us to be reasonably sure it was going
pretty much all going to stay on the screen and in the movie. to stick together and also allowed Terry to get a strong input
Otherwise we'd have never finished it, it was the only way we rather than arriving on the day being told, 'this is what you get'.
could get through with the time and money that we had."
"Terry isn't the sort of director that would react well to that sort
They also built digital equivalents of all the practical models, as of discussion. It was very important that by the time we got
well as all the actors, animating them complete with camera there, the things had been built and everybody was committed,
movies, turning over new versions overnight, and sending them and that Terry had been involved at every step of the way and
off to either the miniature studio or to the shoot. was behind it."
Username Log In
0 32
tweets
61Share retweet
We dig into the Vault for another look at one of our more popular tutorial
features. Jeroen Maton walks us through steps he found to help with the
creation of great textures.
The main goal of this article/tutorial is to give you a few hints and tricks
that might help you to make your own textures look better. What you'll
read are things other people taught me, or that I had to discover for
myself. They are not the only way to handle some of the problems, but
over the years I've found that these work best.
Material definition is a term I use quite a lot. Very often someone posts a
texture that looks weird on the model, but looks even worse if you look at
the texture sheet. In the end it shouldn’t really matter if your texture sheet
looks 'good or bad', as long as it looks good on the model.
However, a good way to check your texture is to look at your sheet, and
see if you can recognise what material it is (ie metal, rock, rubber, etc), or
what part of the model is unwrapped there.
When working on current and NextGen materials (with all the exotic maps
and effects) this is not always possible. Nevertheless, if you can
recognise the material then there’s a big chance that it’ll look good on the
model too. If you can’t, then there’s a very big chance that you see
something as metal while in fact it’s nothing more than random colors and
pixels.
(Pure photo sourcing is something that can easily cause this, but more on
that later.)
Apart from the a good diffuse map, a proper specular can help a lot as
well. There are tools that can generate specular maps for you, but they
don't give you enough control, especially when you're working with
different material types in one texture, or with bright text.
The picture above shows you how you can create a specular map for a
simple two material texture, with concrete and metal. Both have their own
level correction. You can use brightness/contrast instead of Level
correction for this too, but adjusting the levels gives you a bit more
control.
When working on a texture, it’s a good idea to start with a base material.
If you’re working on metal, create a solid metal material. If metal is
damaged all over, you can get those in your base.
It can be a good idea to save your base textures. This way, when you
need to create a similar texture, you only have to take the base texture
you have and build on that.
Depending on the style and theme you can use a minimalist style, or go
to extremes with the detail. It is your job to give the viewer something
interesting to look at. Subtle details are perfect for this, and they can be
everything.
A sticker, some worn paint, rivets, bolts, someone that wrote something
with a black marker, mud, oil, anything. But the key is to keep it subtle. If
you go overboard with this, it'll lose it's power.
Take care. Some people like sharp and crisp textures, others
like to leave a little bit of blur in them.
Personally I prefer the sharp and crisp textures, so I always
do a sharpen pass on my entire texture.
Basically I make a copy of your entire texture, paste it at the
top of the layer stack, and do an Unsharp mask pass on that
layer (despite the oddname it will sharpen your texture).
It's very tempting to use sharpen too much, which will cause
all kinds of artifacts on your texture.
texture and redo the unsharp mask proces, this way you'll
always end up with a complete sharp texture, and it'll keep
your .psd file clean).
The last one clearly has artifacts that you don't want. The
white is too dominant, there are bright orange pixels at the
border of the paint, etc. You really want to avoid things like
that.
With Tip #5 in mind, using photos isn't always bad. Photos are excellent if
you want to add small details.
Small anomalies that break the surface, and give your texture the look
and feel like it has been used.
The best way to show you the effect is to show you the same piece of
texture with and without photo overlays.
Overlay and Vivid Light usually work alright, the rest really depends on
the picture but very often give a blown-out effect. One thing to keep in
mind when you're doing this is to keep it subtle.
These are small details, things that the viewer should not notice at all.
Another thing to keep in mind is the scale of the details. If you want
subtle paint damage, like on the second door texture, make sure that the
scale of the details is the same as the scale of your object.
If not, it'll look out of place, and the viewer will notice that something is
off.
For a better overlay effect you can tweak the "blend if" options on each
layer. This is useful if you have bright or dark areas that mess up the
effect. You can smooth them out with this option. If you hold Alt while
dragging the sliders you'll split the slider up, and create a smooth
transition of what is blended, and what is not.
Username Log In
0 32
tweets
61Share retweet
One way to create dirt has already been covered, and that's
photo overlays. Those are great for general wear and tear on
your texture.
Dust and dirt can be done very quickly with a solid brownish
layer and a layer mask. Simply put the dirt layer at the top of
your stack, and paint with a low opacity and flow. You can
spice things up by changing the blending mode, or to filter
your dirt layer. (add noise for example).
This will break the surface somewhat if the dirt becomes too
visible. Once again, subtlety is the key to success.
Rust is a bit more tricky. The thing with rust is that it's very
random and undefined. Other than the placement and how it
leaks, there's hardly any logic to it.
That was until DennisPls shared his technique with me, which
I've been using ever since. It's basically almost identical to
regular photo overlays, only here you only use a small part of
the texture.
You clean the edges with a mask so that it blends nicely with
your base texture. Matching scale is very important here.
There is a sure chance that you'll find dust and dirt in such an
area. Also, areas that are rubbed frequently will show worn off
paint, scratches and if they are metal they will shine more.
This doesn't only work for small borders. If you go big, the
same rules apply.
The front of the forklift (1) is the area that will suffer the most,
and will therefore have more damage than other parts.
The lower part of the side will stick out most, so the biggest
damage will be done there. The wheels (3) don't need any
comments at all...
AO maps are a great way to give your texture that extra bit of
depth, and it'll make your model look less like CG, and more
like something from real life. (The lack of good GI is in many
cases the thing makes something look fake).
Some people use advanced GI settings to bake their AO
maps, but in many cases that's not really necessary. Even
'simple' indications of shadow and light will make a huge
difference.
If you think about how you will texture your model while
unwrapping, you will most likely avoid "bad" UV clusters, and
save yourself a lot of time and frustration.
I hope that some of these points can help you with your textures, and that
you learned something new.
Because only by trying things out will you get a better understanding.
Which can only lead to better and faster texturing.
Like many others, I started as a gamer, and soon wanted to build my own
maps and levels.
The main purpose for this article is to make a summation of all the
comments that are frequently made at Game-Artist.net (and elsewhere,
no doubt). It's not the Holy Grail of Texturing, but it can help you out with
issues that frequently occur, and are easy to fix.
Related links:
Jeroen Maton
CGPortfolio
Game-Artist.net
Share This
Loading comments...
Username Log In
8
tweets
2Share retweet
In the intense battle scenes we considered the cameras to be an extra character caught between all of the chaos, which deemed integral to the
choreography and flow of the action.
Username Log In
8
tweets
2Share retweet
For the shot where Megatron is sinking into the ocean the underwater feel was accomplished using Dreamscape software. Particle
Flow was used to create the bubbles with a mixture of animated spheres rotating on an offset pivot point. These particles would
spawn out of themselves create the illusion they are dividing underwater into smaller bubbles.
The entire cinematic was composited using Apple Shake. All character
and set passes were rendered as 32-bit EXRs. This was especially
necessary as we were receiving all of our interactive light passes (for
explosions, muzzle flashes etc) as black and white masks. We were
then using those masks to affect the original set and character passes
that made an added bit depth necessary.
Some of the shots had over 70 individual passes, and when a great
deal of those are 32-bit floating point as you can imagine it made for
some quite heavy and complicated comps. A great deal of
atmospheric light was added, consisting of radial color gradients,
placed just off screen to simulate light spilling into the shot from the
surroundings
The transition from battle scene to the globe and the war room was difficult because there was so much happening in such a short amount of
time. We transitioned firstly through the blue flames of Optimus Prime's main weapon impacts, then to a realistic looking Earth, finally to a
holographic Earth, keeping it all flowing and believable. Finally a post comp grade was added to all the battle sequences. We added more blues
and greens to the city streets to match the unique colour palette of the feature film. Depth of field was used on the majority of the battle
sequence shots, also added in comp.
TRANSFORMERS and all related characters are trademarks of Hasbro and are used with permission. (c) 2009 Hasbro, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Username Log In
25
tweets
28Share retweet
"Transformers:Revenge of the
Fallen"- Production Focus, 7 July 2009
The guys and gals at Digital Domain opened up to us for a extremely
well received article in July about production on the Transformers
sequel, 'Revenge of the Fallen'. The brief from Michael Bay was to fill the
screen with robots.
ALICE
Sam, played by Shia LaBeouf, has gone off to
college and is meeting new people, making new
friends. The Decepticons are trying to get
information from Sam. Enter Alice, the hot chick
Username Log In
25
tweets
28Share retweet
REED MAN
Alice wasn’t the only bot that could make one’s
skin crawl. Much the same can be said for Reed
Man. Reed Man is introduced through a puma-like
robot character called Ravage who spits out insect
like nano-bugs that pour into a ventilation
system. These nano-bugs are the basis for Reed
Man, a human sized praying mantis type
character made of razor blades who is so thin he
can rotated his alignment perpendicular to the
viewer and disappear totally from view.
COMIC RELIEF
Transformers regularly breaks from its onslaught
of battles with characters meant to make you
laugh, such as with Wheelie or the eight Kitchen
Bots. But humor is tough to achieve, as Taylor
points out. “Creatively you have to search for
those things that will make these shots as
interesting, not as spectacular as the larger shots,
and that becomes a lot more challenging
sometimes. It was stupid juvenile humor, like the
espresso bot is always steaming and belching and
farting out flames, but you are looking for what
can he do to get a little laugh. When you have
small characters in the film, compared to an 18
story robot, the challenge is making them visually
exciting and interesting and look for moments
that are quieter cinematically. If you have a
Transformer the size of a skyscraper, it’s already
spectacular, so you have to do what you can to Courtesy of Paramount Pictures
Courtesy of Paramount Pictures Juggling so many requirements was a test for the
director as well as the crew at DD, but according
to Buler, “it was simply a process that had to be
Related links: done. Even though a character was in the early
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen stages and far from fully realized, and there was
Digital Domain the potential for Bay to love or hate the character
Matthew Butler (VFX Supervisor) before its full potential, it was best to show the
Paul George Palop, Digital Domain CG Supervisor character early on so the artists were at least
Dan Taylor, Digital Domain Animation Director aware if their time, and the budget, was being
Gentle Giant Studios spent wisely.
Discuss this article on CGTalk “He’s managing himself. I think in some cases
that can be a real scary situation, when you are
Share This thinking, ‘is he going to wear the Director hat
more and go financial out of control, or is he
going to curtail his creative freedom because he’s
worried about spending too much money? I think
he did a pretty damn good job of balancing that.”
Username Log In
15
tweets
18Share retweet
It's a long way from Jungle Book and Bambi to total destruction, but you never know where a childhood
fascination might lead. For Volker Engel, co-producer and visual effects supervisor for 2012,' it led to art,
animation, and, in a chance of fate, to director Roland Emmerich.
Engel, who grew up in Bremerhaven, a seaside town in northern Germany, received an early introduction into
filmmaking fundamentals. His father, who worked on ships, and his mother, who worked in a pharmacy, gave
him a toy film projector when he was about six years old. Twenty-six years later, he won a visual effects
Oscar for his work on Independence Day.
Engel knew he wanted to continue making films after secondary school, but it
was difficult. "It was 1984," he says. "I wanted to get into moviemaking and
visual effects, but there was almost nothing in Germany." He visited schools in
nearby Bremen and Hamburg and found his answer.
The teachers in those schools told him to study with Professor Ade, who taught
animation at the Academy of Art and Design in Stuttgart. "I drove 800 kilometers
to talk to him and show him my films," Engel says. "I still had to participate in a
whole day of testing and standing in front of a group of professors, but in the end
the films got me into the Academy."
A third film launched his career. Well, to be precise, the trailer for a third film.
With teenage ambition overriding common sense, Engel decided he wanted to
create a feature-length sci-fi film on Super 8 by himself. Three years later, he
realized he'd never finish the film by the time he finished school. Instead, he
decided to do a trailer and a documentary about making the trailer.
"I had to film myself," he says. "It was narcissistic, but I couldn't find anyone in
my circle of friends to share my passion. After two hours of watching me painting
mattes on cels for multiple exposures of spaceships on star backgrounds, they
thought I was nuts." At the end, though, the 'nut' had a 15-minute documentary
with firecracker explosions and spaceship miniatures that helped him land a job,
his first, as special effects supervisor, at age 23, for Roland Emmerich's film
Moon 44.
"Roland took it home and watched it with his dad," Engel says. "He told me about
seeing a specific part where I cut 500 pieces of a metal wire that had to be exactly
one centimeter long, and then glued them together to create a structure.
He said, 'I watched you cutting apart those 500 pieces and knew you were insane
enough to work with us.'"
Username Log In
15
tweets
18Share retweet
Volker packed a suitcase, recruited some students to work with him on the film,
and hired Weigert as a project manager. Engel and Douglas Smith became co-
visual effects supervisors, and both won Oscars. "It was a 70-million dollar
Hollywood production," Engel says. "I had never done something at that scale
before. But the thing with Roland is that he puts trust in you, and once you feel
that someone puts trust in you, you feel you can do the impossible."
In the end, Smith and Engel supervised 325 people who created 400 effects
shots, most of which involved miniatures. And then, from Independence Day,
Engel moved on to supervise the visual effects, many of which were CG, for
Emmerich's next film, Godzilla. "I was 32," Engel says. "There were 400 or 500
people involved, and I was the sole visual effects supervisor. But it was all cool.
I felt safe with Roland because I knew him so well."
By then, Weigert had started his own visual effects company, and after Engel
finished 'Godzilla,' the two artists decided to work together. "The idea was to
have a production company to develop our own movies or co-produce, as it
turned out later," Engel says. "Not to be a visual effects facility."
On both Godzilla and Independence Day, the main visual effects unit was in the
same area as editorial, near to where the director worked in post-production.
"That's something we do to this day, " Engel says. "In film school, I had to learn
teamwork, and the biggest deal with teamwork is communication. So, we don't
do projects where the main vfx unit is more than 100 feet away from editorial
and from the director. That's what we did on 2012."
storytelling, but don't expect anything from us with just three people in a room of artists they'll need in Germany for
having a discussion. There will always be some visual element to the films we do." Emmerich's next film, Anonymous, set in
Shakespearean England.
Share This
So, is life is good for Engel? "It's wonderful," he says. "I couldn't come up
with anything that would make me happier."
Username Log In
17
tweets
49Share retweet
"I think the direction to use suits from Jim Henson was from Spike's desire for the
monsters to be as real as possible," said Daniel Jeannette, visual effects supervisor. "As
real as a child's imagination. From a shooting perspective, there were creatures on set,
so dramatically, the actor Max had something to act up against." In the end, while the
Jim Henson Creature Shop suits and Iloura Digital Pictures had done some truly
amazing work; Animal Logic and DtrainFX work as well, ultimately Framestore in London
was asked to bring the ship in. Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.
