Epic Q&A Series: the Production
19/06/2013
Here, Travers discusses Epic with CGW Contributing Editor Barbara Robertson. (Also read a Q&A with Chris Wedge in the May/June 2013 issue of CGW , and two others with CTO Carl Ludwig and Materials Supervisor Brian Hill online and accessible via the May/June 2013 issue box on cgw.com.)
Mandrake (Christoph Waltz) flies into battle to claim the forest he believes should have always been his. Photo: Blue Sky Studios.
In making this film, what was most challenging? We have some very complicated action sequences with a witches brew of everything going on. Dynamic cameras, large character counts, complex flight choreography, interaction with effects, in a dense forest environment all created a huge challenge to get it coordinated and looking right.
The look of the world was what we spent the most time on; the look of a world from the perspective of people who are very small. We studied macro-photography of flowers, fauna, and skin textures. When you look at the micro-details of the things around us in nature, its almost like science fiction. We had to reflect this in our environments. We also looked at stop-motion photography of plants growing, snails crawling, and so forth to create an overarching visual theme. Then, we broke it down piece by piece and implemented all these references in our production.
The film also takes place in a normal-sized world. Was it difficult to move from one to the other? When we transition from the human-scaled to the leafman-scaled world, we use a lens package thats slightly wider with a narrower depth of field to create a definite separation from the leafman perspective to the human perspective.
We also slowed everything down. The humans havent seen this world before. To a humans eye, the leafmen move so fast they can always stay hidden. So, from the perspective of characters in the small scale world, everything is slower and we use that to keep the audience oriented. Characters ride hummingbirds, but instead of 700 wing beats per minute, we knocked that speed way down. Our entire library of effects - splashes, smoke, water caustics, moving background vegetation, and so forth - were all slowed down maintain a consistent visual theme.
Keeping all that straight seems mind-boggling. A lot of smart people spent a great deal of time and effort defining the rules and look of the world. We had a plan per sequence of how everything would work at the leafman scale, the human world scale, and the transitions in between. After that, it was a matter of maintaining consistency.
Buffo (Pitbull) is a wheeler and dealer tough-guy toad who plays all the angles: he profits no matter which side wins or loses. Photo: Blue Sky Studios.
How did the small scale affect production? The artists who created textures at a normal scale had to add details when a small person is looking at the same thing. We had to change surface shaders and play with translucence and transmittance to get the right feel of light passing into them. Additional modeling details were added. We did a great deal of research to make sure we captured the essence of the leafman world. A typical example: Any time there is an object intersecting with a water surface, we had to create a meniscus to sell the effect. When you are two inches tall, the meniscus looks like a three-inch berm. Its huge.
Did the crew build separate assets for each world? We needed to build two libraries of assets for each of the two world scales. Wed build everything to work at human size, then rebuild or add assets for the leafman scale. To a two-inch-tall leafman, a 60-foot elm tree is as big as a skyscraper, so we had to add details to work for close-ups. Our materials artists relied heavily on nested procedural shader systems to reduce the number of large-resolution texture maps loaded in the renderer.
How many characters did the crew build and animate? In terms of unique character rigs, around 40. For background characters, we adjusted materials and textures to make variations. There are characters whose design is meant to invoke mystery, the Jinn, that blend into their environment. There are the bad guys, the Boggans, that are more amphibious and reptilian in nature. We also have a handful of unique forest creatures and many bird types. And, of course, our hero characters and the leafmen.
MK (Amanda Seyfried) encounters a slug named Mub (Aziz Ansari) src=images/media/2013-06/epic-rsf_130_210m_114.jpg width=600 height=254> MK (Amanda Seyfried) encounters a slug named Mub (Aziz Ansari), a self-described ladies man. Photo: Blue Sky Studios.
One of the big rigging challenges were Mub and Grub, a slug and a snail. They dont have joint structures that lend themselves easily to rigging. They dont have arms or legs. Their bodies can ride along any topology. Their eye stalks can retreat into their heads. On top of those challenges, they are comedic and expressive characters, so we had to put in wide range of face controls on top of an alrea
LINK: | http://www.cgw.com/Press-Center/In-Focus/2013/Epic-Q-A-Series-The-Prod... |
See more stories from cwg |
Most recent headlines
04/08/2024
Dalet Appoints Santiago Solanas as CEO to Lead Next Era of Growth and Innovation
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, is excited to announce Santiago Solanas as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO)....
03/06/2024
Dalet and Veritone Reach Agreement to Distribute, Transact and Monetize Media Archives
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, a...
08/05/2024
Global Telecom & Pay TV Services Market to Slowdown in 2024
NEEDHAM, Mass. The International Data Corporation is predicting that worldwide spending on telecom services and pay TV services will increase by 1.4% in 2024 to...
08/05/2024
Apple Unveils New iPad Live Multicam Production Studio
CUPERTINO, Calif. In a notable development for news and live video production, Apple has unveiled a number of significant upgrades to its Final Cut Pro software...
