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Autodesk, Inc. congratulates Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) and Animal Logic for their Academy Award-winning work in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and Happy Feet, respectively. Autodesk also congratulates ILM, LOLA VFX, Hydraulx, LaserPacific Media Corporation and Blue Sky Studios for their work on the Academy Award-nominated films Poseidon, The Black Dahlia and No Time for Nuts. From visualizing early concepts to finishing and color timing the final pixels, artists rely on Autodesk solutions to achieve their creative vision.

“Congratulations to all the artists who won an Academy Award or were nominated for their stunning work. We salute you,” said Marc Petit, Autodesk’s Media & Entertainment vice president. “At Autodesk Media & Entertainment, we’re dedicated to engineering the best digital tools for filmmaking. We are honored that so many of the nominees and winners trusted our technology.”

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
For the Best Visual Effects Academy Award-winning film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, artists at ILM used the Autodesk Inferno system, as part of the SABRE visual effects system, to transport movie-goers into the wayward world of Captain Jack Sparrow. In one of the scenes shaped with Inferno, Will Turner and the crew of the Black Pearl are held captive in a cage made of bones. The system was used to composite shots of the actors filmed against a blue screen together with a water plate and a digital matte cliff, as well as to add birds, mist and foot bridges to the scene.

For birds-eye-view shots of the port and island, digital artists at ILM used Inferno to remove modern cues such as phone poles and motor boats from the filmed footage, as well as to composite a digital matte of the village. The pirate Ragetti’s wooden eye and empty eye socket were also created in Inferno. The system was used to give the eye a dry wooden texture, as well as to light and animate it.

Furthermore, artists at ILM rigged both Davy Jones and the Kraken sea creature’s tentacles in Autodesk Maya 3D animation, modeling and rendering software. ILM relied on its proprietary software “Hero” to animate the flowing movement of Davy Jones’ tentacles, while Maya was used to animate more specific movements, such as holding a key.

Happy Feet
Australia-based Animal Logic relied on Maya to complete approximately 800 shots for the Academy Award-winning animated feature film Happy Feet. Maya was used to form the facility’s complete rendering and lighting pipeline. Rhythm & Hues completed additional animation for the film. Maya was used to adapt Animal Logic’s 3D models for use in Rhythm & Hues’ proprietary pipeline.

Poseidon
ILM used Maya to create 140 shots for the Best Visual Effects Academy Award-nominated film Poseidon. The movie is a remake of the 1972 classic film about an 1100-foot-long luxury cruise liner that is capsized by a 200-foot wave. Due to the size of the ship and the level of detail desired, the cruise liner was computer-generated and modeled in pieces. In total, Maya was used to model 181,579 renderable pieces that were then fit together to create the ship.

LOLA VFX also worked on 85 shots for Poseidon using the Autodesk Inferno and Autodesk Flame visual effects systems. The facility’s sister studio, Hydraulx, helped shape the film as well, delivering 65 shots created with Inferno, Flame, Maya, Autodesk Combustion desktop compositing software and Autodesk Burn background rendering software.

The Black Dahlia
LaserPacific Media Corporation used the Autodesk Lustre digital color grading system to realize a unique look for the Best Cinematography Oscar-nominated movie The Black Dahlia. Colorist Mike Sowa used the system to finalize the film noir feel that had been envisioned by Oscar-winning cinematographer Vilmos Szigmond, ASC.

“I used Autodesk Lustre to add more saturation to the shot footage, as well as to create depth with color and contrast,” explained Sowa. “For example, Scarlett Johansson’s character was always white and illuminated; while Hilary Swank’s dark character was always shown in shadows. The Lustre shape system and rotoscoping capabilities gave me a lot of freedom to play with the shadows in the film until we achieved what Vilmos Zsigmond was looking for.”

No Time for Nuts
Blue Sky Studios created the Oscar-nominated animated short film No Time for Nuts with Autodesk Maya. The software was used for pre-visualization, modeling, rigging, layout, animation and some visual effects work. The facility also used Flame for compositing and paint touch-up work.