Framestore's part in this trichotomy was matching these three elements to bring out a
believable performance. Ben White, the CG Supervisor at Framestore, had worked on
Batman: The Dark Knight's two-faced Harvey Dent character the year before. This was
a different approach to the Benjamin Button style of face-match where they did a
separate performance capture and tried to master the two together.
"The crew had actually a fair amount of experience going through these kinds of
problems, which turned out to be incredibly useful," says White, on the phone from
London. "A lot of the challenges and pitfalls we encountered for Harvey Dent were
exactly the same issues we discovered when we came onboard this show."
Username Log In
17
tweets
49Share retweet
The first way into the maze was to do a camera track of all the
shots. In that one piece of work, Framestore had about 1,600
facial tracks to do. Thankfully for Framestore there were
markers on the faces, placed there by the crew on the day. A
lo-rez head was placed in as a guide, so they knew the general
angle of the face in space. "Now a lot of the CG texture of the
face comes from a camera matte of the faces," says White.
"The edges of the eye-lids, lips and nostrils had to nail down
the initial head track which gives the head position and
rotation. Then the team would go in and line it up even further
so we could actually get a decent texture from it. We'd validate
this by doing a UV Unwrap of the face and from that, you could
see where problems were if they arose. We had an excellent
team of about 35 trackers here at Framestore."
Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.
Username Log In
32
tweets
39Share retweet
Out of frustration, he decided to show them the makeup practically. Instead, they rejected the designs. He was becoming quite
He asked for a Benicia Del Toro double to apply the prosthetics to, discouraged. "They wanted me because I did American
and was sent several Latino actors to work with- none of which Werewolf and it was so cool. When John Landis made
looked like Del Toro. This was seven months before the film was American Werewolf in London, we had a plan. We talked
scheduled to be shot when Baker finally applied the makeup to about the transformation, we storyboarded it, he knew the
himself, shot some video and, satisfied with the design, sent it off makeup was going to take a long time and we would only get
for approval, thinking they were "going to flip out". so much in a day. This movie, we didn't know what the plan
was."
Seven months later they were about to film and they still hadn't Johnston came on at the very last minute and had no prep
settled on a design, plus they were bringing on a new director, Joe time whatsoever, since shooting was scheduled to start in a
Johnston. couple of weeks. Everyone was asking him questions,
Baker moved forward with the design he felt best represented The including Baker. "He had to try and get his head around
Wolfman, using the make up test that he previously did on himself, everything, and the transformation was something everyone
and the lack of time left Johnston little recourse but to accept those was worried about and didn't know what to do. The decision
designs, a situation Baker hoped wouldn't come back to haunt him. happened because, if he did it entirely in CG, he could think
It's hard to say if it did. about the transitions later and could concentrate on how he
was going to film the movie immediately.
Username Log In
32
tweets
39Share retweet
The Wolfman
Moving Picture Company
Rick Baker, Make-up Artist
Adam Valdez, VFX Supervisor at MPC
Username Log In
10
tweets
15Share retweet
Zack Petroc talks about his studio, including the release of new
training tools and how recent trends in design sculpts and
preproduction have transformed what he does.
Three years ago when Zack Petroc first launched his studio, the majority of
his time was spent creating 3D models for specific production pipelines. This
meant animatable meshes with a long list of exact criteria. While assets for
production are still a part of what he does, today the majority of 3D models
he creates are done well in advance of knowing what type of production
pipeline they will end up in; if they are meant to end up in one at all.
More and more production companies are seeing value in the development of
‘pitch packets’ in the earliest stages of a project. Including a broad range of
2D and 3D visuals, these design packets are often used to showcase the
potential of the project and attract funding, partner studios, and talent such
as actors and composers.
“When assembled properly, design packets are a great way to spark interest
and quickly convey the tone and overall feeling of a project,” says Zack.
"These packets of art, including character and environment designs, digital
design sculpts, practical maquettes, and animation tests, are often developed
well in advance of the final script. One of the benefits of loading the front end
of the process with design elements is that the completed art can act as a
visual stimulus for the writer. A key factor in the viability of this work flow is
that once the 3D models are created, they can be used in a variety of ways
as the project moves forward, saving time and money."
Zack has adopted many of these principles of development for the internal
projects his studio has in development, including his sculpted novel “Attaboy”
- slated for online sequential release later this year. He said it's a bit too early
to leak any story details about his creation, but we were able to pry one
character out of him to use as an example of how design packets are
transforming games, television, and movie development.
"No two projects start the same way,” Zack goes on to say, "I might be
brought into a project where the only design guide is a scriptment (the
combination of a screenplay and treatment that captures the premise and
tone of the project). Or, the project may already have 2D concept sketches
that need to be translated into a 3D design sculpt. In animated features, the
directors often come from an animation background and will supply me with
rough sketches or idea templates that need to be developed.
Sometimes, the design that needs fleshing out has real world counterparts
and I receive web links to images with notes that approximate what the client
is after, 'Can you give our character this type of outfit, but the proportions
and attitude of the person in this image.' All a creative team needs to get a
design packet rolling is enough information to get them headed in the right
direction."
“Throughout the design sculpt stage, screen grabs can be exported for paint
overs, character lineups, and color tests,” says Zack. “Turntables exported
from ZBrush are another quick way to get informed feedback, particularly
when one or more of the people involved are working remotely.”
With tools like ZBrush's Transpose, characters can be posed before they are
rigged, allowing artist to quickly explore designs and potential movement
constraints. “I also use this approach to prepare the model for rigging, giving
the rigger a chance to have direct input on the specifics of how they'd like the
character posed.”
When a project is ready to make the transition to production, the models
created during the design stage continue to add value, acting as time saving
templates that pipeline meshes can be extrapolated from. “One of the most
beneficial aspects of this approach is that the same finished design sculpt can
be used as a starting point to create both the feature film and game ready
meshes,” says Zack. There are numerous softwares, such as TopoGun or NEX
plugin for Maya, that are specifically aimed at accomplishing this goal. “At this
stage it helps to think of the digital design sculpt as a physical maquette with
perks. The sculpted hair is not there to go through the pipeline, it's a three-
dimensional visual guide set by the art department. Depending on which type
of model you are creating; digital double, in-game mesh, or animated feature
mesh, each studio will have different hair generating options available to
them and can chose what works best.”
Username Log In
10
tweets
15Share retweet
The only downside to creating digital designs is that when you are done, you
do not have anything that actually physically exists. As little as three years
ago, due to the cost prohibitive nature of outputting, that statement might
have ended the conversation surrounding digital concept designs. Today the
reality is that the cost of 3D outputs continues to drop, while the quality
continues to skyrocket. “It's hard to match the impact a physical maquette
can bring to a presentation,” says Zack. “From large scale hero characters to
four inch leave-behind busts, when it's all said and done, they are just cool.”
Zack's lectures highlight the origin and insertion points of all the major
muscles, but focus on how they influence the overall gesture and rhythms of
the figure. “The easiest mistake to make with an anatomy study is getting too
caught up in the technical recreation of the figure. For me, focusing on each
muscle but forgetting how they relate back to the gesture and overall form
always makes a character end up the same way... lifeless.”
Related links:
Zack Petroc
Pixologic ZBrush
Share This
INSIDE THE MAGAZINE Motion Theory Unleashes A Magical Water Extravaganza as Mickey Mouse
Conducts A World of Color
ARCHIVES Category: Online Exclusives
11-Jun-2010
NEWS
Venice, Calif. - Creative production studio Motion Theory creates a stunning, cinematic, CG
GALLERY film, starring a redesigned Mickey Mouse in the launch of Disney’s new show, World of
Color. Motion Theory directors Mathew Cullen and Christopher Leone partnered with
PORTFOLIO Disney and advertising agency, mcgarrybowen, to create an artful, cinematic experience
where a mischievous Mickey Mouse unlocks a stunning world of beauty and magic, as
VIDEOS other beloved Disney characters boldly interact with dazzling fountains of colored water
and light.
BLOG
Motion Theory’s visual effects team was charged with the creative responsibility of
RSS FEEDS conceptualizing and designing the story for the animations. This encompassed directing
the Mickey animation with lead animator, Tony Bancroft from Duck Studios, as well
EVENTS depicting Pixar characters in 3D water form. To re-create the characters in fluid form, as
well as elaborate 3D water fountains and environments, the team articulately rendered
EDUCATION over 150 fluid and volumetric mist elements using beta software to produce massive
volumes of 3D fluid simulations.
CONTACT US
SUBSCRIBE TO CGW
SUBSCRIPTION
QUESTIONS
DIGITAL EDITION
The film begins with Mickey approaching a music stand, where he begins to wield a
conductor’s baton. Mickey fumbles, and as he reaches for the baton, the sensational magic
FREE E-NEWSLETTER begins. The action is set in motion as a huge first blast of water erupts. Soon a fusion of advertisement
mighty water fountain blasts and brilliant arrays of colored light explode skyward as
advertisement
animated Disney characters burst onto the screen, magically forming into liquid shapes
that flow and move with the animation and music.
Each character had to be modeled, rigged, and match-moved. Buzz, Simba, Eve, the
Princesses, Crush, and the other characters each comprised up to a dozen different
simulations, formed from millions of particles. The full 3D environments that set the scene
were a complex mixture of 3D water tricks, fountains, background mist projection
screens, along with shafts of water shot 150-200 feet in the air under extreme pressure.
Visual effects supervisor John Fragomeni adds, “There are always challenges when you
integrate traditional 2D animated characters into a photo-real 3D world of water. The key
to success was finding that unique balance where the two styles could creatively coexist
and retain the fantasy edge that makes Disney magical. From the onset we knew we
would be pushing the boundaries of CG fluid simulation technology to meet these
challenges. We developed a very lean and streamlined process to produce amazing 3D
fluid simulations. It was a wonderfully rewarding project and the hard work by our terrific
team of artists is reflected in the on screen quality.”
The production timeframe for World of Color spanned February through June 2010.
Production included concept, storyboards, pre-visualization, technical R+D, animation,
fluid simulations, light, rendering, and final integration of all 3D elements.
RealFlow lead Andy Cochrane says of the process, “Six months ago, this project was
technically unachievable on a commercial schedule. We were able to deliver the massive
amount of fluid simulations required only due to our access to the pre-release of
RealFlow5. We created more CG water elements in this commercial than the last two
features utilizing CG water that I worked on…combined. Disney’s World of Color
commercial will be the first to showcase this technology; it was a great opportunity to
push the new software to its limits.”
Gustavo Sanchez, RealFlow technical consultant, Next Limit Technologies, says: “The
Disney project was a great test to demonstrate that RealFlow 5 was ready for release.
Motion Theory and their team of water-wizards really did push the boundaries. Their
experiences and constant feedback and it has been a pleasure for us and has helped us
get to where we are with RealFlow 5 and now the rest of the RealFlow community can
benefit from that.”
Motion Theory’s 3D team chose a workflow using beta RealFlow5 Software coupled with
Houdini: both new to Motion Theory’s pipeline. The number, complexity, and weight of all-
3D elements amassed more than 12 terabytes of data. In addition to using RealFlow5 and
Houdini, the production tool kit included RealFlow Renderkit (RFRK) for Mantra (alpha
testing), and Maya and Zbrush for modeling.
Houdini lead Marion Spates adds, “The final lighting and rendering was done in Houdini’s
Physically Based Renderer (PBR), well known for its photo-real qualities. Despite the
complex nature and sheer volume of the simulations we had to manage, the results are
beautiful and speak for themselves in terms of the look of the 3D water delivered.”
There were many complex moving parts required to deliver the final result. Motion
Theory’s composite team, lead by Andrew Ashton, strived to integrate 2D and 3D
elements, flawlessly embracing the best of both worlds to create a cinematic short film as
unforgettable as the World of Color experience itself.
PRODUCTION CREDITS
Disney “World of Color”
Client: Disney Destinations, LLC
SVP Global Marketing Advertising & Creative: Marty Muller
SVP Global Marketing Operations: Doug McGuire
VP Global Broadcast & Print Productions: Sally Conner
Disney Parks Production Director: Cory Stone
Director of Account Management: Janice Simcoe
Account Manager: Jim St. Amant
Disney Glendale Creative Director of Special Projects: Dave Bossert
Producer: Roger Petrusson
AGENCY
Agency: mcgarrybowen
Executive Creative Directors: Ned Crowley, Jonathan Moore
PRODUCTION/POST PRODUCTION
Production/VFX Company: Motion Theory
Directors: Mathew Cullen, Christopher Leone
Executive Producer: Javier Jimenez
Creative Director: Mathew Cullen
VFX Supervisor: John Fragomeni
Art Director: Ram Bhat
Other News
Cornucopia3D.com Unveils Artist
Portfolios
2-Mar-2010
more news
advertisement
On a typical Friday Aaron Oliker is port real date from Computed Tomogra- accurate come from
often in one of the operating phy CT) scans that allowed him to come medical centers the
rooms at New York University’s up with and accurate surgical model for company partners with,
medical school, standing alongside a the CD-ROM, which is now considered like Memorial Sloan-
sur- one Ket-
geon observing intently as a knee re- of the foremost training tools for the sur- tering Cancer Center Aaron Oliker
placement is started or as a heart sur- gery. and St. Luke’s Hospital's
gery is completed. Oliker witnesses pro- Seven years later, Oliker is using his Image Reading Center.
cedures performed by some of the coun- skills and combining his abilities with To create a stem cell
try’s most talented physicians as part of those of partners John Qualter, a medical animation that explains
his research for creating some of the animator who heads BioDigital Systems’ how using stem cells af-
most anatomically accurate 3D medical animation division, and Frank Sculli, a fects the brain for Stem
simulations available. bio- Cell Therapeutics, a
“To be able to do the animations, you medical engineer who leads the compa- small Canadian biotech Frank Sculli
have to know the surgeries just as well ny’s informatics department (who gath- firm, the team used real
as ers and plugs the data into the data from Magnetic
the doctor,” says Oliker, technical programs), Resonance Imaging
director to create peer-reviewed products that (MRI) scans to create
of 3D simulations and partner in are on the cutting edge of technology for the animated brain.
BioDigi- a range of clients that include hospitals,
tal Systems, a New York city-based pharmaceutical and medical device com- John Qualter
com- panies and medical schools.
pany that specializes in creating every-
thing from 3D simulated surgical
training
tools to animations that show how drugs To create their nonfiction 3D The company’s prod-
work to databases for cancer institutes. visualiza- ucts take anywhere
“You have to see it, and when you tions, Oliker, Qualter and their from two weeks to sev-
create respective eral months to create
it, it has to be right because [these ani- teams use the same tools as a and can cost $10,000
mations are] what people will be using Hollywood and up depending on the
to animator: After Effects and Combustion length of the project, and
train with.” for compositing; Mental Ray for exactly what's involved.
