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Motion Capture ■ ■ ■ ■ KnockTechnical Teams Digital Domain, Giant, and Video Hawks put virtual robot boxers in real rings for on-location fi lming By Barbara Robertson Th ey dance like bulldozers and hit like jack- hammers, as far from the "fl oat like a butterfl y, sting like a bee" boxer Muhammad Ali as possible. And yet, the powerful punches packed by the one-ton robotic boxers send crowds in the fi lm Real Steel cheering as much as the fl esh-and-blood knockouts did before them. "It's very much a movie grounded in plausible reality," says Digital Domain's Erik Nash, overall visual eff ects supervisor. "It takes place in the near future. Th ere's nothing fantastic about anything in the movie." Nothing fantastic, that is, except the full-metal digital robots. Directed by Shawn Levy, the Walt Disney Pictures fi lm stars Hugh Jackman as Charlie Kenton, a has-been boxer replaced by the robots. Charlie, now a low-level fi ght promoter, builds his 'bots from scrap metal. But, he might have found a spoiler. With help from his young son, Max, he believes he can build and train a high-tech fi ghting machine, a robot Rocky Balboa. As might be imagined, much of the action in the fi lm takes place in a boxing ring surrounded by crowds of avid fans. To create the illusion that giant robots fought in the ring, Digital Domain was part of a unique and exceptionally streamlined process that included Giant Studios in partnership with Glenn Derry from Video Hawks, the latter two groups bringing expertise and a Simulcam system honed while work- ing on Avatar. While Levy fi lmed Jackman and the other live-action actors on loca- tion, he and his camera operator could see a representation of what would become fi nal shots in the viewfi nder: boxing CG robots composited into the video stream of the real ring, with cheering crowds outside the ring reacting to the action. Th e process began in late 2009, several months before fi lming, with Nash and Digital Domain digital eff ects supervisor Swen Gillberg working with Levy to plan ©2011 DreamWorks II Distribution Co., LLC. October/November 2011 19 out