About Autodesk
Autodesk, Inc. is the world leader in 2D and 3D design software for the manufacturing, building and construction, and media and entertainment markets. Since its introduction of AutoCAD in 1982, Autodesk has developed the broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art digital prototyping solutions to help customers experience their ideas before they are real. Fortune 1000 companies rely on Autodesk for the tools to visualize, simulate and analyze real-world performance early in the design process to save time and money, enhance quality and foster innovation. For additional information about Autodesk, visit www.autodesk.com

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Filmgate are pleased to announce the completion of “De fortabte sj?¬¨‚àÇles ??” aka “Island of Lost Souls”. Filmgate were offered the opportunity by Ghost A/S to work, as sub-contractors, on this exciting new Zentropa production which was not only directed by one of Denmarks most promising film Directors Nikolaj Arcel but is, to date, the largest ever visual effects movie made in Scandinavia.

Our work involved compositing, roto, matte paintings, set extensions and various small 3D work. Filmgate worked on most of the souls, the island, the “Spirit Council”, most of the “Tractor Chase” sequence and various shots on an open field which was shot on a greenscreen in Trollh?¬¨√üttan, Sweden. It was certainly hard work but we are all very pleased with the results.

Click for Videos

Filmgate would like to thank all the artists involved as well as those who of course assisted in making our first major film project such a success:

All the staff at Ghost A/S
Nikolaj Arcel
Rasmus Videb?¶k
Malte Forsell

Official website & theatrical trailer:
http://fortabtesjaele.dk/

IMDB link:
http://imdb.com/title/tt0466449/

For more information, please contact Sean Wheelan, Managing Director at Filmgate.

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George Lopez is often called a giant of comedy and this was deftly translated into a physical realty in the on-air promo for Lopez’ live HBO special “George Lopez: Americas Mexican.” The promo is the result of collaboration between the creative minds at HBO Creative Services and the diverse talents of hybrid studio Engine Room.

Emblematic of Engine Room’s unique methodology, the project began with a concept by HBO Director/Creative Director Chris Stifel and Writer/Producer Justin Joseph, which was then pre-visualized by Engine Room’s 3D visual effects team.

The concept, involving a giant George Lopez traversing the country from Manhattan to Hollywood depicted the comedian interacting with US national landmarks along the way, tapping the spectrum of Engine Room’s creative offerings. This included a green screen shoot with George Lopez shot by Engine Room DP/Senior VFX Supervisor Dan Schmit.

After the shoot the spots were edited by writer/producer Justin Joseph. Then the piece was given back to Engine Room for seamless integration with the visual effects. A complex blend of 2D, 3D and volumetric clouds was developed using a combination of Maya and a proprietary volumetric renderer. The final result is a larger-than-life promotion for a massive caliber comedian.

“We loved the collaboration with Chris and Justin,” says Dan Schmit. “It was our first project with HBO and we hope it is the beginning of a great relationship. Shooting George was a blast – the concept was very tightly mapped out for our visual effects work, but still allowed for the off-the-hook ad-libbing and spontaneity that only George Lopez can bring to the screen.”

HBO George Lopez Promo Credits
HBO Creative Services/Marketing:
Chris Stifel: Director/Creative Director
Justin Joseph: Writer/Producer

Engine Room VFX:
DP/Sr. VFX Supervisor: Dan Schmit
VFX Supervisor: Andrew Honacker
CG Supervisor: Mike Romey
Executive Producer: Michael Caplan

About Engine Room
Engine Room defines the future of filmmaking, fusing the lines between production and postproduction until they disappear. How? By integrating the entire process into one streamlined effort, resulting in a powerful environment for imagination and experimentation. Discover the incredible benefits of working with a talented specialty shooting unit and digital effects team under one roof. The hybrid studio is known for its extraordinary work for clients in the feature film, teaser/trailers, commercials and broadcast arenas.

www.engineroomvfx.com

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It seems simple enough. When you’sre part of a movie that has eight Academy Award nominations, you want people to remember who was in it. No easy task, especially when you’sre trying to keep the audience in their seats at the end of the movie. That was the challenge presented to the team at Hollywood design studio Picture Mill as they created the title sequence for Paramount and Dreamworks’s hit Dreamgirls, written and directed by Bill Condon.