08/05/2024
Pliant Technologies to Showcase New Smartboom Lite Headset at InfoComm 2024
Pliant Technologies has announced that it will be presenting its new SmartBoom LITE Headset at InfoComm 2024 (Booth C5116). The latest updates include enhanceme...
08/05/2024
Tubi Launches 'Stubios' to Encourage Aspiring Filmmakers
SAN FRANCISCO Fox's ad-supported streaming service Tubi has launched Stubios, a fan-fueled studio for aspiring filmmakers and their fans that the company sa...
08/05/2024
Five More Stations Launch NextGen TV In San Antonio
SAN ANTONIO, Texas Five more stations have launched NextGen TV service, bringing to nine the number of local TV services on-air with ATSC 3.0....
08/05/2024
Tegna Names Greg Retsinas President & GM of KGW in Portland
TYSONS, Va. Tegna Inc. has announced that Greg Retsinas has been named president and general manager at KGW, Tegna's NBC affiliate serving the Portland area...
08/05/2024
Olivia Colman and John Lithgow Star in Sophie Hyde's New Project JIMPA
08 05 2024 - Media release Olivia Colman and John Lithgow Star in Sophie Hyde's New Project JIMPA Olivia Coleman and John Lithgow in JIMPA. Photo credit: ...
08/05/2024
OpenDrives Joins AWS Partner Network
OpenDrives Joins AWS Partner Network Brie Clayton May 7, 2024 0 Comments Atlas software-defined platform now available via AWS trusted partner network...
08/05/2024
Animate AI Matte Paintings in After Effects
Animate AI Matte Paintings in After Effects Graham Quince May 7, 2024 0 Comments Arguably the best video use for AI generated images is Matte Painting...
08/05/2024
Throw Expression in Adobe After Effects
Throw Expression in Adobe After Effects Andy Ford May 7, 2024 0 Comments The Throw expression is a time-saver in After Effects. It allows you to mov...
08/05/2024
Join FilmLight in Toronto: Baselight 6.1, Nara and more
Join FilmLight in Toronto: Baselight 6.1, Nara and more Brie Clayton May 7, 2024 0 Comments Thursday 30th May, from 2:30PM, Hosted by Alter Ego 488 ...
08/05/2024
Gray TV Reports $75 Million in Net Income for Second Quarter
Gray Television reported a first-quarter profit as advertising revenues rebounded to above pre-COVID-19 levels....
08/05/2024
Meghan Trainor, Bleachers, Chance the Rapper Lined Up for Today' Summer Concert Series
The Today show shared the performers on its summer concert series, which feature...
08/05/2024
Lewis Dodley, Spectrum News NY1 Anchor Since Its Launch, Sets Retirement
Lewis Dodley, longtime anchor for Spectrum News NY1, will retire at the end of May. He's been on the air at the Charter Communications-owned local news chan...
08/05/2024
Scripps Sets Studio Shows for Ion's WNBA Friday Nights
Scripps Sports said it plans to air a new studio show when a new season of WNBA Friday Night Spotlight starts May 24....
08/05/2024
NBCUniversal Will Pitch a Combination of Content, Tech in Upfront
Advertisers are looking to reach the right audiences and tell their stories inside compelling content, Karen Kovacs, president of client partnerships at NBCUniv...
08/05/2024
May 07, 2024
Professor emeritus John (Jack) Johnson elected to the National Academy of Sciences Johnson's multi-disciplinary research has been instrumental in shaping ou...
08/05/2024
zweiB updates to latest version of R&SCLIPSTER
zweiB updates to latest version of R&S CLIPSTER Specialist in deliverables for cinema, events and trade shows Rohde & Schwarz, a global leader in broadcast...
07/05/2024
NAB Show 2024
NAB Show 2024 Utah Scientific rocked the 2024 NAB Show in Las Vegas, unveiling two new game-changers in video signal management. Our primary focus this yea...
07/05/2024
Paul Whitehouse takes viewers through The Sketch Show Years in new 4-part series on Gold
7th May 2024 The nations favourite comedy channel Gold has teamed up with the ma...
07/05/2024
Your Guide to Having a Jam-Packed Sundance Institute Summer
There's something special about summer. We're not sure whether it's the warmer weather, the longer days, or something else a bit more magical, but s...
07/05/2024
NITV appoints Michael Rennie as Presenter and Senior Producer for NITV News
NITV appoints Michael Rennie as Presenter and Senior Producer for NITV News Media releases NITV has announced the appointment of Michael Rennie as Presenter...
07/05/2024
Network flexibility: A Vital Consideration for SATCOM Resiliency
The ability for line-of-site tactical voice and data networks to seamlessly traverse over Satellite Communications is an emerging requirement to assure warfight...
07/05/2024
L3Harris Avionics Repair Station Becomes the First in U.S. to Be Awarded European Military Airworthiness Certification
On April 5, 2024, the L3Harris Avionics Products Repair Station (NN2R037L) in Gr...
