"Why Do Practical Effects Get Replaced With CGI?" - An Appeal From The Practical VFX Industry

If you haven't heard of Amalgamated Dynamics (ADI), you ought to get educated - An offshoot of Stan Winston Studios that was born in 1989, the studio has specialized in delivering the highest quality practical effects to at least a few dozen movies you've probably watched, including this year's Godzilla, Xmen - First Class, the Aliens Franchise and many more over the years.

Celebrating their 25th year in business, they've created a new video to explain some of the challenges that practical effects studios are facing in this day and age, when producers and studio execs seek to up the visual ante by over relying on CGI. The most famous example of this is probably 2011's The Thing prequel, which was supposed to be entirely shot with practical effects as a throwback to John Carpenter's original 1982 feature. In a move that soured many fans, studio execs opted to apply a CGI treatment towards the end of production, overriding even the directors wishes.

In the case of that movie, what made the original The Thing so frightening was the fact that the practical effects were so grounded, and 'real' that it instilled a deeper fear in audiences than what a computer could accomplish. That choice had quite the opposite effect, drawing audiences out of the movie when the afflicted researchers turned into rubbery, overly motion blurred CGI monsters that had a loose grounding in that reality. As one artist we heard from put it best, the best VFX is a balanced marriage of practical and CGI - There's a reason movies like Jurassic Park and Starship Troopers still look so good today. Think about it.

The founders of ADI offer a compelling case as to how things have gone a little too slanted in the favor of CGI as of late, and I kind of have to agree...An overabundance of CGI in any film, no matter how well it's done has a nasty tendency to distract rather than immerse. For an idea of just how far animatronic technology has come since the 80's, I'd like to invite you guys to check out the mind blowing work that Gustav Hoegen did for Prometheus's engineers. 100% Practical.

"Edge Of Tomorrow" - Behind The Scenes Reel (Potential Spoilers)

It's a pretty rare treat to get unedited broll behind the scenes footage for movies, especially recent ones- but the folks at Screen Slam managed to get their mitts on just that. No highly produced quick cuts with dramatic music, no interviews, just some raw scenes shot at a whim during filming.

Ever wonder how they got those bulky exosuits to run fluidly? Just how much greenscreen they used on that battlefield? What type of attachment do they put on prop guns to simulate muzzle flash for post? Tom Cruise asking candid questions about his motivations to director Doug Liman? Plenty of juicy little tidbits from production present here. Also, if you haven't checked it out already be sure to check out the awesome Edge Of Tomorrow concept art post featuring the work of Kev Jenkins and Tim Browning.

Concept Art From The Canceled Live Action "Akira" Movie Surfaces

(Via)

Interesting. In a strange turn of events, it seems like fledgling director Ruari Robinson, best known for 2013's Last Days On Mars and the amazing Blinky™ short was set to direct an adaptation of Akira that unfortunately never made it into production. Originally intended to be produced by Leonardo Di Caprio's Appian Way and Warner Brothers as a two feature project (Perhaps meaning that it would draw from the manga source material as well), the feature ran into development hell with rumors of script problems, incredibly tight budget restrictions and other problems.



Following some creative differences with Warner brothers Ruari decided to depart the project, leaving us to speculate what caused the departure. After looking through the work that Ruari oversaw for the Akira adaptation though, it seemed like he was planning a surprisingly loyal take on Otomo's groundbreaking manga/feature. Concept art seemed to indicate that Chris Evans would take on the role of Kaneda with Joseph Gordon Levitt playing the tortured Tetsuo. That aside the designs stuck pretty close to the originals including Kaneda's iconic light bike, which I'd like to think would be hailed as 'f***ing genius' by ad placement executives on the project.

While we're left to speculate what could have caused the project to die on the vine I'm guessing it probably had to do with deviating too far away from the source material, which seems to be a common predicament with adapted films. Do people really want to see a live action adaptation of Akira? While the initial reaction would probably be a hell yes, the reality is that a botched adaptation would be most likely in the hands of Hollywood 'idea men,' who seem to always see it fit to deviate from something that was never broken to begin with. If you're craving your Akira live action movie just watch Chronicle instead, an underrated gem featuring the same archetypes present in Otomo's classic.

