VFX
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“The Weather Doesn’t Care What Your Budget Is”: Captain Marvel Colorist Doug Delaney on the Marvel Cinematic Universe
When Avengers: Endgame hits theaters in a few weeks, it will conclude a chapter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that encompasses 22 films over more than a decade. Considering the disparate tones, settings and filmmakers involved in the “Infinity Saga,” the fact that the movies fit so seamlessly together and have been so consistently entertaining is a remarkable achievement. Part of the magic trick of integrating the superhero adventures into a cohesive whole comes from the work of colorists, who have been entrusted with ensuring the Tesseract glows the same shade of blue whether it appears in Thor, Infinity War or the […]
by Matt Mulcahey on Apr 4, 2019 -
Twin Peaks, Parts 7-8: Re VFX and Almost Nothing More
I’ve got zip (that I want) to say (at this time) about Twin Peaks parts seven and eight in terms of The Bigger Picture, but I do want to delve into episode eight’s widely-presumed anomalous status — that it marked an unprecedented event not just in TV (true, I’m pretty sure) but in larger visual culture. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how many recappers, while clearly over their heads, are baseline sympathetic to finding themselves routinely unmoored, even if that means repeating over and over that this is closer to “avant-garde art” than normal TV to meet the word count. My feed […]
by Vadim Rizov on Jun 26, 2017 -
Mocha 4: The Planar Tracker Gets an Update
Imagineer Systems has updated Mocha, their popular planar tracking tool. Mocha, which comes in multiple versions, makes it possible to track parts of a scene and then use that information to composite graphics and perform other manipulations to your image. In its Pro version, it’s capable of much more. The basic version of Mocha, Mocha AE, offers 2.5D Planar Tracking and comes bundled with all current releases of After Effects. Mocha Plus is $195 and adds export support for Adobe Premiere, Apple Motion and Boris FX. It also adds the lens distortion solving tool (it lacks the Insert, Remove, Stabilize […]
by Michael Murie on Nov 4, 2014 -
Watch: Visual Effects at Work in Pascale Ferran’s Bird People
“Confounding in a good way” is probably a cop-out way to describe a film, but I can think of few other ways to succinctly sum up Pascale Ferran’s Bird People. As you may have deduced from the title, this binary portrait features a supporting character of the avian persuasion, who turns in some of the most seamless VFX work this side of The Wolf of Wall Street. The above video from French special effects company BUF — who also handled The Matrix series, United 93 and The Dark Knight — reveals that nearly every background in the film was transposed onto a green screen. This would seem logical as […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Aug 27, 2014 -
Breaking Down the DIY Visual Effects in A Truncated Story of Infinity
Paul Trillo’s A Truncated Story of Infinity considers the limitless schema of possibilities that unfold over the course of a series of moments. The eight minute film — recently featured on Short of the Week — also boasts some pretty impressive practical effects for a budget of $10,000. I asked Paul to break down the means behind each technique, which he notes may not “the correct way” to render an effect, even if they look pretty fine to me. Hall of Mirrors at :00 “Our ‘mirror’ was just a framed piece of green on a wall. We did a simple dolly into the green so it […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Jul 31, 2014 -
Watch: Projection Mapping and Creating the “Beam of Light” Illusion from Metropolis
Shanks FX’s latest instructional video centers on the in-camera effect of projection mapping. Beginning with the “beam of light ” effect, created by cinematographer and VFX artist Eugen Schüfftan (Metropolis, Eyes Without a Face), Joey Shanks demonstrates how with a camera, a one way mirror, a projector and a computer at the controls, you can create the illusion of a three-dimensional conic light. Shanks also explains how to render a light tunnel on an one-dimensional black board. Good low-budget techniques to keep in your backpocket for sci-fi, dream sequences and the like.
by Sarah Salovaara on Jun 25, 2014 -
Watch: Visual Effects from 1878 to Now
Recently, someone on my Twitter feed ruminated that directors used to proudly point out instances of visual effects, where today, they are want to highlight in camera effects. The times they are a changin’. This supercut from Jim Casey neatly considers the evolution of VFX across 136 years, from 1878 to today. With glimpses of Le Voyage dans la Lune and Metropolis to Gravity and Inception, the aesthetic beauty of the films has arguably improved, if at the expense of the overall storytelling. I’m still scratching my head over last year’s rapturous response to Gravity, which merely proved that 3-D could be artful, even if the script was still pedestrian.
by Sarah Salovaara on May 20, 2014 -
Duplicating Without a Green Screen in The Double
Richard Ayoade’s The Double successfully eluded me on the festival circuit, so I’ll be excited to catch it when it opens in New York theaters tomorrow. For The Creators Project, Ayoade and his VFX producer Simon Walley speak about duplicating Eisenberg without the standard green screen keying, instead relying on a more camera-heavy process called “rotoscoping.” Removing Eisenberg’s body double in post, the VFX team was able to essentially combine takes, or “overlay layers,” as Ayoade puts it. The tricky part was working with the motion control rig, which meant Ayoade had to choose his preferred take on the spot, so that Eisenberg could switch characters and play […]
by Sarah Salovaara on May 8, 2014 -
No Green Screen? Try the Kubrickian Front Screen Projection
A new video from Shanks FX and PBS Digital Studios illustrates the process behind front screen projection. The technique, famously used by Kubrick in the “Dawn of Man” sequence of 2001: A Space Odyssey, combines foreground action with background footage to allow for substantial depth of field that cannot otherwise be achieved on location. Merely reflecting a projection off a one way mirror, and capturing the results with a camera, can produce footage that rivals most computer generated images.
by Sarah Salovaara on Jan 17, 2014 -
The Wolf of Wall Street’s Seamless Visual Effects
The Wolf of Wall Street is chockfull of successes. With its performances, pacing and formality resting comfortably on the more transparent end, a new video demonstrates that its visual effects department is no slouch either. Seamless, just the way they should be, the VFX renderings transform Aunt Emma’s probable American brownstone into a white-washed London flat, and hangar siding into the waterways of Venice. Watch above.
by Sarah Salovaara on Jan 13, 2014
