The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’s Head
March 25, 2009The technical creativity involved in David Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button has been greatly admired by the general public and VFX specialists alike. Achieving the highest ‘commercial’ accolade possible with a 2009 Oscar win for best visual effects; it also took top honours at this year’s Visual Effects Society Awards.
DD VFX Supervisor Eric Barba was involved with the film from its inception and outlines details of where the CGI head begins and ends; and when Brad Pitt is left to fend for himself.
“The first “digital head” shot is the one we did for the test, where there’s a long dolly and pan until the audience sees Benjamin sitting at the table banging his spoon. That’s the first body actor for Ben in his 80s, as he grows younger we have another body actor take over for him in his 70s, when he goes out on the tugboat with Cap’n Mike and goes to the bar.”
“The bulk of our work is the “Ben 70″ character, and “Ben 60″ when he leaves home. One of our last shots is when he is reading the letter from Daisy on the back of the tugboat. The line where he tells the Captain, “Well you do drink a lot”, that’s where the real Brad takes over. “
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Fincher has made a movie that will be endlessly debated, for its storytelling craft as well as for the overwhelming nature of its visual effects. LA Times Review 25 Nov 2008.About Digital Domain Since its founding in 1993 by film industry icons, Digital Domain has been a force and a change agent in the world of creative content. The digital production studio has built a legacy of achievement in visual effects, receiving six Academy Awards and listing Titanic, The Day After Tomorrow, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button among its 65+ film credits. A creative giant in the world of advertising, Digital Domain has earned scores of Clio, AICP, and Cannes Lion awards for some of the industry’s most memorable spots. A-list directors work with Digital Domain on features, advertising and projects that cross traditional media boundaries. Digital Domain continues to push into new territory. The company is being recognized for its pioneering work in photo-real digital humans and productions that bring the worlds of films, advertising, games and the web closer together. Digital Domain is privately held and based in Venice, California. RELATED LINKS: www.digitaldomain.com www.benjaminbutton.com Sources: FXGuide Interview With Eric Barba -The Curious Case of Aging Visual Effects by Bill Dawes 01 Jan 2009 (view here) Building The Curious Faces Of ‘Benjamin Button’ by Laura Sydell 16 Feb 2009 (view here) Button tops Visual Effects Awards – Variety David S. Cohen 02 Feb 2009 (view here)
Crossroads Creates Fire For Death Cab for Cutie
March 25, 2009Crossroads’ directorial duo Walter Robot’s dynamic and inventive visual style is the driving force behind a trio of uniquely inspired music videos for Grammy award-winning recording artists Gnarls Barkley, French-born DJ Vitalic, and Death Cab For Cutie.
Grapevine Fires, the must see music video for alternative rockers Death Cab For Cutie, is the ingeniously animated story of a boy in search of his brother amidst a wildfire that decimates his neighborhood. This emotive story reflects the autobiographical lyrics of lead singer Ben Gibbons who was caught in the horrific 2007 California wildfires and witnessed the tragedy firsthand.
About Crossroads:
A multimedia and content creation firm, Crossroads offers a clear vision, innovative leadership, and unparalleled reach into the entertainment talent pool. With headquarters in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, London, and an affiliate office in Toronto, Crossroads has six divisions: Film, Television, Commercials, Music Videos, New Media, and Creative Services. All offer exclusive talent featuring some of the world’s top directors, show creators, writers, and producers.
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Click 3X Builds Interactive CG World For Go Army
March 25, 2009In collaboration with MRM and Smuggler for the U.S. Army, Click 3X and ClickFire Media designed and animated interactive elements for A World Like No Other, a CG military base complete with marching squadrons, tank battalions, and screen-shaking Apache helicopter flyovers. The Click team provided the 3D animation to help transport visitors through and across the base in an immersive, full motion journey, combining life-like graphics with MRM’s interactive hotspots linked to live action webisodes enhancing the realism and depth of the online experience.