The colorful, high-voltage sequence (which may be seen at www.picturemill.com) is a show-stopping ‘curtain call’ that celebrates the performances of stars and supporting cast, much like the rising curtain at the end of a Broadway musical. As Picture Mill creative director William Lebeda says, ‘Bill Condon wanted the sequence to be a real celebration of the cast and give the performers the same opportunity for a curtain call that stage performers receive. For the audience, it was a chance to go crazy at how terrific Beyonce, Jennifer Hudson, Jamie Foxx and Eddie Murphy were, without having to restrain themselves and sit quietly in their seats.’

The project came to Picture Mill through Dreamgirls picture editor, Virginia Katz, A.C.E. (Kinsey, Gods and Monsters). Katz had worked with the company on Jet Li Fearless in 2006 and that experience left little doubt in Katz mind that Picture Mill could handle the assignment. ‘Picture Mill came in with an incredible presentation,’ says Katz. ‘They had thought it out, totally understood Bill Condon ?‚àö√ë‚àö‚â§curtain call’s concept and what he wanted to do with color and music, and they came in with all these terrific ideas. Not only that, they came on board at a time when we were starting to have screenings and they had to turn things around for us very quickly. For every screening, they had to turn over a cut that wasn’st completely final, but always worked beautifully from start to finish.’

‘Bill Condon had a very specific idea about that transition out of the last scene of the movie and into the titles,’ says Picture Mill Art Director David Clayton. ‘His idea was to end the movie with the title song; then begin the end sequence with a driving instrumental version of one of the show stoppers, ?‚àö√ë‚àö‚â§I love you, I do’s underneath the picture as the title lets loose with a sequence of almost blinding kinetics.’ ‘Bill was a terrific collaborator,’ adds Lebeda. ‘He was great about providing notes and information, and was almost always readily available.’

To facilitate the transition, Picture Mill created a deep 3D background animation of soft-focus circular shapes that floated through the screen throughout the titles. Clayton explains, ‘For one of our original tests, we bought some sequins and shot them right here in our bathroom, in the dark with a flashlight. Bill loved the texture and the circular blurs, so for the final, our 3D people came up with a number of textures and elements of all sizes that we animated together and racked focus in and out to push the depth. It became a backplate for the entire piece.’

Katz and her editorial team supplied Picture Mill with a large reel of select takes for each actor, along with additional wild clips from the movie. To show as many looks as possible of each actor as quickly as possible, a design decision was made to use double and triple-split screens that slid in and out of frame. Clayton adds that all the split-screen animation was done within Final Cut motion keyframer. ‘This allowed our editor, Kye Krauter, to work very quickly and focus on the creative side of the edit, instead of having to export shots in and out of another program. For each character ID shots, we used garbage mattes and some light compositing within Final Cut to achieve just the right look.’

But it didn’st stop with the performers. After numerous tests, Condon asked Picture Mill to expand the concept to include many of the key below-the-line players on the production, including Director of Photography Tobias Schliessler, Costume Designer Sharen Davis, Editor Katz, Production Designer John Myrhe, and choreographer Fatima Robinson. Each discipline required acquiring elements such as costume sketches, production art, and conceptual designs that were then intercut with the final shots from the movie so that the audience could see the transitions going from idea to reality.

‘What we thought was going to be a very simple, short sequence ended up going over four and a half minutes,’ said Lebeda. ‘But since the art matched the shots so well, it proved to be very effective. Everyone who worked on that movie poured his and her heart and soul into it. Dreamgirls is a stunning piece of cinema, and we were proud to be a part of it.’

