If you just think for a second that all the compositing for Who Framed Roger Rabbit was done optically, it blows your mind. Check out my interview with ILM’s then optical photography supervisor Ed Jones about how that was done, on the 30th anniversary of the film, at Cartoon Brew.
A look behind the scenes at how Weta Digital, Imageworks, Animal Logic and ILM craft digital foliage, at 3D World magazine. Loved writing this one.
A look at some new animation software made for TeamTO’s new project, Mighty Mike & the Wild Bunch, at Cartoon Brew.
In my book, Masters of FX, I profiled 16 visual and special effects supervisors about their bodies of work. One of those was Ian Hunter, who, through Hunter/Gratzner Industries and New Deal Studios, has contributed a wealth of practical, miniature, and other effects work for large scale films and other projects.
Hunter supervised the miniature explosion of the federal building in The X-Files Movie, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this week. Back in 1998, the film featured a mix of practical and digital effects work, but the building explosion and subsequent partial collapse – which happens very early on – was easily the most spectacular scene.
That work made its way as a dedicated spread into Masters of FX, but as a special for the anniversary, I’m sharing Hunter’s full notes on that scene that he prepared for me for the book. Read on to find out more about the concept of ‘pre-disastering’, air rams and cut-up phone books. Continue reading On the 20th anniversary of The X-Files Movie: ‘splosions!
For Cartoon Brew, I talked to Encyclopedia Pictura about their neat DIY minisodes for Cartoon Network.
If you get a chance to see Google Spotlight Stories’ latest VR experience, Piggy, do it. Or you can read about it in my piece at Cartoon Brew after I had a go of the short at Annecy and then spoke to director Jan Pinkava.
For VFX Voice, I asked Solo vfx supervisor Rob Bredow about some of the rear projection work for the cockpit scenes.
For VFX Voice, my newest piece on Deadpool 2 – the huge convoy sequence!
Felix & Paul Studios is behind the ‘Jurassic World: Blue‘ VR mini-series available on Oculus Go, Oculus Rift and Samsung Gear VR headsets. They worked with ILM on the experience, and here’s a neat featurette on how the mocap was achieved. Look for ILM’s awesome animation supe Glen McIntosh!
Here’s my coverage of the visual effects for Solo’s L3, Rio and Lady Proxima at Thrillist.