Film: March 2007 Archives
Some screenshots to keep you salvating for the Flags of our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima breakdowns that I'm currently prepping! The resulting posts will be on VFXTalk and here in on DigitalGypsy within the gallery section.
You may have noticed that I've added some del.icio.us linking and Digg goodness here. Just a little bit more interactivity for your browsing pleasure. I'm also trying to figure out how to get comment updating working correctly, so you can subscribe to a post itself, and get an email telling you when a comment you wrote has been answered. RIght now I think it only lets me know when there's a new comment. Previously I was using MTComment on a old version of Movable Type, so hopefully I can get it working again.
The deadline is fast approaching. I can't believe that we've only got a couple more weeks, and then the show is all over! I don't where the other studios are in the deadlines. Currently the companies finishing up the show are ILM, DD, the Orphanage, Evil Eye, Gentle Giant, and Asylum. I think Pac Title is doing some finishing work, and Proof, like always, is doing the previs. We had a previs artist earlier in the year who they placed next to me, and we got a chance to talk during his several months here. It was quite interesting talking to him about the state of the industry, and where he fit in, in the pipeline. The work he, and the other previs artists in the industry, are doing is vital. They're responsible for creating some of the dynamic shots in all the movies you like to see while keeping the show on budget and efficient. They figure out what sort of moves an actual or virtual camera rig is capable of, so you're not surpised when you get on set. Another group of unsung heroes! He's now off our show, now working with the team on Avatar here in LA.
The great thing, or one of the great things, about working on this show is that occasionally we'll need to shoot some extra elements for certain sequences. The stage and lot has been closed down several times to facilate the extra shooting schedule. We've had some really cool element shoots out there, from ships to smoke to debris. Come March 19th, you'll see a lot of cool work and extra bits that some of the artists did for the trailer. Which reminds me, that's coming out in two days, and like you, I haven't seen it yet, and no, I don't have any shots in the trailer for this film.
The 17 shots that are still on my plate, are, well... still on my plate. No finals, just consistent tweaks. They may get added to or removed, depending on my workload in the future, and how busy I'll be with them and with helping some of the other artists. If you noticed on my gallery page lately that I've listed last years movies (Flags, Letters, and Charlotte's Web) with coming soon dates of early this year.. Well, that's not happening, as you can tell! I've got such a limited amount of time that I haven't had a chance to get the DVDs and start doing some breakdowns. I'm hoping come end of April I'll have something added there and in the Case Studies section of VFXTalk.
As I wait for some of my renders to complete, I thought I'd share what sorts of things happened this week.. Most of it is Pirates related, but there were several bonus items that happened as well! Tuesday evening we had monthlies, which is a gathering of DD folk, and we watch everything accomplished during the month from the entire studio. Lots of great commercial spots, and work in progress from all our films that we're currently working on. To name a few, Transformers and Pirates. It's definitely coming along, and there are some really cool sequences that I can't wait to see completed! We also got a chance to see a significant number of completed Meet The Robinsons shots, in 3D. Not that old school anaglyph stuff, but in polarized light! It was pretty impressive, considering the amount of work that we had to do to create a 3D shot from 2D imagery! Luckily we had some talented supervisors and technical artists that had built a fairly efficient pipeline to accomplish the massive number of shots for the show (over 1600!)
I've been handed a couple more shots to start.. I am unsure as to whether I'll finish them though. I've got a good technique down to complete some of the more complex shots in the sequence that I'm working on, and so I've been prepping them for some of the other artists, possibly. So this Saturday morning I'm in and cleaning up the script, making it pass-able to another artist.
Yesterday, Friday, we had a sneak preview, well, actually, just a review, of some of the effects work that the fx team is doing for our show. It wasn't really a sneak preview, since we're currently working on the effects, but there were definitely some eye pleasing visuals from the team. I remember a couple of years ago when water was the tough item to create, along with fire and smoke. Well, I've gotta say, that those days are long gone. After seeing the work, I"m still amazed that all this stuff comes from the computer. The talent behind all this imagery still continues to amaze me.
