Handling The Visual Effects

[Dark Knight]

Industrial Light & Magic or WETA Digital should handle the VFX.

Agreed!

WB's needs to get one of those two companies for the VFX and not settle for Sony this time around.

 

[Dark Knight]

We can only hope. I'm praying that Sony ImageWorks will be too busy working on Spidey to sign on for Superman. They're always the go-to VFX team if ILM or WETA are unavailable. I don't think they're nearly capable enough to deliver the same quality so maybe good fortune will keep their schedule busy. If the big two for whatever reason can't work on it, I'll gladly take Digital Domain. Very underrated team who have a knack for pushing boundaries while keeping their work invisible.


I'm shocked that I was so impressed with this. From what I can tell all the midrange to close range shots were the actual actor and that made all the difference. The opening shot in the beginning was especially effective. The rippling jeans and the ambiance of the wind gave a natural vibe to the flying. Camera work also wasn't too flashy so there was the immersion of flying with the man instead of watching him. Great example to work off of.

Agreed!

The 3rd choice to do the VFX behind ILM and Weta, should be Digital Domain and NOT Sony!

 

[combocaz]

ILM or WETA are my choices, if you want the best then these are the two companies that WB should be looking at.

 

[Octoberist]

One emerging VFX company right now is Double Negative, which was the house that worked on The Dark Knight (with Framestore) and Inception. I think they're not bad either if ILM or WETA aren't available.

ANYONE BUT SONY IMAGEWORKS (thought I think the worst VFX studio in the biz is Phill Tippett's, which is sad because he's such a legend.)
Anyway, Sony is working on Green Lantern and while it's not fair to bash them so early for the Green Lantern suit, I don't think their effects are that polished. If Green Lantern was given to ILM or Weta, I think the suit would have looked better even in early form. But we'll see.

 

[dark_b]

Sony will get teh job. WB is always working with them and Snyder worked with them on watchmen.

 

[matrix_ghost]

Dear god , here we go again.
Just like that dude who has a sig along the lines of "every thead on SHH must have a mention of Nolan " , it's the same thing here ...only with ILM or WETA.
EVERY TIME, EVERY TIME someone starts mentioning VFX those 2 companies are the first and only qualified studios out there to handle all the VFX in the world .

Seriously you can get (one of )the best VFX studio out there and hire some lame director and you'll wind up with horrible VFX.
Look at Digital Domain. Their work in Tron Legacy ( with the exception of the digital face of bridges) was amazing. Ditto Benjamin Button. Why is the VFX in GI Joe rise of the cobra are bad ? Or the Mummÿ 3 ?

Even WETA isn't fool proof. They have Avatar , they have LOTR movies , they have King Kong. But they also have done ERAGON , they've also done Rise of the Silver Sulver and The Day The Earth Stood Still.

Small studios can also deliver some fantastic shots . D9 is a good example of that. Ditto WETA when FOTR came out and Manex FX ( which isn't closed if i'm not mistaken) which won the VFX oscars in 2000 for their work in the matrix.
Get the right director and you don't need to worry about the shots , regardless of VFX studio. SNyder is that kind of guy.


Now look at the practical side of things. I do think that this time around Sony Imageworks won't be the main studio working on Superman. THey're busy with Green Lantern and once that's done , they'll go right into Spider-man. Even with Superman coming dec 2012 , i don't think they'll be able to handle the majority of the shots if they can start working after SPider-man is done ( which will be June-July 2012). But they can do some of the shots.

WETA is busy doing the shots of Tin Tin and is also preparing for Hobbit. You can bet your ass that they will be the only VFX studio working on Hobbit. Hobbit will be a massive undertaking for them, so much so that they won't be able to handle another big project. It happened when they were doing the LOTR movies , it happened during King Kong and during Avatar. Considering that filming is going to start soon on Hobbit and it'll end sometime next year , you can pretty much scratch WETA from your list.

ILM could be a possible contender. Aside Battleship , i don't see any big project which they're working on for 2012.
It's the same with Digital Domain , Framestore CFC etc.

 

[Kal-El.9859]

I don't care who they get to do it as long as they do a good job. I want to see a visually stunning movie.

 

[elgaz]

Who did the effects on District 9? I thought they were brilliant, and from what I read, not overpriced either. They had a very gritty realistic look, not like the usual polished (aka blurred) CGi you see.