“This project is an excellent example of how tight integration with several contributors to a large site like goarmy.com can really be effective. Working on different ends of the creative process, we were all really challenged to develop distinct animated elements that complement each other and build a strong, exciting mood, but that also flow flawlessly into one cohesive, immersive experience. ” Creative Director Steve Tozzi.
Crossroads Takes DJ Vitalic to a Land of Fantasy
March 25, 2009Crossroads’ directorial duo Walter Robot’s dynamic and inventive visual style is the driving force behind a trio of uniquely inspired music videos for Grammy award-winning recording artists Gnarls Barkley, French-born DJ Vitalic, and Death Cab For Cutie.
Founded in 1989, Crossroads has been a consistent leader in the development and production of feature films and television programming, as well as producing award-winning commercial and music video content for top-tier brands, agencies and performing artists.
For more, go to www.crossroadsfilms.com
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Company X & Detox Create Lush Video For Nat King Cole
March 25, 2009EMI Records recently tapped Company X to produce a promotional music video for RE: GENERATIONS, a remix album featuring modern interpretations of jazz legend Nat King Cole’s indelible work, which released on March 10th. Performing alongside Cole’s virtual croon, the album features a diverse cast of artists including daughter Natalie Cole, will.i.am, Bebel Gilberto, Stephen and Damien Marley, The Roots, and TV on the Radio, among others. Company X and its production arm, Detox, directed, edited and animated the video, which includes 2D stop-motion, 3D and After Effects. The end result is a multimedia scrapbook that serves as a visual embodiment of the album’s mashed-up tracks, as well as a conceptual homage to Cole’s boundless influence on modern music including hip hop, Latin, reggae, and rock.
“Barney [Miller] and Terence [Ziegler] did a fantastic job with the teaser,” says Al Risi, Owner/Founder of music strategy company ARMM and executive producer of the “Lush Life” video. “What they were able to accomplish with the little assets they were provided, and within the fast turnaround time! [Daughter] Carole Cole was so thrilled with their work. She felt they really captured the great things about her dad through their storytelling.”Set to a remix of Cole’s “Lush Life,” produced by Cee-Lo (member of Gnarls Barkley), the video embarks on an array of contrastive animated portraits of Cole, inspired by classic album cover artwork, and evoking the heart and soul of the venerable jazz singer’s craft and guise. Behind the album’s core mission to bridge cultures and generations of music, we soar through galactic collages juxtaposing classic Cole with the likes of modern graffiti art and hip-hop culture. The video fittingly concludes with a visual outtro, further suggesting the transcendental nature of Cole’s music as a collage of black and white photos of the artist timelessly moves through space.
“I felt the lyrics to ‘Lush Life’ could have a double meaning,” explains Barney Miller, Owner/Editor of Company X, who also co-directed the video. “It’s speaking about either a life of elegance or of alcohol-driven despair. So we wrote a loose storyline that examined both scenarios, and integrated it by animating Nat’s photographs. The video brings you into Nat’s world - a singer’s life on the road and in bars.”Terence Ziegler, who co-directed with Miller, also handled the 3D animation and After Effects, creating around-the-world iconic imageries, as well as graphic transitions. The 2D stop-motion animation was executed by Jon Sajetowski and additional After Effects for the bar scenes were done by Brian Kubovcik. The creative process was spontaneous yet efficient with Miller and Ziegler shooting and rendering footage at the same. The team finished the entire animated video in two weeks.
“We came up with many of our ideas on the fly, marrying the type treatment, graphics and sequences together,” continues Miller. “Some of our transitions were done in editorial. There is a red line throughout the piece, which serves as a unifying graphic element, and also represents the journey that Nat takes in life. We had an idea, a track and rhythm; it was a different way of working. We were able to work more intuitively using our graphics as footage.”
“We see this as a model of how to get things done,” concludes Ziegler. “We have more creative control on our end and can meet faster turnarounds. EMI asked us to do something cool for the piece, giving us some record artwork and old photos of Nat. We were allowed to play around and do anything we wanted. We used all of the creative tools at our disposal and we ran with it.”