Making Of "The Verge" - An Epic Scifi Concept Piece

In order to celebrate the launch of Lightfarm's 3rd studio based in Rio De Janeiro, the group created a timelapse of a massive scale, planetary sci-fi painting using just a few of the techniques that the group has up their sleeves. Ranging from CG creation to extensive matte painting, the video offers a really awesome in depth look at every step of the process. If you're a concept art especially, you might pick up on a few tricks while watching this video.

The entire project was inspired by a concept piece by Andre Freitas called Rama and the Monolith, which you can check out after the break alongside the final version and a few gorgeous stills from the making of process.

The Grand Budapest Hotel VFX Breakdown

Wes Anderson teamed up with Look Effects to give his critically acclaimed latest work, The Grand Budapest hotel it's stylized, retro 60's look. Using a mixture of miniatures, stop motion, matte paintings and excellent compositing, the VFX house was able to capture the distinct visual charm that Wes Anderson movies have come to be well known for.

The addition of stop motion characters and the amount of miniature work during some of the scenes was a nice callback to Fantastic Mr Fox. Haven't seen the movie just yet, but I've heard nothing but good things about it. It's also the first Wes Anderson film to ever break $100 million on a limited release.

A Look At The Original Predator Costume With Stan Winston Studios

For all you VFX and behind the scenes aficionados out there, this was just too good not to share. Presented by Stan Winston studios, we're given a glance at an early version of the Predator that would have featured Jean Claude Van Damne as the bounty hunter alien in the movie. Upon realizing though that he would simply be a guy running around in a rubber suit, he realized that this gig was not what he expected and left the production.

Compounded by some serious doubts about the original design (Which looked pretty damn goofy), his departure ultimately prompted a complete redesign that gave us the iconic Predator that's come to be loved in modern pop culture. VFX innovator Steve Johnson (Ghostbusters, Species, Blade 2) shares his inside story on what went wrong with the original design. I can't even imagine how the movie would have turned out had they stuck with the original pitch.

Animating "Ernest & Celestine" - An Unlikely Friendship

This is an awesome little behind the scenes look into the very unique style of Ernest & Celestine, a critically nominated feature movie from France narrating the unlikely relationship between a bear and a little mouse (I never knew they were foes). What struck me about the feature was it's distinct look, which uses a very loose line quality and hand painted watercolor backgrounds.

Based off of long form childrends book series by Belgian artist Gabriel Vincent, it looks like the animation team managed to faithfully recreate the look of the books with this series. Benjamin Renner really made some great points about choosing to go with analog on certain aspects (Like the watercolor backgrounds) to force accidents to happen and make it more true to the medium it was originally created in. The problem is computers is that when we make an accident, we tend to correct.



Following the slow burn acclaim that the movie garnered since it's release in 2012, the movie will be getting a US release this year. Looking forward to checking out, it looks like it'll be quite a cute feature and hit on some relevant points about societal barriers.

The Expert- The Madness Of Corporate Interaction

Following 5 years in the game industry at some notable companies, I chose to go indie this year. Partially thanks to the fact that over the years AwesomeRobo and getting the chance to talk to small devs allowed me to realize just how uninhibited they are creatively, able to act on their own ideas (What a novel concept) without the need for committee input, pointless meetings and the opinions of people who honestly had no clue what they were talking about.

That's the thing about this rather young game industry, it's still in an awkward phase in which business folk are trying to incorporate corporate thinking into a highly creative field, and the results are more miss than hit (Companies like Valve avoided this altogether with a flat structure). While as gamers, we'd all like to think that companies are simply trying to put out an awesome looking, fun game you have to realize that there is a subset of dark figures lurking at these companies. People who scoff at playing videogames, insist on playing it safe at every turn to save money and suck up to their corporate overlords while contributing nothing of value. Completely out of touch.

My eyes smile, but my soul screams.

The Expert perfectly sums up some of the experiences I had as a concept artist at a few of the larger companies, although this scenario probably applies to any corporate environment (Insert your field here). When you're asked to do the impossible and offer an opinion, there always seems to be someone who questions your ability to do your job if you don't blindly comply. And if anything this is the type of system that has been allowing the indie scene to flourish, while most AAA devs have been stumbling to muster up the courage to tackle new IP's over infinite sequels.