DREAMGIRLS MAIN TITLE CREDITS
Creative Director: William Lebeda
Executive Producer: Ty Van Huisen
Producer: Ryan Mosley
Art Director: David Clayton
Designer: Grant Nellessen
3D Animator: Bryan Thombs
2D Animation/Compositing: Josh Novak
Additional 2D Animators: Chad Bonnano, Akemi Abe
Editor: Kye Krauter

RELATED LINK
www.picturemill.com

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Imaginary Forces Designs Chilling Main Titles For Imaginary Forces (IF) recently collaborated with Director Joel Schumacher in designing the main titles for the thriller ‘The Number 23′ starring Jim Carrey. IF Art Director Michelle Dougherty led the design effort with a jarring opener that sets up the film frightening plot of obsession, psychological torture, murder and the number 23.

In ‘The Number 23,’ Walter Sparrow (Jim Carrey) becomes fixated with a book that appears to be based on his life, but ends with a murder that has yet to happen in reality.

he main titles set the tone and context of the film ?Äì namely, the hidden power and prevalence of the number 23. The sequence uses erratic typewriter movements, seeping blood and ink blotches to suggest a haunting and dark narrative. A sheet of paper is peppered with the number 23 as related facts woven throughout the sequence appear via bleeding red and black stains. The Knights Templar had 23 Grand Masters, and King Charles I was beheaded on January 30th, 1649 ?Äì with the numbers in the date adding up to 23.

Michelle Dougherty and the IF artists worked closely with Director Joel Schumacher and Executive Producer Eli Rouchburg to finesse the aesthetic and graphical representations in the main titles. Blood is an important element in the film as the novel read by Carrey character is a chilling murder mystery. The blood also serves as a metaphor for the book, which has a red cover.

‘We wanted to communicate the torment of Jim Carrey character,’ explains Dougherty. ‘The titles are designed to be unsettling. The raw graphics and typography, along with the orchestrated moves in the edit, capture the suspenseful tone underlying the entire film.’

Dougherty worked with a team that included designer Rob Bolick; designer/animator Juan Monasterio; animators Sean Koriakin, Magnus Hierta and Andrew Hoevler; editor Danielle White; and Flame Artist Rod Basham.

‘This is the first project where animation, design and editorial were equally important,’ concludes Dougherty. ‘We were all working in tandem. It was really refreshing to collaborate with Joel [Schumacher] and his team. They were always excited about our work, and open to our ideas on design aesthetic. They let us do what we needed to do.’

CREDITS
Designed & Produced by: Imaginary Forces (IF)
Creative Director: Peter Frankfurt
Director: Michelle Dougherty
Art Director: Michelle Dougherty
Producers: Steiner Kierce, Kathy Kelehan
Lead Designer: Juan Monasterio
Designers: Rob Bolick, Brett Krauss
2D Animators: Juan Monasterio, Sean Koriakin, Andrew Hoevler, Magnus Hierta
Editor: Danielle White
Flame Artists: Rod Basham, Nick Rubenstein
Coordinators: Joe Denk, Heather Dennis

Studio:
Production Company: New Line Cinema
Director: Joel Schumacher
Executive Producer: Eli Richbourg
Producer: Beau Flynn
Editor: Mark Stevens

About Imaginary Forces
IMAGINARY FORCES (IF) is an entertainment and design company based in Hollywood and New York. Its award-winning work spans the diverse industries of feature film production, entertainment marketing and promotion, corporate branding, architecture, advertising and interactive media. IF recent work includes identity packages for Lifetime, USA Network, Animal Planet and MTV, as well as effective and compelling broadcast advertising for Nike, Toyota, Pontiac, Smirnoff and Lexus.

In entertainment and media marketing, IF created campaigns for such films as Transformers, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Stepford Wives, Signs and both Men in Black films. The company also designed and produced main title sequences for Charlotte Web, The Break-Up, Ray, Spider-Man, and Seven, and produced the highly successful Blade trilogy. Combining architecture and media, IF has developed branded experiences for IBM, Morgan Stanley, Airbus Industries and the NFL Baltimore Ravens. The studio is also a principal partner in United Architects (UA), one of six finalists for the re-design of the World Trade Center site at Ground Zero.

