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8 cgw j u ly . a u g u s t 2 0 1 5 problem; that is, make dino- saurs that looked and acted like animals. Alexander and Animation Supervisor Glen McIntosh were both on the project for two years, from pre-produc- tion, through design, shot planning, and then eight months of postproduction. For McIntosh, who had worked as a lead animator on Jurassic Park III for the raptors and for the fight between the T. rex and the Spinosaurus, it was a kind of sweet revenge. "I had all these plans in Jurassic Park III for T. rex to take a bite out of the Spino saurus, and for the Spinosaurus to rip off a T. rex's arm," McIntosh says. "But, unfortunately, all the shots that came aer had already been done, so I couldn't do the damage I wanted. I had to do a fight to the death, but they couldn't injure each other. And, I had to match the camera's movement. One of the great advantages on Jurassic World was being involved early enough to plan the choreography and create a game plan for the performance and character of the dinosaurs." To help the filmmakers frame the dinosaurs in the real-world locations, ILM developed an iPad applica- tion they call Cineview, which gave them real-time previs on location (see "On Location" on this page and "Real-time Previs" on page 10). For a sequence in which a helicopter crashes into a Pteranodon aviary, and the raptors run and hunt in the forest, ILM did more tradi- tional previs. Similarly, Pixel Liberation Front and Halon provided previs for the final fight and other action scenes. "The production unit gave us storyboards for the rest of the film," Alexander says. "And Glen McIntosh did storyboards, as well." Working from the previs, McIntosh, Tippett, the director, and producers cho- reographed action scenes using toy-sized dinosaurs on miniature sets (see "Miniature Choreography" on page 12). Then, once story- boarded, previs'd, and choreographed, it was up to the animators to create believable performances for the prehistoric animals. "Phil and Dennis were great points of reference for animalistic behavior," Alexander says, "especially Phil. And Jack Horner was an interesting voice in that, too. Phil and Glen would ask, 'Could a Stegosaurus lie on its side?' 'What would a raptor do?' For the raptors, we decided to use motion capture to give them more presence. We showed an early test to Colin [Trevor- row]. He liked the move- ment; it was something he hadn't seen before." R A P T O R C A P T U R E Animators at ILM had experimented with motion capture for the 2001 film Jurassic Park III – in fact, McIntosh had donned a motion-capture suit – but they felt the technology wasn't quite ready. "With this film, because Colin wanted to individualize the raptors and we wanted to give them more character, I wanted to experiment with motion capture again to see if we could get the personal- ity of the performer to come across in the dinosaurs," McIntosh says. "The retar- geting we've developed since Jurassic Park III allows that." McIntosh worked on set with dinosaur stand- ins who wore Velociraptor helmets. The stand-ins On Location Main Street in Jurassic World was a massive set built in a New Orleans parking lot. The Hawaiian island of Kauai provided the jungle. ILM artists added mountains to footage shot there and extended a lagoon. The filmmakers also shot footage on other islands in Hawaii and in a Louisiana swamp. T. rex's paddock started as footage from a redwood forest in Cal- ifornia. The Jurassic World gates are a miniature created and shot at 3210 Studios (formerly Kerner) in San Rafa- el, California, which also handled shots of a (miniature) helicopter blowing up. "We got as much as we could in-camera," says Visual Effects Supervisor Tim Alexander. "We shot Super 35 film for this project, Super 35 and 65 mm cameras, using the 65 for establishing shots and Super 35 for everyday shots. The Super 35 gave us a lot of headroom so we could tilt up, change the framing, and add camera shake. Some people say film is a hin- drance, but for this feature, it helped a lot. We don't get that tall aspect ratio with digital. But, it was an aesthetic choice to get the feel of the original. We wanted Jurassic World to look clas- sic and iconic, and felt that film was part of that process." Three full-sized raptor heads gave Actor Chris Pratt, who plays a raptor trainer, something physical to interact with, as did an animatronic created at Legacy FX of a dying Apatosaurus. "When we're wide, the dinosaur is CG, but when Chris is holding her head, the head and neck is an animatronic," Alex- ander says. "The director really wanted an animatronic, and I think this was a great choice. It's sitting in Chris's hands and on his lap. We also had a full-sized foot for Indominus. It was 12 x 12 feet. It took three people to bring it out on set. Otherwise, the dinosaurs are CG." – Barbara Robertson CINEVIEW, AN IPAD APP DEVELOPED AT ILM, GAVE FILMMAKERS REAL-TIME PREVIS. 3210 STUDIOS' PRACTICAL VFX: GO TO: GO TO EXTRAS IN THE JULY.AUGUST 2015 ISSUE BOX C G W. C O M