Bobby Miller
January 11, 2024
Creative Industry Insight
In this episode, we welcome VFX Editor Casey Curtiss who joins us to talk about his work on The Killer. Casey walks us through what the role of a VFX editor entails and how those skills were used on The Killer.
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Executive Produced by Daniel Miller and Monika Ditton. Artwork Designed by Piotr Motyka. Music by ELPHNT.
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January 19, 2024
Ollin VFX
Visual Effects By: Ollin VFX
Executive Producer: Alejandro Diego
Visual Effects Supervisor: Yabin Morales
Visual Effects Executive Producer: Álvaro González Kuhn
Visual Effects Producer: Denisse Garcés
Visual Effects Sequence Supervisor: Isaac Camacho
Visual Effects Project Manager: Edgar Ortiz
Visual Effects Production Coordinators: Andrea Manzano, Luis González, Ursula Salas
CG Lead: Oscar Paz
CG Artists: Aislinn Alcaraz, Tlacaellael Cedillo, Alberto Gaona, Jerónimo Martínez
Lead Artist: Argenis Dionisio
Associate Visual Effects Supervisor: Xany Méndez
Compositors: Ramón Monsanto, Francisco Contreras, Eduardo Grandizo, Gabriel Zamora, Alberto Carmona, Alejandro Saavedra, Ariel Picone, Elena Amador, Martin Villareal, Dereek Alcubilla, Edwin Leger, Jonathan Silverio, Paula Andrada, Niko Gulyayev
Matte Painting Artist: Wellinthon Simeón
Visual Effects Editors: Daniela Ramírez, David Malvaez, Héctor Ramírez
Head of IT: Alejandro Gutierrez
Pipeline Developer: Eric Campos
Systems Administrator: Manuel Macedo
Systems Assistant: Luis Urrutia
Accounting Manager: Claudia Domínguez
Talent Acquisition Manager: Alicia Álvarez
January 9, 2024
Wylie Co.
The Killer digi-double visual effects sequence & breakdown. This is our first of many breakdown reels we’re going to post on X for our VFX work on The Killer.
For this particular sequence in The Killer, Eric Barba, Peter Mavromates and David Fincher approached us with an extremely difficult task, to create close-up, photoreal digi-double shots of Michael Fassbender riding a scooter.
The quality of the work had to seamlessly cut back to back between live-action shots of The Killer on set. Extra complexity was added because the original plan to shoot these shots on a virtual stage didn’t live up to what Fincher had envisioned.
Because of this, there were no HDRI’s or usable array footage and sparse reference photos. The lighting and lookdev had to be dialed in by eye. We began with the Killer asset, adding fine facial detail and cloth simulations.
We then used photogrammetry to assist with cascading streetlight timing and travel speed. The final result was high res meticulously crafted nearly full CG shots cut into the live-action sequence with the ultimate goal of nobody noticing.
Advancements in software, hardware, and artist skill enabled us to create The Killer digi-double with a team of 7 artists using Lenovo workstations, AMD processors, NVidia GPUs, Nuke, Maya, Houdini & Redshift software. And months of time!
All of our work in David Fincher’s The Killer involved digi-doubles. Here are 3 breakdowns of digi-double gore that we provided for the film. Full CG shots, cut between live-action shots. They include particle fx, fluid dynamics, various hair, cloth, and bone simulations, and good old-fashioned animation by hand.
Visual Effects By: Wylie Co. Culver City, California
Visual Effects Supervisor: Jake Maymudes
Visual Effects Executive Producer: Kris Drenzek
Digital Effects Supervisor: Josh Hatton
Visual Effects Animation Supervisor: TJ Burke
Lighting & FX Artist: Liam Jurkowich
Animation Lead: Sashdy Arvelo
Animators: Li Li, Taylor Cooke
Compositor: Nick Kaye
Lookdev Artists: Bora Jurisic, Richard Bridge
3D Tracking Artists: Tommy Ibanez, Nallely Gomez
Pipeline TD: Roberto Cadena Vega
Coordinator: Sofia Beroud
December 18, 2023
Savage VFX
Visual Effects By: Savage Visual Effects
Visual Effects Supervisor: James Pastorius
Visual Effects Producer: Brice Liesveld
2D Animation: Kevin Konitsch, Henry Borrasso, H Haden Hammond
3D Animation: Tim Turner, Rusty Ippolito, Andrew Romatz, Luke A. Ewing, Joseph Chiechi, Alvaro Segura, Mike Bettinardi, Mike DuPree
Vincent Frei
December 18, 2023
ART of VFX
Wei Zheng (VFX Supervisor) began his career in visual effects in 1998 at ILM. He then worked at Digital Domain and joined Artemple Hollywood in 2012. He has worked on various shows including Minority Report, Zodiac, Mindhunter, and Mank. Today he talks to us about his new collaboration with David Fincher.