 

[Project862006]

it is gonna be Sony imo

they did watchmen an are doing green lantern another WB super hero franchise

 

[GreenKToo]

Regardless of who does the FX, all I ask is to please NOT do any close up CG shots of Supes flying...
pretty please even, with a cherry on top.

 

[mclay18]

Who did the effects on District 9? I thought they were brilliant, and from what I read, not overpriced either. They had a very gritty realistic look, not like the usual polished (aka blurred) CGi you see.

I mentioned the companies in the previous page. Let me clarify it though: WETA designed the aliens as well as the ships and alien craft. However, they were deep into working on Avatar and couldn't do any visual effects shots. So Blomkamp hired Vancouver-based Image Engine to do the actual animation.

Zoic (which worked on Firefly and Serenity) and CIS Vancouver also contributed some CG work too.

 

[Octoberist]

So I'm going with Digital Domain, Double Negative or Framestore CFC.

You know, if I'm not mistaken, Zack worked with another CGI house (or several different ones) than Sony with Sucker Punch.

And I have to think about the reaction to the CGI in Green Lantern. I wonder if it'll phase WB and Zack. (To be hoenst, it's not fair to judge Green's CGI yet but the response was unfairly mixed)

In the long run, it depends on the director and the post-production.

 

[Dark Knight]

Dear god , here we go again.
Just like that dude who has a sig along the lines of "every thead on SHH must have a mention of Nolan " , it's the same thing here ...only with ILM or WETA.
EVERY TIME, EVERY TIME someone starts mentioning VFX those 2 companies are the first and only qualified studios out there to handle all the VFX in the world .

Seriously you can get (one of )the best VFX studio out there and hire some lame director and you'll wind up with horrible VFX.
Look at Digital Domain. Their work in Tron Legacy ( with the exception of the digital face of bridges) was amazing. Ditto Benjamin Button. Why is the VFX in GI Joe rise of the cobra are bad ? Or the Mummÿ 3 ?

Even WETA isn't fool proof. They have Avatar , they have LOTR movies , they have King Kong. But they also have done ERAGON , they've also done Rise of the Silver Sulver and The Day The Earth Stood Still.

Small studios can also deliver some fantastic shots . D9 is a good example of that. Ditto WETA when FOTR came out and Manex FX ( which isn't closed if i'm not mistaken) which won the VFX oscars in 2000 for their work in the matrix.
Get the right director and you don't need to worry about the shots , regardless of VFX studio. SNyder is that kind of guy.


Now look at the practical side of things. I do think that this time around Sony Imageworks won't be the main studio working on Superman. THey're busy with Green Lantern and once that's done , they'll go right into Spider-man. Even with Superman coming dec 2012 , i don't think they'll be able to handle the majority of the shots if they can start working after SPider-man is done ( which will be June-July 2012). But they can do some of the shots.

WETA is busy doing the shots of Tin Tin and is also preparing for Hobbit. You can bet your ass that they will be the only VFX studio working on Hobbit. Hobbit will be a massive undertaking for them, so much so that they won't be able to handle another big project. It happened when they were doing the LOTR movies , it happened during King Kong and during Avatar. Considering that filming is going to start soon on Hobbit and it'll end sometime next year , you can pretty much scratch WETA from your list.

ILM could be a possible contender. Aside Battleship , i don't see any big project which they're working on for 2012.
It's the same with Digital Domain , Framestore CFC etc.

ILM should be available. However, they did the VFX for Star Trek and they may also wind up doing it again for the sequel. Digital Domain would be a good choice as well.....potentially.

If WB's, Nolan and Snyder want to make a clean break and distinguish that this film is completely different from Returns, then they need to hire someone else besides Sony to do the VFX work this time around.

Sony did the VFX for Superman Returns.

 

[Spider-Fan]

I'm hoping this film has less stylistic CGI than most of Snyder's work. I don't want Metropolis to look like DCU Online, nor slow motion every 5 seconds during fights. Stylistic CGI has uses, but overusing it makes it a crutch and annoying.

 

[dark_b]

Digital Domain are good.
but IMO they dont have enough power to render frames of a big city and two characters fighting. the amoung polygons in a scene like this are to huge.clouds with global illumination and scattering are also expensive. and from what i understand they are on mentalray and vray. there is no way to render this out on those renders.
Digital Domain needs to buy a lot of computers and go full raytracing with Arnold (like Sonyimageworks) or go back to Renderman.
Vray and Mentalray are good enough for a CGI face on a live action body. but to render a fullbody with huge amoung of models in the background with depth of field and motion blur ,vray is not enough.

the reason i personal hope for ILM and WETA(they will not have the time so f... it) is because they have computer power and custom software that is designed for complex bigscale blockbusters. they have the power and resources that you need for a superman movie.

