Opening Title of Deadpool

Through advanced CGI and visual effects, the opening title sequence of Deadpool was one that was extremely memorable. It was a jab at basically every superhero movie that gave an insight as to what the film's total atmosphere would be like. A great opening title sequence, like Deadpool's is key to making the film entertaining to its' viewers. There were a lot of logistics and intense thought put into this opening sequence that made the distinct 3-D visual effects and placed them into an atmosphere that was able to be manipulated into looking like a frozen fight scene for a lengthy amount of time. There were various levels of preproduction that went into making this opening title one to be competed with.

Check out the creation of it:

David McLeod

This week I actually discovered someone pretty cool on Instagram. I do not spend a lot of time on Instagram but he was the artist that was being highlighted by Instagram this week. His name is David McLeod and he is an artist from Australia, he specializes in textures that are rendered in CGI and he also makes typography and 3D lettering.

He works out of New York City now and according to his website he has done work for companies such as Motorola and Canon. His work is amazing, while many of his images are still, some of them are moving and they are some of the most unique and stunning examples of texture I have ever seen. Here is a link to his site so you can check out some of his work.

http://davidmcleod.com/

BATMAN!

Earlier today, the first trailer for The Lego Batman Movie was released, and, as a fan of Legos, Batman and movies, I am quite excited. The Lego Movie, released back in 2014, was a surprisingly good and very fun movie, and Lego Batman was one of the best characters in it. I am also a fan of how the people responsible for making both of these movies were able to create a fully computer-generated feature that also sometimes appears as though they just used stop-motion with the actual figurines. The simplistic aesthetics of the Lego blocks and figures make the goofy behaviors and dialogue exhibited by the characters feel more believable, which might not have worked as well with real actors in a real-world environment.

Here's the trailer:

Why James Cameron waited to create Avatar

James Cameron's 2009 blockbuster hit, Avatar stepped over boundaries that had not been crossed in the cinema and CGI world ever before. Nominated for 9 Academy Awards, and winning 3, Avatar is also the #1 All Time Domestic movie ever, and the #1 All Time Worldwide movie. But what made this movie so different than any other, and why was it not done sooner? As a matter of fact, James Cameron wanted to release the movie in 1999 because he had the story complete, but did not have the proper technology to complete it until it was released in 2009. What convinced him that CGI effects had progressed enough is when he saw the motion-capture CGI animation that was done to Gollum in The Lord of the Rings. The movie is more than half CGI, and each frame of the CHI scenes took an average of 47 hours to render. When I was in London this past fall semester, I worked on a Sci-Fi list documentary where I was able to help find extensive facts about the movies that we were given and able to contact people to interview for the documentary. I researched Avatar extensively and was able to find out this amazing information plus so much more, and was astonished by the achievements and advancements that were made throughout the process and production of this movie. Here's a few of the videos I watched to learn more about Avatar. 

Practical Verus CGI

I love a good sic-fi film like the Alien series, The Thing, Predator, and Star Wars just to name a few. What viewers may not realize in most of these films that the special effects are a mix of practical effects and CGI. This video by CRACKED interviewed Tom Woodruff Jr. and Alec Gillis of Amalgamated Dynamics.  They touch on the debate on CGI vrs. practical. I prefer a combination of both but at times practical can look better, for instance Jurassic Park that was primarily puppets and had very little CGI. Aliens 3 on the other hand was very CGI heavy and as a result the reviews were not favorable. AVP though, returned to a more practical filming of the Aliens and Predator fighting and that was personally a better film. Woodruff and Gillis also touched on how studios are pushing for more CGI effects and less practical. The video takes a good look in the debate and industry perspective.  

Jar-Jar and the Phantom Menace

Let's talk Star Wars for a sec. Yes everyone is talking about Star Wars these days because of the new re-boot, but  what makes a sic-fi like Star Wars interesting if not ground breaking? I believe it is the special effects in the films.
The first trilogy without a doubt made stop motion seem flawless in space and on the frigid plains of Hoth. The second trilogy however, didn't waste time with stop animation but used computer animated graphics instead. This, at the time (1999), was a monumental task and a daring undertaking. I grew up watching the prequels and to me I grew up with the expectation of CGI creatures like Jar-Jar Binks. Which brings me painstakingly to my next point, Jar-Jar Binks. Jar-Jar was the first fully animated creature when Phantom Menace came out. Jar-Jar was played by Ahmed Best, who wore a suit that resembled the creature, this suit at first did not have tracking devices, it was only in post production that animators realized that to better convey actions they would need to track Best's movements. The animators then could have their way with the expressions. Overall the reaction to Jar-Jar as a character is that it could have been done without, but I still think that without Jar-Jar, the path for other movies like I, Robot that rely heavily on CGI would have been difficult. Above is a special on making the film and gives a more in-depth look at creating the the special effects.

