Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/225858
VFX • ANIMATION "For me, watching Gravity was two hours of jaw-on-the-floor bliss. As someone who works in animation and VFX, it's rare that I'm at a loss for how things could have been put together. After about 30 seconds of trying to figure it out, I reverted to my 15-year-old self, wholly immersed in this fantastic world. The experience reminded me of the first time I saw Jurassic Park, something so new and groundbreaking that the skeptical side of your brain is overwhelmed to the point of shutdown," says Rainmaker's Cal Brunker (Escape from Planet Earth). "Cuarón's incredible choreographed camera moves, stunning visuals, and perfectly paced storytelling make Gravity an unbeatable experience." "Gravity was an example of a filmmaker with a passion for storytelling utilizing all the tools available at his disposal," says Legend3D's Jared Sandrew, creative director/stereo VFX supervisor. "Under Alfonso Cuarón's strong creative vision, Stereo Supervisor Chris Parks and VFX Supervisor Tim Webber collaborated with Framestore London to create a stereoscopic VFX spectacle that takes the 3D medium to new heights." "Gravity" probably has the biggest buzz, and with good reason. It's just stunning work," says Port. The movie that's at the top of Tim Crosbie's list for potential VFX Oscar glory is Gravity. "I have to admit that I may be a little biased because I work for the company that produced some of the effects, but in all honesty, it's the most enjoyable and immersive movie I've seen this year," says Crosbie, VFX supervisor at Rising Sun Pictures. "It's definitely worth a look just for the stereo work alone; I didn't get pulled out of the movie at all, which is quite rare for me." Erik de Boer, animation supervisor at Method Studios, agrees. "FX at its best," he says of the film. "Beautiful pre-planned shots with a sweet combination of CGI, practical rigs, robots, motion control, and innovative lighting design. Great-looking cloth and body replacements. The sequence with the Sojoez capsule restricted by the parachute lines was spectacular. Gorgeous graphic imagery followed by some great ISS destruction. Plus, Sandra Bullock. This should get some awards." IRON MAN 3 Release date: May 3 Production companies: Marvel Studios, Paramount Pictures, DMG Entertainment For Iron Man 3, 17 visual effects studios helped create iron suits, explosions, glowing bad guys, digital doubles, CG environments, destruction, chaotic battles, and more. "Iron Man 3 features great design, modeling, and animation throughout. The movie is full of fun, clever visual effects – and they all work dramatically and comedically. It is impressive when you consider the work was handled by 28 ■ CGW Novem ber / Dec em ber 2013 17 studios across the globe for a film that includes more than 2,000 shots," says Fragomeni. "Specifically, the signature 'inside the helmet' Iron Man HUD display and the many moments in which Stark interacts with the prehensile suit are smart advancements of the practical, mechanical feel of the VFX language laid out in the first two films." Adds Port: "This is such a strong year for VFX. You have to consider Pacific Rim, Iron Man 3, and Man of Steel – all impressive for the sheer volume of work at extremely high quality." MAN OF STEEL Release date: June 14 Production companies: Warner Bros., Legendary Pictures, Syncopy, DC Entertainment, Third Act Productions CG helped Zack Snyder film superhuman action using a documentary style to make the Man of Steel fly and place him in the middle of some high-octane action. Also, there are scenes on the CG backdrops of Krypton and Metropolis, and a great deal of demolition."Several houses, like Weta Digital, MPC, and Double Negative contributed a lot of great work on Man of Steel – but the cohesive style across many sequences of the finished film was excellent. Obviously, there's the Metropolis battle, the massive destruction – but what was particularly impressive were the smaller effects. For example, the Kryptonian tech: The look and movement of the liquid geo displays, even the design and tracking work on the all-digital armor worn by Zod was pretty brilliant," Fragomeni points out. "Man of Steel is an example of strong direction, multiple highend visual effects houses working together to share the heavy lifting, and top talent coming together to bring an iconic film series to new heights. Those qualities, coupled with Zack Snyder's creative perspective and ability to inject life into the filmmaking process, made Man of Steel a compelling story and a technically impressive film," Sandrew says. Nico Hernandez, VFX supervisor and head of 3D at Milk VFX, says even if he should pick Gravity for its groundbreaking technical achievement, he would choose Man of Steel for some of the best visual effects work he has seen on the big screen this year. "In fact, this film shows a solid VFX execution, and every aspect is masterized. The environments are stunning, the takeover from actors to CG doubles is seamless, and the FX work is just incredible. I was amazed to discover after seeing the film that Krypton soldiers were wearing almost full-CG armors – the blend was perfect," he says. "But, the plat de resistance (excuse my Frenchness) was, for me, the destruction of the fully digitally created Metropolis with the wicked antigravity device created by the evil general Zod. The scale of the destruction was phenomenal, every breaking was triggering subtask-like fire, smoke, or more breaking. Just incredible."