Oliker began observing procedures rendering Often, for medical
while and Photoshop for texturing. Maya is centers
working on a training DVD that the, and teaching hospitals,
launched backbone for the firms’s 3D the
his career in 3D medical visualization. animations,but company works with
In they’ve created plug-ins specifically for money from grants used
1999, he became involved with medical animation, as well as to
SmileTrain a charitable organization that proprietary develop these tools.
provides free cleft palate surgeries to technology and techniques that are used Qualter
children who would otherwise not to is currently working on a
receive import real-time data and accelerate project with New York
care. Working with Dr. Court Cutting, processes. The datasets that allow their University School of
he work to be anatomically Medicine called Web
developed an animated CD-ROM to Initiative for Surgical
show Education (WISE-MD)
doctors in Third World countries how to where he is creating
perform the surgeries. He created Maya
plug-ins to im-
76 November 2006 ANIMATION MAGAZINE www.animationmagazine.net
Animation Colleges
Choosing an Animation
School
Animation Jobs
Animation Career
Pixar Animator
Animation Job Board
Victor Navone: 3D Animator
3D Animation
Tell us about yourself Victor; where are you from and when and how did you get started in animation?
I was born and raised in San Diego, California, and I have a Bachelor of Arts degree in Fine Arts from the University of California, Irvine. Learning 3D Animation
I've been involved in 3D production (be it design, effects, modeling, lighting, etc.) since 1994, but it wasn't until 1998 that I started teaching 3D Animation Tutorials
myself character animation on my spare time.
3D-Modeling
Are you a traditional artist turned 3D animator or did you just jump right into the 3D Software? Lightwave Animation
I am a traditional artist though I have never done any 2D animation. I do find, however, that my art experience strengthens my animation. Maya Animation
It allows me to plan my animation on paper and design appealing poses.
Animation Schools
Video Game Design Search for Animation
Do you think that artists with a formal education in animation
or illustration have an advantage over self-taught artists? Schools Near You &
Yes, I do. A solid foundation in art informs any creative work you do in both Video Game Salaries Request Free
subtle and profound ways. Also, employers like to see that you have a Game Design Schools Information!
degree in the field they will be hiring you for. Animation.CollegeSurfing.com
Video Game Design
How to Become a Video Study Media &
Yes, I do. A solid foundation in art informs any creative work
Game Designer Animation
you do in both subtle and profound ways. Also, employers
Learn Media Arts &
like to see that you have a degree in the field they will be
Traditional Animation Animation at an Art
hiring you for.
Institutes School.
I can't speak much about game companies any more because I've been out
Apply Now!
of that industry for years, but I imagine their needs would be more technical. 2d Animation
www.artinstitutes.edu
They're probably most interested in people who can do good locomotion Learning 2D Animation
cycle animation, convincing physics, etc. An animation studio is going to be Have Great Product
more interested in acting ability. If you want to get into a place like Pixar you Animation Links Ideas?
have to be able to portray thought, emotion and personality through body Get Invention Help
form Experienced NY
http://www.animationarena.com/pixar-the-incredibles-animator.html[6/16/2010 9:47:00 PM]
Pixar The Incredibles Animator: Victor Navone
language alone. Lip-synch exercises are important too. You have to be able Web Animation
to tell a story through action, and you have to have a sense of humor. They Consultants. Free
like to see some drawing ability if possible. Modeling and rigging skills are Flash Animation Invention Kit!
fine to have, but not necessary. www.NewYorkInventionHelp.c
Learning Flash
Academy of Art
How hard is it for a self taught animator to break into the University
business? Instruction by Pros at
There is a lot of competition out there right now, so it's not going to be easy. Pixar. Request
A great demo reel will speak for itself, whether you have schooling or not, Animation School
but it's still important to network and to be willing to work your way up from a Info.
lesser job. I got very lucky - I don't think that I could get a job at Pixar today with the demo reel I had in 2000. I think timing was a large www.AcademyArt.edu
factor, since Pixar was expanding and I got in before the dot-com crash. Networking is also very important. Sometimes a good demo reel Online Animation
is not enough - you need people in the industry to know your name and help you get in the door. Degree
Get Your Animation
What steps should an inspiring Animator take to break into the business? Degree Online Career-
Focus on being a good animator first. Practice, practice, practice. Get all the feedback you can to improve your work. There are lots of Focused, Flex
good forums on the internet for displaying your work and getting critiques. If you can meet people in the industry and get feedback from Schedules.
them, even better. This is good for networking as well. Once you have a good animation reel it's time to start sending it around and go to www.Westwood.edu/Animatio
all the big CG conventions, like SIGGRAPH.
What's it like working for Pixar? What are some of the projects that you've worked on?
Pixar is the dream job for an animator. It's the best place in the world to work. It has a casual, fun atmosphere, lots of talented and friendly
people, and we get to make some of the best movies ever. I myself have worked on Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles
(November 2004) and various short projects.
Working for Pixar I would imagine that you're surrounded by the best of the best of the Animation industry, is it
an intimidating work environment?
It can be intimidating but mostly it's inspiring. You want to learn from these people and impress them with your work in return. The bar is
always set very high. It's great to be able to get feedback on your work from some of the best artists in the industry.
How does working at Pixar compare to working at Presto Studios? Which environment is the more creatively
inspiring?
They were very different experiences, both enjoyable. Presto was a very small company made up almost entirely of young men ages 24 to
30. This made the atmosphere very playful and occasionally raunchy, and the small size meant that I could try out a lot of different roles
and gain a wide variety of production skills. It was a great place to grow as and artist and make plenty of useful mistakes. Many Presto
alumnus have gone on to jobs in the film industry at places like ILM, Lucasfilm, Weta and Pixar. Pixar has a lot of the same playful spirit
that Presto did, but of course its population is much larger more diverse. They employ about 700 people now, so sometimes you may feel
that your contribution to a project is relatively small. Then again, it's very exciting to be involved in such big, widely-viewed productions.
There's a lot more exposure and prestige than I could ever get at Presto, so professionally it's very gratifiying. The animation department
consists of about 60 men and women; it's a tightly knit group, and it often feels a lot like Presto used to. We are definitely the spoiled
children of the company. Both Presto and Pixar have been creatively inspiring to work at; Presto for it's freedom and because I was new
Could you take us through your creative process when starting a new animation project.
I don't have a regular process for this yet, but I usually start a project or an animation scene by doodling on paper. Small thumbnails just
to get an idea for camera angles, poses, characters and how shots will flow together. For a story I will write out a brief outline. Once I have
an outline and enough thumbnails I will start storyboarding. For Big Bang I drew about 400 storyboards, scanned them, and edited them
together with After Effects and Final Cut Pro. I added temporary dialog of my own voice as well as some generic sound effects. I did many
revisions to this story reel, and the feedback I got from some fellow artists at Pixar was invaluable. Next I started finalizing designs for
characters and vehicles. Once I have everything modeled I will start laying out the shots in 3D and animating them. I can imagine it will be
a challenge just to manage and track all of the assets I will be needing to complete the short.
Could you tell us about your new animated short Big Bang?
It's a work in progress. It's 6 minutes long and I have no idea how I'm ever going to finish it. I got the idea in 2001; so far I have the entire
story in animatic form, and I've done some of the character and vehicle modeling. I haven't actually started animating anything yet, so I've
got a long way to go.
What software packages are being used in the creation of Big Bang?
So far I'm using Animation: Master, Photoshop, After Effects and Cinema
4D.
Have you run into any major production problems during the
creation of Big Bang?
Mostly just not having enough time and being too picky about the details.
Faster computers would help, too.
What's next for Victor Navone? Are there any new projects
on the horizon?
I'm not sure what my next project at Pixar will be after The Incredibles. As
for personal work, I look forward to being done with Big Bang so that I can
draw and paint more. I need some instant gratification.
Do you have any advice for the aspiring Animators out there?
Learn the traditional principles for animation. Read The Illusion of Life and
The Animator's Survival Kit. Read books on filmmaking in general. Practice,
practice, practice. And keep it simple.
Are you an Artist/Animator? Have your art featured on Animation Arena... Find out how
Animation Arena : Contact Us | Link Exchange | Advertise on Animation Arena | Submit your Art |
DO I FEEL LUCKY ?
FLICKERINGMYTH.COM - MOVIE NEWS, REVIEWS, ARTICLES, OPINIONS & MORE
Well, do ya, punk?
Thanks for visiting the site. We update regularly on all things silver screen. Feel free to leave any comments, or contact us
here.
Rewarded with a traveling scholarship in 1961, Ridley Scott headed to New York to observe the advertising
SEARCH...
and fashion industry; while there he worked as an editing assistant at Time/Life Inc. for documentary
filmmakers Richard Leacock (Tread) and D.A. Pennebaker (Don’t Look Back). A year later, Scott returned Search
to England and was hired by the BBC. “Those days in the early sixties were a terrific time for a TV powered by
designer,” stated the filmmaker. “I was building elaborated double-decker sets with cameras on the second
story, but I eventually discovered that there were only a few good directors and I became very frustrated
by what I considered to be mishandling of my constructions.” YOUR FAVOURITE RIDLEY SCOTT MOVIE
IS...
Enrolled in a four month director’s course, Ridley Scott began his quest for a new career path. “I knew I The Duellists (1977)
had to do something fairly remarkable. Otherwise, it would be back to the design department.” The project
Alien (1979)
that the young filmmaker had in mind was a ten minute condensed version of Paths of Glory which was
adapted into a feature length picture by Stanley Kubrick in 1957. “TV, by encapsulating, often has the Blade Runner (1982)
effect of making mediocre things seem really good,” observed the director. “It worked, it clicked, and as a Legend (1985)
result I was offered the direction of a couple of episodes of a popular police-action series called Z Cars Someone to Watch Over Me
[1962 to 1978]. After that, the hierarchy said I had to go back to the design department, so I resigned – a (1987)
frightening decision, because during my three years at the BBC I’d married, become a father, and gotten a Black Rain (1989)
new house.”
Thelma & Louise (1991)
1492: Conquest of Paradise
Fortunately, within a short period of time, Scott was offered the opportunity to direct a few episodes of
(1992)
The Informer (1966 to 1967, ITV) which he described as being “a very intelligent semi-detective series
White Squall (1996)
starring Ian Hendry [Get Carter] in the role of a disbarred lawyer.” The reprieve did not last long, as
frustration soon set in again. “You can’t ever totally control what you’re doing in episodic TV.” Having art- G.I. Jane (1997)
directed a number of commercials, as well as directing a half-dozen of them, the moviemaker established Gladiator (2000)
Ridley Scott Associates (RSA); he hired his brother Tony as the first of five other directors to work for the Hannibal (2001)
fledgling production company which specialized in television ads. “[I] loved the idea of being able to play
Black Hawk Down (2001)
around with details and really present, even if it was only for thirty or sixty seconds, something I could
totally control.” Matchstick Men (2003)
Kingdom of Heaven (2005)
Proving himself with spots for Benson Hedges and a series of period costume ads for Hovis Bread, Ridley
A Good Year (2006)
Scott and his group of directorial talent were receiving assignments from Paris, Berlin, and Munich. “If
you’re a filmmaker and you’re not filmmaking that’s a fallow period. It’s like being an athlete. If you’re not American Gangster (2007)
running around the track, you’re losing your edge. It is like doing a pocket version of a feature film. The Body of Lies (2008)
advantage with advertising is that you don’t have to live with something for months on end.” There is also
Show results
another benefit. “My training in commercials was really my film school. It helped build my awareness of
how to present suspense and – ‘manipulation’ is a bad word – fascinate the audience and hold it in a kind
Votes so far: 390
of dramatic suspension.” Days left to vote: 4
Vote
During the late 1960s, word spread to North America resulting in RSA producing ads for Diet Pepsi, Ford
Motor Company, Schaeffer Beer, and Pit Stop. “There’d be a preliminary transatlantic phone conference,
QUOTE OF THE WEEK...
the storyboard would be air-freighted over, followed by another call to discuss it, then I’d fly over on a
Sunday night, spend Monday in conference with the agency and looking at location or studio facilities, "I was thinkin', it really don't matter if I
usually start shooting the next day, and be back in England by Friday night. The change of pace was lose this fight. It really don't matter if this
exciting but there were drawbacks, too,” recounted Scott of his routine business visits to New York and Los guy opens my head, either. 'Cause all I
Angeles. “In England, I was used to controlling the project to completion through my own company and wanna do is go the distance. Nobody's
being in on the dub and the editing. The agencies in the US were perfectly happy about my disappearing as ever gone the distance with Creed, and if
soon as the shoot was over; they’d put it together their own way after I left.” I can go that distance, you see, and that
bell rings and I'm still standin', I'm gonna
Recognizing that the heyday of TV commercials was dissipating, Ridley Scott wrote a screenplay “a very know for the first time in my life, see, that
black, very violent comedy-heist somewhat influenced by Performance [1970], which I greatly admired.” I weren't just another bum from the
A second script co-written with Gerald Vaughan-Hughes (Sebastian) was about the Guy Fawkes neighborhood"
Gunpowder Plot. The heist project, Running in Place, was to feature Michael York (The Four ROCKY BALBOA, ROCKY (1976)
Musketeers) until it was aborted in preproduction. “‘You really ought to go back and do a little more
filmed TV,’ they [major British studios] kept telling me,” said Scott in reference to the attitude he
GET INVOLVED...
encountered with the major British movie studios. “Which I felt – I’d pushed through more celluloid in the
previous ten years than say, Roman Polanski [Chinatown] – was a bit like teaching your grandmother to If you enjoy writing about movies
suck eggs. I knew they were wrong – these blue-suited assholes – but I figured: If that’s the name of the and would like to feature on
Flickering Myth, please drop us an
game, okay, I’ll do some filmed TV.”
email. We are always open to
contributors and would love to hear
Forming a new organization with his brother Tony to develop television series ideas, Ridley Scott soon
from you.
discovered that the British networks were resistant to accepting independently-created programming.
Approached by a French TV company, the siblings set about adapting The Author of Beltraffio for the
We're also keen to hear from
classic literature series Nouvelles de Henry James (1976); the episode directed by Tony Scott was so independent filmmakers; if you'd
successful that the Scotts were sought after for a second collaboration with a production budget of like to see your film featured or
$250,000. “Somehow I’m going to make a feature out of this,” remarked Ridley Scott who had not given want to get the word out on
up on his big screen ambitions. “It was the same thing as with my first TV exercise: you’ve got to make upcoming projects then please feel
people aware of the fact that you’re good and give yourself creditability.” free to get in touch.
Exploring various literary classics which had entered into the public rights
ALSO SHOWING...
domain, the director found a Napoleonic War story to serve as the basis for
his feature film debut. “To be truthful I am not an admirer of [Joseph] And the nominees for the 82nd
Conrad,” confessed Ridley Scott. “I find him heavy going, because I think Academy Awards are...
that generally he has a low level of humour. But The Duel is very tongue-in- UK Box Office Top Ten - weekend
cheek. I love the humour, the idiocy of two men dueling over a period of
commencing 13/03/09
twenty years.”
