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Future of the VFX industry: 6 Predictions for 2015

Whenever we see a new beginning in the horizon, we look for the crystal ball! What does the future hold for us? We just have to know and be prepared!

However, crystal balls are rather well known for throwing some curve balls that at best make no sense and at worst drive you up a wall. And that is when we go back and rely on the time tested technique of studying the past and making a few educated guesses at what might be in store for us in the future. We did same to figure out what the VFX industry has in store for it in the year 2015, especially with the rapid advancements in virtual film production, and here is what we came up with!

Our 6 predictions for the VFX industry in 2015

Technology will continue to lead the way

There was a time when advances in technology were spread out through decades. Now, at the very least, a few life-altering technological advances are announced each year. This is always good news for any industry that depends on technology for its growth The VFX industry, in particular, thrives on these advancements, constantly evolving with new tools and techniques. There will always be something new for VFX studios to add to their list of services, from cutting-edge rendering software to the latest breakthroughs in virtual film production. We can predict with almost 100% certainty that growth is guaranteed if you place your studio well and deliver! This constant evolution in the future of the VFX industry ensures that there will never be a time when a professional from this field can say, “I have learned it all!” We foresee every professional revisiting school at least once or twice to stay updated and in the game. And that brings good news for the education industry as well!

Direct to client approach

This generation of marketing departments is, of course, digitally savvy. That means no more waiting to hear from an intermediate agency! We see studios reaching out to clients directly. After all, with the digital medium, anything is possible! As the future of VFX continues to evolve, this direct approach will become more common, enabling faster and more efficient collaboration.

Look out for new job titles

Technology has a way of creating new avenues. As the future of the future of the VFX industry grows with every step, forward that technology takes and spread across different specialized segments, we see a whole new range of job tittles taking the spotlight. VFX Studios will require professionals with different skill sets to create well-rounded teams. How else can they team up their clients to co-create a campaign using the latest advancements in virtual film production?

Clash between Magic Leap and Oculus Rift

Last year we saw Facebook backing up Magic Leap and Google extending their support to Oculus Rift, both products involved in creating immersive virtual reality. They are definitely different in how they work but both will need work done that falls right in the lap of the current gaming and CG pipelines. Irrespective of who wins the war between these two products, the VFX industry will definitely benefit. The profit margins may not be great as of yet but will it certainly be a great opportunity for studios to get a head start in shaping the future of VFX.

Interactive work: Rise in profit margins

There was a time when creating interactive work in the VFX industry was painstaking. That meant taking on large volumes was tough for even the most advanced VFX studios. But with the way technology has advanced off late, tools that simplify this process, including virtual film production, are now many. That means creating these solutions is now easier. We can’t see anything but growth in profit margins in this segment this year, which is contributing to the future of the VFX industry.

The boom

The three industries that predominantly utilise the services of VFX video games, marketing and cinema & television. And these industries today are bigger than ever, only showing signs of continuous and tremendous growth. The obvious conclusion here is that the VFX industry shall also continue to grow with them. Moreover, advancements like virtual film production are transforming how movies and shows are created, offering exciting new opportunities for artists and technicians. If you are concerned about job opportunities, then don’t be. There are many out there, whether in a VFX studio or freelance projects, but it is up to you to land and keep them! As these sectors expand, the future of VFX looks promising with countless opportunities.

And that is what we believe is in store for the future of the VFX industry this year!

January 19, 2015
The Oscar Fever Rises!

January 16, 2015
Oscar nominees announced! And the VFX nominees are……

It is an exciting time! The Oscar awards are right around the corner, and the nominees for the various categories have just been announced. The contenders in the VFX category showcase the power of high-quality animation. As the demand for top-tier visual effects grows, animated video production services continue to push creative boundaries. How do you think the contenders in the VFX category fared?

