Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/663385
m a r c h . a p r i l 2 0 1 6 c g w 1 1 work of 600 people in London and Bangalore, India, who were on the show at any one time, and 800 people overall. Also at MPC, Ben Jones supervised character development, Audrey Ferrara supervised the envi- ronment work, and Peta Bayley and Gabriele Zucchelli were animation supervisors. One key to these postpro- duction artists' success was the previsualization process (see "Directing and Lighting Previs" on CGW.com). E X P E R T P R E V I S "Picture stepping onto a motion-capture stage," Legato says. "[Neel Sethi] is in a mo- tion-capture suit. On the stage are gray-shaded pieces of wood and ramps that create a lumpy landscape. On the computer, we have facsimiles of the places we want to shoot. We have people in motion-capture suits representing the animals. On the computer, we see a cartoon version of Mowgli and facsimiles of the animals. As we tell the actors how to move, we block out the scenes." Working together to create the previs using the motion- capture stage and virtual cine- matography were the director, Director of Photography Bill Pope, Legato, Jones, Production Designer Christopher Glass, Val- dez, a crew from Digital Domain, editors on the film, and others. "The coverage, the editing, all the choices were made by these people, not previs people," Valdez says. "Rob Legato and Bill Pope were shooting with the virtual camera. Andy Jones was helping stage the action. Jon Favreau directed people in the motion-capture suits on set. Bill [Pope] was talking with Christopher Glass about the look and light. So we had a group of filmmakers creating the previs. That gave it intention, tone, style, and look from the beginning. I thought our biggest challenge would be how to make the light connect between what would be filmed and CG. But, Bill [Pope] was lighting from the beginning, from previs." Aer previs, Pope sat with Lighting Technical Director Michael Hipp at MPC to refine the lighting. "Because we use a raytracer now [Pixar RenderMan RIS], the light is accurate," Valdez says. "We had gray models, no texture yet, but we could show him where the light was, how much fill there would be, how much bounce. Michael worked with Bill to light every scene and create key angle frames that went beyond previs, and then we put them on an iPad so Bill could remember his lighting while on set. Gravity had just come out with its pre-lit shots designed in the computer and brought to set, so we referenced that idea." Once Pope approved the lighting, the MPC team created 360-degree panoramas and loaded them onto iPads using an app called "Location." On set, Pope and others could point the iPad toward the bluescreen stage and see a 360-degree view of the corresponding CG scene lit by Pope. "It is like looking at a scene in Google Street View," Val- dez says. "When a person is surrounded by bluescreen, it's difficult to know there's a big tree over there. But, Bill wanted to know when Mowgli walked through the tree's shadow. With the iPad panoramas, he could see the tree, the dappled light over there, the open sun beyond. It was essential to have his pre-lighting brought on set." T A L K T O T H E A N I M A L S Earlier, during the previs shoot, stunt actors in motion-capture suits had played the part of the animals. During the live-action shoot, puppeteers in blue suits gave young Actor Neel Sethi eye lines. "They were like stand-ins," Valdez says. "Oen they had sock puppets on their hands, but there were also puppets on set that helped when Neel needed to make contact." At peak, 78 animators at MPC performed approximately 70 animals that appeared in the film. Of those animals, the hero animals and several secondary animals talked. Animation Supervisor Peta Bayley divided the MPC team into groups under seven leads assigned to specific sequences, with each lead animator having a deputy who helped handle the information flowing through. Each lead worked with riggers to develop the hero characters and to create the hero characters' ABOVE LEFT, MPC CREATED BAGHEERA, THE BLACK PANTHER, AND ALL THE ANIMALS IN THE FILM EXCEPT THE MONKEYS. AT RIGHT, WETA DIGITAL CREATED KING LOUIE AND THE OTHER APES.