Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1192296
w i n t e r 2 0 1 9 c g w 1 7 All told, the crew spent nine post-produc- tion months working on the 1,750 shots, but that was aer they'd spent four years making the post-production possible. "We knew the risk we were taking," Helman says. "So, we invested those four years of development to have something completely performance-driven. If you fol- low the natural progression of visual effects, you find that the next thing is markerless performance capture. "I remember Ewan McGregor's reaction when he walked onto a bluescreen stage," Helman continues. "He said, 'What the [expletive] is this?' I thought an actor could imagine the set. But, aer working with these actors on The Irishman, I realized what he meant. It's crucial for actors to be where they're meant to be." Gemini Man: Weta Digital In this film, 50-year-old actor Will Smith plays both the character Henry Brogan, an aging former Marine scout sniper now an as- sassin; and Junior, a clone of Henry at about age 25, who is also an assassin. In some scenes, the two are face to face. Directed by Ang Lee, the action thriller Deep Shapes Animators at Weta Digital use a so- phisticated system based on a massive number of shapes to create and refine a facial performance. For Gemini Man, Stuart Adcock, head of facial motion, added a technique now called "Deep Shapes," which provides even more subtle control. "It's a brilliant idea," says Guy Wil- liams, visual effects supervisor at Weta Digital for Gemini Man. "The shapes travel linearly based on skin depth. To me, it looks like inertia. The skin slides for a moment in the last direction it was moving, even though the muscles are already moving in another direction. It feels like an insanely high-resolution simulation, but it isn't. The animators have control and can see the effect as they use the system." A FLAT-SHADED CG MODEL OF WILL SMITH MOVES AS HE PERFORMS. A DE-AGED WILL SMITH CREATED BY WETA DIGITAL. THE WETA DIGITAL CREW ALSO CAPTURED SMITH'S PERFORMANCE ON SET. WETA DIGITAL DEVELOPED NEW METHODS FOR CREATING SKIN TEXTURE. Gemini Man images ©2019 Paramount Pictures.