Combining storytelling, filmmaking and architecture to address the social, emotional, urban, national and international issues, the UA model is now a part of the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art. UA recently collaborated on an immersive architectural media exhibit, ‘Bubbles in the Wine,’ for the ‘New York, New York’ exhibition in the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco. The company also designed most of the graphical elements for MTV ‘Virtual Laguna Beach,’ based on the popular reality TV series, and created projections for Director Julie Taymor operatic production of ‘Grendel.’

www.imaginaryforces.com

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The Mill have posted the new long-awaited Levis ad directed by Ringan Ledwidge for BBH. ?‚àö√ë‚àö‚â§Dangerous Liaisons’s, which launches the brand’s spring summer collection.

We begin with a young girl dressed in 19th century Levi’s work wear nervously waiting for her lover. He knocks and is invited in, and the couple proceed to undress. As they pull off their shirts and jeans both reveal more updated versions of themselves – he cleaner cut wit different hair and clothing, she similarly transformed. The spot is backed by the haunting strains of the Little Annie tune strange love, which Ledwidge says he found, rather nerve-rackingly, at the 11th hour.

“Bit of a tricky one really,” Ledwidge said of the spot. “I think my biggest concern before attacking the technical side of it was that I felt for it to be a stand-out ad. The key (like all great Levi’s commercials) was the casting and that the relationship between the couple drew you in and in itself was exciting to watch. That way I felt the transitions would be smoother and more surprising. It had to be story about a couple not clever transitions.”

Shot over two long days, one 22 hours, Ledwidge kept as much as possible in camera. “For instance, the guy pulling of his wig whilst pulling off his shirt to reveal short hair. Whipping off bedspreads by hand whilst the camera panned away so that when it panned back it had changed. Obviously there was more complicated stuff but the guys at The Mill told me I could shoot it the way I wanted ‘loose’ and that through planning we could make the more complicated parts work by doing before and after plates.”

The initial concept for Dangerous Liaisons was to create a series of scenarios which showed the Levis product through various decades in history. The different senarios were agreed before The Mill got the script, so the challenge for the team here was how to show these transitions, but with minimal obvious visual effects. It was agreed that there should be at combination of at least 1 or 2 shots with visual effects and some with whip pans or off camera changes.

Once Ringan and BBH had decided which scenes were to be transitions, The Mill set about shooting tests that showed this effect in ways that would create a trick to the eye, but not necessarily be so obvious as to say: ‘how did they do that?’. As with all work that Ringan undertakes, the effect should never over power the narrative, so with the two scenes agreed, The Mill tried to create a look that would appear as seamless as possible. Hair and make up, the art department and also Wardrobe elements were critical in helping to achieve these transitional shots.

On set, Mill VFX Supervisor Phil Crowe soon realised that the tests we had shot were acceptable as static camera shots, but it became obvious that the best way to achieve the desired effect was to get the actors to repeat their moves as no two moves could ever be exactly the same. Near but never exact. Following this the team back at The Mill would find the right pieces of film to make the two shots work and realise Ringan idea for the piece.

The Mill started working on these two shots as early as possible after the shoot, and gave the Editor and Agency two ?‚àö√ë‚àö‚â§near-finished’s transitions after only five days of work. The team at The Mill finessed these shots ?‚àö√ë‚àö¬® also replacing reflections in mirrors – then worked on correcting the grade in Baselight. This was no easy task as very subtle changes were required all the way through the spot to achieve the desired effect, without feeling obvious or forced, to the naked eye. Again, all the elements within the spot, Art Department, Hair, Make Up and Wardrobe all contributed to sublimely blend with the Post Effects to create the finished spot.

Dangerous Liaisons is one of Ledwidge’s first ads since he finished work on his feature Gone. The film, a thriller about a British couple traveling in the Australian outback, is due for release on March 9 in the UK.

