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Part 1:
From Manchester U to the Academy Awards
Part 2:
Enter the Matrix
Part 3:
IRIDAS Joins the Team
Part 4:
Raising the Bar
in VFX
Part 5:
SpeedGrade is Born
Part 6:
Kim Libreri's Filmography
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Raising the Bar in VFX
Just as much
as it had an impact on filmmaking in general,
The Matrix changed a lot for the artists who
did the work. In 2001 a new custom facility was built. As work on the
two Matrix sequels got off the ground, the new company grew rapidly. “At
its height, ESC Entertainment was operating 2500 CPUs and had 350
employees.” But even with an army of people and machines the workload
was monumental. The last months before each release were intense, even
by normal high-stress postproduction standards. For the four months
before the release of Matrix Reloaded and three months leading up to the
release of Matrix Revolutions the team worked seven days a week nonstop. “We had
set the bar so high for ourselves with the first film that nothing but
the very best would do for these ones. The brothers were right there with us
and they were great. We were all on a mission together. It’s an experience none of us
will ever forget.”
Kim and his colleagues developed "U-Cap," a
sophisticated system for capturing facial features and expressions.
Just as the
bullet time sequences became signature elements of the first movie, the
sequels each laid their own claims to pushing the VFX envelope: the
white-knuckle highway chase scene in
Matrix Reloaded
and the stunning attack on the dock in Zion [Matrix
Revolutions] are only two examples. From a technical
standpoint the “Burly Brawl,” in which Neo battles an ever growing army
of Agent Smiths, in the second film is among the most remarkable
achievements. “The striking thing about this sequence is that it uses
virtual humans,” points out Kim. The characters were computer generated,
built upon complex live choreography and motion capture. “I believe our
greatest achievement there was in our ‘universal capture’ technology for
facial capture. It allowed us to create photo-realistic renderings of
our principle actors for their 'virtual body-doubles'.”
The ability to
create virtual humans came in handy for the team’s next project,
Catwoman.
“With three weeks to go on
Catwoman we needed to add a short scene. We pulled it
off and did the whole thing in CG!”
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Which image is real and which is animated? This is just one example
of how far the Matrix movies have raised the bar for VFX work. |
