Contents Avatar:
The Seduction of Reality;
Article by Jody Duncan


Twelve years after his blockbuster film Titanic broke all boxoffice records, filmmaker James Cameron returned to the big screen with Avatar, a science fiction fantasy set on another world, and shot entirely in stereo 3D. Working with a dedicated technical team, Cameron spent four years developing new filmmaking paradigms designed to push the boundaries of performance capture and virtual character creation to unprecedented levels of artistry and sophistication. Weta Digital led the groundbreaking visual effects effort, with support from Industrial Light & Magic, Framestore, Frantic Films, Hybride, Weta Workshop and Stan Winston Studio.


2010:
Gotterdammerung;
Article by Joe Fordham


Envisioning the grandest disaster scenario ever, writer/director Roland Emmerich set his sights on no less than total planetary destruction in the film 2012, featuring a story inspired by an ancient Mayan prediction of impending global cataclysm in that fateful year. Joining Emmerich were longtime collaborators Volker Engel and Marc Weigert, whose studio, Uncharted Territory, served as in-house visual effects unit for the production, and as production hub for the multiple vendors, including Digital Domain, Double Negative, Sony Pictures Imageworks, Scanline, Hydraulx, Crazy Horse and Pixomondo. Special effects supervisor Michael Vezina provided large-scale mechanical effects.


The Road:
Road to Nowhere;
Article by Joe Fordham


In The Road, based on Cormac McCarthy's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, a man and his young son embark on a cross-country journey as they struggle to survive the brutal circumstances brought about by an apocalyptic event that has devastated the planet and destroyed the very fabric of civilization. Director John Hillcoat turned to visual effects supervisor Mark Forker, visual effects studios Dive and Crazy Horse, and a handful of supporting vendors to create the film's stark, post-apocalyptic environments.

Contents The Wolfman: Curse of the Werewolf

Article by Joe Fordham


Universal Studios dipped once again into its treasure trove of classic movie monsters with The Wolfman, starring Benicio Del Toro as a haunted nobleman who returns to his ancestral homeland to confront a terrible destiny. Director Joe Johnston called upon Oscar-winning makeup effects designer Rick Baker for prosthetic makeups that captured the spirit of the original Lon Chaney, Jr. Wolf Man, while The Moving Picture Company, Double Negative and Rhythm & Hues, under visual effects supervisor Steve Begg, re-created Victorian England and melded Del Toro's performance with digital wolfman effects that lent a terrifying verisimilitude to the iconic character's transformations.


The Tippett Touch

Article by Jody Duncan


From its humble beginnings in a garage to state-of-the-art facility at the forefront of the much-changed visual effects industry, Tippett Studio, recently observed its quarter-century anniversary. Now Cinefex honors that milestone with a career retrospective of its renowned founder, Phil Tippett, who first distinguished himself as a stop-motion animator in the Star Wars and Robocop series, before exploring the short-lived go-motion process with Dragonslayer, and then plunging into computer animation with the groundbreaking Jurassic Park and dozens of subsequent films ranging from Starship Troopers and Hellboy to Cloverfield and, most recently, The Twilight Saga.


The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus: Through the Looking Glass

Article by Joe Fordham


Director Terry Gilliam reunited with screenwriter Charles McKeown, his collaborator on Brazil and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, to concoct a fantasy involving an ancient vagabond storyteller who rolls into modern-day London in a carnival wagon, seeking lost souls to fulfill a Faustian pact with the devil. Joining forces to bring Gilliam's unique and phantasmagoric vision to fruition were visual effects supervisors John Paul Docherty and Richard Bain at Peerless Camera Company, model supervisor Leigh Took of Mattes and Miniatures, and Lola Post.


Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief: Q&A with Kevin Mack

Interview by Joe Fordham


Oscar-winning visual effects supervisor Kevin Mack discusses the challenges of putting a modern spin on ancient Greek mythology in Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, a cinema fantasy based on the best-selling children's novel series by Rick Riordan. Mack worked with more than a dozen visual effects vendors - including Digital Domain, The Moving Picture Company and Luma Pictures - to realize the film's intermingling of mythological creatures with present-day settings.

