"The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" is the second of the
seven volume book "The Chronicles of Narnia", written by the late
Clive Staples Lewis. The book is set in England during the Second
World War, and introduces 4 children that are sent away for their
own protection. The children eventually find a wardrobe that links
their new home to a world of fantasy, populated by strange and
fascinating creatures. The movie adaptation of the book hit the
theaters last Christmas. Bringing a monumental adventure like
Chronicles of Narnia to the big screen is no easy thing. It
requires a lot of work, not only on the directing side but also on
the visual effects. The filmmakers hired different Visual Effects
companies to take on the wide variety of effects that needed to be
done. One of those companies was Studio C, a VFX studio located in
Guatemala.
Latin-American studios dont usually work on major feature films.
So you may guess that a studio from Guatemala working on such a big
project like Chronicles of Narnia is a really big deal, especially
for Latin-Americans. Due to the volume of the interview, I decided
to split it in two parts. You will be able to read part two of the
interview next week on the front page. Tobias Cortes: compositing
and editing supervisor. Marvin Barillas: 3D supervisor. Lily
Vasquez: 3D animator. Ludwing Paniagua: Matte painting supervisor.
What are Studio C's beginnings? How did you come up with the
original concept and what was your objective? Tobias
Cortes: Carlos moved to Antigua, and one day (according to what
people say) he met Marvin the day that he almost ran over him! They
also met Ludwing and together they began working on some design and
visualization. Carlos saw the other two guys could create really
good work so he ventured to get projects from North America and
thats how they began. How it began and what was the objective?
Carlos always says that he has always wanted to bring us the
opportunities he didnt have, and that going out of the country in
search of job opportunities will become more like an option, not an
obligation. Marvin Barillas: I think the objective was to
give anybody the opportunity to enter the digital world. Ludwing
Paniagua: Studio C opened its doors thanks to Carlos Argllo.
He realized that in our country there were talented people that
were interested in this industry but didnt find any job
opportunities. This was originally a publicity agency born from a
project about national identity. The project was done by the
Mesoamerican Center of Regional Research (CIRMA), based in Antigua,
Guatemala. A group of four people was made to work on a multimedia
presentation (using flash, music, video and 3D), and then Carlos
vision was to make the company bigger so we could work on films.
Ive seen your portfolio on your website. What kind of work do
you do to get the job done? Tobias Cortes: Well, the
idea is born and then its toned down to make it possible to
create. Its sent to the postproduction people so they can split
the workload and provide basic information. We then make some proof
of concepts in every area. The graphics department makes their
sketches, the 2D department makes animations, 3D makes 3D
animations or models, compositors make color tests and other stuff,
and editing makes animatics, timing, and rhythm tests. Different
revisions of the elements are made so we are able to tell the story
based on those elements. Marvin Barillas: We do everything
from concept design, digital effects, matte painting, compositing,
video editing, audio design, and audio editing. Ludwing
Paniagua: Like everything else, we work on the concept designs,
then we move on to modeling and animation. Then we do the
compositing and visual effects, if they are needed. Can you talk
a little about the effects that you created for the movie "The
Chronicles of Narnia"? Tobias Cortes: I worked on the
breathing compositing. With the animators, we defined how the
breathing would behave according to syllables, mouth shape, head
movement, and so on. After making the 3D animation of the breathing
it was sent to compositing where that breathing is animated again
in 2D. We did color correction, opacity tweaking, rotoscoping and
all that, to make the scene look as real as possible. I also worked
with 4 other people, including Gary Jackemuk (compositor) and
Michael Loyd (matte painter) on a scene where a period train was
filmed on a real location (a modern train station). That location
had to be replaced using a dark background with shattered
buildings, which had to depict the time where the movie took place.
We made matte paintings and 3D elements and then we took those and
put them behind the train, replacing the original background. We
did color correction and even color corrected our live-action
smoke, and blended it with computer generated smoke. Lily
Vasquez: The effects that we made were the Cair Paravel castle,
concepts for the castle interior, the map scene, the river
sequence, and the breathing sequences. Each of these was sent to
the appropriate groups. Some scenes were made using matte
paintings, while others were done in 3D, such as the breathing
sequences. We used camera tracking to make the breath come out of
their mouths, and then we would add gravity and wind to make it
feel real. Marvin Barillas: We made more than 350 shots
divided in 3 categories: 1. Breath: We digitally added the
breath to the characters when they were in cold environments. This
was a very technical effect because we had to realistically
simulate the characters breathing. 2. River: For the river
sequence we ran water simulations, animated ice chunks, and we
digitally painted all the backgrounds. 3. Hero shots: We did
around 10 hero shots, like those of the Lions exterior shots and
the witchs castle interior. We also made the map scene, which was
completely digital. These 10 shots consumed a lot of our time
because we had to create everything from scratch. Ludwing
Paniagua: For Chronicles of Narnia we first created the
concepts for the witchs castle interior. We used 3D models under
different texture and light conditions. Then we worked on Aslans
castle, for which we did the 3D models, textures, and camera
movements. We also worked on the scenes that needed digital breath
simulations, using camera tracking and particle systems that were
then married to the live action footage. For the river sequence, we
used everything from matte paintings, rotoscoping, chroma key,
camera tracking, color correction, 3D ice pieces and their
interaction with the water (textures, lighting, shading, and so
on). For some other scenes we just used matte paintings and digital
compositing.
Can you give us a little inside information on the Project
titled "Pendragon"? Tobias Cortes: Thats a project
being developed in conjunction with other people from the
production department, but we dont have any actual information
because its not yet in the production stage. When the project is
in production we will be able to give you any information you may
want. Marvin Barillas: Thats a work in progress. We cant
give out any information yet. Be sure to catch the second
part of the interview next week in the Front Page News!
All supporting images are copyright, and
cannot be
copied, printed, or reproduced in any manner without written
permission from the artist.
 Animation Alley is a regular featured
column with Renderosity Staff Columnist Sergio Rosa [nemirc].
|
Comments