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From Microscopic to Cosmic: The Fittingly Organic VFX of 'The Fountain' & 'The Tree of Life'

05.6.13 @ 11:49PM Tags : behindthescenes, bts, cinematography, darrenaronofsky, douglastrumbull, makingof, photography, sfx, specialeffects, terrencemalick, thefountain, treeoflife, vfx, visualeffects

Other than their deep meditation on mortality — and the associated motif of a sacred source of life — Darren Aronofsky’s The Fountain (2006) and Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life (2011) couldn’t be more different. That is, aside from the way in which the films achieve much of their strikingly beautiful cosmic imagery. In an era of filmmaking in which CGI and space-bound science fiction are far from strangers, these two films opt for a more naturalistic alternative — such as macrophotography and high-speed microscopy — to visualize their explorations of life in the universe. What could be more appropriate effects for films so occupied with the organic? Click through for some details on how VFX allowed the microscopic to ‘double’ for the cosmos. More »

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'Before VFX' Blog Gives Us a Glimpse of Blockbuster Movies Without the Visual Effects

02.28.13 @ 2:49PM Tags : behindthescenes, blockbuster, bts, hollywood, makingof, sfx, specialeffects, vfx, visualeffects

If you’ve ever heard someone play an electric guitar totally unplugged, tasted raw cookie dough, or planted a seed, you know the feeling. There is potential there, but something is clearly missing. This is the exact feeling you get scrolling through the Tumblr blog ‘Before VFX.’ The title just about says it all, along with its brief self-description: “Blockbuster movies without visual effects.” The core or basic element of a shot is there, for certain, but in each case, it’s obvious there’s plenty of additional magic and ingredients that must go into the shot before it can be called complete. Check out a few examples from Before VFX below. More »

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How ILM Built a Digital NYC for Marvel's 'Avengers' (Just to Blow It Up with VFX)

02.20.13 @ 8:08PM Tags : avengers, behindthescenes, bts, ilm, industriallight&magic, makingof, sfx, specialeffects, vfx, visualeffects, watch

ILM has been at the cutting edge of visual effects in cinema since George Lucas founded it back in 1975. Constructing some of Hollywood’s most memorable moments is an impressive feat, so it’s only natural that Joss Whedon and company tapped the FX house for the much-anticipated The Avengers. Marvel’s recent efforts in film (Iron Man, Thor) built quite the lead-up for Avengers to deliver upon, and needless to say, the film brought the spectacle in spades. Check below to see how ILM built a massive digital ‘stunt’ version of New York City, just to rough a whole bunch of it up — plus some more from ILM on other VFX in The Avengers. More »

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Another DIY Bullet-Time GoPro Rig (This One's Handheld!)

02.3.13 @ 9:10PM Tags : aftereffects, bullettime, camera, cameras, cinematography, diy, diyproject, editing, gopro, goprohero2, goprohero3, postproduction, premiere, premierepro, rig, rigs, shooting, specialeffects, vfx, visualeffects

We recently featured several practical but effective techniques for creating the (by now) famous Matrix-esque ‘bullet-time’ effect — accomplished, in more than one case, by using an evenly spaced array of GoPros and some post-processing elbow grease. Clearly, the availability and portability of such cameras is catching on beyond conventional ‘action cam’ uses, and inspiring creatives of nearly any budget to create shots only A-budget Hollywood productions used to be able to pull off. GoPros make sense for such arrays, because they are forgivingly frameable (and decently affordable as far as rentals go). Now, another project has demonstrated what’s possible with these simple but adaptable cameras — in this case, built into a rig that can also be handheld. More »