Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/863766
10 cgw j u ly . a u g u s t 2 0 1 7 what we needed simultaneously with principal photography," Hill says. The motion-capture data would later drive the performances of CG characters, many of which had full-scale maquettes on set for framing and lighting reference. But even though the practical maquettes for the elephant-trunked, bipedal Doghan Daguis were physically correct, they couldn't move. So in the film, the characters are CG, created at Weta Digital. Many of the other creatures were CG as well, but some were practical, filmed on set and augmented digitally later. Weta Digital artists did 2D and 2.5D augmentation of prosthetics and costumes some actors wore to give those characters more life than a practical costume could. "On The Fih Element, the VFX artists made the practical characters blink," Hill says. "We did an updated version. We creat- ed nictitating membranes." To integrate the disparate digital char- acters into Besson's cinematic world, the artists looked for stylistic elements from the practical designs. "We spent a lot of time refining the designs of CG characters, looking at what the art department had done for other practical creatures, looking for common themes, and then incorporating them into the designs," Hill says. "Often that was the color, accent lights, or LEDs in the costumes." In addition to the CG Doghan Daguis, the Weta Digital artists created the Boulan Bathor, the pacifist Pearls, K-tron androids, a shape-shier named Bubble, a whale- like creature called a Bromosaur, and many other beings, some of which appear in only a few shots. Boulan Territory, No Foreigners Allowed We first meet the Boulan Bathors in the butterfly canyon. They're bulky, big-bellied, bipedal creatures with brown elephant skin, big eyes that protrude outwardly from the front of their narrow heads, flat noses, and thick lips. They're menacing and grotesque, but also cartoonish to look at. They wear loincloths. "They're like a football jock who has let himself go to seed," Stables says. "There's still some muscle, but they wouldn't win Olympic medals. They're not very nice, but they aren't evil." The Boulans capture food using large, fake, blue and purple butterflies attached to fishing lines as bait. Animators created motion cycles for all but the hero butter- flies and managed the crowd with Massive soware. When Laureline grabs a butterfly, she's caught and later dressed as a special dish for the Boulan emperor. Unless… Valerian comes to the rescue with the help of Bubble [Rihanna], the shape-shi- ing entertainer who can morph others in contact with her. Bubble disguises him as a Boulan waiter. "Bubble was constantly morphing, so the compositors had a lot of work to do," says Paul Story, who, along with Eric Reyn- olds, supervised some 40 animators and 14 motion editors on the show. "We helped with the transition in a number of shots. It was difficult and quite technical to go from one puppet to another, to get them lined up so they read visually. We would block out the transformation with a base model of the Bubble creature, effects would have a go at it, and then the compositors would do their magic." Once transformed, Valerian moves through a kitchen, past 25 high-energy Boulan prep cooks chopping and wrestling grotesque creatures, and into the banquet hall. There, 100 Boulan characters, guards, and waiters carrying trays of food to the emperor occupy the red-carpeted room. The emperor spits out one dish of food aer another until he sees the kidnapped Laureline. And then, a sword fight between Valerian and the Boulan guards and waiters ensues. Besson previs'd both scenes with the students. "This sequence is 95 percent CG, with only Laureline and Valerian practical," Hill says. "Luc [Besson] did the principal pho- tography in New Zealand on our motion- capture stages with Dane [DeHaan], Cara [Delevingne], and the motion-capture actors playing the Boulan, simultaneously." A facial capture helped the animators perform the hero Boulan faces – those of the emperor and empress. "We based our performances on what the actors did on the day, but the Bou- lan faces are so different, we had to take liberties," Story says. "There are no brows, and the eye directions are so different from humans that we had to show expressions in AT TOP LEFT, THE GRAY-SHADED BANQUET HALL. AT TOP RIGHT, CHARACTERS WERE PERFORMED USING MOCAP. AT BOTTOM LEFT, MODELERS GAVE THE BOULAN BATHORS PLATTERS OF FOOD. AT BOTTOM RIGHT, THE FINAL IMAGE.