Action Sequences
Via Film Critic Hulk I’ve come across this nice and exhausting analysis of a particular action sequence in Nolan’s “The Dark Knight”:
The guy who made this is a movie critic who worked together with Roger Ebert so in a way his analysis of the action sequence has a bit of an academic feel to it. Sure, action that goes from left to right in one shot and then from right to left in the next may be “wrong” but it’s the 21st century. Nobody will assume that a convoy of half a dozen cars has suddenly changed direction.
Incidentally, I’ve also watched “The Dark Knight” again recently. The whole sequence didn’t feel that good to me but not for the changing number of police cars or the unclear position of Harvey Dent in relation to the vehicles.
- To me it just felt preposterous that a truck can crash into the convoy to take out the SWAT vehicle in front of Harvey Dent’s transporter yet the convoy is able to continue without having to slow down. The Joker’s truck would probably block all lanes for quite a while.
- It also felt weird that the convoy was diverted by the burning fire truck in the first place. It was supposed to be the most important convoy in Gotham City. The route was supposed to be cleared of any traffic, and there even was a helicopter. Yet nobody bothered to constantly keep an eye on the whole area? Nobody noticed that somebody ignited a vehicle in downtown Gotham? It was up to the cops in the leading vehicle to notice the burning road block after they had already been approaching it for at least one city block. That level of police-force incompetence is mind-boggling.
Here’s another video from Jim Emerson, this time about an action sequence in “Salt” which he thought was well-executed because it has shot/reverse shot consistency. I admit he has a point. But the stunts that Angelina Jolie pulls off in this clip are ridiculously super-human so I’m a bit uncertain which action scene I like better:
Anyway, the essay that led me to these videos in the first place is Film Critic Hulk’s three-part write-up on what constitutes good action scenes. It’s an interesting read if you have 1-2 hours to spare 🙂 Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3
The Art of Simon Stålenhag
Fantastic paintings by Swedish (concept) artist Simon Stålenhag!
(check out his portfolio on www.simonstalenhag.se)
These paintings work on so many levels. For one, I dig the idea. Dinosaurs and Mechas in rural Sweden?! How cool would it be to live in that universe!
I also like how the artist chose seemingly mundane events for his pictures. Kids strolling around outside, people with their backs to the camera doing some boring tasks or manual labor. Nothing about the presence of dinosaurs seems to bother the inhabitants of Stalenhag’s fantasy world and those giant machines that are littering the landscape are as thrilling as rusty tractors. Are they the remnants of a war? Or “just” the result of energy shortage or an economic downturn?
Stalenhag’s paintings are also a great reference for cg compositing or matte paintings! Take a hint from his lighting, reflections and usage of fog and haze to create depth. Especially the painting of those sun-lit towers in the distance is a great reference if you want to get some inspiration on how specular highlights should be affected by atmospheric conditions.
Motion Control
Bot & Dolly is a San Francisco-based company that offers robots for motion controlled cameras. This mind-boggling video installation – where computer animation is being projected onto two large panels – shows off their hardware.
I’m guessing everything in this video relies on their robots: not only the screens but also the camera – despite its hand-held feeling – is probably motion controlled. In that case, all positions in 3D space would be known and video projections could be pre-rendered to match the camera’s point of view. It would be nice to see a making-of though. Did they use robots to control the projectors as well or are they stationary? Or is everything being rendered in real-time?
Anyway, what an amazing mix of analog and digital.
And speaking of motion control, here’s the other famous robot in the VFX business: Spike, a high-speed robot coupled with a high-speed camera.
http://vimeo.com/33408157
Working at Various VFX Companies
I’ve recently been working on a full-cg piece for Porsche’s 918 Spyder hybrid car (don’t think about bying one though, because all 918 models have already been sold out).
