Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/225858
ANIMATION .com ARTICLE: Go to "Extras" in the November/December 2013 issue box for a story on Gravity's 3D ■ At top, an actor in the lightbox could see images created with LEDs. At bottom, Framestore artists worked from previs to animate the wide, all-CG shots. and Bullock, who is outside in a space suit, grabs onto an arm projecting out from the station. "The camera was disconnected from Sandra [Bullock], and it was confusing, Solomon " says. "We found that in all the shots, there is no context. So, it's hard to assess what's happening, and that can make you nauseous in stereo. It's better to have one thing move. In this " case, the previs artists designed the shot with the camera locked onto Bullock while debris spins around her. Two months before production was due to start, the artists switched from previs to technical breakdowns. In this "techvis" process, the team assessed shot methodology and shoot feasibility, and then did a breakdown of camera and actor motion and lighting. For many of the shots, the team preprogrammed the camera and lights based on decisions made during previs, and for some, even the movement of the actors. On Set "We had three shoot methodologies, Solomon says. "One " was traditional with the camera on a crane and actors on wires or dollies. The second used the lightbox and motion control. In " the lightbox, the crew could adjust the master controls for the specially designed camera and offset Earth and sun spheres created with LEDs driven by previs. The hue, brightness, and saturation of the 1.8 million LEDs were individually controllable. "We shot at half-speed because of limitations on how fast the camera could move, Solomon says. "Then we retimed after. " " Motion control drove the third method of shooting. "We had the actors, lights, camera all on motion control, Solomon says. " 18 ■ CGW Novem ber / Dec em ber 2013 "It was the least efficient and the least flexible, so we used it for only one or two shots. " Meanwhile, at Framestore, artists did modeling and lighting tests for the CG space suits. "We saw them as a third character, Solomon says. "We based " them on real suits, but they needed greater range of motion. We simulated the cloth to fold, bend, and crease realistically. " In all the exterior shots, the actors are digital characters except for their faces. After the shoot, the work on tracking the cameras, the helmets, and the bodies began. "It was a massive headache, Solomon says. "We " rebuilt the previs with all the new plates, managed and adjusted the timing, then began the process of re-animating with Sandra's and George's performances. The performance was all in the face. By chance, the lightbox was the perfect environment. It was isolating and confusing for the actors – all the emotions they needed to express. " In Ender's Game, Asa Butterfield, the actor playing the lead character Ender Wiggin, trains in a zero-gravity room during battle school. Digital Domain provided the effects for this sci-fi action/adventure under the leadership of Visual Effects Supervisor Matthew Butler. The studio had three big advantages: First, Digital Domain was a co-producer, which gave it early involvement in the planning (see "Moving On Up, pg. " 20); second, Butler has a master's degree in aeronautics and astronautics from MIT; and third, his roommate in college is Astronaut Gregory Chamitoff, who had flown on the space shuttle Endeavor and spent months at a space station. Butler worked with Garrett Warren, the stunt coordinator and second unit director, on solving the zero-gravity problem. "It's tricky, Butler says. "It's important to show your real actors and " actresses, your heroes, so wherever possible, we wanted to shoot them for real. But, there is no zero-gravity place on Earth we could use. We wanted to shoot live-action faces, but we faced the physical limitations of reality. " The solution was what Butler calls a "smorgasbord of solu-