Post by Vince De Quattro on Sept 10, 2005 8:59:35 GMT -8
Here's a great example of an essay concerning the contribution of visual effects to a particular film.
Essay submitted by Lan Tang, Fall 2005.
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (Twentieth Century Fox/LucasFilm LTD), released in 1999 and helmed by veteran director, George Lucas, was one of the most successful movies of that year. While many critics reviewed the direction, the acting and some of the script writing unfavorably due to high expectations, the special effects were stunning and recognized as state-of-the art. Visual Effects Supervisors John Knoll, Dennis Muren, and Scott Squires along with Animation Director Rob Coleman were nominated for Best Visual Effects at the Academy Awards for that year. With over 2,000 impressive visual shots and almost 70 percent of all elements generated by computer, Industrial Light and Magic (ILM)'s work on this project is one of the most remarkable achievements in effects history. Among the visual effects, I want to talk about the computer generated characters and the massive usage of bluescreens.
In The Phantom Menace, many of the live action shots were filmed on a full-sized set. Some of these full-sized sets had areas of bluescreen strategically placed in them. One obvious example of where this was done would be the Jedi Council’s chamber. The interior of the chamber was built as a full-sized set with a 300-foot-long bluescreen placed in an area where a big window might be found. The bluescreen was later replaced with computer generated images of a window and its views, which include the city landscape and activities. There were many instances when different special effects techniques were combined seamlessly to provide a hybrid effect that would have been difficult to achieve otherwise. An example of this can be found in a scene in a Gungan room which was created using a combination of miniature set, partial full-sized set for live action, and bluescreens for the rest. For live action that were shot in front of a bluescreen, John Knoll invented software to control the blue spill in order to minimize the light reflected from the bluescreen,
3-D animation was widely used in this film. One of the main characters, Jar Jar Binks, was created entirely with computers. To make the 3-D character’s clothes look realistic, ILM developed new software to create lifelike clothing movements. Other significant innovation including tracking camera movements on live action set, so that the digital artists can merge computer-generated characters into live action footage without matchmovers. In the case of the Droid army, ILM transferred a man’s movements into the computer and cloned hundreds of soldiers. There are more than 60 computer-generated characters in The Phantom Menace and many interact seamless next to the real actors. In 1999, I would consider this kind of achievement groundbreaking.
One of the most memorable moments in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace was the epic battle fought between the Naboo, with their Gungan and Jedi allies, and the Trade Federation. To accomplish this, ILM made use of computers in creating and animating 3-D characters and elements at a scale that had not been attempted before. Along with strategic use of other reliable visual effects techniques such as bluescreens, miniatures, and full-sized sets, they were able to create a film that blurred the lines between reality and fantasy even further. Now if we could only edit out some of the bad dialogue and slow the pace down in a few places, then we would have a classic worthy of the name Star Wars.
Essay submitted by Lan Tang, Fall 2005.
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (Twentieth Century Fox/LucasFilm LTD), released in 1999 and helmed by veteran director, George Lucas, was one of the most successful movies of that year. While many critics reviewed the direction, the acting and some of the script writing unfavorably due to high expectations, the special effects were stunning and recognized as state-of-the art. Visual Effects Supervisors John Knoll, Dennis Muren, and Scott Squires along with Animation Director Rob Coleman were nominated for Best Visual Effects at the Academy Awards for that year. With over 2,000 impressive visual shots and almost 70 percent of all elements generated by computer, Industrial Light and Magic (ILM)'s work on this project is one of the most remarkable achievements in effects history. Among the visual effects, I want to talk about the computer generated characters and the massive usage of bluescreens.
In The Phantom Menace, many of the live action shots were filmed on a full-sized set. Some of these full-sized sets had areas of bluescreen strategically placed in them. One obvious example of where this was done would be the Jedi Council’s chamber. The interior of the chamber was built as a full-sized set with a 300-foot-long bluescreen placed in an area where a big window might be found. The bluescreen was later replaced with computer generated images of a window and its views, which include the city landscape and activities. There were many instances when different special effects techniques were combined seamlessly to provide a hybrid effect that would have been difficult to achieve otherwise. An example of this can be found in a scene in a Gungan room which was created using a combination of miniature set, partial full-sized set for live action, and bluescreens for the rest. For live action that were shot in front of a bluescreen, John Knoll invented software to control the blue spill in order to minimize the light reflected from the bluescreen,
3-D animation was widely used in this film. One of the main characters, Jar Jar Binks, was created entirely with computers. To make the 3-D character’s clothes look realistic, ILM developed new software to create lifelike clothing movements. Other significant innovation including tracking camera movements on live action set, so that the digital artists can merge computer-generated characters into live action footage without matchmovers. In the case of the Droid army, ILM transferred a man’s movements into the computer and cloned hundreds of soldiers. There are more than 60 computer-generated characters in The Phantom Menace and many interact seamless next to the real actors. In 1999, I would consider this kind of achievement groundbreaking.
One of the most memorable moments in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace was the epic battle fought between the Naboo, with their Gungan and Jedi allies, and the Trade Federation. To accomplish this, ILM made use of computers in creating and animating 3-D characters and elements at a scale that had not been attempted before. Along with strategic use of other reliable visual effects techniques such as bluescreens, miniatures, and full-sized sets, they were able to create a film that blurred the lines between reality and fantasy even further. Now if we could only edit out some of the bad dialogue and slow the pace down in a few places, then we would have a classic worthy of the name Star Wars.