In retrospect, choosing to leave the world of red lines is one of the best things I've ever done. However, I do not regret having these mind numbing experiences to put me on the current path we're on.

The Art of Thief: Joel Dos Reis Viegas

(via)

The story of Thief is a long and troubled one. The current-gen remake of the critically-acclaimed stealth series of the late 90's originally titled Thief 4, the game suffered from a protracted development and was eventually released early this year to a lukewarm critical reception. Despite this, the game's concept art by Joel Dos Reis Viegas ('Feerik') still shines as a welcome reminder to the host of talented people behind the scenes whose work goes into making these gorgeous Triple-A titles.

There's more of his work on the game after the break, and if you wanna see more artwork for the game from the likes of Nicolas Ferrand, Mathieu Latour-Duhaime, and Steven Shmuely, I strongly recommend you check out the Thief Artbook from Titan Books.

How They Created The Lego® Movie

Lego Movie was a pretty damn neat movie. Aside from being an incredibly meta idea to begin with considering the idea of all the different Lego franchises inhabiting the same universe, the movie added an additional layer of meta not seen in the trailers that surprised us in the best way possible. Overall it was an excellent, fun movie with a fantastic message to offer regarding sharing your creativity with others and not being afraid to think outside the box to create something new. A surprisingly deep message from a movie about bright colored bricks (Which I can't get enough of).

This little making of reel touches on some of the making of aspects, as well as a 15 minute b-roll reel featuring various moments from the production of the film after the break! Whether you've ever had Lego in your life or not, I can't recommend it enough.

Game Of Thrones Behind The Scenes Featurette: Season 4

Half a year of filming, 30 new characters, two crews shooting parallel called 'Dragon' and 'Wolf' and a healthy amount of on location filming in locales including Northern Ireland, Iceland and Croatia: These are the ingredients for the upcoming 4th season of HBO's epic Game of Thrones. This behind the scenes featurette goes into the amazing amount of work that goes into the production of such an epic show.

In an era dominated by green screen everything, seeing the crews do so much work to capture that certain 'practical' feel makes me appreciate the show that much more.

"Star Trek - Into Darkness" Making Of By Pixomondo

Last year's Star Trek Into Darkness was a bit of a JJ Abram's misstep following the solid reboot of the franchise for a new generation, perhaps suffering from a little too much pandering with the awkwardly retooled Khan storyline that most assumed wouldn't repeat itself in this installment.

Opinions aside, the movie was a visually stunning piece of film relying on the talents of the international Pixomondo FX company. Over the course of 11 months an international team worked on 343 shots spanning their Euopean, American and Asian divisions. We finally get a glance into the making of, as presented by a making of (Above) and studio showreel (After the break). Enjoy the eye candy.

Behind The Magic - ILM's Visual Effects of "Pacific Rim"

Too you long enough ILM! 6 months after the premiere of Pacific Rim, looks like the Lucas Arts VFX division has finally released a nice juicy reel featuring all the work that they contributed to Del Toro's Kaiju fest. It looks like they played a big role in creating one of the movies highlight battles, Gipsy Danger versus the Category IV 'Otachi' Kaiju in Hong Kong, which was absolutely amazing to watch on an Imax screen when it came out.

For more Pacific Rim making of goodies, check out Studio Mirada's VFX Reel as well as Studio Rodeo's contributions to capturing the interiors of the Jaegers in the film. And of course, let's not forget about our rather viral Pacific Rim - Japanese fanart edition post.

Thor: The Dark World VFX Breakdown

Thor: The Dark World was an interesting, and very strange movie- while it was better than the first movie, the incredibly heavy handed use of CG brought back memories of Episode 1's Green screen-itis, with protagonists not reacting in a believable manner to the unbelievable settings and events unfolding around them.

Opinions aside, Blur was tasked with crafting one of the best scenes in the film- a taste of an epic conflict between Dark Elves and Asgardian troops. After realizing that Blur was tasked with this scene while the rest of the movie was handed off to other studios, it now makes sense why there was such a disconnect between this amazing opening scene and the rest of the film, which really felt visually inconsistent in regards to the CG quality.