Comp lead was Julian Schädler and I’d like to link to his blog here because he has written about his work experience for a bunch of VFX companies:
MPC London
Mackevision (Stuttgart)
Pixomondo (Stuttgart)
With the last one, there’s a lot of shit hitting the fan right now regarding their payment practices. Freelancers who are still owed money are venting their anger on Facebook.
update:
Found out about the site thevfxwatchers.org, which aims to be a way for freelancers to anonymously rate employers in the vfx industry. They are apparently eager to make this a constructive site instead of an arena for ranting and libel. So far the response seems to be a bit limited. For example, Scott Squires pointed to the site numerous times on twitter after bad business and payment practices have been made public, yet few ratings have seemed to trickle in at thevfxwatchers.
Is it the End for the Visual Effects (VFX) Industry? http://t.co/A1NKM50gRM Still no reviews on http://t.co/Q0JABKXkaP even anonymously
— Scott Squires @scottsquires.bsky.social (@scott_squires) August 11, 2013
I hope that this site picks up some steam, and that it becomes a site that recommends places with good working conditions, sound production planning and staff that knows how to treat workers well and sail the rough waters of vfx business relations. After all, gratification is more effective than punishment when training dogs. Maybe it works for businesses as well 🙂
Pacific Rim Fan-Art
Artsy pop culture site “blurppy” has a great collection of Pacific Rim movie posters made by various designers. Check out their two-part series by clicking on either thumbnail!
left one by Richard Davies, right one by Doaly
(found via Mech Love Not War)
Funny how many posters in the 2nd gallery take inspiration from Japanese iconography. The movie itself stars a Japanese actress but the plot takes place in Hong-Kong.
I wonder how that movie is received in China or if it is even shown there? From what I learned during my stay in Shanghai, only a couple of western blockbusters are admitted to Chinese theaters each year. Which is probably part of the reason why many big Hollywood productions are cozying up to that market (Emmerich’s 2012 making a statement about Tibet that made the audience cheer, Bruce Willis being married to Qing Xu in Looper).
Maybe there’s a special edit for that market with more shots of the Chinese mecha pilots? Because a Japanese girl defending Hong-Kong might feel to some people like Germans defending Moscow…
And here’s one more treat I found on blurppy: A fan-made trailer for Pacific Rim in the style of those good old Godzilla movies. I love it and vintage grading they put on top of that clip makes the CGI even more life-like in my opinion.
By the way, all of this creativity could be killed off by the ongoing trend of always tougher copyright enforcement and lawmaking. Update: a link on that would be nice, so here’s an article on techdirt that touches on that subject of fair use.
The Pixel Painter
Here’s a great short film about a 97 year old man who uses MS Paint to great effect. Touching!
Mara Drehbeginn
Diese Tage hat der Dreh für Mara und der Feuerbringer begonnen, ein deutscher Fantasyfilm, der auf dem gleichnamigen Buch von Tommy Krappweis basiert.
Fotos von der Mara Facebook-Seite. Produktion: Rat Pack / Constantin Film
Die Abenteuer der titelgebenden Mara sind eng mit der nordischen und germanischen Sagenwelt verknüpft, wobei ein Augenmerk auch auf historischer Korrektheit liegt. Kitschig-gehörnte Wikinger wie bei Wiki und die Starken Männer wird es also nicht zu sehen geben – dafür allerlei germanisches Sagengetier. Starring unter anderem: Christoph Maria Herbst als Loki.
News vom Set gibt’s auf der Facebook-Seite der Münchner Firma BigHugFX.
Wieso ich das poste? Ich werde als Compositing Lead dabei sein und freue mich schon riesig. Denn an Bord ist als VFX Supervisor John Nugent, mit so kleinen Referenzen wie “Lord of the Rings”. Regisseur und Drehbuchautor Tommy Krappweiss hat übrigens auch eine gute Referenz auf dem Buckel: Bernd das Brot 🙂 Das Projekt verspricht also, unterhaltsam zu werden!
english summary: I’ll be working on a German fantasy feature film, vfx supervisor is John Nugent of “Lord of the Rings” fame.