Contenders who are now the VFX nominees of the Oscars 2015

Shall we see who made the cut? In no particular order listed below at the movies that remaining standing.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

As the whole world is threatened again, it falls to Captain America and Black Widow to protect it from the Winter Soldier, a threat that arrived in our present right out of the history books. Of course, the movie and storyline were great, but that is not the only reason it was among the Oscar nominees. While the Winter Soldier posed a significant challenge, the real danger came from the helicarrier—an advanced version of what we saw in The Avengers. Capable of targeting and eliminating millions without even entering Earth’s orbit, its construction and the stunning visual effects played a significant role in securing its nomination. The incredible animated video production services behind the film brought these sequences to life, making the action feel real. V-Ray technology within the dome was crucial in integrating highly complex shots featuring intense battles across the helicarrier.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

The Dawn of the Planet of the Apes has a story built with complete knowledge they needed to integrate VFX as the foundation. Incorporating the groundbreaking technique of Motion Capture, or MoCap as we call it, gave the team the time to work on the expressions and facial movements of the apes. The combined brilliance of both effects, along with top-tier animated video production services, is why they stand a chance among the Oscar nominees this year.

Guardians of the Galaxy

Groot and Rocket! Need we say more! These two characters, who play a great role in saving the universe from the crazed villain, are a testament to the power of animated video production services. Their lifelike expressions and movements were not the result of makeup but of incredible visual effects. Groot’s tree-like facial features were captured using a mime in a blue body suit and a mask resembling his wooden appearance, later enhanced in post-production to achieve his final look. And a genetically modified raccoon that can talk? Of course, Rocket was built from scratch! The level of realism in their movements was an impressive feat, but what truly made them a hit was their emotional and almost human responses, captivating audiences worldwide. It’s no wonder that films featuring such groundbreaking animation techniques often become Oscar nominees!

Interstellar

This movie needs no introduction! The science and depiction of the story are so accurate that they led to a scientific discovery! The awe-inspiring black hole, the wormhole journey, and the breathtaking landscape of the planet they were set to land on—every visual was crafted with stunning precision. The tidal wave scene remains unforgettable, where we all mistook the towering wall of water for mountains. With such groundbreaking visuals, it’s no surprise that Interstellar was among the Oscar nominees. Can anything surpass this masterpiece? We will just have to wait and see!

X-Men: Days of the Future Past

And the X-Men franchise lives on! Who doesn’t love this series? Many scenes in this instalment deserve special mention, from intense battles against ruthless aliens to high-stakes action sequences. However, the one scene that stands out is the slow-motion prison break—an absolute triumph in visual storytelling. Achieving that cinematic excellence is no easy feat, especially in animated video production services and effects execution. Yet, the team delivered a visually stunning, humorous, and unforgettable moment.

And the question that now remains is WHO SHALL CLAIM VICTORY? Tell us whom you would vote for in the comments below!

January 16, 2015
87th Oscar Awards: VFX Contenders in the Race

It is that time of the year again. The Oscars are right around the corner and we cannot wait to find out who made the cut this time! Exactly five days from now, is the scheduled bake-off where the experts will see a 10 minute excerpt from each contending movie. Of these 9, only 5 will move on to be the top 5 contenders who get a shot at holding the Oscar.

Top VFX contenders for Oscar nomination

In no particular order, here are the movies that have made it this far.

X-Men: Days of Future Past

The X-Men movies have depended upon the use of visual effects for quite some time now and nothing has changed with this part in the series. The movie shows the journey that the characters need to take to change the past so that the human race, mutant or otherwise, can survive in the future. Sounds complicated right. It made sense on screen only because the visual effects rocked!

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Just as the Steve Rogers struggles to understand the modern world that he has woken up too, he has to team up with the Back Widow. Together it is now up to them to stop an assassin from history known as the Winter Soldier.

Transformers Age of Extinction

This last part to be released of the transformers franchise was not received well by the audience. It has the lowest rating any movie has ever gotten by critics and the regular moving going crowd on the rotten tomatoes alike. If there was, anything that people spoke well off was the visual effects in the movie. This movie is certainly not winning the Oscar for anything else so we do hope it at least makes it through to the final five at the very least.

