Marvel approached our visual effects team led by VFX Supervisor Hanzhi Tang to partner on Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Tang and his team of 115 Digital Domain artists created the lush landscape that finally reveals Wenwu’s hidden fortress.
In addition to the environment and fortress, our team also provided visual effects for the action-packed compound escape sequence creating almost 275 shots for the film.
Let’s go behind the scenes of the Apple TV+ sci-fi series, Foundation, with VFX Supervisor Chris MacLean and many others featuring lots of interesting breakdown and on-set footage.
Cinesite’s Montreal team created visual effects for the biographical drama based on the life of iconic singer Aretha Franklin. Respect is the second autobiographical drama Cinesite has completed, following the Elton John biopic Rocketman. The film follows the tempestuous and inspiring life of iconic soul singer Aretha Franklin.
FX supervisor Holger Voss worked closely with production VFX supervisor and producer Sean Nowlan, assisting on set and sharing the benefit of his prior experience as VFX supervisor on Rocketman
Weta Digital’s contribution to The Green Knight focused on atmospheric landscapes and strange characters, including a race of mystical giants and a talking fox. Our team used matte painting and traditional compositing techniques to honour director David Lowry’s surreal medieval vision.
For Twentieth Century Studios’ Free Guy, Digital Domain Visual Effects Supervisor Nikos Kalaitzidis led a team of about 254 artists, creating 347 VFX shots for the film. From replacing actors with digidoubles to creating entire CG cities, Digital Domain was also responsible for the 87 gameplay shots that take place inside of Free City, along with the exciting, action-packed opening sequence we call “The Oner,” which truly sets the tone for the film.
Here is only a small glimpse at the awesome VFX work created by the team at Digital Domain.
VFX Supervisor Olivier Cauwet talks about the visual effects work (made by BUF) to recreate Paris and the Eiffel Tower in this making of about the French movie, Eiffel
The Path to Dune continues with this exclusive look at bringing the grotesque Baron Harkonnen to life. Dune director Denis Villeneuve, Makeup & Hair Dept. Head and Prosthetic Designer Donald Mowat, and cast members Stellan Skarsgård, David Dastmalchian, and Josh Brolin talk about the film’s various makeup designs.
Denis Villeneuve and Roger Deakins have collaborated on some of the most visually stunning movies in recent years. In this video, Villeneuve and Deakins discuss their approach to visual storytelling in films like Sicario and Prisoners. Specifically, how cinematic lighting was used in their favorite scene from Sicario, how “cutting the frame” in composition focuses the audience, and how framing characters in wide shots can be just as effective as cutting in with close-ups.
In the first chapter, Deakins describes the technique of “cutting the frame,” in which shooting through a doorway or using the architecture of the set helps simplify the image. This effectively reduces the visual information and allows the viewer to focus where you want them to. In certain contexts or genres, this film composition technique can also create tension, as if these characters are unknowingly being watched.
In a scene that concludes Kate’s (Emily Blunt) character arc in Sicario, she is threatened by Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro) who holds a gun to her head to sign a document. As Deakins and Villeneuve point out, it’s such a simple scene in terms of cinematography techniques and film composition — two people sitting at a table talking. But the real visual storytelling is carried by the cinematic lighting. Kate is more evenly lit and exposed, while Alejandro is backlit, lurking and dangerous in the shadows.
For the final chapter, Villeneuve and Deakins talk about the director’s preference for holding shots or even entire scenes in wide shots. The example they point to comes in Sicario after the extraction/border shootout. As the rest of the team heads into the building, the camera stays wide to capture a tense argument between Kate and Matt (Josh Brolin) in the distance. Instead of cutting in with standard coverage, Kate is left alone, isolated in a wide shot. This type of visual storytelling challenges the viewer by breaking the rules of film composition.
As you approach visual storytelling in your next project, remember these tips. Use cinematic lighting to enhance the power of a simple dialogue scene; shoot through doors or around corners to focus the audience’s attention and/or create tension; and experiment with wide shots when showing a character in context as a more effective way to communicate their mental state.
Earlier in the year, Executive Producer David Conley and VFX Supervisors, Erik Winquist and Stephen Unterfranz, joined Shadow in the Cloud director Rosanne Liang on a panel for the DGA Virtual Production event. They had an open conversation about modern virtual production technology, including two projects with different LED workflows, and discussed in detail the learnings and challenges they experienced with some of WETA Digital’s earlier LED virtual production projects.