UK Box Office Top Ten - weekend
commencing 19/06/09
Collaborating on the screenplay with Gerald Vaughan-Hughes, Scott
presented the project to British producer David Putnam (Chariots of Fire). A Nightmare on Elm Street
Putnam passed on the script which had been renamed The Duellists (1977) Retrospective
to Paramount president David Picker; the Hollywood studio executive British Cinema: Cemetery
suggested a pair of actors who shared the same agent for the roles of the Junction (2010)
two feuding French Hussar officers – Keith Carradine (Nashville) and Harvey
DreamWorks Animation Update
Keitel (Reservoir Dogs). “They were the baseline of my pyramid,” remarked
Night at the Museum's Rexy hits
the filmmaker. “The rest of the casting was simple: you simply began to stockpile talent. Albert Finney
[Under the Volcano], who’s tremendously constructive in the sense that he will help if he thinks the London
project is worthwhile, did a one-day cameo in exchange for a framed cheque for twenty-five pounds UK Box Office Top Ten - weekend
inscribed ‘Break glass in case of dire need.’” Other notable British performers who joined the production commencing 06/03/09
were Robert Stephens (The Inspector), Edward Fox (A Bridge Too Far), Alan Webb (King Rat), and Short Film Showcase: Papá
Jenny Runacre (Goodbye, Mr. Chips). Wrestling
Superhero Showdown 2009:
Often compared to the big budget period picture Barry Lyndon (1975), The Duellists was created on a
Watchmen vs. Wolverine
much smaller scale. Shot over a period of fifty days in France and Scotland, Ridley Scott began his tradition
of storyboarding the entire script before the filming commenced, and he served as his own camera
operator. “In general, I found there was far too much time wasted pontificating and politicizing with
FOLLOWERS...
[camera] people who really didn’t know what you wanted.”
Posts
Having ten weeks to assemble the picture for its Cannes Film Festival premiere made for a hectic post-
production schedule. “Two editors worked on the film, splitting it roughly in half and working Comments
simultaneously,” revealed Scott. “It’s a great way to work, even without time pressures, because one
doesn’t always have to be waiting around for footage to look at. The editors gave me a perspective on pace
and kept me from falling into a standard commercial director’s trap, that is, from feeling that you have to
have a payoff every thirty or sixty seconds.”
Famed New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael speculated in her review that the scene where the horses nuzzle
one another while Keith Carradine and Cristina Raines (Russian Roulette) kiss was “the luckiest shot a
beginner movie director ever caught or the most entranced bit of planning a beginner ever dated.”
Responding to the remark by Kael, Scott replied, “The mare was in season, so we knew the animals would
be a handful, but both Keith and Cristina were Robert Altman [Short Cuts] veterans and I trusted their
ability to get through it okay. We did three takes and all three times the horses nuzzled each other. So it CONTRIBUTORS...
Around the same time he cancelled his sophomore project, the moviemaker received a script which allowed Rosie Cammish
him to find out whether or not his belief in the science fiction genre was well-founded. Russell Hill
Andy Pope
Part two David Bishop
Sheila Seclearr
Please take the time to vote in our poll with your favourite Ridley Scott movie. Tressa Price
Vicki Isitt
Short Film Showcase - Boy and Bicycle (1965)
DVD Giveaway - Blade Runner: The Final Cut
LINKS...
DO I FEEL LUCKY ?
FLICKERINGMYTH.COM - MOVIE NEWS, REVIEWS, ARTICLES, OPINIONS & MORE
Well, do ya, punk?
Thanks for visiting the site. We update regularly on all things silver screen. Feel free to leave any comments, or contact us
here.
Influenced by 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Dark Star (1974), and Star
Wars (1977), British filmmaker Ridley Scott set about designing a science
fiction tale called Alien (1979). Nostromo, a commercial-towing spaceship,
intercepts a transmission from a derelict vessel. Given corporate orders to
investigate, the crew finds itself hunted by a vicious alien life-form. “I was
looking for something like 2001 not the fantasy of Star Wars. I wanted a
slow-moving, massive piece of steel which was moving along in deep, silent
DVD GIVEAWAY...
space. We ended up adding sound because the footage couldn’t stand on its
own.” Scott wanted to emulate the 1968 classic for another reason.
“[Stanley] Kubrick was fantastic in the way he gave us that nothingness [a
timeless future],” explained the director, “especially with the costumes. He
didn’t have zippers all over the place, or satin fourteen-tone jerkins. The
suits they wore looked vaguely different, but not all that different from
today.”
“I think the crew members of the Nostromo seem spirited only because of their argumentative nature,”
observed Scott, “which is due to the fact they can no longer stand the sight of each other.” Casting the
picture, scripted by Dan O’Bannon (Total Recall) and Roland Shusett (Freejack), required the South
Shields-native to adopt an unusual tactic. “I knew I wasn’t going to get much from having actors come in
SEARCH...
and read,” remarked Ridley Scott, “because Alien isn’t the type of film where there are going to be
prolonged speeches. Here the dialogue was so abbreviated and staccato that it wouldn’t be fair. So I Search
researched the actors who were being considered by seeing their films. Once we narrowed the list down, I powered by
had the actors come in for a meeting. I tend to cast my actors as a group, getting a physical balance
between their types.”
YOUR FAVOURITE RIDLEY SCOTT MOVIE
To help Sigourney Weaver (Working Girl), Tom Skerritt (Contact), Veronica Cartwright (Barry Dingle), IS...
Harry Dean Stanton (The Green Mile), John Hurt (The Elephant Man), Ian Holm (Chariots of Fire), and The Duellists (1977)
Yaphet Kotto (Brubaker) with their performances, Scott constructed a past for them. “What I usually do,
Alien (1979)
even if it’s only for my own peace of mind, is draft a short bio of each character and give it to the actors
before I go to work with them,” said the moviemaker. “The bios did help, because they immediately Blade Runner (1982)
started the actors thinking about their characters.” The performers embraced the idea. “We had about five Legend (1985)
days of continuous discussion in my office with the seven actors of the original cast, which at the time Someone to Watch Over Me
included Jon Finch [Death on the Nile] instead of John Hurt. In that time we pretty well managed to iron (1987)
out and agree on the various characterizations, and managed to get some satisfactory reads out of the Black Rain (1989)
script.”
Thelma & Louise (1991)
1492: Conquest of Paradise
“‘If you have women up there, how come there’s no love interest?’ It’s
(1992)
a pity that the one scene we had in the screenplay that had sex in it
White Squall (1996)
had to be cut,” revealed Ridley Scott. “It showed that you can’t afford
to have love affairs in deep space. If you do, you immediately have two G.I. Jane (1997)
groups aboard, the pair who are in love and the rest of the crew. That’s Gladiator (2000)
the beginning of problems unless you are a space pioneer and settle Hannibal (2001)
down with your family.” A far more serious and lethal threat appears in
Black Hawk Down (2001)
the story. “What gave us the cocoon concept was that insects will utilize
others’ bodies to be the host of their eggs. That’s how the alien would Matchstick Men (2003)
use Dallas (Skerritt) and each of the crew members it kills. This Kingdom of Heaven (2005)
explains why the alien doesn’t kill everyone at once, but rather kills
A Good Year (2006)
them off one by one; it wants to use each person as a separate host
each time it has new eggs.” American Gangster (2007)
Vote
Body of Lies (2008)
Introducing the title character required going beyond normal horror
Show results
genre conventions. “We wanted to do something so outrageous that no
one would know it was coming,” said Ridley Scott. “It’s not a door
Votes so far: 390
being wrenched open with the monster behind it, or the monster Days left to vote: 4
coming roaring through some metal sheeting or grabbing somebody from behind.” The end result was the
notorious chest-burster scene. “We had to make a living creature spring out of a man’s chest and keep it
from being hokey. Well, we did it, and that’s why it’s so staggering. From a technical point of view I think
QUOTE OF THE WEEK...
we worried more about it than any other effect in the film. If we hadn’t gotten it right, we might as well
have forgotten the whole thing.” The sequence accomplished what Scott had hoped to achieve. “The film "I was thinkin', it really don't matter if I
took on a more serious identity.” lose this fight. It really don't matter if this
guy opens my head, either. 'Cause all I
“The original concept was constructed around the notion of Ten Little Indians [1965]. In the planning and wanna do is go the distance. Nobody's
writing stages there were to be seven major sequences, one of which was the chest-burster,” recalled ever gone the distance with Creed, and if
Ridley Scott. “As the script was reworked, and as we shot the film, however, other sequences that were I can go that distance, you see, and that
equally powerful, such as the airlock depressurization, the flamethrower death of Parker [Yaphet Kotto] and bell rings and I'm still standin', I'm gonna
Lambert [Veronica Cartwright], and the cocoon scene with Dallas [Tom Skerritt] were cut altogether or know for the first time in my life, see, that
changed.” The design of the alien was revised numerous times. “We had gone through various sketches in I weren't just another bum from the
the preproduction phase, and I’d seen drawings that other people had tried as well. They always seemed to neighborhood"
be of scaly bodies with claws or huge blobs that would move across the floor. There was no elegance to ROCKY BALBOA, ROCKY (1976)
them, no lethalness. What emerged was an H.R. Giger-designed humanoid with distinctly biomechanoid
tendencies.”
GET INVOLVED...
“The sets were difficult,” confided the filmmaker, “because I wanted to create an oppressive, claustrophobic If you enjoy writing about movies
atmosphere of low ceilings.” Adding further to the onscreen tension are the sound effects, such as the and would like to feature on
Flickering Myth, please drop us an
opening and closing of the iris-type cutoffs in the airshaft sequence. “The idea was to make you feel
email. We are always open to
uneasy. We tried to use something that reminded you of a guillotine, something that wasn’t pleasant so
contributors and would love to hear
maybe you’d start thinking, ‘Is the beast coming this way?’” The camerawork assisted in setting the tone
from you.
for the picture. “If you ever analyze a shot, everything is always slightly moving. It’s never still, which I
think makes the audience slightly uneasy.” There is one thing which Scott regrets about the film. “There
We're also keen to hear from
were no speculative scenes or discussions about what the alien was…I believe audiences love those, independent filmmakers; if you'd
especially if they’re well done. They give the threat much more weight.” like to see your film featured or
want to get the word out on
“With Alien we had big arguments over the last three reels of the film. Some people felt they were just too upcoming projects then please feel
much,” said Ridley Scott. “I know it’s never too much, not when you get the proper balance. You’ve got to free to get in touch.
keep topping yourself. So if you start at a level that’s already pretty heated, you’ve got to keep going and
going. That is the nature of this film.” The reaction at the Dallas, Texas screening left film editor Terry
ALSO SHOWING...
Rawlings (Entrapment) stunned, “It was the most incredible preview I’ve ever attended. I mean, people
were screaming and running out of the theatre.” Audiences flocked to see the science fiction-horror picture R.I.P. Karl Malden (1912 - 2009)
causing the $11 million production to gross $105 million worldwide, thereby, turning unknown Broadway Bringing Star Wars to the
actress Sigourney Weaver into a female action-hero star. Screen: Episode VI - Return of
the Jedi
Alien won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects; it was introduced into the National Film Registry of
Extreme Cinema - Irreversible
the Library of Congress in 2002, and the American Film Institute listed the picture 7th on the Top 10 Sci-Fi
(2002)
Films of All-Time in 2008. Three sequels were subsequently released, Aliens (1986), Alien³ (1992), and
Alien Resurrection (1997); for film critic Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times, they do not compare to British World War II Movie
the original version, “The 1979 Alien is a much more cerebral movie than its sequels, with the characters Giveaway - NOW CLOSED
(and the audience) genuinely engaged in curiosity about this weirdest of life-forms…Unfortunately, the films British Cinema - City Rats (2009)
it influenced studied its thrills but not its thinking.”
Movies... For Free! Häxan (1922)
Five Essential... Boxing Movies
For seven months Ridley Scott developed a science fiction classic by author Frank Herbert for the big
screen. “Dune was going to take a lot more work. And I didn’t have the heart to attack that work,” Hong Kong Cinema DVD
confessed the filmmaker of the picture which was released in 1984 under the direction of David Lynch Giveaway... NOW CLOSED
(Blue Velvet). “I felt I couldn’t sit around for another two and a half years on Dune, which is how long I Movies... For Free! D.O.A. (1950)
thought it was going to take...I needed immediate activity, needed to get my mind off my [older] brother’s Capturing Kubrick: A Stanley
death. So I went to Dino [DeLaurentiis to tell him] I had to depart Dune and that the script was his.”
Kubrick Profile (Part 2)
Not leaving behind the science fiction genre, Ridley Scott shifted his attention
to Dangerous Days, an adaptation of Do Androids Dream of Electric FOLLOWERS...
Sheep? by novelist Philip K. Dick. “In the book, he’s [Rick Deckard] a bit of
a renegade, a freelancer, with a bonus for each job,” stated the director.
“But in the film he’s part of bureaucracy. We thought it would be nice to see
this character gradually emerge as a very efficient exterminator who is
almost Kafkaesque.”
Posts
“Sci-fi presents a wonderful opportunity, because if you get it right, anything goes,” observed the
filmmaker. “But you’d better have drawn up your rule book for the world you’ve created first. Then you’d Comments
better stick to it.” A critical decision was made in regards to the futuristic tale. “We drew a line [in the
screenplay development]. We wouldn’t explore the laboratory details, the genetic explanations. Instead we
asked, ‘What if large combines in the next few decades became almost as powerful as the government?’
Which is possible. They’d move into all sorts of industries – arms, chemicals, aerospace – and eventually
they’d go into genetics.”
For Fancher and co-screenwriter David Webb Peoples (Unforgiven), the idea of Rick Deckard being a
LINKS...
replicant was a result of their work being misinterpreted by Ridley Scott; their intention was to invoke
empathy by emphasizing the similarities between humans and the artificial creations through the main /Film
character. In reference to the dream sequence featured in the Director’s Cut, Scott said, “I’d predetermined 3D Total
that the unicorn scene would be the strongest clue that Deckard, this hunter of replicants, might actually be 3DVF
an artificial human himself.” Harrison Ford disagreed with his director on the origins of the government- Ain't It Cool News
sponsored assassin. “[Ridley] wanted the audience to find out that Deckard was a replicant,” stated Ford. “I Animated Views
fought that because I felt that the audience needed somebody to cheer for.” CGSociety
Cinema Assassin
Ford’s misgivings were well-founded as the picture was a commercial flop, earning $33 million worldwide Dark Horizons
while costing $28 million to make. “Blade Runner taught me that the American public tends to favour a Empire Online
high-fiber diet which infers that the American system is one containing a certain degree of optimism,”
Go Into The Story
stated Ridley Scott. “I, on the other hand, tend to be a bit darker…Not because I’m a manic-depressive, but
IMDB
because I find darkness more interesting.”
Joblo
Large Association of Movie Blogs
Blade Runner was nominated for Best Art Direction-Set Direction and Best Visual Effects at the Oscars;
Mania
while the BAFTAs saw the picture win Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Production Design-
myPDFscripts
Art Direction as well as receive nominations for Best Editing, Best Make Up Artist, Best Score, Best Sound,
and Best Special Visual Effects. Pixar Talk
Richard J Moir's Film Blog
After the failure of its theatrical screening, Blade Runner experienced a rebirth in the home video Rotten Tomatoes
marketplace, causing the American Film Institute to list the picture 6th on its Top 10 Sci-Fi Films of All- sineFX
Time in 2008. “Blade Runner works on a level which I haven’t seen much – or ever – in a mainstream Sofluid
film,” declared Scott. “It works like a book. Like a very dark novel, which I like. It’s definitely a film that’s Stare Into Space
designed not to have the usual crush-wallop-bang! impact.” The director added, “I think Blade Runner is The Disney Blog
a good lesson for all serious filmmakers to ‘stand by your guns.’ Don’t listen to acclaim or criticism. Simply Total Film
carry on. Hopefully, you’ll do some worthwhile work which stands the test of time.”
