Strange worlds: Method’s Jupiter Ascending effects
We explore the complex environments and weird and wonderful characters created by Method Studios for Lana and Andy Wachowski’s Jupiter Ascending.
Kingsman: not so secret effects
Matthew Vaughn’s Kingsman: The Secret Service is an ode to spy films, but with a fun and sometimes subversive bent. In it, young Londoner Gary ‘Eggsy’ Unwin (Taron Egerton) is recruited by Harry Hart (Colin Firth), a member of a super-secret intelligence agency. Together they try to foil the plans of Internet billionaire Richmond Valentine who is intent on some major world disruption. Helping to bring Vaughn’s vision to the screen were several visual effects vendors wrangled by visual effects producer Stephen Elson, and supervisors Steve Begg, Paul Docherty, John Bruno and Kevin Tod Haug.
In this article, fxguide explores just four VFX moments from the film – the incredible exploding heads, Gazelle’s deadly bladed prosthetic legs, the lengthy church brawl and the skydiving sequence.
Breaking down Agent Carter’s VFX
ILM at the Oscars
ILM is being honored this year in both the technical and artistic sides of the Oscars; after all the Academy is the ‘Academy of Arts and Sciences’, and ILM regularly features on both sides of that equation. This year they are being recognized for their work with PhysBam, their Shape Sculpting System and for their work on the second Captain America film. The Sci-Tech Awards were handed out last week and the Oscar for Best Visual Effects is being awarded on Sunday night.
Angel Stone Cinematic Trailer
BigHugFX GmbH VFX Reel 2015
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – Environment Shot Build
Shoot and stitch: making Jupiter Ascending’s Chicago chase
Much of the Wachowskis’ Jupiter Ascending takes place on alien worlds with vistas and creatures brought to life with complicated CG builds. But one scene, in which Jupiter (Mila Kunis) and Caine (Channing Tatum in antigravity boots) are pursued up and around the city of Chicago by alien ‘shadow’ spacecraft, required a more practical approach to shooting. Not only did the Wachowskis want to film the real actors and stunt doubles as much as possible, they also wanted to acquire real – and flexible – background plates.
Facing Second Son
This week, Sucker Punch Productions’ Second Son is up for another gong at the VES Awards in LA. We published an article on fxguide some time ago about about this third game in the inFAMOUS series and in particular the particle effects. But in addition to the great effects simulations and animations, the game has a very strong face animation pipeline. The new hardware of the PS4 allowed a jump in quality and facial animation which makes the game incredibly visually impressive. This, coupled with a strong narrative, has made Second Son one of the most successful games on the PS4, and it regularly rates as one of the most popular in polls of PS4 users.
How they did it: behind two of the biggest Super Bowl spots
And just like that, Super Bowl XLIX is over, and with it the famous yearly run of Super Bowl commercials. We’ve picked two of the most popular spots to break down – Snickers’ ‘Brady Bunch’ ad starring Danny Trejo and Mercedes-Benz’s creature-filled ‘Fable’.