Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/759864
28 cgw n o v e m b e r . d e c e m b e r 2 0 1 6 even more complicated. And making the dragon invisible to most humans took a great deal of ingenuity and technical brilliance. Like the dragon at times, the work became invis- ible to audiences and will not likely to garner full attention during awards season. ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY Aer a long-awaited hiatus, Star Wars be- gan a new chapter to great fanfare last year. This year, audiences will be served another piece of the epic space opera, Rogue One. The film is the first stand-alone Star Wars Anthology film, set in the Star Wars universe some time aer the events of Revenge of the Sith and before the original Star Wars. As of press time, fans were already fascinated by the trailers, trying to decipher story clues. What's not in question are the amazing visual effects, a Star Wars staple. Get ready for the short lists! STAR TREK BEYOND With Justin Lin (Fast and Furious) direct- ing, Star Trek Beyond had a grittier look than previous movies in the series. The film still is packed with the type of effects expected from Star Trek, from the Enterprise itself to warp-speed effects, the Yorktown base, un- familiar planets, set extensions, and full-CG environments. The Yorktown space station alone was a massive environment compris- ing 1.3 trillion polygons. Indeed, the work was out of this world. SUICIDE SQUAD In a change of pace, Suicide Squad turns the classic superhero convention on its head, shining the spotlight on the bad guys. The effects in the film are on par with those in a superhero action film, and they are plentiful, including digital doubles, CG char- acters, destruction, set extensions, and CG environments. But, are they special enough to warrant award recognition? Probably not. TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: OUT OF THE SHADOWS This past summer, the turtles returned to safeguard the world from multiple threats, including Shredder. For the sequel to the popular 2014 movie, ILM upped the ante in terms of visual effects, using its proprietary Muse performance-capture system, offering incredible nuances in the performances of the CG characters. The work is definitely noticeable and helped pull the film together. But, not likely awards worthy. THE BFG Who can doubt the success of a film with Steven Spielberg directing and a well-seasoned team at Weta Digital in charge of the visual effects? While the box office could have been more positive, that is no reflection on the digital effects work. The main character, BFG, is CG, created based on actor Mark Rylance's performance and voice. There are other CG giants, too, who are much larger than BFG. And they have to act alongside the regular-sized human who plays Sophie. So, for this movie, size was a major issue. And of course, obtaining subtle, emotive performances from the CG characters. Not to mention the many CG environ- ments. In sum, the effects are quite stun- ning and complex. THE JUNGLE BOOK The Jungle Book has undergone much iteration in style over the past decades, but none come close to the visual intensity of the 2016 release. For this version, filmmakers created a complex CG world for a human boy raised by wolves in India. This reimag- ining captures the magic of the animated feature while embracing state-of-the-art technology available today. MPC created all the CG animals and environments for most of the film, while Weta handled a sequence with King Louie. Adding the environments and characters to live-action plates filmed with the only human character (Mowgli) was a mega production. Well done. THE LEGEND OF TARZAN In this storyline, John Clayton (Tarzan) returns to England and the so-called civilized world where he marries Jane. But he is asked to return to Africa, and when he does, he and Jane are double-crossed and captured. Tarzan escapes and sets off to locate and rescue his love. There is quite a bit of green- screen work, set extensions, and more, but especially captivating are the CG animals, from the apes to the hippos and more. WARCRAFT: THE BEGINNING The popularity of the video game War- cra is undisputed. But, the question was whether the CG characters could provide an emotive performance – one that makes au- diences care for the beastly humanoid Orcs acting alongside human characters. Thanks to the digital work from ILM, they do. In addi- tion, CG artists had to conjure up fantastical beasts and set extensions to create environ- ments reminiscent of the video games. The visuals all around are stunning. X-MEN: APOCALYPSE Marvel's popular X-Men returned this summer to fight the powerful Apocalypse. Besides the various mutant powers requiring SOLID VFX CONTENDERS ARE (TOP LEFT) DOCTOR STRANGE AND (TOP RIGHT) THE JUNGLE BOOK.