Though he had established himself as a feature film director, Ridley Scott produced his most celebrated
commercial in 1984. The sixty second spot introduced Apple Computer’s Macintosh personal computer and
it was only aired once during the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII. Borrowing the name as well as
inspiration from George Orwell’s classic novel 1984, Scott created a dystopian tale starring a nameless
athletic heroine (Anya Major) who carries a large brass-headed hammer while chased by four agents of the
Thought Police; she breaks into a private assembly and tosses her weapon at a large screen image of a Big
Brother figure (David Graham), thereby shattering the picture in a blaze of light and smoke. “One of the
problems was to find a girl who could throw a hammer and look business-like,” remarked Scott. The ad was
so successful that in 1999 TV Guide called it the “Number One Greatest Commercial of All-Time” and in
2007, 1984 was named the best Super Bowl spot in the game’s forty-year history.
“The characters really came from left field,” recollected novelist turned
screenwriter William Hjortsberg. “We discussed the hero in many forms
before deciding on Jack O’ The Green [Cruise]. Then Ridley decided we
should have a quest. He also wanted unicorns and thought there should be
magic armor and a sword. I came up with the idea of having the world
plunged into the wintry darkness. So we had all these elements which had to
be woven into a story.” In describing Legend (1985), Ridley Scott stated, “It
is not a film of the future, or of the past. It is not even a story of now. The
conflict between darkness and light has been with us since creation…and will remain with us through
eternity.”
To devise the villain of the story, the director turned to a picture he saw during his childhood. “The beast in
[Jean] Cocteau [version of Beauty and the Beast] is never horrible. When I was a kid, the beginning of
the movie made me very afraid, but very soon you realize there is something else. I wanted that with
Darkness. I didn’t want to put a barrier between the audience and him…I wanted Darkness to be healthy,
not disgusting psychologically and physically, because I had a feeling that Evil treats itself better, more
often than not, than Good.” For the part of Darkness, Scott considered casting Peter O’Toole (Lawrence of
Arabia) whom he concluded lacked the right physique for the role; he then set his sights on hiring Tim
Curry who had garnered acclaim for his performance in The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). “I like
the control he has over himself,” remarked Scott on his reason for selecting Curry. “He is very physical and
powerful, theatrically speaking. He knows when he needs to stop. It was great to work with him.”
“What I am trying to do, even if I start with a complicated story, is to bring it back to its primitive
linearity”, revealed Ridley Scott. “In fairy tales there is always an element of the nightmare.” Fifteen
hundred icicles were added to the set varying from one foot to eight feet; they were made from resin and
hot wax. Just two days before finishing the principle photography, a fire broke out on the famous 007
sound stage at Pinewood Studios, destroying the forest set. The art department had to rebuild the section
of the forest which was needed to complete the filming at a separate location.
“It was a huge risk,” admitted Ridley Scott. “Did I think that the film worked? Absolutely I thought the film
worked. Did people get it? Again, no, they didn’t, even though there was an enormous amount of
absolutely brilliant work in it.” Part of the story confusion for moviegoers may have resulted from the
American theatrical version being severely shortened. Legend proved to be an even bigger worldwide box
office disappointment than Blade Runner had been as the movie earned half of its $30 million production
budget.
Venturing into new cinematic territory, the British director selected a contemporary thriller as his next
project.
Continue to Part 3
For more on Ridley Scott visit RSA Films, or check out Ridley Scott's Legend FAQ and Paul M.
Sammon's Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner.
Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada.
POSTED BY FLICKERINGMYTH
LABELS: BRITISH CINEMA, FILMMAKER PROFILES, TREVOR HOGG
0 COMMENTS:
POST A COMMENT
DO I FEEL LUCKY ?
FLICKERINGMYTH.COM - MOVIE NEWS, REVIEWS, ARTICLES, OPINIONS & MORE
Well, do ya, punk?
Thanks for visiting the site. We update regularly on all things silver screen. Feel free to leave any comments, or contact us
here.
Inspired by the title of a George and Ira Gershwin song (sung on the movie
soundtrack by Sting, Roberta Flack, and Gene Ammons), filmmaker Ridley
Scott produced his first modern-day picture Someone to Watch Over Me
(1987). Filming an American thriller was not a daunting task for the British-
born director, “There are a lot of things that Americans live with that they will
never really see, because they are such a part of their culture, because they
are so ingrained in their lives.”
DVD GIVEAWAY...
Vincent Canby of The New York Times summarized the storyline, “Beneath its
elegant mask, Someone to Watch Over Me is a commonplace melodrama
about Mike Keegan (Tom Berenger), a happily married New York Policeman
who has an affair with Clair Gregory (Mimi Rogers), the beautiful Manhattan
millionaire whose body he’s been assigned to guard. Claire has had the
misfortune to witness a murder while attending the opening of a fashionable
downtown art gallery, and the murderer (Andreas Katsulas) wants her dead
before she can testify.” Canby’s film critic colleague David Denby, from New York Magazine wrote, “Ridley
Scott holds back on the erotic tension between Berenger and Rogers. And he loses himself in the décor and
visual clutter – the steam hissing onto Manhattan streets, the Disneyland of crystal, mirrors, and windows
in Rogers’ apartment. He keeps shooting into the deluxe glass as if the mystery of all the ages could be
SEARCH...
found in its reflections.” Earning $10 million at the U.S. domestic box office, the movie was a third
consecutive commercial misfire for Scott. Search
powered by
“I read a lot of newspapers and the movies I am drawn to both as an actor
and as an actor-producer tend to have a current-events mode,” explained
Oscar-winner Michael Douglas on why he attached himself to the Ridley YOUR FAVOURITE RIDLEY SCOTT MOVIE
Scott-helmed Black Rain (1989). “I’m thinking about The China Syndrome IS...
[1979] and Wall Street [1987]. I felt that there was something between us The Duellists (1977)
and Japan that was unresolved, that was a mixture of hostility and
Alien (1979)
admiration on both sides – really confused. It involves Japan’s cultural
imitation of the United States, followed by its economic supremacy over the Blade Runner (1982)
United States, all of which are coloured by lingering memories of World War Legend (1985)
II.” Douglas saw the thriller, which is named after the combination of ash Someone to Watch Over Me
and precipitation that fell on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (1987)
after they were nuclear bombed, as the cinematic means to address the Black Rain (1989)
complicated relationship between the two countries. “I thought this particular
Thelma & Louise (1991)
picture, as a cop-action picture, could explore some of the differences in
1492: Conquest of Paradise
customs and behaviour – explore some of the hostilities that our two cultures
(1992)
and societies have for each other.”
White Squall (1996)
Two American law enforcement officers (Michael Douglas and Andy Garcia) transport a mobster (Yusaku G.I. Jane (1997)
Matsuda) to stand trial in his homeland of Japan only to have him escape their custody. “The way in is the Gladiator (2000)
conflict between police methods,” stated Ridley Scott as to how he portrayed the cultural differences Hannibal (2001)
between the East and the West. “Michael – as Conklin – is a New York homicide detective with a certain
Black Hawk Down (2001)
disgruntlement, a certain dissatisfaction with the system and a certain renegade quality. It even suggests
that he’s on the take in a minor way. Ken [Takakura], on the other hand, is a thorough, by-the-book, Matchstick Men (2003)
hardline bureaucrat who is part of what seems to be this wonderful machine in Japan.” Over the course of Kingdom of Heaven (2005)
the story, the two opposing figures experience a profound transformation. “Michael, I think, reestablishes
A Good Year (2006)
some lost values in himself – traditional values, which somewhere along the line have been lost in the West
but which I think still exist in Japan, such as a sense of honour and a sense of family – through his American Gangster (2007)
experience with this Japanese character. And Ken – who plays the Japanese Everyman, the salaried man, Body of Lies (2008)
the bourgeois, what we think is the automaton – loses his rigidity and opens up through his contact with
Show results
Michael and Andy Garcia. For Ken Takakura – both as a character and as an actor – to stand up and sing is
an incredibly alien and painful thing.”
Votes so far: 390
Days left to vote: 4
Vote
A major difference between the nations during the selection of the Japanese cast for the movie. “In Japan,
actors do not audition,” revealed associate producer and Japanologist Alan Poul. “The idea of having to put
yourself in a position that’s potentially humiliating is very disagreeable.” Recalling the experience, Scott
QUOTE OF THE WEEK...
chuckled, “Each actor would arrive with his manager. The manager being fairly angry at having to be there
at all. But because we were so well promoted, they were torn between not coming at all and coming to see "I was thinkin', it really don't matter if I
what was going on.” The director’s first choice for the Yakuza villain Koga Sato was Jackie Chan (Rush lose this fight. It really don't matter if this
Hour) who turned down the role out of fear it would adversely affect his positive film image. Initially, guy opens my head, either. 'Cause all I
Ridley Scott had some doubts about finding the right actors in Japan. “When you’re dealing with a good wanna do is go the distance. Nobody's
actor, you known what’s going on,” observed the filmmaker. “I found the Japanese actors were brilliant. I ever gone the distance with Creed, and if
thought I was going to get Kabuki Theatre, and I didn’t get that at all. I got very good, very balanced, very I can go that distance, you see, and that
contemporary, very real performances.” bell rings and I'm still standin', I'm gonna
know for the first time in my life, see, that
Conversing with the one hundred and twenty Japanese working alongside forty-five Western production I weren't just another bum from the
crew members was not a problem for Ridley Scott. “We communicated through interpreters but I found neighborhood"
there’s an international language in filmmaking. Once they know how you’re functioning, they all move very ROCKY BALBOA, ROCKY (1976)
quickly, like an army – they were great.” One issue that did emerge during the principal photography in
Osaka was residential resistance towards the Hollywood film. “People thought that having their store or
GET INVOLVED...
their house used as a place frequented by yakuza would reflect badly on them,” recalled Alan Poul.
If you enjoy writing about movies
As for incorporating a moment which harkens back to a previous effort, Scott readily admitted, “We needed and would like to feature on
Flickering Myth, please drop us an
a clue in Black Rain, and somebody on the crew who’d seen Blade Runner [1982] suggested the sequin.
email. We are always open to
And, I said, ‘No, we can’t. We’ve already done this once.’ But we couldn’t think of another goddamn clue!”
contributors and would love to hear
At the box office the two pictures were polar opposites as Black Rain easily surpassed its $14 million
from you.
production budget by earning $134 million worldwide. Ridley Scott’s first collaboration with music composer
Hans Zimmer resulted in Oscar nominations for Best Sound Effects Editing and Best Sound; and was
We're also keen to hear from
dedicated to Yusaku Matsuda who died shortly after the completion of the film. independent filmmakers; if you'd
like to see your film featured or
Presented with a script from first-time screenwriter Callie Khouri want to get the word out on
(Something to Talk About), the South Shields-native wanted to produce upcoming projects then please feel
the project so he interviewed a variety of directors. “I was getting marginally free to get in touch.
alarmed by the fact that they all wanted to fix it up,” said Scott of the
Khouri-penned Thelma & Louise (1991), “and I didn’t think any of it
ALSO SHOWING...
needed fixing. And they all wanted to know why I wasn’t doing it myself. So
I did it.” Director Profile: Lynne Ramsay
(Part 2)
Louise Sawyer (Susan Sarandon) and Thelma Dickinson (Geena Davis) Classic Movies - Easy Rider
abandon their husbands in search of a better life; trouble ensues when they
(1969)
become fugitives from the law after Louise kills a man who attempts to rape
Seth MacFarlane Talks Family
Thelma. “Because of the nature of the material, the two actresses not only
Guy Movie
had to be great, they had to be great together,” said Ridley Scott who talked
to Jodie Foster (The Silence of the Lambs), Meryl Streep (Kramer vs. TV Special - Star Wars Live-
Kramer), and Goldie Hawn (The Sugarland Express) about starring in the Action Titbits and Musings
$17 million production. “We had Geena [Davis] first – she’d gotten hold of the script and called up to say Commando remake in the
she wanted to talk to us – and the chemistry she and Susan [Sarandon] had together was extraordinary.” pipeline
Movies... For Free! Santa Claus
“I don’t think there’s any difficulty in Hollywood for female-driven scripts,” reflected the moviemaker. “I
Conquers the Martians (1964)
think it’s just that there aren’t any. People haven’t sat down and dealt with it. I also don’t really think of
Thelma & Louise as a women’s film; it’s a men’s film as well. I think there’s something for everybody.” Transformers and Land of the
Attempting to classify the story, Ridley Scott stated, “This is a comedy, and the characters are rather broad Lost lead Razzie nominations
generalizations, but that’s not to say there isn’t truth in them.” Asked whether the road picture was a Forthcoming Attractions: 44 Inch
departure for him, the director replied, “I feel all the films I’ve done have been character-based. But the Chest
events in my films have been a bit larger than life, and those events, and certain exotic elements, have New trailers for The A-Team and
been the engine behind the movie.” The Expendables
Resurfacing: A James Cameron
“What I originally wanted to do was to have one of the subtexts of the movie be the changing face of
Profile (Part 3)
America,” said Scott. “I wanted to shoot in around mall stopovers, modern ghastly hotels, and these
freeways that go straight across the country and look exactly the same every mile of the way. But that
became so depressing I decided that if I wanted to hit this note of Thelma & Louise being about an
FOLLOWERS...
almost mystical “last journey”, then it had to be more like the idea of Route 66. So we consciously set out
to show that landscape at its most beautiful and expansive.”
Emulating the famous freeze-frame conclusion of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) is the
dramatic last shot of Thelma & Louise. “We were never pressured for an “up” ending,” declared the
director. “I think the ending was just extending the journey. It’s an emotional choice, and you either fly
with it or you don’t. The alternatives are impossible: Thelma and Louise could have taken out that gun and
started to fire, in which case they would have been shot at by this army of very hostile men. Or they could
have got up and negotiated, and they would have ended up doing ten to fifteen, maybe got out after seven
if they were good girls.”
Moviegoers embraced the film which grossed $45 million at the American domestic box office. Critical
accolades were plentiful, with the picture winning the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay and receiving
nominations for Best Actress (Davis and Sarandon), Best Editing, Best Cinematography, and Best Director.
At the BAFTAs, Ridley Scott was a contender for the David Lean Award for Direction, while the picture was
nominated for Best Actress (Davis and Sarandon), Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Film, Best
Original Score, and Best Original Screenplay. The Golden Globes lauded the movie with nominations for
Best Screenplay, Best Picture – Drama, and Best Actress (Davis and Sarandon). In France, Thelma & SUBSCRIBE...
