Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/196542
Previs jack-of-all-trades. [He or she] needs to be able to animate and understand how camera lens choices affect the shots" – and, as Pacific Rim proved, "the ability to understand architectural diagrams and solve technical problems on the fly is a huge asset. " Man of Steel While Jaegers were squaring off against the Kaiju, Zack Snyder's reworked Superman saw the son of Jor-El return to Earth, meet Lois Lane, and tangle with General Zod in ever-escalating spectacles of mass destruction. One of the year's most effectsintensive movies, Man of Steel launched into the box-office stratosphere on the strength of almost two years of previs work, helmed by the digital wizards at Pixel Liberation Front. "We came on early in preproduction, when we were pulled in by Production Designer Alex McDowell, says PLF's Previs " .com Article: Go to "Extras" in the September/October 2013 issue box for a Man of Steel previs story. ©2013 Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc./Legendary Pictures Funding, LLC. ■ PLF DID THESE previs shots for the Smallville Battle Scene in Man of Steel. Supervisor Kyle Robinson. "Initially, we started off building environments based on some storyboards Zack had drawn himself. We were doing a lot of virtual location scouting, taking Zack into Alex McDowell's set locations and letting him [use a virtual camera to] scout it for himself. " PLF would animate the environments, vehicles, and characters, and then, using a Vicon virtual camera system coupled with Autodesk MotionBuilder, immerse Snyder completely in the realm of the scene – be it on Krypton or in Smallville. Snyder could see the sets, characters, and vehicles in full scale and get a 1:1 relationship with the CG elements. "Zack was always after getting the action, composition, and personality of the camera work correct, says Robinson. " Indeed, the "personality" of the camera was critical in Man 30 ■ CGW Sep t em ber / O c t ober 2013 of Steel, especially during the combat sequences featuring the military, Superman, and General Zod's minions, where Snyder aimed hard for a handheld, spontaneous feel, something redolent of a war correspondent dropped right into a battlefield. To that end, he favored a lot of whip pans and rapid zooming to catch snippets of action in a chaotic, documentary approach. "He was looking to get a lot of 'embedded journalist-like photography,'" says Robinson, "so there was a lot of handheld, quick pans and snap zooms, as if you were someone right there on the spot trying to focus on all the action, says " Robinson. Nowhere was this approach more evident than in the opening battle on Krypton, especially when Jor El is flying around on his winged H'Raka. Once the postvis was complete, PLF packaged up its Maya files and sent them to MPC, Double Negative, Weta, and the other vendors servicing the show. "Those files gave them the starting place where we stopped, so there was no need to reproduce shots or any loss in production time, says Robinson. " The virtual location scouting system, including the recording and keyframing of stunt performers in color-toned suits using the Vicon system at Snyder's studio, was a godsend throughout Man of Steel's long preproduction process, allowing Snyder, McDowell, and the rest of the visual effects team to plan scenes with a speed and efficiency that greatly streamlined production. Robinson sees advancement in the virtual camera, in its functionality, portability, and versatility, as a cornerstone in the development of previs. "Potentially, the system could double for the virtual camera environment as well as the mocap, so when we travel around and they want to do any scouting, or a director wants to see a character do a specific action, for example, we could set up the virtual camera and the scanning system, put a stunt person or actor in a suit, and switch it over to motion capture. We could then target that mocap data straight to the skeletons of our previs characters, explains Robinson. " "The limitations of the system right now, cautions Robin" son, "come in the real-time tailoring of the shot. For example, we could do a cycle animation for a director to shoot involving two cars driving down the street. But if the director wants one to swerve, someone has to stop and do that animation and import it across. Right now there is the current bottleneck, although it is getting better, with some of the 3D mocap systems starting to make it easier to have real-time adjustments made on the fly. " The Great Gatsby Previs is also finding a home in intimate period dramas as well, albeit those amped up by Baz Luhrmann's loud and flashy direction, such as The Great Gatsby. Known as a visually audacious filmmaker, Luhrmann needed a guide, someone to help navigate the film's complex, musical set pieces. To that end, he turned to previs specialist Cameron Sonerson, whose credits include The Adventures of Tintin and next year's Maleficent. Filmed on five stages at Fox Studios and many locations in