Dawn of the Planet of Apes

When a pandemic disease wipes out the planet, the apes who survive the disease are left to fight the human survivors 10 years later. How do you think this movie would have fared without visual effects supporting it? We never need to think about it because it was simply wonderful with it.

Guardians of the galaxy

When fanatical alien wants to take over the entire universe, it falls in the hands of four criminals to protect the innocents and play guardians for a change. Set in space, this is another movie that would be nothing without VFX.

Interstellar

Set in times when the human species is about to be wiped off the planet earth due a crop failure, the movie is all about how a team of astronauts travel through a wormhole hoping to find a planet that could sustain human life. They not just made the wormhole with the visual effects but the black holes and the planet that they were to reach too! This movie was most certainly a stunner.

Maleficent

Sometimes magic can be the cause of the problem. And that is what happened when a vengeful fairy curses a princess who is the only one who could bring peace to the land. And we don’t need to tell you how good the visual effects in this movie was!

Night in the Museum: Secret of the Tomb

Larry needs to save the magic that brings the museum to life after dark. As he does it, he also brings together beloved old and new characters. Do you think one will make it through?

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

After they won the Lonely Mountain back, it was time to protect it against the darkness! What did you think of the Hobbit?

Many say that the one movie they are sure will make it through is Interstellar and the remaining four spots shall be a battle to the death! Do you agree with them? We can’t wait for the 10^th of January to find out who the five nominees will be!

January 5, 2015
What you need to know about the VFX Process

December 31, 2014
Animated Christmas Movies that you must watch again this New Year Season

The year is almost ending. Christmas just went by and the New Year is right around the corner. It is cold outside, the perfect time to settle in with a hot cup of coffee in hand and get a movie marathon going! If you are wondering what should be on the list, then here are our suggestions! Yes, we know Christmas has passed by now but there is no limit frame for the movies on this list and we promise you that you won’t regret the time spent. Let the countdown of the animated movies begin.

Must watch Animated Christmas movies

10. Winnie the Pooh & Christmas Too

If there is ever a movie that focuses on the friendship and the spirit of giving, it is this one. It might seem like a childish thing to do especially since the movie is made for kids but what better time to watch a movie of this nature than now? This is after the season of love and giving! Treat the little child in you with this pick.

9. Frosty the Snowman

Frosty the Snowman is a 25 min television special that is based on the classical song about the magical snowman who makes friendship with little children. In the movie, the magical snowman and a little girl try to elude a greedy magician as he tries to steal the snowman’s magic hat. There is a sweetness to this television special that simply warms the heart!

8. Babes in Toyland

If you are into the fantasies that has storyline based on attempts of the characters trying to save their Toyland from a grumpy old man, then this was made for you. It is simply heart-warming to watch as they make every possible attempt to keep the evil old man from buying the toy factory and destroying it which would bring about the end of the Christmas spell. The visuals are not as great as the Pixar and Disney releases but if you are willing to ignore that and simply focus on the magic in the story, this a movie we recommend you don’t miss out on.

7. The Night before Christmas

Most people would consider the Night before Christmas a Halloween classic but considering that, the movie is all about the Halloweentown ruler trying to bring the spirit of Christmas to its folks, we recommend this also for this season. The best part is however that they do manage to celebrate Christmas without the regular clichés of the genre. Be ready to experience a different kind of magic with this one!

6. Tokyo Grandfathers

Tokyo grandfather is definitely one of the most underappreciated modern classics. If you are an animation buff, you will feel so with even more certainty. The story revolves around three unlikely characters finding a crying infant and the efforts they take towards caring for the child. Each of them learn valuable lessons during the process and grow to be better human beings. Sure, it has some dark moments but the lesson that it aims to teach and the sensational ending most definitely makes up for the darker bits.