Louise competed for the César Award for Best Foreign Picture while in the U.S, Scott received a Director’s
Posts
Guild of America nomination. The Writer’s Guild of America ranked the script #72 on its 101 Greatest
Screenplays List. Comments
seems to dovetail into my perception of who Columbus may have been; a Gary Collinson
strong, physical man, driven by his emotions and instincts, a strong orator Trevor Hogg
with the personality to persuade men to follow him.” To better understand Gerry Hayes
Christopher Columbus, Ridley Scott turned to the period in which the Santosh Sandhu
historical figured lived. “Clearly the socio-political background plays an Amy Flinders
enormous part in forming his character and his views, like it does to all of us today,” said the director. “In Elspeth Rushbrook
that respect, people don’t change much; they are the production of their own environments.” Featured in
Jon Dudley
the supporting cast are Armand Assante (American Gangster), Tcheky Karyo (La balance), Ángela
Tom Conran
Molina (Carne trémula), Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon), and Sigourney Weaver (Gorillas in the Mist).
Rory Barker
Richard J Moir
“It was extremely difficult to find appropriate locations which would afford me all the elements I required
Roger Holland
for Columbus’ experiences in the Indies,” revealed Ridley Scott. We location-hunted in Mexico, the
Harry Loney
Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Columbia before finally settling for Costa Rica.” One hundred and seventy
Indians from Costa Rica’s four tribes participated in the principal photography. “I feel that the people we Luke Owen
are portraying are both noble and dignified,” remarked Alejandrino Moya (The Mission), a Waunana Indian Rosie Cammish
who plays one of the tribesman who accompanies the famous explorer on his return trip to Spain. Initially Russell Hill
communicating with and coaxing performances out of the native extras was a “nerve-racking” experience Andy Pope
for the director. “With the help of Claudia Gomez from Columbia,” acknowledged Scott, “they became David Bishop
marvelously uninhibited actors who never held back – ever – and portrayed some of the most authentic Sheila Seclearr
Indians I have seen on screen.” Tressa Price
Vicki Isitt
Lacking major studio interest in financing the picture, French producer Alain Goldman (La môme) pre-sold
the foreign rights, allowing the project to commence. “Historical films have always been difficult to mount,”
LINKS...
observed Ridley Scott, “because of the inherent resistance to the cost and modern audiences who seem to
be more concerned with escapism than realism today.” The attempt by the director to create a story that /Film
was both entertaining and educational, like Dances with Wolves (1990), Amadeus (1984), and 3D Total
Dangerous Liaisons (1988), failed at the U.S. domestic box office, earning $7 million. “Why 1492 didn’t 3DVF
play, I really don’t know,” reflected Scott. “But I learned not to let anything overwhelm me. You can sit Ain't It Cool News
and dwell on something and let depression consume you, or you can just shut it out. You don’t allow doubt Animated Views
in. You can’t.”
CGSociety
Cinema Assassin
Drawn to the best-selling nonfiction book The Hot Zone written by Richard Preston, the filmmaker worked
Dark Horizons
on bringing the bio-thriller about the near outbreak of the Ebola virus in Washington, D.C. to the big screen
Empire Online
in 1993. At one point Oscar-winners Jodie Foster and Robert Redford (The Sting) were to star in the
Go Into The Story
production which was scrapped when 20th Century-Fox withdrew its financing. The newly-established Scott
IMDB
Free Productions, formed by Ridley and his younger brother Tony Scott (Man on Fire), had better luck
releasing The Browning Version and Monkey Trouble a year later. 1995 saw the Scott siblings purchase Joblo
a piece of British cinematic history by buying the legendary London-based Pinewood Shepperton Studios. Large Association of Movie Blogs
Mania
“I never thought I’d go back and do another sea story after 1492, because myPDFscripts
that was a pain in the ass,” declared Ridley Scott. “Then the script [for Pixar Talk
White Squall] came floating past, and we picked it up. It was the strength Richard J Moir's Film Blog
of the story that brought us back to revisit the sea. On 1492 we never got Rotten Tomatoes
out on rough seas, but in this instance, I would have to explore every avenue sineFX
of water.” Sofluid
Stare Into Space
A summer school sailing trip led by Dr. Christopher B. Sheldon (Jeff Bridges) The Disney Blog
turns fatal when the brigantine sinks upon encountering a sudden and violent Total Film
windstorm. “The rite of passage has evaporated today, so I felt it was worth
refreshing people’s minds that this did once exist,” explained the director in
reference to his 1996 picture which is based on the story The Last Voyage
of the Albatross. “It’s like a micro-burst,” remarked Scott when detailing
the natural phenomenon that caused the tragic 1960s incident. “In essence
it’s a tornado or a hurricane over a short distance that pushes everything in
its path flat. During the actual event, they went over in ninety seconds and sank in ninety seconds.” Aside
from the cast, which includes Caroline Goodall (Hotel Sorrento), John Savage (The Deer Hunter), Scott
Wolf (Go), Jeremy Sisto (The Movie Hero), and Ryan Phillippe (Stop-Loss), the director had to concern
himself with another element to ensure that the story remained believable. “If there are seven characters in
the film, I treat the environment as the eighth character – or the first. After all, it’s the proscenium within
which everything will function.”
Filming out on the open water, Ridley Scott wanted to emulate a Hollywood classic. “The original Moby
Dick [1956] was really good,” began the filmmaker, “particularly the sea footage of the whalers with their
harpoons in the long boats; I could never work out whether it was real documentary footage or whether
they’d shot it. I compiled documentary footage and started to watch the water, just to see how it behaved,
to try and get around the curse of [shooting in] a tank. Because in the tank, even with a wind machine,
you’ve only got three foot waves.” There were safety concerns that needed to be addressed. “The biggest
problem at sea was all the actors on board. You’re on the high seas, and if somebody goes overboard, you
just never pick them up. By the time you turn around there’s just this little head bobbing around in the
water. We were very careful about that.”
Cinematographer Hugh Johnson (Chill Factor), who made his feature picture debut with White Squall,
stated, “Early on, Ridley and I felt that the film should not be cosmetic in any way. We wanted to shoot in
the hard light, in the weather we had, so you had the feeling of heat and warmth around the film. It’s quite
raw, especially during the boat sequences.” The seventeen minute storm sequence was a combination of
footage staged at a huge tank facility situated in Malta and “big sea” shots captured when the topsail
schooner used in the movie traveled across the Atlantic Ocean. “I’d done a commercial just before we
started shooting,” recollected Ridley Scott of his time spent at Mediterranean Film Complex, “and my
special effects guy had turned up with an engine from a Navy jet, which gave me a wind of six hundred
miles per hour! We found two in Europe and rigged both so we could pan and tilt them. That force took the
waves, which were only three and a half feet high, and whipped them up into this white foam I’ve never
seen before.” Even with the innovative storm solution, the $38 million production failed to generate a box
office frenzy, grossing $10 million in the United States.
“When Demi [Moore] offered me G.I. Jane [1997] to direct, I was drawn to
the military subculture it took place in,” stated Scott. “I also liked the fact
“When I start making a film,” revealed Ridley Scott, “it’s as if there’s this little, invisible computer in the
back of my head that switches on and presets the overall look of the film at the very beginning of the
process. It’s not easy to articulate. I tend to think pictorially. Something just drops into place and rolls
down the chute, and I follow it. If you pressed me on it, I guess I’d have to say that because of its military
context and because the subject matter of G.I. Jane was rather somber and austere, we decided to make
the film look somber and austere.” Scott stills utilizes the skill he developed as a college art student and
production designer for the BBC – his ability to draw; he communicates to his film crew through
storyboards nicknamed “Ridleygrams” because, “It’s a way of maintaining visual control, so there’s no
dispute over any point; everybody knows exactly what the end product should look like and is working
towards it.” Certain liberties had to be taken when shooting the picture. “One of the first production design
decisions we made regarding G.I. Jane was to use as many authentic locations as possible,” recalled the
moviemaker. “But then, when Arthur [Max], and I started looking at reference photos of real naval bases
and buildings, it became apparent that these facilities looked dull. So we were constantly trying to make
the locations and the few sets we built visually interesting, while not making them excessively unrealistic.”
When it came to selecting the cast which includes James Caviezel (The Thin Red Line), David Vadim (Exit
Wounds), John Michael Higgins (A Mighty Wind), and Scott Wilson (The Ninth Configuration), Ridley
Scott was happy to be collaborating with his leading lady, “I thought it was a good film for Demi. I’d also
always wanted to work with her – I think she’s one of the best actors we’ve got.” Lt. Jordan O’Neil was not
the only major role in the movie. “After Demi, my two major casting concerns were [Senator Lillian]
DeHaven and Master Chief Urgayle, the SEAL instructor. I didn’t want either of these characters to be
caricatures. That’s why Anne Bancroft [The Miracle Worker] was always my first choice for the senator,
who’s a representative of strength and intelligence and women’s rights. Anne’s very good at that. She’s
quite capable of pulling off the tricky balance of being sympathetic while, on the other hand, being tough.”
To play the brutal taskmaster and poem-quoting Urgayle, Scott recruited Viggo Mortensen (Eastern
Promises). “The reason I went with Viggo was because I’d been very impressed after seeing him in a film
Sean Penn [Mystic River] directed called The Indian Runner [1991]. Viggo was designed never to say
much in that film, but I loved his presence.” Helping to cement the casting decision was the fact that
Ridley’s brother Tony Scott had enjoyed working with Mortensen on Crimson Tide (1995). Ridley Scott
does not look upon the character of the Master Chief as a sadistic. “These guys who seem to be bullies, the
instructors on the SEAL courses, are really the candidates’ best friend. They’re preparing them for
something which is going to be much tougher later on.”
“I actually thought the eventual ending of the film, the one where O’Neil lived and Urgayle gave her his
Naval Cross medal, was a pretty good one,” said the filmmaker. “It signified his respect for O’Neil’s
perseverance and abilities and Urgayle’s gratitude for her pulling him out of a lethal situation. It was a nice
wrap-up.” G.I. Jane was a worldwide box office disappointment, grossing $80 million while costing $48
million to produce. “I thought we’d do better with a story highlighting a woman in the lead doing a man’s
job; I felt that sort of thing would generate high curiosity in women and hyper-curiosity in men, who’d go
into a film like this thinking, ‘A female SEAL? Right – prove it.’”
Ridley Scott associated the sole survivor tale with a literary classic. “I
connected I Am Legend most strongly with Robinson Crusoe [1954], the
story of a man who suffers terrible isolation until he meets his Man Friday. That was the strongest parallel
for me, and that’s why I was eager to work with Arnold on this. I felt I could take usual screen persona
into a new area, one that dealt with this suffering.” The filmmaker set about reworking the tale with John
Logan (The Aviator); the story is situated in a hostile and desolate environment overrun by vampires. “I
felt we had licked the first two acts. We were still working on the third one. There was a lot of talk, of
course, of coming up with an ending where Neville would find his Eve, or another group of normal human
beings. I resisted that. I wanted the ending to emphasize the idea that, among other animals, the human
race is unique – whatever the problems, it will always carry on. So even though Neville has an awareness
that he may be the last normal person, he perseveres. I liked ending on that.”
Contending with the major blockbuster failures of Batman and Robin (1997), and The Postman (1997),
Warner Bros subsequently cancelled the ambitious project. “I think they had some bad experiences,”
hypothesized Ridley Scott, “and our project came along when they were going through a nervous point of
low confidence.” The picture was later revived in 2007 by actor Will Smith (Ali) and Austrian moviemaker
Francis Lawrence (Constantine).
Approaching the new millennium, Scott produced a sword and sandal epic which captured the adoration of
film critics and moviegoers around the world.
For more on Ridley Scott visit RSA Films, or check out The Ridley Scott Fan Information Page.
Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada.
POSTED BY FLICKERINGMYTH
LABELS: BRITISH CINEMA, FILMMAKER PROFILES, TREVOR HOGG
1 COMMENTS:
behram said...
sweet.
would like to have known more about Black Rain.t'was a fascinating flick
b
6 MAY 2010 10:43
DO I FEEL LUCKY ?
FLICKERINGMYTH.COM - MOVIE NEWS, REVIEWS, ARTICLES, OPINIONS & MORE
Well, do ya, punk?
Thanks for visiting the site. We update regularly on all things silver screen. Feel free to leave any comments, or contact us
here.
Impressed with the footage from Jake Scott’s feature film debut, Plunkett and Macleane (1999), the
British moviemaker recruited his son’s cinematographer who had been working for Black Dog (a music
video company owned by the Scotts). “I didn’t want to just shoot the battle sequences for Gladiator in a
traditional manner, so we adopted various styles which John [Mathieson] and I talked about. We used
SEARCH...
various techniques in terms of cameras and camera speeds. When you’ve got two thousand soldiers in the
field at any one time and you’re planning to experiment, you’d better make sure you’re right, because you Search
can’t go back and reshoot it.” The reason for adopting an unconventional shooting approach for the fighting powered by
sequences was a pragmatic choice on the part of the director. “People get tired of watching [the same
kinds] of medieval battles, or any battle scenes that have run dry. I think Steven Spielberg did an
incredible twelve minutes [in the opening scene] of Saving Private Ryan [1998]; that sequence felt YOUR FAVOURITE RIDLEY SCOTT MOVIE
absolutely real and documentary. He raised the stakes in terms of the film interpretation of what that IS...
cast him as Maximus, he started reading Marcus Arrelius’ writings and Hannibal (2001)
familiarizing himself with the history of the Roman Empire. He’s very well
Black Hawk Down (2001)
read on a lot of other subjects, as well.” Cast in the part of the mentor
Antonius Proximo is British acting veteran Oliver Reed (The Three Matchstick Men (2003)
Musketeers). “Oliver was what I’d call a charming scoundrel. He was a Kingdom of Heaven (2005)
wonderful actor, incredibly intense. I knew for that role I needed a Robert
A Good Year (2006)
Shaw-type actor who was as tough as nails, but also had a sensitive side.”
With three weeks left in principle photography Reed died causing the director American Gangster (2007)
to improvise with the aid of digital technology. “I had to shoot most of his Body of Lies (2008)
Vote
scenes at the end of the film using his body double, then for close-ups we
Show results
superimposed Oliver’s face onto the body double.” Ridley Scott went on to
add, “Oliver went out the way he would have wanted to, I should think, with a pint glass in his hand.”
Votes so far: 390
Days left to vote: 4
Other members of the cast included Richard Harris (A Man Named Horse), Connie Nielsen (Basic), Derek
Jacobi (Gosford Park), Djimon Housnou (Blood Diamond), David Hemmings (Last Orders), and Joaquin
Phoenix (Walk the Line) who portrays the ruthless and scheming Emperor Commodus. “I had a very
QUOTE OF THE WEEK...
specific interpretation of the way I wanted to play it,” said Phoenix, “but at first I didn’t know if that would
fit in with the rest of the characters in the film as a whole. Commodus is certainly a man-child, and he was "I was thinkin', it really don't matter if I
a neglected child. It was very important for me to illustrate that in certain ways. His reactions to the lose this fight. It really don't matter if this
combats in the arena – it’s almost as if he doesn’t comprehend what human life is; people are merely toys guy opens my head, either. 'Cause all I
Gladiator was a global sensation, quadrupling its $103 million production budget by earning $458 million I can go that distance, you see, and that
in worldwide box office receipts. The Academy Awards lauded the film with Best Picture, Best Actor bell rings and I'm still standin', I'm gonna
(Crowe), Best Visual Effects, Best Costume Design, and Best Sound; other nominations included Best know for the first time in my life, see, that
Supporting Actor (Phoenix) and Best Director. The Golden Globes awarded the historical epic with Best I weren't just another bum from the
Picture – Drama, and Best Original Score, and at the BAFTAs, Gladiator competed in fourteen categories neighborhood"
winning for Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Film, and Best Production Design; for his work behind ROCKY BALBOA, ROCKY (1976)
the camera, Ridley Scott was nominated for the David Lean Award for Direction.
