Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1399888
j u ly • a u g u s t • s e p t e m b e r 2 0 2 1 c g w 3 5 performances to tie the scenes together. We augmented the creature rig with multiple "damage" states to reflect injuries incurred over the course of battle. We used hardware rendering for the CG elements, combining Autodesk Arnold shad- ers with the Maya Viewport 2.0 renderer to achieve fast renders with sophisticated lighting. And every shot was finished using Foundry's Nuke, where Proof's compositors could focus on color and integration. The movie was filmed using anamorphic lenses, so great care was devoted to extracting the lens distortion for animation and rendering, then re-applying it in Nuke to match the film's final look. Achieving a compelling cinematic look was essential because the postvis remained in the edit for months and was used for multiple screenings with the filmmakers, studio executives, and test audiences. The shots had to be believable without sacrific- ing turnaround time. Quantity Time is another big difference in previs. While it's true that on Panic Room we were attempting to previs the entire feature film, the reality is we ran out of time. And that film was very contained: five charac- ters trapped inside a townhouse over the course of one night, with only a handful of visual effects shots. The films we're working on now involve ensemble casts, multiple locations, and over-the-top visual effects sequences. Take Proof's recent work on F9. This was a project that spanned every aspect of visualization — from story development with the filmmakers, to very detailed technical visualizations to aid in the filming of complex action shots, to version aer version of postvis for editorial, to completing dozens of visual effects shots that are in the final film. Previs alone covered six sequences totaling over 3,000 individual shots ranging from Southern California to Scotland, Eastern Europe, and beyond. And for postvis, we completed over 700 shots touching nearly every sequence in the film. In some cases, we were replacing blue- screens with CG set extensions. In others, we were generating complex animation and effects to embed actors filmed practically into entirely computer-generated worlds. Our work on F9 spanned 26 months with a team that averaged 12 artists. Panic Room was ambitious in its attempt to previs an entire film. The visualization work for F9 was epic, its scope touching every aspect of the film — from preproduction, through the shoot, and deep into post. That level of involvement is typical on blockbuster films. Previs is an essential component of the creative decision-making process from beginning to end. Creative Engagement And that gets me to the true answer to the question. The significant change in previs is not how much work we are able to produce, and it's not what the visualization work looks like; it's about how it feels. My working relationship with Fincher on Panic Room was call-and-response. He would call out changes, and I would respond and get them done. Sometimes, however, that response would take a few minutes, or perhaps a few hours. In rare instances, it might even take a day or more. The goal was to make the feedback loop as small as pos- sible, but it was always a loop. Now the goal is to remove the loop, engaging the filmmak- ers directly in their creative decision-making process. To hand them the game controller and let them create their own shots. To accomplish this, we employ an array of real-time technologies that allow us to cap- ture action and record it as animation. We suit up performers in motion-capture suits and have them drive CG characters that are embedded in the story world of the film. The director can step in and block the action as if it's happening for real. We hand the direc- tor or cinematographer a virtual camera and let them compose the shots themselves. They can experiment with composition and coverage, and then play back the sequence in real time to evaluate what's working and what isn't. It's what Fincher saw that night in 2000 — using real-time technologies to engage and interact with the animation as a living document. Visualization is all of this. It is reaching for higher quality, while doing so much more, and incorporating new technologies that either minimize, or even sidestep, the iterative loop. Interestingly, what hasn't changed is the "why." Previs has always been about creative communication, ideation, and technical problem-solving in the service of telling better stories. How we do this work at Proof has definitely changed, and for the better, but why we do it will always remain the same. Ron Frankel is the founder and president of Proof Inc., and partner/managing director of Proof London Ltd. Founded in 2002, Proof is the original visualization studio dedicated to providing the highest-quality visualization ser- vices for feature film, broadcast, and immersive entertainment industries. Proof's work on F9 spanned preproduction, through shooting, and into post. The majority of Proof's work on The Tomorrow War was postvis.