5. A Charlie Brown Christmas!

A Charlie Brown Christmas made in 1965 is a 25 min feature that focus around the central character, Charlie Brown. Sickened by the commercialism that now surrounds Christmas, he sets off to find the true meaning of Christmas. This tale prompts you towards some soul searching so be ready to deal with some intense bits that will move you.

4. The Grinch who stole Christmas!

Another movie made back in 1966 that is still magical. This movie is the tale of a grumpy Grinch who hates Christmas as tries to steal it from the Whos of Whosville. It sounds depressing but it is nowhere close to depressing.

3. Polar Express

The Polar Express is made on basis of Chris Allsburg’s children’s book that won awards. The movie and book are about a boy who boards a magical train that heads towards the North Pole where he finally meet Santa Claus. This was the first time that Robert Zemeckis tried the use of motion capture animation and movie has a few of the glitches that this technique has till date. But if you are willing to ignore that then this movie is most certainly worth the watch.

2. Auther Christmas

This one-hour movie that came out in 2011 is about Santa’s clumsy son who sets out with St. Nick’s father on a mission to deliver a gift to a young girl that they misplace in less than two hours. How does it end you ask? Watch the movie! Your heart is bound to go all gooey over this one.

1. A Christmas Carol

This Charles Dickens novel stole many hearts but when it came out as an animated movie, the magic was recreated. This is the story of a miser in the Victorian-era who sets out on a journey of redemption. Jim Carey and Colin Firth only add to the wondrous feel of the movie!

Tempted? Gather your family and go forth on this merry journey of animated Christmas movies this vacation season.

December 29, 2014
What makes the Visual Effects in Interstellar so real?

It isn’t the fact that the visual effects was good, it is the fact that it felt so real that made the movie great.

To explain this statement, we take a short detour into the visual effects that were created for the movie. The story based on the life on a more dystopian earth which is about to see the end of mankind due to the failure of all crops. The leading man Mathew McConaughey and his crew are hired for one last trip into space to locate a planet with living conditions that the human population could survive on. But the humans don’t even have the technology to meet the speed needed to get there in time, forget travelling faster than that! That is where the wormhole and black hole came into the picture. They had to depend on a black hole they dubbed the Gargantua to sling shot them that far through a wormhole. We all know that a black hole is caused by a dying star when the matter is squeezed so much that the gravity created around it is too strong even for light to escape. A wormhole also known as the Einstein-Rosen Bridge is a funnel with two black holes as its mouth. The first step to realism was the effort that was put into creating these natural phenomena. Let us first talk what made them different from anything that was done till date!

The visual effects created for Interstellar

Wormhole:

Creating the wormhole was the first step they took towards the making the visual effects realistic. And the first challenge they faced. Rendering software’s function under the assumption that light travels in a straight line. But that is not how it works in a wormhole. The question they were left with was how does it behave? To solve this trouble, Kip Thorne the genius behind the science in the movie, was asked to give a set equations that would define the real physics. Using these equations, the team prepared a new rendering software that would create the wormhole. The result as we see was spectacular!

Black hole:

Finding courage in their success in building the wormhole, the team tried the same approach for building the back hole Gargantua which spins with the speed of light. And the second major trouble reared its head. How does a software that works on the principle of light travelling in straight lines create a phenomenon that is known to eat light and never spit it back out? For this again, another set of guiding equations was needed to create the brand new rendering software was programmed. Nolan thought of selling the idea that black holes were spherical, but the result they got was a disk. Not only did it turn out as a disk, it also showed that the accretion disk due to the wrapping around the black hole instead of being flat turned into an extraordinary halo! Of course they went with that too, realism being the target.

Time dilation:

When travelling that large a distance in space generating so much energy, it is obvious that there will be a time dilation, right? What seems like minutes to the crew are actually years on earth. Most science fiction movies tend to forget this fact. But not Interstellar!

What made the difference?

