Deadpool Visual Effects

Deadpool is not only a box office success, that was thought to be an extremely risky movie from Fox,  smashing all records and having more domestic gross then other big box office films like Iron Man and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. I was lucky enough to have worked for Lauren Schuler Donner at The Donners' Company this past Fall and go to hear about a lot of the behind the scenes aspects of the film when it came to budget and story development. Lauren had discussed with me about how since the film had a much lower budget than bigger Fox/Marvel films she had produced ,like all the X-Men films, they had to use their resources. Visual Effects was one of those major aspects. In the industry it can be easier to say have a car chase all visually animated than get a stunt team to make it reality. The lead visual effects company that was responsible for Deadpool's effects released a breakdown video, and Lauren was not wrong Deadpool was animated quite a bit, even in places I thought for sure was real. Luckily Deadpool's costume/design can be more easily animated then say Wolverine or Magneto.

Ahoy there, matey!

Sick of posts regarding VFX breakdowns from MPC? Well, too bad. Get over yourself. You have no say in this matter. I'll write about these breakdowns until the day I die (or at least until the end of the semester). These videos are simply so fascinating. They show simple folk like you and I just how much work goes into the films we know and love.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides VFX Breakdown from MPC on Vimeo.

This week's breakdown comes to you from MPC (Moving Picture Company)--the same as usual--highlighting some of the greatest visual effects accomplishments found in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. I can confidently say the fourth Pirates installment is by far the worst film of the series, but it's impossible to overlook the spectacular visual effects.

Before

After

What's so fascinating about this particular breakdown is just how much of the highlights was news to me. I know that's not much of a surprise, but isn't that the true indicator of a job well-done? Not knowing something was actually added in postproduction means it was truly done with skill and precision. I was confident the majority of the effects displayed in the video were shot on-scene. Sure, I know Johnny Depp couldn't have possibly jumped from a couple hundred-foot high cliff into a rock-infested river and survived (probably), but the plants he walks past are fake?! You've got to be joking.

Apparently Barbossa's peg leg is fake, too. I guess everything I've ever known to be true is just a lie. It's an unfortunate discovery, but I'll just have to learn to live with the sad, sad truth. It's strange, really. One of Barbossa's biggest defining traits is his wooden leg, and it turns out it's been animated the entire time. It just goes to show how much of an impact animation has on individual characters as well as the entire layout of a film.

Gary Brozenich led the MPC team on Pirates of the Caribbean VFX supervisor. Having spearheaded other projects such as The Lone Ranger and Wrath of the Titans, he certainly was a good pick for the job. I'm sure he'll have other great work for us all very soon.

I've said it before and I'll keep saying it: MPC is doing some amazing work and they need to be recognized as a leading visual effects company. Now, I shall leave you all with this compilation of unbelievably cute puppies.

The necessity of layering

MPC Wrath of the Titans VFX breakdown from MPC on Vimeo.

Despite the fact that it's what I do in most of my posts, I'm not a huge fan of discussing topics in a vague, general sense. I'd much rather make a point using specific examples. Well, here's one of those times where I actually know what I would like to discuss, and I have a specific example to make my point. I figured it'd be a nice change of pace. So, assuming that you've watched the above video (if you haven't, please do), let's delve into the complex process of effects layering.

It's no secret that there's rarely one super, awesomely fantastical effect that makes an animation what you want it to be. That would simply be too easy, and if animation were as simple as applying a single effect to a sole layer, everyone would be making the big bucks. And they're not. So, yeah. Point proven.

As I was saying, it's not uncommon for there to be dozens of layers for a single animation. It's the only way for an animation to look and "feel" the way you want it to. I apologize for the painstakingly long amount of time this may add to your current projects, but I can promise you the audience will notice the lack of effort in your final product.

Watching the above video will serve to better understand just how many different layers go into just one animation. Even an erupting volcano requires about 5 or 6 different layers of dust, smoke, and debris, not even to mention the enormous rock-like creature climbing out of said volcano. When the creature is destroyed, there's approximately 3 layers of smoke. Oh yeah, there's about 15 or so other layers that go into the monster and exploding debris as well. It's no problem, though. I mean, I'm sure you could do that. Right?

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2: VFX Breakdown from MPC on Vimeo.

Boom. Second example. I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I happen to believe it's an excellent example of layering. Think about this: when you were watching the final Harry Potter installment (because who hasn't seen it?), were you really paying attention to the visual effects? I seriously doubt it. You were probably just sitting in the theater on the verge of tears as your childhood came to an end right in front of your eyes.

Just in the first shot of the video (also the preview image of the video), there's a layer for the environment (the ground, mountain, etc.), a layer for the people, a layer for the stadium, a layer for the smoke, and a layer for the fire. I'm also just guesstimating. That would be the absolute bare minimum that would have to go into a shot like that. I bet you there are at least two layers for each of the objects you see on the screen. There's usually at least a few layers of smoke to give it more depth or density.

It's pretty interesting to see the orc-like creatures in the "stampede" shots are actually pretty much the only real-life things to be seen. The environment, the people, and the smoke are all added later. It's astounding to realize what may seem to be the most obviously animated aspects of a shot are actually the only things that were shot. Obviously, the specific shot I'm discussing would need at very least 4 or 5 separate layers in order to make it come to life. I'm sure many more layers than what we're shown, though, were actually used.

It'd definitely be an interesting game to try to guess just how many layers go into certain shots of a film.

Awesome Matte Painting

I had heard about Matte Painting before, but never really took time to see how it really worked before watching this video. This is an awesome breakdown of an artist's process of creating one of his fictitious worlds, and the amount of work he seems to have put into it is quite amazing. I thought it would be a good idea to post this here because it was put together using - amongst a few others softwares - Photoshop, After Effects, and Maya, and it shows a bit of what those tools can do.

Here's the video:
Breakdown | - HORIZON - from Mickaël Forrett (MEO) on Vimeo.