Film: January 2007 Archives
Ahoy matey! I've made the jump from comping 3D, to comping 2D! Back into the familiar folds of bluescreens/greenscreens and fx composites, and all the headaches and rewards that come with it. So far I've been handed four shots out of... Well, alot. There's quite a bit of cool work, and I'm not going to say what sequences I'm working on.. Why? Well, for one, my NDA forbids it, and two, anything I say will ruin the movie for you! However, when the movie comes out, rest assured that if I worked on them, you'll know.
My pirate name is:
Captain John Vane
Even though there's no legal rank on a pirate ship, everyone recognizes you're the one in charge. You tend to blend into the background occasionally, but that's okay, because it's much easier to sneak up on people and disembowel them that way. Arrr!
If you have yet to read it, FXguide has an excellent article (and podcast!) on the visual effects that we accomplished on Letters from Iwo Jima.. Check it out by clicking this link!
Digital Domain handled the vfx on Flags of Our Fathers and the director’s parallel film Letters from Iwo Jima, which tells the story of the same battle from the Japanese perspective. Digital Domain was called on to create photo-realistic landscapes, battle elements, and soldiers for nearly 760 VFX shots spanning both films.Michael Owens, Matthew Butler, Bryan Grill and Julian Levi have been already nominated for a VES Award for Flags of Our Fathers in the category of Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Motion Picture. While the film itself has been nominated for Oscars in the categories of Best Picture, Sound Editing, Writing and Eastwood for Best Director.
Do you have more questions that weren't answered in the article? Feel free to post a comment, and someone will get back to you!
Yep, it just gets crazier and crazier. In addition to creating stereoscopic comps, I'm also pumping them out one every other day or so now. Mind you, it's pretty straightforward. I'm not doing a huge amount of creative work, but a lot of problem solving, splitting shots in different layers so I can project them in 3D, and doing occasional clean up and pick up work. So far I've finalled about 30 shots in the two months I've been on the show (I started on this show on November 5th), and I've got four that I'm working on now. I'm switching gears pretty soon though.. Going from Robinsons land to Pirates land in a couple weeks. Meet The Robinsons was a transition show for me while they ramped up for Pirates, and now it's getting into full swing. They say that there'll be some sweet work for me to do once I get on.. The kind of shots that'll take me the entire show to do. Nice. Finally something I can sink my teeth into.
As it stands now, I will not be attending the VES Show & Tell again this year! Work has me committed this weekend, as next Monday is a holiday. I guess my 55+ hours a week isn't enough! My next huge break will most likely be in March or April, whenever we deliver Pirates. Then, I can tackle all the projects that have fallen on the back burner.