GET INVOLVED...
“Each time, I search for a fresh experience and a fresh meaning,” explained
the director about his method of selecting projects. “They say that nothing’s If you enjoy writing about movies
really new anymore, that there are only seven stories in the world, which and would like to feature on
Flickering Myth, please drop us an
sounds rather depressing, but I’ve got a funny feeling it’s more or less
email. We are always open to
accurate. Fundamentally, you still have the good guy or the bad guy. So it’s
contributors and would love to hear
got to be about the way you look at things.” Turned down by American
from you.
moviemaker Jonathan Demme (Philadelphia), Italian producer Dino De
Laurentiis (The Bounty) approached Scott who agreed to provide his own
We're also keen to hear from
perspective on the iconic villain reprised by Oscar-winner Anthony Hopkins independent filmmakers; if you'd
(Howard’s End). “The Silence of the Lambs [1989] was so good I like to see your film featured or
couldn’t forget it. But Hannibal [2001] takes on a life of its own. It’s not want to get the word out on
really picking up right after Silence left off. It’s ten years later and the upcoming projects then please feel
character [of Hannibal Lecter] is entirely different. I don’t even think of it as free to get in touch.
a sequel. It goes in such a different direction.”
ALSO SHOWING...
Serial killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Hopkins) is hunted by Mason Verger (Gary Oldman), a sadistic pedophile
whom he disfigured but failed to kill years ago. Ridley Scott had issues with the “love story” conclusion in Five Essential... Arnie Characters
the six-hundred page novel which sees Lecter slip away romantically with FBI Special Agent Clarice Extreme Cinema - A Clockwork
Starling. “We adjusted the ending, while capturing the essence of the book,” declared the filmmaker. “I Orange (1971)
couldn’t take that quantum leap emotionally on behalf of Starling. Certainly on the behalf of Hannibal – I’m
Movies... For Free! The City of
sure that’s been on the back of his mind for a number of years but for Starling, no. I think one of the
the Dead (1960)
attractions about Starling to Hannibal is what a straight arrow she is.”
Extreme Cinema - The Idiots
Screenwriter Ted Tally who had worked on The Silence of the Lambs with Jonathan Demme declined the (1998)
offer to work on the sequel; so did Steve Zaillian (Schindler’s List) who reconsidered his stance when he Mamma Mia and Doubt: Two
was approached a second time. “I found out that David Mamet [Glengarry Glen Ross] was working on it, Faces of Meryl Streep
recalled Zaillian, and I started to feel like, ‘What sort of jerk am I?’”; he agreed with one condition. The
British Cinema: Evil Aliens (2005)
ending had to be reworked. Steve Zaillian, Ridley Scott, and author Thomas Harris spent four days
Transformers and Land of the
brainstorming at the Beverly Hills Hotel. “I think the ending is more tonal as to what could possibly be in
Lost lead Razzie nominations
her [Starling’s] mind at that moment,” said Ridley Scott who soon found himself having to recast the role
which was embodied by Jodie Foster (Little Man Tate). Movies... For Free! Carnival of
Souls (1962)
Foster’s rejection to participate in the sequel led to speculation that not enough money was being offered to Walt Disney Company acquires
lure her or that she simply disliked the book. Universal’s president of production Kevin Misher found himself Marvel Entertainment
faced with an awkward situation, “It was one of those moments when you sit down and think, ‘Can Clarice
Welcome to FlickeringMyth.com
be looked upon as James Bond, for instance? A character who is replaceable. Or was Jodie Foster Clarice
Starling and the audience will not accept [anyone else]?’” A-list actresses Cate Blanchett (The Shipping
News), Angelina Jolie (Girl, Interrupted), Hilary Swank (Boys Don’t Cry), Ashley Judd (Double FOLLOWERS...
Jeopardy), and Julianne Moore (Boogie Nights) were seen as possible replacement candidates. Scott
selected Moore because she had “a certain kind of gravitas, an intelligence which is very similar [to Jodie
Foster’s]”.
“I just learned the lines and showed up and walked around as Hannibal Lecter,” stated Anthony Hopkins
who divorced himself from the preproduction turmoil; he was concerned about a more pressing creative
challenge. “I thought, ‘Do I repeat that performance, or do I vary it?’”, revealed Hopkins. “Ten years have
passed so I changed it a bit because I’ve changed.” Dr. Hannibal Lecter may be “a bit mellower” in the
words of the acclaimed British actor, however, his methods remain brutal as with the brain eating scene
involving Starling’s nemesis Paul Krendler (Ray Liotta). “He seems to be a popular cult figure,” amused
Anthony Hopkins. “I don’t know if that makes the whole world crazy, but…there are dark sides to human
nature.” Despite the absence of Ted Tally, Jonathan Demme, and Jodie Foster, Hannibal was a worldwide
success grossing $352 million in box office receipts, while costing $87 million to make.
do anything that I can’t repeat,” confessed the filmmaker when describing Posts
his trade secrets in cinematically faking an explosion. “When you see those
RPGs fly – that’s a rocket-propelled grenade – they’re basically a cylinder Comments
that is turned on a lathe in polystyrene with a small weight in its nose and a
radio-controlled rocket on the back…It runs along a wire [which cannot be
seen] like a model.”
“There were absolutely no accidents whatsoever. The only thing that drove me crazy was when you would
LINKS...
shout, ‘Cut, cut, cut!’ and anybody who had a full magazine of brass casings wouldn’t stop. They kept firing
because they just loved to fire the guns. It’s spooky how people like to fire guns.” Featured in the large /Film
ensemble cast for the picture are Josh Hartnett (Lucky Number Slevin), Ewan McGregor (Moulin 3D Total
Rouge!), Jason Issacs (The Patriot), Tom Sizemore (Heat), William Fichtner (Strange Days), Eric Bana 3DVF
(Munich), Sam Sheppard (The Right Stuff), Orlando Bloom (Ned Kelly), Jeremy Piven (Grosse Pointe Ain't It Cool News
Blank), and Hugh Dancy (Adam). Animated Views
CGSociety
Though the $93 million production of Black Hawk Down could not compete with Hannibal at the Cinema Assassin
worldwide box office (earning $173 million), the film excelled in the awards circuit; it won Oscars for Best Dark Horizons
Editing and Best Sound along with receiving nominations for Best Director and Best Cinematography. At the
Empire Online
BAFTAs, the film was a contender for Best Cinematography, Best Editing, and Best Sound. The American
Go Into The Story
Film Institute nominated the picture for Cinematographer, Editor, Movie, Production Designer and Director –
IMDB
of the Year. Scriptwriter Ken Nolan contended for Best Adapted Screenplay at the Writer’s Guild of America
Joblo
Awards, while Ridley Scott received a Director’s Guild of America Awards nomination.
Large Association of Movie Blogs
Mania
Boy and Bicycle (1961) was released in a video collection known as Cinema16: British Short Films
(2003) and its creator attended a ceremony held at Buckingham Palace where he was knighted by Queen myPDFscripts
Elizabeth II. “As a boy growing up in South Shields,” marveled Ridley Scott, “I could never have imagined Pixar Talk
that I would receive such a special recognition.” Richard J Moir's Film Blog
Rotten Tomatoes
Venturing into the genre of comedy, the director adapted the novel sineFX
Matchstick Men (2003) by Eric Garcia for the big screen. Con-man Roy Sofluid
Waller (Nicolas Cage), who suffers from an obsessive-compulsive disorder, Stare Into Space
has his organized existence turned upside down upon learning that he has a The Disney Blog
daughter (Alison Lohman). Commenting on the abilities of his Oscar-winning Total Film
leading man, Scott stated, “He definitely has a chameleon quality that not
too many have. They try, but Nic really succeeds at extremities from
shooting guns to rolling cars to playing an alcoholic in Leaving Las Vegas
[1995] or comedy in Adaptation [2002].” Making Waller’s mental condition
believable in the picture was not a stretch for the filmmaker and his star.
“Nic has had some personal experience with it through friends, and I’m a
neatnik,” confessed Ridley Scott. “I find neatness comes out of being lazy.
It’s actually much easier to be neat than a slob. With a slob eventually
you’re going to be walking all over everything. I’m obsessive because it’s
easier. I just do it at the moment and get it done.”
“This to me was more like doing Thelma & Louise [1991],” said the moviemaker. “During Thelma &
Louise I only left L.A. for three weeks when we went to Moab, Utah; the rest of the time we were in
Bakersfield. I loved the script for Matchstick Men and asked [co-screenwriter and producer] Ted Griffin
[Ocean’s Eleven] if he had any objections to moving the locations from Philadelphia to the Valley in
California.” Scott went on to observe, “Doing what you haven’t done is the key. Shifting gears. Some
people always like to do a study of the same thing. John Ford [The Searchers] tended to do a career of
Westerns. My career seems to be of nonspecific subjects which are all over the place.”
“Casting is everything,” declared Ridley Scott. “Alison Lohman [Big Fish] and Sam Rockwell [who plays
Waller’s grifter partner Frank Mercer] were the best candidates for the roles. It’s a visceral choice. I know if
an actor is right for the role from the second they walk through the door.” Alison Lohman, who was in her
early twenties at the time, had serious doubts about portraying a teenager. “When I first read the script I
was like, ‘No. No way, I’m playing fourteen. You can just pass on this,” confided the actress. “Usually, it’s
the first fifty pages and you know. But then reading the whole script for me was like, ‘Okay, I can definitely
do this.’” Lohman had nothing but praise for Scott. “He has an energy that lifts you. Any doubt that you
had is just gone. You just do it – it’s really simple. It was so easy to work with him.” Other performers
featured in the movie which grossed $66 million worldwide are Bruce Altman (Quiz Show), Bruce McGill
(Runaway Jury), Jenny O’Hara (Mystic River), Steve Easton (A Man Apart) and Beth Grant (No
Country for Old Men).
“I find that history tends to be more exotic than fiction,” admitted Ridley
Scott who chose to explore the era of the medieval Holy Wars in Kingdom
of Heaven (2005). “I met the writer Bill Monahan [The Departed], and
proposed doing a Crusades film, to which he replied, ‘That’s my subject and
my passion. I know all about the whole three hundred years of the
Crusades.’ So Bill came back with this idea about the wedge between the
first and second crusades where there was this uneasy truce until Saladin
was forced to come back and take Jerusalem. We found that the man who
surrendered Jerusalem was a local Lord, a Jerusalem citizen called Balian, so
we worked fiction backwards into the foothills of the Pyrenees.” Ridley Scott
was pleased with the performance of Orlando Bloom who portrays Balian of
Ibelin in a cast featuring renowned actors Liam Neeson (Batman Begins)
and Jeremy Irons (Reversal of Fortune). “I think he did great in this, it’s a
big film to walk into.”
Asked about the historical accuracy of the picture, the filmmaker responded, “Many historians are basing
their findings on a priest in France in the fifteenth century writing about events in the thirteenth century.
He wasn’t there. So what was he basing his writing on? History is only conjecture.” Working with William
Monahan, Ridley Scott attempted to depict an authentic story. “We went to great pains to get this right. All
these characters had to be real. Reynald [Brendan Gleason] was a warmonger. Guy de Lusignan [Marton
Csokas] was married to Sibylla [Eva Green], the sister of Baldwin the Leper King [Edward Norton], who got
leprosy at fifteen. Instead of being asked to step down, he insisted on becoming king. He became
impossible to look at by the time he was eighteen and had silver masks made and wore gloves because he
was rotting from the inside out. He functioned until he dropped dead at twenty-four. The boy king [Sibylla’s
son] was then crowned and Sibylla became the Princess Regent. We know the boy became ill within ten
months of being crowned and history states that he was murdered by his mother.” Questioning the theory
that Sibylla had killed her own child, Monahan and Scott looked to resolve the issue. “We looked at the
possibility he had leprosy,” revealed the moviemaker. “She would have euthenased the boy because of the
hideous life that her brother had had over nine or ten years and she was not ready to let her son suffer.
That made more sense to us.”
“In all there are about 800 [visual effects] shots,” stated the director who prefers using practical effects.
“We built three siege towers. Those [in the end battle] are real. Once you build it, you can clone it much
easier. So when you see all that stuff in close-up, and they’re coming up the back, and I’m pulling the
towers down, that’s all real – that’s seventeen tons going over. I made four catapults, the trebuchet arms
of which would swing fifty-six feet and would flip a hundred-pound ball about four hundred meters.”
Utilizing eleven cameras for the battle scenes as well as two or three cameras for the smaller scenes
generated a lot of footage. The first cut of the film was three hours and fifteen minutes long; 20th Century-
Fox had Ridley Scott cut it down to two hours and twenty-three minutes for the theatrical release. “The
enemy of filmmaking is the preview screening, which influences the final cut,” reflected the director. “It is a
tool, but you should use it wisely. The danger is that by the time we reach the preview we have all seen
the film so many times we have lost our ability to judge.” Scott regretted complying with the Hollywood
studio’s request to significantly shorten the picture; restored in the DVD Director’s Cut version were
treasured scenes such as the “whole sequence with the boy king and his mother, Sibylla.”
Kingdom of Heaven was positively received by the Muslim community which pleased Ridley Scott as he
views the overlying message of the film to be about tolerance. “In a sentence it’s about accepting another
man’s philosophy and religion,” declared the filmmaker of the picture which had a production budget of
$130 million and earned $212 million worldwide.
Returning to the world of short films, Ridley co-directed with his daughter Jordan Scott (Cracks) one of the
seven segments for the anthology about childhood and exploitation called All the Invisible Children
(2005); their effort Jonathan is about a British war photographer (David Thewlis) who looks back on his
youth. Other contributors to the project which premiered at the Venice Film Festival were John Woo
(Windtalkers) and Spike Lee (The Inside Man).
Next on the cinematic agenda for Ridley Scott was a reunion with an Oscar-winner who traded his
signature ancient Roman sword and sandals for a contemporary life on a French vineyard.
For more on Ridley Scott visit RSA Films, or check out The Ridley Scott Fan Information Page.
DO I FEEL LUCKY ?
FLICKERINGMYTH.COM - MOVIE NEWS, REVIEWS, ARTICLES, OPINIONS & MORE
Well, do ya, punk?
Thanks for visiting the site. We update regularly on all things silver screen. Feel free to leave any comments, or contact us
here.