The Making of "Pacific Rim" Motion Graphics

One thing about motion graphics that is fascinating to me is how the initial drawings and ideas become the end product. After surfing the internet on things related to our class I stumbled upon this one which I found to be pretty interesting, although it is short I do think it's helpful for someone like me, with little experience in graphics, to see a general work flow from ideas to the final product. In this video the audience is shown in a non specific way how the artists idea's translate to the screen in the movie "Pacific Rim". Although this is not a tutorial or a breakdown of how the graphics were created, I think it gives good incite into how the artist has to prepare to combine what they are planning to create with what the director has envisioned and shot.

3D CGI in Film

In the 3D modeling course I took last semester, we spent a few weeks discussing the topic of 3D animation and how it could be used in a variety of mediums. We started this discussion by looking at some of the oldest examples of computer-generated 3D animation in film, and how different filmmakers have used the tool differently from back then to now. One particular milestone that I found interesting was that the first fully 3D rendered and animated sequence in any full length film premiered back in 1982 as part of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. The sequence depicted a simulation of a device which could change any lifeless environment into a habitable one, and was it was created by the group that would end up becoming Pixar a few years later. Most blockbuster films nowadays are filled to the brim with 3D graphics and sequences that sometimes seem to blend in almost seamlessly with whatever live action performance is also part of the shot (or constitute the entirety of any number of shots), especially those films in the science fiction or fantasy genre, and I thought it was fascinating to see where the use of those graphics to that scale in that medium first debuted.

I've attached the clip from the movie here. Sorry for the bad quality. It was the only one I could find.

Roller Coaster Tycoon VFX

A YouTube channel I've been watching for quite some time now, AndrewMFilms just released a video I really enjoyed, A Fun Day in Roller Coaster Tycoon. AndrewMFilms periodically creates short videos like the one featured here, which always involve an impressive amount of high quality VFX, usually involving lots of CGI too. This particular video is based around the popular theme park simulation game "Roller Coaster Tycoon".

A Fun Day in Roller Coaster Tycoon

What I love about this video, is that it was filmed around a theme park, and only used After Effects and Cinema 4D. It's quite inspiring to me, to try and create something similar. I love how they've simply added and modified pre-existing rollercoaster's to create some cool and funny effects. Check out the making of video, shows some good insight.

Making of

Star Wars II CGI

With the upcoming release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, I've been looking back over clips from the prequels, interested in what went so wrong. One major factor which everyone attributes the prequels for mistakingly doing, is overusing CGI.

While I can appreciate more CGI than others (a strong bias which stems from wanting to work in the VFX industry), I can certainly only withstand a certain amount. And I agree the prequels and subsequent re-releases of the original trilogy went overboard. I came across the following featurette on how digital characters were used in replace of puppets.

It is an hour in length, I'm about 3/4's of the way though, but if you have some time I'd recommend giving it a watch. Understandably though you probably don't have time, so just check out the scene from around 8:47. It's interesting to see George Lucas' bias towards CGI and how he approaches it. I found it fascinating how the whole featurette feels slightly dull and lifeless, like the heart of filmmaking is missing.

Overall I think it's worth a watch, an interesting look into Lucas' mind.

Movie Scenes Before And After Special Effects

I found this really cool blog showing before and after movie scenes that used CGI.  Back in the day, filmmakers used matte paintings, trick photography, etc. to achieve impossible looking cinematic effects. Today filmmakers have almost perfected the art and application of CGI in films.
Click on this link to look at it: http://digitalsynopsis.com/design/movies-before-after-green-screen-cgi/
Enjoy!

Animating Pirates of the Caribbean

This weekend I decided to watch Pirates of the Caribbean in honour of Pirates Week back home. I was very interested in the visual effects and how they created everything. I have always wondered how they animated Davey Jones and his crew. 

The movements of a computer-generated character such as Davy would traditionally be recorded by an actor in a motion capture suit as he darts around a meticulously controlled studio environment. The filmmakers would shoot plates without the actor in the frame, and then the CGI beastie would be inserted into that blank space in post-production. 

These videos were very informative and interesting to watch. Enjoy!