Click here to view video

The Mill, London
40-41 Great Marlborough Street
Soho, London W1F 7JQ
+44 20 7287 4041
moc.llim-ehtnull@ofni

The Mill, New York
451 Broadway 5th floor
New York NY 10013
+1 212 337 3210
moc.llim-ehtnull@ofni

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Spy Post VFX Designer and Artist Alaina Goetz recently completed work on a video presentation that is the centerpiece of a guerilla marketing campaign from creative and brand-engineering agency ATTIK promoting the limited-edition Scion Blizzard Pearl tC Release Series (RS) 3.0.

‘To promote this special edition Release Series 3.0 Scion tC, we worked closely with Scion’s marketing team and the contingent at Zenithmedia to devise and deliver a tightly focused, limited edition guerilla marketing campaign,’ said Simon Needham, ATTIK co-founder and group creative director. ‘For the finished video piece, we came up with an attention-grabbing idea and turned to Alaina, who is superb at bringing graphic executions to life in dynamic ways.’

ATTIK creative team, which included Needham and design director Stan Zienka, shot the car against black and provided Goetz with 36 digital stills to incorporate into her design. Using compelling wipes and snow effects, the piece introduces the limited edition tC with motion graphics and text reading, ‘You’sve got a snowball chance in hell.’

‘We wanted to give an ethereal quality to the tC RS 3.0, like it seemingly exists in space,’ explains Goetz. ‘The agency gave me nice style frames in terms of the creative direction and how the car would appear and disappear. I then set to task on making the motion happen using various particle effects, lighting and wipes. As an artist, these are always the best kinds of jobs when you have that level of trust and creative freedom.’

Through the Scion campaign long-standing media partner ZenithOptimedia, the :20 video piece is currently appearing on AdVan mobile video billboards in selected high-traffic locations in key markets nationwide, and is also being projected onto buildings via Massive Media Street Theater Projection program.

Ad Agency: ATTIK
Simon Needham, Creative Director
Stan Zienka, Design Director
Joseph Segrove, Producer

VFX Company: Spy Post
Alaina Goetz, Visual Effects Designer and Artist
Anastacia Maggioncalda, Executive Producer

www.spypost.com

Popularity: 3% [?]

Toronto-based animation studio Yowza Digital, Inc. recreated the infamous riot that erupted during the 1968 Democratic National Convention for the new documentary film CHICAGO 10. Written and directed by Brett Morgen (THE KID STAYS IN THE PICTURE, ON THE ROPES), CHICAGO 10 was chosen as the opening night film at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.

CHICAGO 10 explores the build-up and aftermath of the anti-war demonstrations staged during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, during which protesters clashed with the Chicago Police Department and the National Guard. Following the riots, eight activists were held accountable for the violence and brought to trial in the Chicago Conspiracy Trial of 1969. The film presents contemporary history through a mix of bold and original animation with extraordinary archival footage that allows the film to move back and forth between the protests on the streets of Chicago and the resulting courtroom chaos.

After several weeks of discussion with the director, Yowza Digital was invited in October 2006 to make a pitch for the Lincoln Park riot sequence. Inspired by visual cues within the archival footage of the actual riot, Yowza proposed the monochromatic look and feel of a graphic comic book, combining original animation with real elements enhanced with a smattering of color.

Morgen loved the company’s creative concept and after he signed off on the design of several key scenes, production was quickly underway. Due to the film’s accelerated schedule, Yowza began the project without the luxury of pre-vis in mid-October and delivered two minutes of animation on January 10, 2007.

While the sequence timing was being locked, the Yowza animation team, under the supervision of executive producer Pete Denomme, began working on the board panels and character designs. Since both 2D and 3D elements were needed, Yowza combined forces with their visual effects division, Switch VFX, and employed Maya, Maya’s Paint Effects, Toon Shader, Photoshop, Toonboom’s Harmony and Digital Fusion in a hybrid pipeline. Traditional layouts were created for each scene and scanned for the 3D artists to begin building necessary background elements. The scanned layouts were then given to the 2D animators, who traditionally animated the scenes; dialogue was also handled frame by frame. The scenes were line tested within the sequence for approvals on timing and look.

