Post Magazine

November 2016

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OSCAR CONTENDERS www.postmagazine.com 21 POST NOVEMBER 2016 FINDING DORY --- Animation A crew as large as 400 at times contributed to Disney/Pixar's Finding Dory, which was written and directed by Andrew Stanton. In addition to creating the film's characters, including grumpy octopus Hank, the studio was challenged with taking the ocean environment (created 13 years ago for Finding Nemo) to the next level. A focus on water compositing and fluid simulations helped the team achieve its ul- timate results. To date, Finding Dory has brought in more than $1 billion worldwide. KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS --- Animation Charted across raging seas, bamboo jungles and mountain ranges ravaged by howling blizzards, a little boy's journey of self-discovery in Kubo and the Two Strings whisks audiences away to something rarely seen in the histo- ry of cinema: a stop-motion epic. For Oregon-based Laika, the studio behind Coraline, ParaNorman and Boxtrolls, the film represents the culmination of a decade pioneering its unique amalgam of rapid prototyping (RP), live-action puppetry, motion control and state-of- the-art CG. Not only has Laika's "hy- bridized" form of filmmaking liberated stop motion from its "tabletop" feel, but through new advancements in RP, it can now draw increasingly-subtle, heart-wrenching performances from a simple, resin-based face. PASSENGERS --- Cinematography, Editing The big sci-fi spectacle Passengers, from director Morten Tyldum, stars Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt as two passengers aboard a spacecraft on a journey to a distant colony planet. When there's a malfunction in the ship's sleep chambers, the two wake nearly 90 years early. According to editor Maryann Brandon, who was nominated for an Oscar last year for her work on Star Wars: The Force Awakens, it's a very human story that could have taken place any- where — and not necessarily in space. And yet, that's exactly where it's set. Brandon and DP Rodrigo Prieto did some outstanding work addressing the film's challenges, including showing the expansive size of the ship. Both discuss the film in more detail in next month's issue. CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR --- VFX Captain America: Civil War from director siblings Anthony and Joe Russo for Disney/Marvel was a big box office success — and we mean a worldwide gross of more than $1 billion big. With plenty of super-sized fight scenes, wreckage and destruction, culminating in an epic 20-minute airport battle, it all required heavy doses of visual effects. According to VFX supervisor Dan Deleeuw, it actually took the combined efforts of around 14 vendors and just under 3,000 visual effects shots to complete the film. Deleeuw says this includes combined environmental work, set extensions and CG characters to take "everything we've seen before to the next level." DOCTOR STRANGE --- VFX According to director Scott Derrickson, the biggest challenge in creating Doctor Strange was "definitely dealing with all the VFX, and trying to create things that people have never seen before." Derrickson worked with The Third Floor to previs many of the shots, which feature big set pieces yet little gunfire. A VFX team (lead by VFX super Stephane Ceretti, see page 14), which included ILM, Framestore, Luma and Method, all contributed to Marvel's latest feature.

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