Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1006097
www.postmagazine.com 25 POST JULY 2018 SUMMER MOVIES through objects, but she also has a connection with quantum physics so she can have many copies of herself: While she's seen doing one thing her phan- tom image does something else," says Ongaro. "In the car chase she phases through objects and mov- ing cars and there are multiple copies of herself." Digital Ghost was driven by the performances of actor Hannah John-Kamen and her stunt doubles, Ongaro points out, with 3D aspects enhancing the action. "When she's phasing in and out and semi-transparent it's like she has a disease not a superpower. It's painful to her," he says. "We tried to emphasize that in a subtle way in the different body animations and VFX passes." Jennifer Meire was the compositing supervisor for the car chase sequence. In the finale, set in Dr. Hank Pym's lab, Ghost can no longer control her phasing and is about to dis- appear. So she hooks the non-working containment chamber she's been using, which was created by Luma Pictures, to the Quantum Tunnel to channel energy from the Quantum Realm so she can repair herself. But draining energy from the tunnel threat- ens its stability and the return of Hank and Janet van Dyne from the Quantum Realm. "We developed the look of the chamber and its energy rings adding sparks to make it all more chaotic," says Ongaro. "Ghost wears no helmet so as she's flickering and fading we see her expression; we didn't want to obscure her performance." DNEG also did all the VFX shots for the final fight sequence featuring Ant-Man, the Wasp and Ghost and the returning Hank and Janet. "Ant-Man and the Wasp are fully digital in their fight with Ghost," Ongaro notes. "We had takes with stunt doubles but instead of doing body tracking with different background plates we opted for the freedom to do full digital characters in keyframe animation." Farhad Mohassed was the compositing supervisor for the lab and Ghost sequences. DNEG's toolbox included Autodesk Maya for modeling and layout animation, SideFX's Houdini for VFX and Isotropix's Clarisse for rendering. Ongaro credits Marvel Studios with being open to DNEG's ideas throughout. "We felt part of the filmmaking process," he says. "Although shots were heavily prevised we were able to pitch some ideas, and Marvel was very receptive to anything that would improve the film or help with the action." Likewise, "Stef [Ceretti] was great and trusted us to do a lot of work independently," says Ongaro. "Every shot was unique, every department got to be so creative. It wasn't just comping elements." SCANLINE VFX Vancouver's Scanline VFX (www.scanlinevfx.com) was awarded its shots, including a big restaurant fight sequence and the San Francisco Bay topside and underwater sequence, based on the test the studio did for the Wasp. Scanline worked on roughly 400 shots and did the build and development work for both Ant-Man and the Wasp's digital doubles. (L to R) Lilly and Rudd DNeg completed the car chase sequence featuring the Ghost. DNeg, Scanline, Method Studios and Luma Pictures were the film's four leading VFX vendors.