“I’ve a little vineyard in Provence, and after five years I discovered that the
writer Peter Mayle [A Year in Provence] was my neighbour,” explained
Scott. “We started talking about my experiences and he said he would put it
in a book and out of that I got the film rights.” Inheriting a chateau and
vineyard in Provence, British investment banker Max Skinner (Crowe) revisits
the days of his childhood and discovers romance (Marion Cotillard), a laid-back lifestyle, and a young
woman (Abbie Cornish) who claims to be the illegitimate daughter of his deceased uncle (Albert Finney).
“What you see on screen in this film really is Albert [Finney],” enthused the moviemaker who has worked
SEARCH...
with the veteran actor four times, both as a director and a producer. “He’s full of joie de vivre and I
couldn’t think of anybody who could play the part [of Uncle Henry Skinner] better. Freddie Highmore Search
[Finding Neverland], who plays young Max and spent a lot of time with Albert, adored him too.” No powered by
extensive research was required for the role of Max Skinner. “There’s a lot of stuff about Max that I already
knew and had already experienced,” stated Russell Crowe who is well known for getting into character
through method acting. “In life’s big curve ball I’ve met guys like him. Funnily enough, when researching YOUR FAVOURITE RIDLEY SCOTT MOVIE
other films like The Insider [1999] when I had to go and find a bunch of corporate sharks, I met a lot of IS...
Unlike filmmakers Terry George (Hotel Rwanda) and Antoine Fuqua (The G.I. Jane (1997)
Replacement Killers) who were unable to cinematically adapt the New York Gladiator (2000)
Magazine article The Return of Superfly by Mark Jacobson, Scott was able
Hannibal (2001)
to revive the project which was to star Oscar-winner Denzel Washington
Black Hawk Down (2001)
(Training Day). “It’s a great script about Frank Lucas who had a very
successful business in Harlem in the early 1970s bringing in retail heroin from Matchstick Men (2003)
Vietnam in army transportation,” said the director who reworked the original Kingdom of Heaven (2005)
screenplay for his seventeenth effort American Gangster (2007). “It was
A Good Year (2006)
more about Frank Lucas and less about [New Jersey Police Detective] Richie
Roberts. I felt it should be more equally balanced. But great material is great American Gangster (2007)
material, so when I was in the middle of Provence doing A Good Year I Body of Lies (2008)
called [Steve] Zaillian and said, ‘What’s happening with that thing?’ It began
Show results
then. I passed it on to Russell and once I had him interested I realized I
Vote
could get Denzel back in.” The two Academy Award winners were familiar
Votes so far: 390
with each other as Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington had previously co- Days left to vote: 4
starred together in the science fiction thriller Virtuosity (1995).
“Tony [Scott] has always said Denzel is one of the best,” remarked the director in reference to his
QUOTE OF THE WEEK...
filmmaking younger brother who has consistently worked with Washington. “He’s a method actor who
absolutely gets into his role.” Ridley Scott added, “I think being a method actor just means you do your "I was thinkin', it really don't matter if I
homework and go deeper into the character.” Denzel Washington is well versed in the personal history of lose this fight. It really don't matter if this
Frank Lucas. “From a very early age he began to steal and he worked his way up the line,” began guy opens my head, either. 'Cause all I
Washington. “He came to New York and the most notorious gangster in Harlem [Bumpy Johnson] wanna do is go the distance. Nobody's
recognized the talent, if you will, in this young kid, and continued to train him. He was on the wrong side of ever gone the distance with Creed, and if
the tracks, but he was a brilliant student, and became a master of the business he was in.” Asked about his I can go that distance, you see, and that
opinion of Lucas, the actor replied, “It’s not for me to judge him. Basically, Frank’s a human being who’s bell rings and I'm still standin', I'm gonna
done some awful things and paid the price for it.” know for the first time in my life, see, that
I weren't just another bum from the
Speaking about Richie Roberts who defended Lucas as a criminal defense attorney, Crowe remarked, “I neighborhood"
think Richie is a great patriot because he went into the Marines Corps, and it wasn’t quite what he thought ROCKY BALBOA, ROCKY (1976)
it would be. So he went into the police force, and it wasn’t quite what he thought it would be. Then he
worked his ass off and became a lawyer, and then a prosecutor. And he was like, this doesn’t satisfy me
GET INVOLVED...
either. So I’ll do this thing that I know you’re allowed to do in America. I’ll stand here, and I’ll be an
advocate for somebody who has no defense.” If you enjoy writing about movies
and would like to feature on
Flickering Myth, please drop us an
“If I’m excited, it tends to leak out,” stated Ridley Scott. “I think that’s what I’m good at – I’m good at
email. We are always open to
pushing the pace and suddenly everybody is running. It is very easy to do only ten shots a day. On
contributors and would love to hear
American Gangster, we were doing fifty set-ups a day. We wouldn’t have got through it otherwise. I’d
from you.
have to do two takes and say, ‘That’s it.’ Denzel or Russell would go, ‘Once more,’ and I’d say, ‘Okay, let’s
go.’ It’s faster to go again than talk about it.” Commenting on Crowe’s attitude towards the high-pace
We're also keen to hear from
filmmaking environment, the veteran moviemaker said, “I think he loves the fact that I move really fast independent filmmakers; if you'd
and that I know what I’m going to do before I’m there.” Other actors in the picture include Chiwetel Ejiofer like to see your film featured or
(Dirty Pretty Things), Josh Brolin (Mimic), Ted Levine (The Silence of the Lambs), Carla Gugino want to get the word out on
(Snake Eyes), Armand Assante (Q & A), Cuba Gooding Jr. (Jerry Maguire), and Rudy Dee (Do the upcoming projects then please feel
Right Thing). free to get in touch.
American Gangster easily recouped its $100 million production budget earning $266 million worldwide.
ALSO SHOWING...
The picture was an Oscar contender for Best Art Direction and Best Supporting Actress (Rudy Dee); and
received BAFTA nominations for Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Film, Best Music, and Best Original Christopher Nolan talks
Screenplay. At the Golden Globes, the movie was up for Best Director, Best Picture – Drama, and Best Superman and Batman
Actor (Denzel Washington). I Sat Through That? #5 -
Castaway (2000)
A thriller written by author David Ignatious about CIA operative Roger Ferris
Action Artist: A Kathryn Bigelow
(Leonardo DiCaprio) who hunts down an Islamic terrorist leader operating in
Profile
Jordan required a name change to Body of Lies (2008). “I quite liked the
title Penetration, but that’ll be confusing,” admitted Ridley Scott. “Everyone 221B - free online game to
sniggers when you say it. The film is about where we are today in the Middle promote Guy Ritchie's Sherlock
East and the crossroads of politics and intelligence.” Expressing his view of Holmes movie
Ferris, DiCaprio stated, “I saw my character as an operative in the Middle Epic Dreamer: An Akira
East who was trying to do his job in a higher moral context than his boss Kurosawa Profile (Part 2)
[played by Russell Crowe] wanted him to.” Ignatious was impressed with the
UK Box Office Top Ten - weekend
cinematic personas of Roger Ferris and his manipulative CIA handler Ed
commencing 24/07/09
Hoffman. “They obviously re-imagined the characters in a hundred different
Movies... For Free! Road to Bali
ways, and that’s now who these people are,” said the novelist. “I’ll never be
able to read the book and read about Hoffman and not think about Russell, (1952)
and the same thing with Ferris and Leo.” UK Box Office Top Ten - weekend
commencing 13/11/09
“Inevitably, the screenplay had to cut a lot of material to make a two hour movie out of a three hundred Robert Rodriguez confirms
and fifty page book,” realized David Ignatious. “But the screenwriter, Bill Monahan [The Departed], found
Predator reboot and feature-
a way to draw a straight storyline through my material and I think all of the main themes of the book are
length Machete!
captured well in the film. I am really happy with the way it turned out.” One of the significant changes was
A Great Reed: A Carol Reed
in the ethnicity of Ferris’ love interest. “The book started off with Aisha [Golshifteh Farahani] being a
national,” said Ridley Scott. “In fact, she was a French girl in the embassy. I asked David how he’d feel if Profile (Part 2)
she was local.” The revision to the story was a wise one. “It started to underscore Ferris’ attachment and
liking for the region that he was in.” Despite the alterations, David Ignatious was satisfied with the end
FOLLOWERS...
result. “Something I’m really happy about is how faithful the movie is to the book,” observed Ignatious,
“both in the interaction of the characters, [and] in its picture of the CIA struggling around the world against
a very difficult adversary.”
Leonardo DiCaprio (Shutter Island) had previously co-starred with Russell Crowe in The Quick and the
Dead (1995); however, he was embarking into unfamiliar territory having never worked with Ridley Scott.
“The pace in which he shoots is really intense, really fast paced, and you have to be prepared for anything
in any given moment,” marveled DiCaprio. “He literally has helicopters on standby circling around, ready to
get an overhead shot of you running through an entire city.” The actor could not help but be impressed by
the director whom he refers to as “a human editing bay.” “It’s amazing to watch him behind the monitor or
in the tent with six different monitors and cameras from every different angle and he’s just snapping from
monitor to monitor, switching and knowing exactly…and really efficiently saying, ‘This is exactly what I’m
going to use in the movie and everything else is a profound waste of time.’” Scott’s professionalism
contributed significantly to Leonardo DiCaprio’s confidence in the project. “You go in every day and feel like
you’ve done a day’s work and everything that you put effort into will wind up for the most part as a part of
the movie.” Costing $70 million to produce, Body of Lies grossed $115 million at the worldwide box office.
“Everyone has their strengths. Johnny Depp [Alice in Wonderland] as Robin Hood would be a different Gary Collinson
Robin Hood than Russell Crowe as Robin Hood. With respect to them both, they do different things well. So, Trevor Hogg
knowing who it is helps a lot.” Gerry Hayes
Santosh Sandhu
A significant modification to the tale results in the major adversary being not the Sheriff of Nottingham but
Amy Flinders
the country of France. “I play a traitor who basically is trying to stir up enough trouble to create Civil War
Elspeth Rushbrook
so that he can encourage the French to land and consequently achieve power,” said actor Mark Strong
Jon Dudley
(Sherlock Holmes) who plays the fictional character of Sir Godfrey. “[For] the final battle scene we were
Tom Conran
on the beach in Wales for two weeks…We had 72 trailers, 1500 people [to be catered for] lunch, 500
Rory Barker
extras, 120 horses and stunt riders, as well as that there were an extra 200 stuntmen. There were 8 boats
Richard J Moir
landing in the surf. A helicopter. 15 cameras. It was just amazing. So it was old-school filmmaking of the
first order and in the middle of that was Ridley, like a general conducting his troops.” Roger Holland
Harry Loney
The $155 million Hollywood production is already being compared to the picture which was Crowe’s and Luke Owen
Scott’s original collaboration. “It doesn’t matter what we do, everybody always compares it to Gladiator Rosie Cammish
[2000],” concedes Russell Crowe. “We do a little comedy set in the south of France [A Good Year] and Russell Hill
half of the reviews had references to Gladiator. We do American Gangster and Body of Lies and Andy Pope
there’s Gladiator references, so you’re not going to win either way once you’ve made a movie like that. It’s David Bishop
ten years old and it still gets played on primetime television; it’s just one of those films you have once in a Sheila Seclearr
career if you’re really, really lucky.” Tressa Price
Vicki Isitt
Cast in Robin Hood are Max von Sydow (Snow Falling
on Cedars), Cate Blanchett (I’m Not There), Danny
Huston (The Constant Gardener), Matthew Macfadyen LINKS...
Pondering what fascinates him as a filmmaker, Ridley Scott concluded, “Because I’m European, because I
think I have one foot halfway into the truth behind documentaries and non-mainstream movies, I can’t
quite shake that mud off my feet. Some people call it perversity. It’s not perversity. Life isn’t a bed of
roses. People die. People get cancer. And therefore one is always reminding the audience that there’s a
dark side to life. That attracts me because it’s the truth.”
Watch the Robin Hood trailer and visit the film's official website.
For more on Ridley Scott visit RSA Films, or check out The Ridley Scott Fan Information Page.
Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada.
POSTED BY FLICKERINGMYTH
LABELS: BRITISH CINEMA, FILMMAKER PROFILES, TREVOR HOGG
DO I FEEL LUCKY ?
FLICKERINGMYTH.COM - MOVIE NEWS, REVIEWS, ARTICLES, OPINIONS & MORE
Well, do ya, punk?
Thanks for visiting the site. We update regularly on all things silver screen. Feel free to leave any comments, or contact us
here.
In a journey that's taken him from South Shields to Hollywood, Ridley Scott has earned a reputation as one
of the most accomplished visual filmmakers working today. The founder of advertising agency Ridley Scott
Associates (responsible for the classic 1974 Hovis advert) and production company Scott Free with younger
brother Tony, Scott is a three time Academy Award nominee with global box office receipts in excess of $2
billion.
With his latest film Robin Hood opening in May [trailer here] and Scott Free Productions’ The A-Team
arriving this summer [trailer here], we present our Five Essential Films of Ridley Scott...
DVD GIVEAWAY...
SEARCH...
Search
powered by
genre of the crime epic with Denzel Washington starring as drug lord Frank The Duellists (1977)
Lucas. Coming up with the ingenious plan of importing a new strain of Heroin
Alien (1979)
direct from Vietnam and undercutting the competition, Lucas soon rises to
the top of the food chain as Detective Richie Roberts leads a task force to Blade Runner (1982)
bring his empire down. American Gangster stands as the director’s third Legend (1985)
highest-grossing film to date, although it also received its share of criticism Someone to Watch Over Me
with regards to the sympathetic portrayal of Lucas. (1987)
Black Rain (1989)
Thelma & Louise (1991)
1492: Conquest of Paradise
(1992)
White Squall (1996)
3. Gladiator (2000)
G.I. Jane (1997)
After mixed results with previous historical efforts The Duellists (his debut, Gladiator (2000)
which was well received) and 1492: Conquest of Paradise (not so well
Hannibal (2001)
received), Scott enjoyed his biggest success with the 2000 sword-and-
Black Hawk Down (2001)
sandals epic Gladiator. Russell Crowe shines as Maximus, former Protector
of Rome, who sets out to gain revenge for the death of his family at the Matchstick Men (2003)
hands of double-crossing Emperor Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix). It was a Kingdom of Heaven (2005)
return to form for the director after a difficult run in the 90s and banked over
A Good Year (2006)
$450m globally, along with five Academy Awards including Best Picture.
American Gangster (2007)
Body of Lies (2008)
Hollywood A-list. Aided considerably by H. R. lose this fight. It really don't matter if this
Giger's unique designs and the successful (and guy opens my head, either. 'Cause all I
shocking) blend of horror and sci-fi, Alien wanna do is go the distance. Nobody's
proved a hit both critically and commercially ever gone the distance with Creed, and if
and launched a lucrative franchise that I can go that distance, you see, and that
continues to this day. Coincidently, Scott is bell rings and I'm still standin', I'm gonna
currently attached to direct a proposed prequel know for the first time in my life, see, that
from 20th Century Fox. I weren't just another bum from the
neighborhood"
ROCKY BALBOA, ROCKY (1976)
GET INVOLVED...
ALSO SHOWING...