07/05/2024
Clear-Com Celebrates Theatre Triumphs in Light of 2024 Tony Award Nominations
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
07/05/2024
macOS Ventura Compatible
Share this article width=32 height=32 loading=lazy data-lazy-src=https://apogeedigital.com/app/themes/juniper-theme/src/img/icons/facebook-purple.svg /> wid...
07/05/2024
Disney Streaming DTC Operations Produce Their First Profits
BURBANK, Calif. The Walt Disney Company has finally delivered some from profits from its hefty streaming investments, with the second quarter of its fiscal year...
07/05/2024
Bonnie Hammer, Jen Psaki Share Books and Workplace Lessons at 92nd Street Y
Bonnie Hammer, vice chair of NBCUniversal, and Jen Psaki, MSNBC host, read from their new books at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan Wednesday, May 8. Hammer's...
07/05/2024
Paramount Plus Orders Tracy Morgan Comedy Set in World of The Neighborhood'
Paramount Plus has ordered the series Crutch, a comedy that is a spinoff of CBS comedy The Neighborhood. Tracy Morgan stars....
07/05/2024
Daytime Emmys Announce Lifetime Achievement Recipients
Edward J. and Melody Thomas Scott and Lidia Bastianich will receive Lifetime Achievement honors at the 51st annual Daytime Emmy Awards in June, the National Aca...
07/05/2024
Al Roker, Wendy McMahon, Stephen A. Smith Set for Giants of Broadcasting Honors
The 2024 Giants of Broadcasting & Electronic Arts luncheon and awards ceremony happens in New York November 12, and the honorees are Al Roker, weather and featu...
07/05/2024
Dabl Debuts New Weekday Schedule
Dabl Network has added The Wayans Bros., The Jamie Foxx Show, Living Single and Everybody Hates Chris to its weekday and weekend lineups. Those shows join the l...
07/05/2024
Disney Entertainment DTC Business Gets Out of the Red in Q2
After winning a proxy fight, The Walt Disney Co. said its entertainment business turned a profit and added subscribers in its fiscal second quarter....
07/05/2024
Victor Wembanyama, Top NBA Rookie, Featured On Pass The Rock'
NBA Entertainment is closing out the second season of its series Pass the Rock with a look at Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs, the league's rooki...
07/05/2024
Syncbak Rebrands as Zeam Media After Streaming Platform Rollout
Syncbak, which provides stations with streaming capabilities, said it is rebranding as Zeam Media....
07/05/2024
Magnolia Pictures Licenses Content To Stream on Samsung TV Plus
Samsung has made a deal with Magnolia Pictures that will bring titles from Magnolia to the Samsung TV Plus free streaming platform....
07/05/2024
Amazon Rolling Out Interactive Commercial Formats for Prime Video (Upfronts)
Amazon, which has added commercials to Amazon Prime Video, is rolling out new interactive ad formats that will enable advertisers to engage streamers and sell s...
07/05/2024
Syncbak Now Zeam Media
Syncbak, a 15 year-old provider of streaming tech for local broadcast stations has rebranded itself, adopting the name of its streaming service launched in Febr...
07/05/2024
Maximising resources: Keys to POST Luxembourg's success in the evolving media landscape
POST Luxembourgs journey with TAG Video underscores how finding a vendor who und...
07/05/2024
Survey: Amazon's Push into Ad-Supported Streaming Is Working
PORTSMOUTH, N.H. New findings from Hub Entertainment Research provides extensive data showing that the majority of consumers will opt for lower cost ad-supporte...
07/05/2024
The Library of American Broadcasting Foundation Unveils the 2024 Award Recipients
NEW YORK The Library of American Broadcasting Foundation (LABF) has announced th...
07/05/2024
Lindsey Reiser Joins CBS News 24/7 as Anchor and Correspondent
CBS News has named Lindsey Reiser an anchor and correspondent for CBS News 24/7, the network's live, streaming news service. Reiser, who was most recently a...
07/05/2024
Tablet Shipments Show Signs of Recovery in Q1
NEEDHAM, Mass. After more than two years of decline, worldwide tablet shipments posted modest year-over-year growth of 0.5% in the first quarter of 2024 (1Q24),...
07/05/2024
ESPN Pulls in Highest April Prime Time Audiences on Record
ESPN is reporting that April was a record-setting month as the network delivered its best April prime time audience on record, dating back more than 30 years....
07/05/2024
Kirsten Donaldson Joins NAB as VP of Public Policy
WASHINGTON, D.C. The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) has announced that Kirsten Donaldson has joined NAB as vice president of public policy. Donaldso...
07/05/2024
Don't miss Bark in the Park, Margaritaville Night & Bull Sharks Night this week at the DBAP
The Bulls are back home again this week from May 7-12! Don't miss out on any...
07/05/2024
Tonight on House of Zwide: Mampho cautions Maria against making a move on Isaac
Tonight on House of Zwide: Mampho cautions Maria against making a move on IsaacDon't miss Tuesday, 7 May's riveting episode of South African soapie Hous...