Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1544083
tom, per-shot simulations. Even these early tests brought an incred- ible sense of energy and cohesion, prompting us to change course." "We shied to a shot-by-shot approach through FX and lighting, allowing everything to be rendered physically-accurately as a unified system. The resulting interaction of light, shadow, and atmosphere— particularly how the sandstorm affects the characters—was driven directly by the large-scale FX caches in each shot." "I really admired Dan's [Trachtenberg] bold creative choice to push the sequence into a darker, grittier space. The goal was always to make the audience feel like they were right there in the storm with Dek and his father, and I think that comes through on-screen." For Wētā FX's animation supervisor Karl Rapley, the film's third- act showdown is a highlight. The scene features Dek, Tessa in a me- chanical loader, and the Kalisk. "It was the first sequence I worked on for Badlands, and it was a dream scenario to fulfill my creature versus mech fighting fantasy. It was also instrumental in guiding the filming of the sequence." Rapley's first meeting with Trachtenberg took place in Auckland, New Zealand, where he pitched his vision of the third-act battle. "We had about five weeks to previs this with a few rounds of iteration and notes from Dan," he recalls. "We were on a ticking clock, as Dan was already filming and this sequence was about to be shot next, which added its own unique pressure. "the animation team had to show curiosity and concern in a face that was built to look quite fearsome..." The sequence was quite open in its interpretation and could have spiraled off in a number of different directions. "I'm proud that we were able to hone in on the essence of the action without wasting time exploring dead ends," adds Rapley. "Aer delivering the previs, I was lucky enough to go on location to watch Dan film this sequence on a night shoot on a piece of remote farmland in New Zealand, which was standing in for the Weyland-Yutani base. The Kalisk and the Super Power Loader had a lot of different abilities, and with the Kalisk being able to regenerate, we had to find a way that the Super Power Loader could go toe-to-toe with it and even dominate the Kalisk." The Super Power Loader is different from average dock-loading equipment in that it's been repurposed for fighting. "Luckily it had a huge saw blade attachment that it could fight the Kalisk with and gain the upper hand," says Rapley. "Trying to keep the fight short and punchy while still allowing all of our combatants to have their mo- ment to shine was a great challenge, but I'm really pleased with the end result. Seeing a snarling Kalisk running and launching itself at a charging mech, in the cinema, was very rewarding. This sequence evolved over the course of post production, but the edit of the previs stayed quite similar to the final edit." For the Kalisk, the reference of big cats and bears served as a basis 6 cgw j a n u a r y • f e b r u a r y • m a r c h 2 0 2 6