 

[mclay18]

So I'm going with Digital Domain, Double Negative or Framestore CFC.

That sounds reasonable. People who think ILM or WETA are the only ones who can do it because they're "well-equipped to handle the pipeline of intensive visual effects shots" are kidding themselves. Smaller visual effects companies who are willing to go all out and get their names out there can do just as fine on a smaller budget.

Framestore, MPC and Double Negative have had experience with huge blockbusters before, like the HP series and Nolan's Batman films. The latest HP film had good visual effects, and ILM wasn't involved with that at all. I won't be surprised if Snyder uses those London-based companies plus some of the Canadian-based ones like Image Engine and CIS Vancouver.

 

[Doc Samson]

Regardless of who does the FX, all I ask is to please NOT do any close up CG shots of Supes flying...
pretty please even, with a cherry on top.

Bottomline is we shouldn't see Superman flying with clarity anyway, unless he's romancing Lois (which I've had enough of already, how many late night flights does one need to be in love?)

It should be like that DCU Online commercial, just a blur. FX are one thing, but Superman's powers across the board need to be shown in a more visceral light.

 

[Dark Knight]

That sounds reasonable. People who think ILM or WETA are the only ones who can do it because they're "well-equipped to handle the pipeline of intensive visual effects shots" are kidding themselves. Smaller visual effects companies who are willing to go all out and get their names out there can do just as fine on a smaller budget.

Framestore, MPC and Double Negative have had experience with huge blockbusters before, like the HP series and Nolan's Batman films. The latest HP film had good visual effects, and ILM wasn't involved with that at all. I won't be surprised if Snyder uses those London-based companies plus some of the Canadian-based ones like Image Engine and CIS Vancouver.

 

[GreenKToo]

Bottomline is we shouldn't see Superman flying with clarity anyway, unless he's romancing Lois (which I've had enough of already, how many late night flights does one need to be in love?)

It should be like that DCU Online commercial, just a blur. FX are one thing, but Superman's powers across the board need to be shown in a more visceral light.

I still shudder at the scene at the end of SR when supes is flying in the clouds..they used a close up of a CG superman for that. It looked like a mannequin.

 

[DorkyFresh]

dear Mr. Snyder,

please incorporate a shot like this please...

...thank you!

 

[SuperDaniel]

^Hell yeah!!

 

[Micromind]

It will be SONY IMAGEWORKS.

Deal with it.

 

[storyteller]

I think its less the studio and more the director in some of these cases. These studios can only do so much as the director wants envisioned. I think we should probably expect some super damn good closeups from Snyder. The man is king of money shots. I don't expect him to pull that Superman cgi slams down on the ground and clearly looks fake shots.

 

[DorkyFresh]

I think its less the studio and more the director in some of these cases. These studios can only do so much as the director wants envisioned. I think we should probably expect some super damn good closeups from Snyder. The man is king of money shots. I don't expect him to pull that Superman cgi slams down on the ground and clearly looks fake shots.

kudos for realizing this...

...SPI has worked on some movies with VERY solid effects such as Cast Away, Starship Troophers, and even Watchmen. a director that doesn't work well with effects can use ILM and still come out with questionable visuals. there are a lot of great shots from the Spider-Man films, Beowulf, and Monster House was awesome to watch. SPI ain't bad, but under a director who doesn't normally work with effects (Bryan Singer) they CAN produce some less than stellar visuals.

 

[matrix_ghost]

So I'm going with Digital Domain, Double Negative or Framestore CFC.

You know, if I'm not mistaken, Zack worked with another CGI house (or several different ones) than Sony with Sucker Punch.

And I have to think about the reaction to the CGI in Green Lantern. I wonder if it'll phase WB and Zack. (To be hoenst, it's not fair to judge Green's CGI yet but the response was unfairly mixed)

In the long run, it depends on the director and the post-production.

Speaking of Green Lantern , i wonder if WB and Snyder will take a similar approach and make Cavill wear a imocap suit for the VFX shots and create the superman suit digitally.
Maybe it'll be a combo of 2 ? The regular suit will be worn in normal shots but as soon as supes goes into action , they'll make cavill wear the imocap suit.