The science is sound. We know that was the reason Chris Nolan spent so much time with Kip Thorne, to make the visual effects look as close to real as possible. But that wasn’t the only reason why the movie seemed so realistic. The credit also lies with the fact that Chris Nolan may just be averse to the use of green screen. Unlike most other movies where the visual effects is created and added after the movie is made, most of the visual effects for this movie was made beforehand. During the shooting, they built a large screen on which the visual effects was projected using a projector much like the ones in the theatres today. Only they had to mount it on a crane. What the actors saw was not a blank a screen but the actual back drop of where they were in the movie. In certain scenes of the movie, Chris also uses hand held cameras to create a more realistic feel of actually being there. The result was not just that it felt like you were actually there but the situation seemed so much more real to the actors making their reactions real too!

Is “Interstellar” a True Story?

“Interstellar” is not a true story. It is a science fiction film directed by Christopher Nolan, released in 2014. While the movie incorporates scientific concepts and theories, it is a work of fiction and does not depict real events.

However, “Interstellar” is renowned for its stunning visuals and special effects, which contributed to its immersive cinematic experience. The film employed a combination of practical effects, computer-generated imagery (CGI), and intricate visual effects to bring its otherworldly settings and concepts to life.

The special effects in “Interstellar” were meticulously crafted to create a realistic depiction of space travel, wormholes, black holes, and other cosmic phenomena. The visual effects team utilized advanced CGI techniques and simulations to generate the breathtaking imagery seen throughout the film.

The collaboration between director Christopher Nolan, cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema, and the visual effects team resulted in visually striking sequences that showcased the vastness of space and the awe-inspiring wonders of the universe.

It is worth noting that while the visual effects in “Interstellar” were highly praised, the film also aimed to maintain scientific accuracy wherever possible. The production team consulted with renowned physicist Kip Thorne, who served as a scientific advisor, to ensure that the visuals and concepts remained grounded in scientific plausibility.

That is why this movie went beyond looking real to actually feeling real.

December 22, 2014
The Visual Effects in Interstellar that Lead to a Scientific Discovery

“It’s very easy to fall into the trap of breaking the rules of reality,” says Paul Franklin, a senior supervisor of Academy Award-winning effects house Double Negative and the man behind the realistic visual effects of Interstellar.

The journey Interstellar took its audience on began with a script that Jonathan Nolan penned. When Steven Spielberg stopped directing the movie, Chris Nolan stepped in instead. Known for his mind-bending films, Chris set a new target with this script by aiming to make it as realistic as possible. That’s when Kip Thorne came into the picture to bring scientific accuracy to the film’s interstellar visual effects. Thus, the script began to be rewritten.

The story finally decided upon was that all the crops fail shortly in a darker and less humane version of our reality, and humankind faces extinction. In a desperate attempt to beat the end of mankind, a former astronaut played by Mathew McConaughey is recruited for one last take off to reach a faraway system that could support human life. And that was the trouble. You see to reach another star system you would have to travel really far away and then travel some more. Even the nearest star system would take many decades to reach and that is at speeds that human technology still doesn’t know how to achieve. To beat these odds, Kip Thorne suggested the use of the phenomena of Einstein-Rosen bridge, more commonly known as the wormhole. How else would they ever have gotten there in time? The more they spoke about it, Chris Nolan was faced with one very daunting question, how were they going to make this work on screen? He had no clue himself but he knew who could make it happen. That is when Kip Thorne meet Paul Franklin. To bring in the element of realism to the visual effects, Paul Franklin asked Kip Thorne to send across a bunch of mathematical equations that explained how the physics actually works. So if the light does not travel in straight lines around the wormhole, then how would it? The equations Kip Throne sent across was more of a heavily researched paper than guidelines but that is what the team needed too! Paul Throne’s team used it to write up a new rendering program that they used to put together the wormhole. The results were so spectacular that after the shooting of the scene, Ann Hathaway actually walked up to them and said that it was so stunning that she almost forget her lines a few times because of it.

