Computer Graphics World

The Dark Knight Release date: July 18 (wide release) Production companies: Warner Bros. Pictures, Legendary Pictures, DC Comics, Syncopy Visual eff ects supervisors universally praise e Dark Knight. "It is a beautiful work," says VFX supervisor Tim McGov- ern. " ere are a lot of invisible visual ef- fects—miles and miles of them, and it's all very well done." For VFX supervisor Jeff Okun, the visual eff ects were, most impor- tantly, "organic to the story." " ey didn't try to steal the limelight by doing the most astounding eff ects, despite the story," he says. "It was absolutely a good integration of physical and digital eff ects, and that's when the magic is really happening." Okun points out that the use of practi- cal eff ects requires a certain kind of moxie. "What digital eff ects have taught directors is that they can have whatever they want, whenever they want it," he says. "But if you shoot practical eff ects, you're locked into a camera angle. It takes a director like Christo- pher Nolan, who has the courage of his con- victions. e VFX supervisor can't import that. e director has to carry the torch." e Dark Knight feels more like a crime movie than a visual eff ects movie, says Zoic VFX supervisor/CEO Loni Peristere, who credits the visual eff ects team with the ability to blend the digital with the real. Maschwitz agrees: " e best part of e Dark Knight is that it takes place in the real world. I love it when a fanciful story can be told in a grounded environment. To my eye, what they're doing uniquely is returning to the way it was done with all the movies I grew up watching." e fi lm's eff ects were seamless, agrees CafeFX/ e Syndicate CEO Jeff Barnes. " ey were so grand and over the top that I didn't pay at- tention to them," he says. And yet the details also inspired. Sony Pictures Imageworks animation supervi- sor Dave Andrews was a fan of Batman's motorcycle. " e sequence is really so dy- namic when he races around on it," he says. "And that's born out of his Batmobile, so it's a transformational moment. e mo- ment it emerges from the cocoon is fi ne visual eff ects design and execution." An- drews also praises the matte-painting work that helped create a sense of place, as well as the Batman digital double. "As a practi- tioner, I know where the work is, even if it's invisible," he says. Iron Man Release date: May 2 Production companies: Paramount Pictures, Marvel Enterprises, Marvel Studios, Fairview Entertainment, Dark Blades Films, Road Rebel e companies that worked on this fi lm point out the particular challenges. " e trickiest part was humanizing our man, even when he's sealed up in the suit," says ILM animation supervisor Hal Hickel. "We always wanted to make sure people knew Tony Stark was in there and is wear- ing a machine that, if it fails, will cause him to fall out of the sky." Sony Pictures Imageworks' Andrews, who notes that his company also worked on the movie, prais- es the "beautiful design" of Iron Man. "He looked like a real jet when he fl ew, and it was pretty cool," he says. "I like how his fi rst fl ight is quite an exciting ride." e suit itself is a marvel of detail, says Digital Jungle's Dennis Ho. " e CG was very intricate," he says. "It's defi nitely high tech and mechanical in design, and the CG design for the mask interface was beautiful as well. When Tony Stark is looking out and you see his point of view, the camera cuts back on him and you see the computer inter- face giving him his environment. at drew the viewer into his world, and I got a kick out of it." David Alexander, Entity FX CG supervisor/VFX supervisor, says his favorite sequence was when Tony Stark fi rst puts on his suit. " e compositing was seamless, the 3D was seamless, and it was well integrated for overall believability," he adds. e Orphanage did the display graph- ics inside the suits, reports Maschwitz, who says he enjoyed working alongside ILM with a director he admires. "[Jon] Favreau made a conscious decision to make the aerial coverage of Iron Man fl ying into the types of shots one could get from an aerial camera rig," he says. "In a world in which it's safe to say that anything is possible, I admire restraint." CafeFX/ e Syndicate also contributed VFX to this fi lm, says Barnes, who notes that the movie excelled not simply because of the visual eff ects. "From an action-ad- venture, sci-fi point of view, it was great," he says. "Favreau also likes practical eff ects, so the integration of the two also made it fun. It is an exemplar of what's good for our industry: e story was good, and they used a lot of diff erent techniques. Directors are now fi nding when CG is appropriate and practical is appropriate, and bridging those things. I think that helps to sell the characters and the work in a non-obtrusive way that people accept." December 2008 33 VFX/Animation ■ ■ ■ ■ The Dark Knight was the summer's box-offi ce king, setting a new opening-weekend record.

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