After the 2D animation was completed, the elements were digitally inked and painted for final composite. All the 3D and 2D elements and layers, including atmospheric smoke, fire, and flames, as well as photoreal sky plates, were combined in Inferno. Said Denomme, “Working with Brett Morgen was a highlight for all of us. His passion for the film was so compelling that he catalyzed our entire company when he came to Toronto to kick the project off. Combining the 2D, 3D and VFX capabilities of our business was a major success and has opened up incredible opportunities for hybrid approaches to future projects. And importantly, it was an honor to work on a film that has such resonance and the potential to inspire and create social change.”

About Yowza Digital, Inc.
Toronto-based Yowza Digital, Inc. was founded in 2003 by executive producer Pete Denomme, creative director Claude Chiasson and finance and business affairs executive Laurie Thompson to produce 3D animation for feature films and television. Yowza Digital is currently in production on “DinoSapien,” a live action and animated series from BBC Worldwide and CCI entertainment in association with Discovery Kids and CBBC.

Switch VFX is the visual effects division of Yowza Digital. Switch VFX specializes in the production of photorealistic digital visual effects and CG character cre ation for feature films and television. Switch VFX was founded in 2004 by visual effects supervisor Jon Campfens, executive producer Pete Denomme and finance and business affairs executive Laurie Thompson, all of whom have had distinguished careers in the industry, with the intent to bring experience and talent to a highly responsive, affordable and independent new venture.
www.yowzaanimation.com

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Digital Dimension, completed 162 shots as the lead visual effects provider for the DreamWorks comedy Norbit, magically transforming Eddie Murphy’s slender frame into the 400-pound female lead, Rasputia-also played by Murphy. A large portion of Digital Dimension’s shots involved head replacements where Eddie’s face, made up to look like Rasputia, was composited onto the performance of a body double.

“Despite the fact that the effects in this film are invisible, they are all extremely complex. Because Norbit relied so heavily on physical comedy, it was essential for our digital composites and CG to be indistinguishable from anything shot practically,” said Benoit “Ben” Girard, President, Digital Dimension. “This required great attention to detail on behalf of our effects team, and we’re really proud of their work.”

The sheer weight of the make-up required to turn Eddie Murphy into the 400-pound Rasputia led Murphy and the Norbit team to favor digital head replacement for the film’s memorable water park sequence. The majority of shots at the water park were performed by body doubles; Murphy then performed the corresponding facial expressions in front of a green screen, with his head made up to look like Rasputia. The two were later integrated into seamless performances by Digital Dimension’s talented team of artists.

“The body double’s performance was stabilized at the neck so Eddie and the Director, Brian Robbins, could see what head actions would be necessary to match the body” says Digital Dimension composite supervisor Erik Bruhwiler. Even so, this was merely the starting point for Murphy’s portrayal of Rasputia. “It took a lot of artistry on the part of our compositors to combine Eddie’s often frenetic performance with the more subdued performance of the double. The green screen photography also lacked the subtleties of the on-set lighting, and we took care to add these aspects back into the final composite.”

In one of the movie’s most memorable gags, the turnstile attendant at the water park asks Rasputia whether she is wearing bottoms, in response to which Rasputia lifts up her sagging belly to show him that she is indeed wearing a tiny bathing suit. In the original plate, the body double’s right pink bikini bottoms were clearly visible as she approached the turnstile, so paint-roto supervisor Tammy Sutton devised a method for hiding them until the reveal, using the grid warp tool in Eyeon’s Digital Fusion software to extend her belly down over the bathing suit. “We were careful to stretch the entire belly evenly so it wouldn’t be a noticeable effect, and kept the natural movement intact by mimicking the movement of the skin while she walks,” explained Sutton.

