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March 2012

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Creating blueprints with previs. By Randi Altman I t is almost impossible, or maybe crazy, to make a big-budget action or VFX film these days without including previsualization experts in the process. But it's not just major motion pictures taking advantage: com- mercials, games, music videos and more are also using previs to derive better results in a shorter amount of time. What exactly is previs? Well the Previsualization Society (www.previssoci- ety.com), which was formed in 2009, defines it as this: "A collaborative process that generates preliminary versions of shots or sequences, predominantly using 3D animation tools and a virtual environment. It enables filmmakers to visually explore creative ideas, plan technical solutions and communicate a shared vision for efficient production." Previs has evolved to incorporate many other "sub-descriptions" as well, including virtual art department, onsetvis, postvis and techvis. Regardless of the terminology, these pros can map out what needs to be done and how it needs to be done prior to production, and sometimes even before a film is greenlit. PERSISTENCE OF VISION Even though David Dozoretz has been working in previsualization since the '90s, he acknowledges the process is still considered new by some. "I feel like we are still at the beginning of this, and previs will become more prevalent. Relatively, not that many films use it yet, although the ones that do are very high profile. People haven't figured out where it goes or what to do with it on a larger scale." Back in the '90s, while employed at ILM — the studio was working on the first Mission: Impossible film (1996) — visual effects supervisor John Knoll asked Dozoretz to help them figure out how a particular scene would look with com- puter animation. "Previously, previs had been in little chunks," he says. "To my knowledge this was the first time it was done for a major sequence in a movie." Dozoretz was then asked to work on the Pod Race sequence for Star Wars Episode 1 — The Phantom Menace. In doing so, he created the previsualization department at Skywalker Ranch. Dozoretz's experience providing previs for Episode II was so enjoyable, he wanted to offer these services to the rest of the industry as well. "That is when I created Persistence of Vision (www.per- sistenceofvision.com). Our first gig was Titan AE for Fox. It was an animated sci-fi movie that was in the need for more action." That was 11 years ago, and since then he has worked on J.J. Abrams' Mission: Impossible and Star Trek, Super 8, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, most recently Mis- sion: Impossible Ghost Protocol, as well as commercials and games cinematics. So why previs and not final VFX? "We have done that in the past, but we don't run to it," explains Dozoretz. "It's not as creative an experience for us as previs. A lot of final visual effects are about making something look real; previs is about good storytelling. That's not to say there aren't crossovers. I'm sure there are, but for me, nothing is more rewarding than designing a sequence and handing it off to a visual effects studio who will spend tens of millions of dollars to make look pretty what my crew and I helped design." Many put previsualization under visual effects heading because they use the same tools and because the visual effects department is the previs's major client, but Dozoretz, says it goes much further than that, working with editing, writing 16 Post • March 2012 www.postmagazine.com

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