Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1532695
movers" are all-wheel drive, remote-controlled industrial platforms that are designed for moving extremely large and sensitive objects. "I've always wanted to use them," notes Corbould. "And that was the sort of thing that sprung to my mind when Ridley was talking about this sequence, and it worked really well! In the old days, how we normally do it is put it on railway tracks, but you've only got one plane. You can just go in and out. Whereas these, they were multi-ax- le and they could steer 365 degrees. They're very versatile for Ridley to get his shots and his camera angles. And, with all the cameras that he uses, it gave him a good tool to position the boats how he wanted them." "With the boats…virtually everything starts with practical photog- raphy," adds Bakowski. "You've got something there together, the light looks like this and the camera moves like this. And then Ridley might go, 'I don't like the way the camera is moving. It's too far away. The ship is too far away. But I like everything else about it.' So at that point we go, 'Okay. We're going to reference but then replace every- thing and change the camera, but we know what he liked. We know that this and this, but not the camera.' So there was a certain num- ber of fully-digital shots in there...It's always based on the practical to start with, which is great." The rhino sequence is also based on practical elements shot during production. "We virtually always kept the rider," states Ba- kowski. "There's one or two, or maybe three CG riders in there, but in general, we pretty much always kept the rider and his saddle that he's on." The baboon fight made use of digital creatures that began as a basic rig. "Then, [you] adjust say the arm lengths—it's got longer arms," Bakowski notes of the baboons. "Proportions are different there. But the actual point of having an elbow joint, a wrist joint, fin- ger joints, etc., that's pretty standard because…it comes to the de- fault in soware. It's just the nuance, which makes it specific to that creature." ILM handled roughly 650 digital visual effects, working specifical- ly on shots of Rome, the coliseum, the opening battle, and the final battle. Framestore handled approximately 200 shots, including the baboons and the rhino sequence. "Framestore's got a strong tradi- tion of characters," Bakowski notes. "And then due to the weirdness of tax breaks and finances, we had to spend some more money with them, basically, so they ended up picking up the underworld se- quence as well." The remaining 300 to 400 effects were spread out amongst several smaller facilities. Looking at the completed feature, both Bakowski and Corbould point to their respective highlights. "For me, it would probably be the opening battle, I think," says Bakowski. "It also brings in Neil's world very much as well. There's so much work in there. It's obvious the work that's not hidden, but then there's a lot of work that's hidden as well. There's the obvious things, like the water, the fireballs and the arrows, the boats, etc., but you would not believe the amount of oth- er work that's in there as well…And the sequence works beautifully." Corbould agrees, adding that the naval battles are also highlights, noting how Scott got so much done in such a short amount of time. "The opening battle was shot in like ten days or something," he re- calls. "I think we were in Morocco for ten days for shooting and we were supposed to be there for three weeks. So Ridley just smashed it—completely smashed it!" ILM delivered roughly 650 digital visual effects for the project.