Contents Iron Man 2:
Iron Clad
Article by Jody Duncan


In Iron Man 2, the much-anticipated follow-up to his 2008 blockbuster, director Jon Favreau reteamed with artists at Stan Winston Studio - now Legacy Effects - and Industrial Light & Magic to create a new and improved Iron Man, who, joined by War Machine, combats a rogue army of military drones and a fearsome adversary, Whiplash. Double Negative contributed a major action sequence at the Monaco Grand Prix, while Fuel VFX and other vendors provided visual effects support.


Alice in Wonderland:
Down the Rabbit Hole
Article by Joe Fordham


Director Tim Burton put his unique stamp on this fantasy sequel to Lewis Carroll's timeless tale, in which a now-grown Alice tumbles down the rabbit hole to reunite with her childhood friends and save their Underland from the machinations of the evil Red Queen. Visual effects supervisor Ken Ralston collaborated with Burton and production designer Robert Stromberg to create the fantasy environment and characters, depicted in stereoscopic 3D through a combination of greenscreen sets and computer generated imagery spearheaded by Sony Pictures Imageworks.


Clash of the Titans:
Gods and Monsters
Article by Jody Duncan


In this remake of the 1981 Ray Harryhausen classic, director Louis Letterier relied on state-of-the-art digital effects to retell the story of mythical hero Perseus, son of Zeus, who embarks on a quest to slay the Kraken, a fearsome underwater beast. Visual effects supervisor Nick Davis, working with artists at The Moving Picture Company, Framestore and Cinesite, oversaw the ambitious task, which entailed some 900 effects shots and included a postproduction conversion to transform the 2D movie to 3D. Neil Corbould handled special effects.


Splice:
1 + 1 = 3
Article by Joe Fordham


Husband-and-wife geneticists cross ethical boundaries when they embark on a cutting-edge genetic engineering experiment that soon gets out of hand, in Splice, directed by Vincenzo Natali. The modestly-budgeted, independently-produced Sundance festival favorite marked Natali's fourth collaboration with visual effects supervisor Bob Munroe, who oversaw the visual effects work at C.O.R.E. Digital Pictures, with an assist from Paris vendors BUF Compagnie, Chez Eddy and Mac Guff. KNB EFX Group provided practical creature effects.

Contents Inception

In Dreams

Article by Joe Fordham


In this sophisticated science fiction thriller, written and directed by Christopher Nolan, a group of covert operatives infiltrates the dreams of unsuspecting victims for the purposes of corporate espionage. The film's extensive use of mind-bending dreamscapes and enhanced realities was achieved through a combination of practical effects by special effects supervisor Chris Corbould, miniatures by New Deal Studio, and digital work by Double Negative, under the guidance of visual effects supervisor Paul Franklin.


Prince of Persia: Sands of Time

Arabian Fantasy

Article by Joe Fordham


Producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Mike Newell teamed to create Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, a lavish adventure-fantasy set in 6th-century Persia, and based on the popular 1980s Ubisoft videogame. To achieve the film's magical time-bending effects and exotic fantasy realms, Newell turned to special effects supervisor Trevor Wood, who oversaw live-action set pieces, and to visual effects supervisor Tom Wood, who oversaw the work of multiple vendors, including Double Negative, The Moving Picture Company, Cinesite and Framestore.


The A-Team

Plan "A"

Article by Jody Duncan


Adapted from a popular '80s-era television show, and filled with explosive, over-the-top action, The A-Team follows the exploits of a quartet of dishonorably discharged Army Rangers who become a crack covert fighting unit. Director Joe Carnahan relied on visual effects supervisor Jamie Price and an array of vendors that included Rhythm & Hues, Digital Domain, Weta Digital and Hydraulx to ramp up the action in the air and on the ground, in concert with special effects supervisor Mike Vezina's practical gags.


The Last Airbender

Braving the Elements

Article by Jody Duncan


In The Last Airbender, M. Night Shyamalan's live-action feature adaptation of an animated television series, a young boy, equipped with the power to manipulate the elemental forces of air, water, earth and fire, attempts to restore order and balance to a war-ravaged world. Visual effects supervisor Pablo Helman and his team at Industrial Light & Magic served up a vast and wide-ranging menu of digital effects for the mystical fantasy, with an assis