Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/225858
VFX • ANIMATION ELYSIUM Release date: August 9 Production companies: TriStar Pictures, Alpha Core, Media Rights Capital, Sony Pictures Entertainment In the year 2159, two classes of people exist: the very wealthy, who live on a pristine man-made space station called Elysium, and the rest, who live on an overpopulated, ruined Earth – both required extensive VFX. "Elysium showcased Neill Blomkamp's eye for a grittier type of VFX, along with Syd Mead-type space designs in a fresh way," says Sony Pictures Imageworks Senior VFX Supervisor Scott Stokdyk, an Academy Award winner (Spider-Man 2) and three-time Oscar nominee. John Fragomeni, president of Mirada and a visual effects supervisor, finds it exciting to see how Blomkamp has developed and expanded his gift for combining practical and visual effects. "He creates a credible dystopia. You feel a sense of realism down to the most granular level; you see that same VFX attention to detail and engineering precision that was so strong in District 9 – but here it's opened up onto a larger canvas and the overall impression of authenticity becomes all the more impressive for it," says Fragomeni. "Everywhere you look, it's just a smart, subtle blending of live-action plates and well-integrated CG. For instance, when you see the CG security droids interacting with live-action performers, the blades of grass are crushed under their metal feet." ENDER'S GAME Release date: November 1 Production companies: Summit Entertainment, OddLot Entertainment, Chartoff Productions, Taleswapper, K/O Paper Products, Digital Domain This science-fiction movie centers on the battle that will determine the future of Earth and the human race. The movie is filled with creative effects, including battles, space-related environments, and futuristic props and backdrops. Like Gravity, there is a great deal of animation that occurs in antigravity. "Of course I am biased, Ender's Game is gorgeous. The sequences with the alien and international fleet ships are a beautiful ballet. I've never seen anything like it," says Kelly Port, a VFX supervisor and 19-year veteran at Digital Domain, the VFX vendor on the movie. 26 ■ CGW Novem ber / Dec em ber 2013 GRAVITY Release date: October 4 Production companies: Warner Bros. Esperanto Filmoj, Heyday Films During a seemingly routine spacewalk, disaster strikes as two astronauts' space shuttle is destroyed, leaving them tethered together and spiraling out into the blackness of space. The backdrops in the film are pretty much all-CG, and during shooting, every move had to be perfect on the part of the actors. The filmmakers created a device called the Light Box, a cube of 4,096 programmable LEDs that delivered variations of brightness, color, and speed to simulate the light from the Earth and the sun as Actress Sandra Bullock spins around. Here, CG was needed to set the tone for this edge-of-your-seat thriller whose story is as dramatic as it gets. "Gravity seems to be the VFX movie that has connected the most with audiences as a great combination of drama and visual effects. It puts Alfonso Cuarón into the top category of directors who effectively know how to use VFX for visual storytelling," says Stokdyk. Chris Edwards, CEO/creative director at The Third Floor, believes the director's commitment to realism in the film convinced us that the danger was very real, so we could experience the triumph of the human spirit literally within the helmet of our heroine. "I was impressed by the many meaningful compositions woven into Gravity, including the iconic moment when Sandra Bullock's character floats backlit in the fetal position as some sort of primal sigh of relief after narrowly escaping asphyxiation," he adds. "In moments like that, Cuarón has completely captured our attention. We are in space, breathing deeply for the first time in minutes." According to Fragomeni, Gravity has possibly the most tremendous examples of seamless VFX work in recent memory. "Director Alfonso Cuarón, DP Emmanuel Lubezki, and Visual Effects Supervisor Tim Webber blurred the line between visual effects and cinematography. There's a documentary-style feel to the effects; even in the most impossibly dangerous moments, it felt like a cameraman was there, stranded in this dire situation," he says. "It never once breaks the spell – and a big part of that magic comes from the IRIS robotic camera rig breakthrough by the team at Bot & Dolly. Put another way, when Buzz Aldrin comes out of your film saying he was impressed by the portrayal of zero-G, you know you did your job. Likewise, the use of 3D and IMAX is beautifully immersive. The storytelling credibility that Gravity gives to 3D feels like a breakthrough statement on how the technique can amplify the audience experience in a very visceral, emotionally fulfilling way."