Jeff Gabor's "Epic" Animation Reel

Animator Jeff Gabor just released this truly fascinating reel showcasing his process for cinematic animation on Blue Sky's 2013 feature, Epic in all it's different stages. I think it's awesome to get a behind the scenes glimpse as to how animators bring different scenes to life. In Gabor's world he plays the role of everyone and really gets into it to deliver the best performance possible. To some companies, it's just as important to see the process of the artist as the final product before hiring, keep that in mind.

On a side note, Blue Sky's Epic was a truly fascinating example of the type of damage that kneejerk media coverage can cause to a movie's reputation. When the movie came out and had a slow opening weekend, every single news outlet, movie forum and person I knew was quick to label it as a 'bomb,' dismissing it without even giving the movie a chance. After doing some research I learned it had actually grossed over $260 million worldwide on a budget of $93 million. After watching it it's actually not half bad, just a good case of misleading word of mouth and overshadowing by other features.

Laika's "The Boxtrolls" Making Of Trailer

Laika gives us a look into the intense craftsmanship that's going into their upcoming Boxtrolls feature in this interesting trailer, which gives us an intimate look at the crafting process. With the clever tagline of From the hands that brought you Paranorman and Coraline, it's cool that Laika seems intent on showing off this niche they've carved out for themselves with their stop motion features. Paranorman was one of last year's best animated features in our opinion, and we're looking forward to checking The Boxtrolls when it rolls out in fall 2014. Check out the new theatrical poster after the break.

"Gravity" Compositing Breakdown

In this artist breakdown by Prime Focus World starring Creative Director Richard Baker and Production artist Matthew Bristowe featuring a scene from Alfonso Cuaron's Gravity, we get an in depth breakdown of the compositing process and VFX integration in just one shot. The main point of the video is in regards to doing stereo conversion (Converting the film from 2D to 3D ) during production rather than after the fact to deliver the best 3D experience possible. A little on the technical side, but an interesting behind the scenes nonetheless.

Pacific Rim - VFX Breakdown By Rodeo

It's incredible to think about how many VFX companies come together to work on feature films, taking care of various aspects of production depending on their specialty. We initially posted a Pacific Rim VFX reel from the relatively new studio called 'Mirada' back in September, but there's been a steady trickle of other VFX reels as of late that worked on Guillermo's triumphant tribute to Kaiju and Mecha genres.

Rodeo's contributions to Pacific Rim included extensive amounts of environmental compositing work and 3D matte painting, as well as simulation work on creatures and vehicles. As well, ILM handed them the task of creating all the different Jaeger cockpit interior shots, and designing the various control rigs that would be used by the pilots. The end result was a perfect marriage of practical FX and CG, which made those battles so damn satisfying to watch.

The Walking Dead - A Decade Of The Dead

Created as a collab between Hyundai, Future US, Skybound and Initiative, this awesome documentary chronicles the rise of the zombie themed comic into prominence. It's amazing considering it's humble beginnings in 2003 from the mind of writer Robert Kirkman and artist Tony Moore as a 'bait and switch pitch' through Image comics, tapping into the zombie fad close to a decade before it started.

Fast forward to 2013 and it's a hit mainstream TV series on AMC with a continuing comic storyline powered by the art talentes of British artist Charlie Adlard and Cliff Rathburn. It's one of those rare cases of everyone involved believing in an indie comic project and seeing it through until that lucky break hurtling it into the public spotlight. I also tend use it as my favorite example of how hyper violence is ok but tasteful nudity isn't on TV.

Markus Daum's Insane Cinematic Rigging Reel

3D Animation is very similar to puppeteering, using a pre-made rig to control the various aspects of the models while constructing their performance. Cinematic rigger Markus Daum shares with us some of his absolutely insane rigs created for various movies dating back all the way to 2006.



Having had a chance to study rigging briefly (And realizing it was totally not for me), I have incredible respect for the service they provide for animators, alleviating their job by providing them with great tools to animate with. The Hellboy II Golden Army rig takes the cake though!