How to: Rey & Kylo vs. Snoke’s Elite Praetorian Guard

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The moment Rey and Kylo Ren take on Snoke’s Elite Praetorian Guard’s is one of the many highlights from Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi. I’ll have more on how Industrial Light & Magic crafted Snoke soon, but here’s overall visual effects supervisor Ben Morris on how that lightsaber fight scene, which was overseen by ILM London VFX supe Mike Mulholland, came to be, including the curtain of fire surrounding them and the weapons used by the guards. Continue reading “How to: Rey & Kylo vs. Snoke’s Elite Praetorian Guard” →

ILM’s ‘The Last Jedi’ visual effects supervisor on how that Holdo hyperspace scene surprised even him

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In the coming days I’ll have a bunch of coverage of the visual effects of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, based on a visit I made to ILM London just before Christmas. First up is a look at that stunning and surprising hyperspace moment when Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo (Laura Dern) slams the Raddus – mid-hyperdrive – into Supreme Leader Snoke’s ship, the Supremacy.

The resulting white streak of an explosion is a heart-wrenching moment of sacrifice played out in complete silence. Overall visual effects supervisor Ben Morris from ILM initially thought the sequence might involve a ton of complex destruction effects simulations, but director Rian Johnson had something else in mind. Continue reading “ILM’s ‘The Last Jedi’ visual effects supervisor on how that Holdo hyperspace scene surprised even him” →

New 3D World mag goes deep on The Last Jedi, Houdini and Massive

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Check out the new issue of 3D World magazine – I had such a fun time working on stories about The Last Jedi, Massive’s new horse and rider agent, and about Houdini’s procedural toolsets.

Invisible fx in Baby Driver, Atomic Blonde and Detroit

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I’ve had a lot of fun over the years writing about invisible fx work, and this new piece at VFX Voice’s website covers Image Engine’s work in Detroit, Chimney’s Atomic Blonde vfx and Dneg’s seamless Baby Driver augmentations.

Paddington 2 pop-up fun

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Go and see Paddington 2. Just see it. It’s so good. Here’s a look at how Framestore pulled off that cool pop-up book sequence, at VFX Voice.

Downsizing is a great addition to a rich history of miniaturization effects films, without being an effects film

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For Cartoon Brew, I talked to vfx supervisor James E. Price about the miniaturization work in Downsizing. Loved this film.

Jumanji’s CG and other effects

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Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle has incredible CG work, but also a host of other visual effects. Check out my coverage at Cartoon Brew.

Dry for wet, practical suits and CGI – how effects techniques were combined in ‘The Shape of Water’

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Combining effects can be the best kind of effects. Read my behind the scenes look at the film at Cartoon Brew.

Miniaturisation secrets: Eric Brevig on ‘The Indian in the Cupboard’

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Alexander Payne’s Downsizing, soon in theatres, marks the latest in a rich history of films that have dealt with miniaturisation – that is, showing shrunken-down characters in a real-sized world.

Films such as Fantastic Voyage, Inner Space, Willow, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Hook, The Indian in the Cupboard and Ant-Man are all ones that have used different visual effects techniques to go small. These techniques have ranged from forced perspective, over-sized sets, shooting on blue or greenscreen and of course digital means.

Visual effects supervisor Eric Brevig happens to have worked on a coupe of these types of films, including one of my favourites, The Indian in the Cupboard, which featured visual effects from Industrial Light & Magic. I asked him about his memories of that film and the methodology behind miniaturisation. Continue reading “Miniaturisation secrets: Eric Brevig on ‘The Indian in the Cupboard’” →

Are you planning for FMX yet?

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I first heard about FMX in 2011, just as I started writing full-time about visual effects. I went there – it’s in Stuttgart – and was immediately hooked. There’s a ton of super-cool visual effects, animation and CG presentations.

You could go to JUST THOSE all week if you wanted to. But why the conference is even better is the breadth of other things going on: recruitment, AR/VR/tech demos, in-depth software/hardware talks, screenings – and maybe the best thing: people. I’ve made a whole bunch of friends there who I probably see only once a year. And you get to meet a lot of industry members and artists. It’s worth it just for that.

Six-odd years later, I’m now on the Program Board for FMX, and I’ll be running a track at the conference in April 2018 called ‘Then & Now.’ I’ll talk more about what this will ultimately involve soon, but the first announced speaker in that track is the amazing Phil Tippett. That might give you a bit of insight into what Then & Now is all about.

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Things start at FMX on April 24, 2018, which is definitely not very far away in terms of planning ahead. Find out more about some of the announced sessions in this press release, and keep an eye on fmx.de for more announcements.

Hope to see you there!