Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1081428
www.postmagazine.com 36 POST JAN/FEB 2019 WELCOME TO MARWEN sure the looks they came up with on-set were solid enough to run through the entire process — from pre- to post-production. According to Gervais, "The idea was to establish different looks for the two worlds, even for the dai- lies. Kim came up with distinct but subtle ways of doing that, that felt natural and not overly stylized. This approach facilitated the dailies and VFX work, and then we could push the envelope a little bit more when we got to color finishing — when the movie was more put together and we could really tell what worked or didn't work, and where we wanted to go with it." "Maxine and I shot some tests and then applied a base LUT for 'real world' and a base LUT for doll world," explains Miles. "Maxine could then sync up with these later in post when she was doing the fine-tuning and color finishing. Right from the top, Maxine was so helpful that, if I had my way, I would never want to do another project without her." In "real world," Miles strove for honesty in pho- tographing Hogancamp's story and its characters, creating the look of natural light for scenes shot mostly on a soundstage, and taking other cues from the documentary about Hogancamp, Marwencol. Miles says, "Mark's real world is somewhat bleak, following the beating and his slow path to recovery. So we made those scenes less saturat- ed, with less contrast and more rawness, than the ones in the 'doll world' of his imagination. But when you shoot everything on a stage and you control the lighting, you don't want images that start to look too perfect, and thus less honest. So we went to great lengths to create a sense of cha- os in the lighting — for example, by introducing a streak of sunlight or an inconvenient shadow that made the environment look less controlled." "The grim and grittier world Mark lives in just explodes with color when you get to doll world," says Gervais. "It has a different texture to it, and it's covered in saturated pastels that really pop, like a golden age of Hollywood Technicolor picture. Because of this you always know quickly which world you're in, and it works very well for the narra- tive of the movie as a whole." For inspiration in creating the CG "doll world," which was created by VFX supervisor Kevin Baillie and the VFX wizards at Atomic Fiction, the film- makers turned to old Kodachrome images and the sense of nostalgia they convey. Looking to expand on what he accomplished with Polar Express, Zemeckis wanted to escape the Uncanny Valley [the emotional disconnect people often feel with close-but-not-quite human animated characters] and let the audience connect with CG characters in a way that's never been done before. "Bob and his team concluded that computer generated eyes and mouths are the final barrier to making a truly believable CG character," explains Miles. "So we physically lit and photographed the actors during the motion capture phase of production — and because we had defined the CG environment early on, including having formulat- ed a plan as to how it would be lit, we were able to seamlessly glue their actual faces onto the CG dolls. In actuality, all we had to photograph — and light — were their eyes and mouths. Everything else in their faces is digital — and the result is beyond anything you can imagine." Reflecting on the experience as a whole, Welcome to Marwen seemed to be a welcome ex- perience for all involved. "With this team and people like Maxine, I felt profoundly supported," says Miles. "She has infinite patience and her instincts are always dead-on. So much so that we got only two or three notes on color finishing from the producers for the entire film — and a huge vote of confidence from both Bob and Steve Starkey." Gervais adds, "Even though it was my first time working with this team, it felt like an instant family. Everyone was both professional and pas- sionate about what they do. They knew what they wanted, trusted us to do it and were appreciative of what it took. Kim is a talented DP who's also very humble, which is the greatest combination. It gives you extra wings to fly when you have a team like that behind you." "My biggest takeaway was the spiritual reaffirmation it had for me," adds Miles. "The fantastic hope when you start in this business is that Hollywood is filled with storytellers and filmmakers who just want to collaborate together and pour their hearts and souls out onto the screen. This movie brought those feelings back, the passion — and the realization that the dream is real; that the people I've looked up to my entire life really do just want to create the best experi- ence they possibly can for the audience — and this one defies any other storytelling that we've seen so far." AUGMENTED REALITY APP Taking the feature even further into groundbreaking territory is an augmented reality (AR) app that Technicolor's The Mill co-created in partnership with Universal Pictures and Robert Zemeckis. Executive producer Aurelien Simon and the emerging technology team at The Mill in LA worked with Universal and Zemeckis to build the AR mobile device app, which transports users into the film via the first-of-its-kind 3D digital recreation of a movie scene. Taking characters and locations from the movie, The Mill's in-house creative technology team was able to build an interactive experience enabling users to immerse themselves in the world of Marwen. Marwen was graded at Technicolor.