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Man!
It was HOT on the morning of a
Cinegear & Visual Effects Society panel on the role of
the visual effects supervisor. By 11 a.m., it was over
100-degress outside. Thankfully the screening room in
Theatre 3 on the Universal Studios lot was nicely air
conditioned. Sitting in the cold, crisp screening room,
it was a pleasure to see and hear some of the top visual
effects supervisors speak about their work in the
movies.
On-hand were visual effects supervisors Jeff Okun ("The
Day the Earth Stood Still"), Michael Fink (Oscar-winning
VFX Supervisor for "The Golden Compass"), Richard
Edlund, ASC ("Charlie Wilson's War"), and John Knoll
(co-inventor of Photoshop and Oscar-winner on "Pirates
of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest").
Each VFX supervisor has extensive and impressive credits
in movies and television. The star power here was as
impressive as it gets. I say that because many of the
panelists remarked that they, along with other so-called
"below-the-line" artists like sound designers and
editors don't get a lot of attention in the media. I
don't believe the panelists were trying to gain sympathy
from the audience in attendance. It's just an
unfortunate fact that visual effects supervisors don't
get a lot of credit for the amazing work they do. Some
of the work was presented by the supervisors as an
example of how visual effects can go beyond the
razzle-dazzle of spaceships and monsters, and how they
can "plus" a film, or in some cases, save it.
Edlund demonstrated some scenes from Mike Nichol's
"Charlie Wilson's War" (2007), and Okun showed clips of
visual effects "plussing" he supervised in "Blood
Diamond" (2006). I haven't seen the films yet, but these
scenes showed footage of war torn countries in which
people were mingling en masse ("Charlie Wilson's War"),
or were being attacked by jets ("Blood Diamond"). Had I
not seen these visual effects reels, and didn't know a
little bit about digital effects, I would've more than
likely thought that the thousands of refugees and
amputees were real. But they weren't and it showed how
good and seamless visual effects can be.
Michael Fink, like his fellow panelists, is one of the
best in the business. Many viewers will recall his
supervision work on "X-Men" (2000) and "The Golden
Compass." Fink talked about how visual effects
supervisors deal with not only the pressure of creating
new and exciting effects, but also dealing with
directors and budgets (or lack of). Films indeed cost a
lot of money to make, but a lot of times those
controlling the purse strings demand more for less. Fink
mentioned that he felt it was necessary to have a few
more seconds of footage between two warring digital
characters. He felt that the characters, who eventually
get into a fight, should've had a short sequence in
which they glare at each other. But the word came down
to Fink; no...work with what you've got.
Knoll spoke about his work on the "Pirates" films. He
showed footage of how a scene was constructed with the
use of just a few live actors, then embellished it with
clever digital effects. When these before-and-after
scenes were shown, it really is amazing how the effects
team creates a fantasy world of pirates who turn into
ghostly skeleton warriors. Knoll mentioned that working
with Bill Nye, for instance, added credibility and
realism to his own digital work.
Visual effect supervisors and their teams are some of
the unsung heroes of movies. They've pretty much always been
around since the dawn of cinema. But their contribution
to the movies hasn't always been appreciated in the
media. At least here, and on one hot summer Southern
California day, they've received appreciation from fans
and co-workers alike.
Bill Kallay
Special thanks to Amber Davis and Spelling
Communications
Photos: © William Kallay. All rights reserved.
"Pirates of the Caribbean" photo © Disney. All rights reserved.
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