Finding courage in this success, the team tried to replicate the same for the black holes. The most significant trouble with the black holes was that they completely ate away the light around them. Filmmakers use interstellar visual effects and ray tracing to render light and reflections of images. But this functions under the assumption that light travels in a straight line. Paul Throne’s team then wrote an entirely new rendering again. There was also the need to compute the bits of distortion caused by an Einsteinian effect known as gravitational lenses. It took about 100 hours to get some of the frames together. Chris Nolan was wholly taken up with the idea that black holes were spherically in shape, but then Paul Franklin started reading about accretion disks. The team tried out a rather tricky demo. They found that the warping space around the black hole also wrapped the disk, and what they got was an extraordinary glow instead of a Saturn-like ring! The team thought it might be a bug, but Kip Thorne saw that the phenomenon had been accurately visualised!

That is how the movie visual effects of the movie lead us straight to a scientific discovery! We got a visual stunner to see and Kip Throne got the material he needed to publish two papers!

December 11, 2014
Green Screen Errors to Avoid at All Costs

December 9, 2014
King Kong – What Does it Take to Make a Movie of that Magnitude?a

In the early 1900’s, every adolescent minds all over the world had but one obsession, THE KING KONG movie. This tall mighty creature ruled the fantasy of many as he went about living his own life on an island protecting in a rather daunting manner his blonde infatuation. Borrowed from a comic, this character went to fascinate the world so much that a movie just had to be made. The first one to do any justice to the character came out in the year 1933. The only adjectives that seemed to do justice to the movie were that of excitement, romance, danger, and impending doom plus the superlatives of the same.

It wasn’t until this movie, that the world actually saw the truly limitless nature of film making. And the endless trickery that can be employed to create an escape route from the real world that you so desperately seek. How was King Kong 1933 made? So many techniques were brilliantly sculpted into the making that it was hard to notice yet very quick to inspire. Stop motion was needed to bring the 18ft giant to life, miniatures we used to great effect in some shots involving the jungle creatures and the actors but the one that is least spoken of are the matte paintings. The very story of the Kong would be nothing without the dark, scary, and haunting jungle that he lives in. Could there be a real location in the world were this movie could have been shot successfully yet safely? Most unlikely. So how do you create the illusion of being at a location without actually being there? Matte paintings! But what make these matte paintings truly special is not that they just give a backdrop to the King Kong movie but they make the movie stand out even today.

Before we get into the different matte paintings that made the movie, don’t you want to know how King Kong movie was even conceptualized? Back in those days, around 1933, the great depression was hitting the film industry hard as it got tougher and tougher to attract audience. Radio-Keith-Orpheum was one of them. To dig themselves out of near bankruptcy, they brought on board the highly regarded producer David O. Selznick from Paramount pictures to revive the creative structure. He was the one who first noticed the dying project creation and was fascinated by what trick cinema can do! This project was then remade into the might KING KONG. Now that you know whom to thank for King Kong movie, let’s move on the topic in focus, the matte paintings.

Matte Paintings from the Kong

This composite photo of many layers of glass art/shot or as we know it, matte paintings, was put together for the purpose of publicity. And it worked like a charm. This image of the men being forced to cross the log after coming face to face with a rather scary dinosaur certainly got the attention of the masses!

It is very much suspected that this shot of New York from the movie’s introduction was, in reality, a matte painting!

Skull Island. This painting authenticated the crew’s arrival at the location and provided the perfect backdrop for the native drum beating and Max Steiner’s near-perfect musical cues

Can’t you see the trouble brewing? This scene is most probably the result of a combination of matte art and flaming torch elements into a rear projection.

This scene of the Kong arriving is a result of Williams travelling matte process. Kay on a very limited set is matte into a miniature environment!

All this is well and good but here are a couple of matte shots of what you have been waiting for! The jungle that is home to the Kong.

And here is a peak at the men at work who made all these wonderful matte paintings happen!

The King Kong VFX and matte paintings are among the best I have ever seen.

December 8, 2014