Category: vfxblog
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Inside Kong: Skull Island’s final battle
There are a number of fierce fight scenes in Kong: Skull Island – one of the most intense is the final battle between Kong and a giant Skullcrawler. ILM handled the complex sequence, which included not only extensive character animation, but also a photoreal jungle and water environment and plenty of effects simulations. Academy Award…
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The making of The Last Jedi’s crystal foxes
Towards the end of The Last Jedi, we meet on Crait a number of Vulptex creatures, fox-like animals with crystalline bristles. Although a detailed animatronic was made for the production, the Vulptices were ultimately crafted in CG by ILM. Academy Award nominee Ben Morris from ILM was the overall visual effects supervisor on The Last…
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The story behind those crazy dioramas in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
A unique scene in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 has Ego (Kurt Russell) explaining to the Guardians his history of universe travel and his many lovers. This is told in a sequence featuring visual effects by Animal Logic, which created 3D picture dioramas with characters inside resembling almost porcelhine-like statues. Academy Award nominee Christopher…
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How the orange haze of Blade Runner 2049’s Las Vegas meant 13 hour renders
Some of the most visually startling moments in Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049 are the distinctively orange and hazy Las Vegas scenes. The look for these was said to be inspired by a rare Sydney sandstorm (one that I remember living through). Academy Award nominee Richard R. Hoover was Framestore’s visual effects supervisor on Blade…
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Tracking nightmares: behind Blur’s half-digested Billy shots in Deep Rising – from 20 years ago
“We said, sure, we can do it! And we did it, although it was very, very painful.” – David Stinnett, Blur Studio While it may not have made a splash at the box office when it was released 20 years ago, Stephen Somers’ Deep Rising certainly contained some considerable ‘out-there’ practical and CG creature work. Most…
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Coming this week to vfxblog – 5 visual stories from 5 VFX Oscar nominees
This week I’ll be posting five original visual stories showcasing the work of the five films nominated for the visual effects Oscar, with observations from five of the nominees themselves. Stay tuned to vfxblog.com…
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The story behind Cloverfield’s classic Statue of Liberty shot – in the teaser AND the final film
In the summer of 2007, Paramount Pictures ran a teaser trailer for an unnamed film with the release of Michael Bay’s Transformers. It featured a group of New York friends at a party who suddenly witness a massive explosion and then see the head of the Statute of Liberty careening down a city street. That…
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Retro VFX: Cloning Freddie Prinze, Jr.
In 2005, a new show called Freddie starring Freddie Prinze, Jr. briefly made it onto US television screens. While the show’s one and only season may not have been that memorable, its opening titles were pretty cool – they featured a number of ‘Freddie’ clones getting up to mischief in one continuous shot. Back then,…
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Behind the scenes of BBC’s Christmas stop-motion film
Head over to Blinkink’s website which was behind the production of BBC One’s Christmas animation film, The Supporting Act, for some neat making of footage showing the stop-motion in progress. The characters were animated that way, but their facial features were done digitally.
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