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n n n n Character Animation ably 100 music videos. Everyone expected he was a neophyte to visual effects, but his ani- mation notes were spot on. His music video background gave him a strong sense of move- ment and rhythm. And, he has a strong sense of art direction. Each music video has to look different, so he had many opportunities to ex- plore. All that experience came into play for this film." Precise Movement Webb was particularly keen to rely on physical performances from his actors and stuntmen rather than on digital characters. "That was a key component in how Spider-Man's move- ment language came to exist," Chen says. "An- drew Garfield was an avid Spider-Man fanatic, Schaub gives an example from a sequence in which Spider-Man fights the villainous 500-pound Lizard. "It's natural for a director to be a little cautious at first," Schaub says, "especially if their background is in live ac- tion. The initial plan was to use live-action performances and real photography wherever possible, but as the Spider-Man animation took shape and the camera got closer and closer, Marc got excited about the opportunities this gave him. Long after principal photog- raphy, he could change the action as well as the cameras, to make it more dynamic." As Webb realized the possibili- Creating a Unique Superhero Cook—a Disney-trained animator who was animation director on the Lord of the Rings trilogy, for which he received three Oscars— helped establish the animation style for the CG a complete Spider-Man geek. He was specific about the poses Spider-Man would hit. If he attached to a wall or crawled on the ground, he extended his fingers. His palms didn't hit the ground. He did specific things with his elbows, knees, how his back arched when he was in the suit that our animators had to pick up on. Our CG Spider-Man was an enhanced version of what Andrew could do, but with the same poses and feeling." When the ac- tion or scope became too big for Garfield or a stuntman to do, the animators took over, but with a vocabulary and visual style linked to Garfield's movements. Animation supervisor Randall William Cook began the project, leading a crew of 43 animators. When the director added shots and the work expanded, Cook brought in David Schaub as an additional animation supervisor. The volume of shots increased as the director gained confidence in the animators' ability to emulate Garfield and the stunt actors. 28 June/July 2012 ties, the finale even changed. "Origi- nally, there was going to be a quick shot of Spider-Man swinging toward the camera, and then going to 'bullet- time' for a final iconic pose," Schaub re- calls. "Marc wanted a more epic finale: a solid minute of animation with a continuous camera move off the gantry of a crane, over rooftops, and down a long alley, and it was a month and a half before the deadline. Jerome [Chen] asked us if it would be possible to de- liver in time." It would have been impossible for one ani- mator to achieve that much continuous ani- mation that quickly, but by dividing the shot into four shots and assigning an animator to each, it became viable. "Each animator had a shot with a definitive beginning and end," Schaub says. "Once we refined each bit of animation, we figured out how to stitch them together seamlessly. It was a great way to end the movie." CG characters gave the director freedom to create interesting camera moves. Animators performed the characters inside accurate but rough geometry (above, middle). Spider-Man and the Lizard. As Chen points out, Garfield's performance gave the anima- tors a starting point. And then, the animators moved Spider-Man into superhero action. "Andrew [Garfield] created a unique pattern of movement and body language that helped define the character, and we could emulate it wherever appropriate," Cook says. The challenge was to make him believable. ers, and athletes who attain physical things you and I can't do, and we' d look at gymnasts, ballet danc- d think about how Not realistic because he's doing things that are not real. "We'