In another water park scene, digital artist Brian DeMetz creates torrents of computer generated water to complete a fully composited shot simulating water bursting out of a chute as Rasputia takes a ride down a water slide. Many other shots involving split screens, the most basic technique for combining multiple performances by the same actor into a single shot, were taken to the next level. The first scene in which Norbit and Rasputia appear together, dancing at their wedding, required painstaking artistry to ensure that Murphy’s face did not slip in relation to the body double’s head. Other shots involved placing Mr. Wong (Murphy wearing flawless makeup created by Rick Baker) into scenes with Norbit (also played by Murphy). “We were very particular about how those shots should look,” reports Erik Bruhwiler. “Any time the characters crossed over each other, or even got near each other, we wanted shadow integration and light bounce, which was critical to tie them together in the scene. There are even moments where they’re not actually touching, but we’d do a little cloth deformation to make it look like they’re rubbing against each other, just to sell every single shot as being in-camera, and not an effects shot.”

The movie’s most extensive use of 3D animation appears in a scene where Norbit receives unexpected marital advice from neighborhood dog Lloyd, played by a pug named Mushu (previously seen in a speaking part in the Men in Black films). A photo and video shoot with Mushu allowed Digital Dimension’s 3D team to record his range of motion and facial expressions, and gather extensive texture reference. Digital artist Phi Tran built Lloyd’s head using 3ds Max based on Cyberscan data of Mushu. Multi-angle HD footage of the dog was recorded on-set to aid in tracking head movements. Flesh simulation tools were used to add secondary jiggle to the pug’s lips and jowls, which made a big contribution to the believability of Lloyd’sperformance.

Digital Dimension’s work on Norbit is their latest release in a string of #1 hit movies, including Talladega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby, Pursuit of Happyness and Epic Movie. They are currently completing work on Blades of Glory and Die Hard 4.

About Digital Dimension
Digital Dimension is an award-winning visual effects studio with locations in Burbank, Calif., and Montreal, Canada. The company was founded in 1997 and specializes in 3D animation, motion graphics and visual effects for film, television and interactive media. Digital Dimension has garnered three Visual Effects Society Awards and six Emmy Awards. For more information about the company please visit . www.digitaldimension.com

Popularity: 3% [?]

Unilever’s second outing for Comfort with The Mill and Director Rachel Guidera, sees jet setting Jeannie swinging herself effortlessly through a cloth-styled French Riviera.

In Comfort City Stop, Jeannie’s amazingly flexible jeans brings a whole town to a standstill. The Mill 3D team lead by Rob Van Bragt, took on a mammoth challenge to construct a ‘Cloth Resort Town’ populated with cloth people, cloth cars, cloth vespas, cloth beaches; even cloth muscle men with 60′s print cloth chest hair.

3D Supervisor Rob Van Den Bragt guided the team through the many complicated 3D challenges. Grant Walker modeled every crease, button and over-locked seams in the cars, roads and buildings. The Mill 3D team successfully created a soft and tangible ‘clothiness’ that is so vital to the Comfort world look and feel. Jimmy Kiddell extended the cloth Riviera environments with subtle matte paintings further depicting the architecture of the area.

More background cloth ?‚àö√ë‚àö‚â§extras’s were needed than initially considered, as the number of characters grew to ‘cloth’ effect record proportions. Creating cloth ?‚àö√ë‚àö‚â§extras’s was a challenging task, as the characters had to be distinctive, but not so distinctive that they would upstage the hero action.

Josh Fourt-Wells devised a clever way of populating the scenes by building an extensive library of detailed cloth body and head parts, that he mixed and matched to create the many background cloth characters.

Laurent Makowski and Fabrice Le Nezet lit and textured Jeannie, along with the rest of the cloth Riviera, striking a sublime balance between summer sun and the delicate radiance required with lighting fabric. Exploiting the 16 bit capabilities of Mental Ray, they also pioneered new opportunities for grading, allowing a sunnier and more detailed Clothworld.

Animators Josh Fourt-Wells, Douglas Lassance, Rob Van De Bragt and Ed Boldero brought the Riviera to life. Josh had the interesting job of animating ?‚àö√ë‚àö‚â§Stiff Jeans Guy’s, who, being stiff, seemed to oppose every natural instinct of animation.

Paul Freeman added the final touches in Flame, working closely with 3D to extricate as many layers as possible, allowing him to add depth and atmosphere to the CG scenes.

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