“Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.”
These are unprecedented times to say the least. The coronavirus, more commonly known as COVID-19, is officially here and has affected not only the US but the entire world. The phrase “global pandemic” and “social distancing” are becoming common terminology along with wearing face masks in public. Shutdowns and job layoffs are rampant, and it’s only been three months since President Trump declared that the coronavirus is a National Emergency back on March 13th. Incredibly scary and uncertain times.
In staying positive with so much unknown, I wanted to give you guys an update. With the entire sporting world being shut down as well, I’ve made the hard decision to stop working on my YouTube Channel, Lurks Lessons, and solely focus my efforts back towards the film. When the shutdown became official back in March, I was actually in the middle of producing another How To Be video. It was my first NCAA Men’s basketball team and sure enough, the NCAA cancelled the Men’s Basketball tournament. When that call was made, I along with so many others didn’t know what the sporting world would look like during a pandemic. For example, the Summer Olympics in Tokyo has been cancelled and the NBA has halted their season. Because of me pressing pause on the channel did I feel it necessary to make the film my sole priority.
During these three months I’ve been making some incredible progress. Below are some cool highlights that are capped with a huge announcement at the end!
3D Set Creation
The time had finally come to figure out the “how” in creating the massive Gauntlet Arena. I knew when I wrote the script all the way back in 2011 that the Gauntlet Arena was to challenge the Roman Colosseum itself, but in a digital world. Also, the film opens up showcasing a fight scene in the Arena, so I knew it had to be a showstopper to hook in the audience. Having used other 3D modeling software’s like Cinema 4D and Autodesk Maya on different 3D sets for the film (Log 27), I finally settled on the plan to create the Arena solely in After Effects using Video Copilot’s Element 3D plug-in. Using their Motion Design 2 pack, I was able to manipulate their industrial, high tech 3D models and re-construct them into the grand 8,000+ seating structure. This was huge because it allowed me to composite the 3D camera shots with the real-life footage seamlessly as opposed to working on two separate platforms.
To say that I was relieved on how well the design turned out is a complete understatement. A huge weight was lifted and I gained confidence in creating the rest of the shots that needed the Arena applied as a backdrop. The next big hurdle to figure out was how to create the Vertigo Challenge. At the climax of the film, our hero (Michael) takes on the antagonist (Neyta) for a high stakes match up in the Arena. Key word is “high”. The Vertigo Challenge is where two platforms raise up on each side of the Arena floor and our two players are separated on top of these pillars. Still using Element 3D and the Motion Design 2 pack, I constructed a separate pass using the pistons and platforms by themselves. This allowed me to create what is known as a Depth Matte pass that was used to obscure other 3D objects/layers to make the objects look like they are in the set. Other compositing methods were applied for the finished look but the problem solving truly began by figuring out the Depth Matte issue. Now with the Vertigo Platform created, I now look forward in syncing up the edit of the fight sequence that takes place. If all goes to what I envision, it’ll be a great climax sequence to close out the film.
FUI Design and Animation
Suspended in the middle of the Arena is a massive Jumbotron that has a plethora of screens (4 giant main screens, 6 sub-screens and 16 horizontal, smaller screens). Pixel is primarily featured on the main screens for some of her lines, but the sub-screens and horizontal screens were used for informational purposes, just like any real-life sporting event. In keeping with our scoreboard designs consistent throughout the film, I looked back to my layouts that I did back in 2018. The biggest challenge for this particular area was keeping everything consistent and organized. What I mean by that is, the Arena alone has five major fight scenes that each consisted of different characters at different places in time. Our story spans from 1987-1995, so I wanted the design of the world of Gauntlet to evolve as well. So, an early fight in ’87 had a different layout in showing stats than a fight that took place in ’95. You can see the differences in the examples below:
In total, there are over 50 different animated FUI clips that are used for the scenes in the Arena alone. Even though these FUI animations are not the focal point in any scene that the Arena is showcased, I know that having them in the background helps elevate the believability in the digital world I’m trying to create.
Hand-to-Hand Fight Sequences
Back in 2018, I made the executive decision to film myself performing the fight sequences instead of using 3D character animation. I did this by mapping out the choreography for each character and then suited up, hit record. It was a happy accident that all of the fight scenes in the film had fully masked characters so the worry of my face being on camera was non-existent. I completed the base edit by taking the best shots and timed them just right to make the “fight” feel cohesive. I’m now at the part of the process where I add the VFX of the energy weapons the characters use, along with their shields and other special effects.
Each shot is tediously key-framed frame by frame to map the energy weapon where the tracker markers were located during the shoot. So for example, if one character had two weapons, one in each hand, then the process is doubled. But if that character is fighting someone who also has two weapons, then the process is doubled again. You can see how this entire process will take some time. From batons to axes to shields, making sure the movement is matched with the fake weapons will only help sell the illusion of not only the fight, but also that two “different” people are fighting each other. I’m still knocking out the three hand-to-hand combat scenes but below are some pics on where I’m at in the process. Super happy in how these are turning out!
SFX Design
Last but not least, the sound design is still in full swing. I’m still experimenting as I go but one thing that I didn’t foresee happening when I began this process is how much fun I am having. It’s a whole new world in creating interesting sounds by combining every day sounds into something new. It’s tedious but still very rewarding. We’re close to having a third of the film done in doing the SFX.
As teased at the beginning of the post, I have a BIG announcement. Back in 2016, we were happy to have our composer Kyle Smith take on the mantle in creating the music for this epic feature film. Due to other obligations and personal matters, Kyle unfortunately had to step away from the project. However, he has introduced me to his replacement, and I couldn’t be more excited to have the talented Jordan Shababy to carry the mantle to the finish line. Jordan hails from the Greater Atlanta Georgia area and has been composing music in all facets for nearly a decade. He’ll be the perfect fit to create our retro, synth wave tone for the film and his early sessions only have me more excited to complete this behemoth.
So stay safe out there and look forward to another update as we navigate through theses uncertain times.
“I’ve written original material before, where I’ve come up with the idea and the characters myself, and that’s definitely very different to working with someone else’s characters and stories.”
– Alex Garland (Ex Machina, Annihilation, Devs)