October 21, 2015

SO, because it was October 21, 2015 yesterday, and that is the day that Doc and Marty travel to the future in Back to the Future, I thought I would share with you all the awesome, and yes cheesy, graphics and animation that they used in Back to the Future Part II. The hologram shark, the crazy futuristic flying cars, and all of the other so called future technology was so cool when I first saw this film back in the early 2000s. So maybe they are kinda cheesy and not incredibly well done, so what? They are still awesome and so is that movie.

"McFly you bozo!! Hoverboards don't work on water!!"

The Avengers Behind The Scenes

Since we are all shooting are green screen final projects this week I thought it would be interesting to share this video. It takes a behind the scenes look on The Avengers movie and some of the green screen techniques they used. Obviously none of us will be doing something as technical as this but it's still cool to take a look at. Cheers!

Bad CGI Effects

While CGI is certainly a cool technique to use in the movie industry, it is also easy to make it look terrible too. I believe we tend to overlook some of the cheesy effects used in motion graphics and just assume they are cool and innovative. This video takes a look at some of the worst CGI movie effects in a handful of different movies. Enjoy!!

Interstellar VFX Part 2 - TARS and CASE Robots

Thursday I posted about the stunning VFX work in Interstellar. Today I came across a behind the scenes video of how they created the robots in the film, TARS and CASE. They play a major role in the film and they were created with a combination of motion graphics and puppeteering.

The basic frames of the robots were created with metal and puppeteered on set using various methods. In some scenes where the robots needed to move quickly through water, they used a modified ATV rig to propel the robot puppet through the water. Then, using CGI, the more detailed aspects of the robots were generated and the rigs used were keyed out of the shots.

This video below shows you exactly how they did it and it's amazing to see how it was actually done.
EDIT: The video was removed after I posted this. Here is the mirror link.

CGI vs Practical Effects

Being in a motion graphics and animation class, we kind of find ourselves in the center of a heated debate in the movie industry. Is it better to use computer generated effects, or practical effects. Fans also have a huge stake this debate as well, many claiming that the overuse of CGI can "ruin" movies. Thats one of the reasons disgruntled fans give when complaining about the Star Wars prequels, and why the internet was overjoyed to find out J. J. Abrams is using puppets for Episode VII.

But one of the biggest franchises to find itself in the center of this debate is The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies. 

One thing that movie nerds love about The Lord of the Rings trilogy is the amazing use of makeup and practical effects to produce a large amount of Orcs and other characters in the movies. Actors would have to sit in makeup for hours on end into in order to achieve these impressive effects.

Many fans were then disappointed when they realized that The Hobbit trilogy would be taking a more computer based approach to get the desired look for many of the characters. While they did utilize makeup for some close ups and other less action oriented scenes, there is a heavy use of motion capture and other CGI techniques in order to create many of the characters. 

Both techniques are extremely impressive to pull off, and how they are received by an audience comes down to personal preference. In my opinion, you get best end result when you combine the two, using practical effects when you can and falling back on CGI when practical effects are just no longer practical.

How they did Forrest Gump

As we get deeper and deeper into after effects with this class I've really enjoyed figuring out how these special effects or movie magic actually worked. One of my favorite movies form when I was younger, Forrest Gump, was one of the films I consistently was stumped by. Between how they hid Lt. Dans legs, Forrest meeting John Lennon, Nixon, and JFK there was a lot to wonder about. But now that we're getting into rotoscoping and splicing ourselves into films it's becoming clearer to me. To confirm some of these curiosities, here is a site explaining each of the special effects in the film and how they pulled them off.

Movie Magic in Forrest Gump

VFX in The Wolf of Wall Street: More Than You Think

This video shows how much CGI was really used in The Wolf of Wall Street, and what it was used for. It is amazing how much CGI they used in the film and it is amazing how well it was done. People only notice bad CGI; the greatest work is never appreciated because people believe it to be reality. The film used CGI to mainly enhance the backgrounds and manipulate the sets they filmed on. I was very surprised to see how everything was changed, I'm glad I came across this video. Everyone should take the time to watch this, you will be surprised. It really shows how powerful and effective CGI can be to compliment a scene, other than to make huge exploding action sequences.


The Wolf of Wall Street VFX Highlights from Brainstorm Digital on Vimeo.

Planet of the Apes

I've recently watched the movie, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and wow. The graphics in this movie are amazing. Not only do those monkeys look pretty realistic but looking it at a CGI point of view, I am  baffled on how they can get the motions so well done.



Definitely a movie worth checking out!