Yabin Morales (VFX Supervisor) has been with Ollin VFX for over 15 years and has worked on projects such as The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, The Boys, and Outer Range.
With over twenty years of experience in visual effects, James Pastorius (VFX Supervisor) has worked on many films such as Gone Girl, Jumanji: The Next Level, Uncharted, and Ferrari. In 2007, he founded his own studio, Savage VFX.
Read the full interview
November 24, 2023
Artemple – Hollywood
David Fincher‘s Digital Effects Finesse in The Killer.
Watch the VFX Breakdown on YouTube
Visual Effects By: Artemple – Hollywood LLC
Visual Effects Supervisor: Wei Zheng
Digital Production Manager: Alexander Beale
Lead Digital Artists: Kyle Hause, Zach Miller
Digital Artists: Greg Szafranski, Anthony Davis, Yusei Uesugi, David Sudd, Derek Bird
Kevin Tod Haug, the VFX supervisor of ‘Panic Room’–the film is now two decades old–shares key moments from its production.
Ian Failes
March 30, 2022
befores & afters
David Fincher’s Panic Room turns 20 years old this week. The film starring Jodie Foster and Kristen Stewart featured a somewhat memorable troubled production history, partly because the original principal actor Nicole Kidman had to pull out of the project after shooting had began, among other events.
From a visual effects perspective, however, the film is memorable for different reasons. One is the incredible approach taken to extremely long takes inside the main location–a New York brownstone townhouse built on a stage in Redondo Beach–featuring ‘deliberately’ impossible camera moves. These were the result of meticulous previs, motion control and other camera work and a photogrammetry approach to VFX orchestrated by BUF, which had done some similar work on Fincher’s Fight Club.
Another memorable aspect of the film is its unsettling opening titles in which cast and crew names appear as giant lettering framed within New York buildings and locations. The work here was done by Picture Mill and ComputerCafe.
Overseeing those two key visual effects components of Panic Room was visual effects supervisor Kevin Tod Haug, who had also worked with Fincher on Fight Club. He revisits the production in this anniversary chat with befores & afters, looking back at the planning, previs and shoot, and the approach to those impossible camera moves and the unique titles.
Hugo Guerra (Twitter) & Ian Failes (Twitter)
November 24, 2021
Hugo’s Desk (YouTube, Patreon, Twitter, Facebook) / befores & afters
On this episode of VFX Notes, Hugo Guerra from Hugo’s Desk and Ian Failes from befores & afters are joined by Craig Barron. Barron is creative director at Magnopus, and previously worked as a matte painter at ILM and co-founder and visual effects supervisor at Matte World Digital. Barron won a VFX Oscar for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and was also nominated for a VFX Oscar for Batman Returns.
They talk about his amazing career and his work in Zodiac, Casino, Empire Strikes Back, Batman Returns, and so much more, what those original days of matte painting in the optical era were like, and how the transition to digital happened. Matte World Digital’s work on Zodiac, amongst other films, was also discussed in a previous episode.
This episode is sponsored by ActionVFX Black Friday sale. It begins November 25th at 8 PM EST and will end on December 3rd at 11:59 PM EST. All VFX elements in the library will be 55% off the first 24 hours, & 50% off the remaining days of the sale. All Annual Subscription Plans (Individual & Studio Plans) purchased during the sale will receive 2x the amount of monthly elements. Learn more here.
Chapters:
00:00:00 – Intro
00:04:30 – David Fincher and DVD extras
00:05:35 – Craig’s career
00:08:16 – Ray Harryhausen and influences
00:12:08 – Matte paintings in Empire Strikes Back
00:18:13 – Physical correct vs artistic direction
00:32:07 – Matte paintings in Batman Returns
00:34:12 – Casino and the first radiosity render
00:43:37 – 3D projections in Zodiac
00:55:02 – Blade Runner VR
00:59:48 – The Criterion Collection and history
01:07:05 – Patreon, Twitch Subs and YouTube members credits
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Hugo Guerra (Twitter) & Ian Failes (Twitter)
October 2, 2021
Hugo’s Desk (YouTube, Patreon, Twitter, Facebook) / befores & afters
On this episode of VFX Notes, Hugo Guerra from Hugo’s Desk and Ian Failes from befores & afters dive deep into the visual effects in David Fincher films. We take an especially close look at Digital Domain‘s work for Zodiac and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Chapters:
00:00:00 – Intro
00:04:20 – Zodiac and the rise of invisible VFX
00:09:09 – The rise of D2 and Foundry‘s Nuke
00:18:31 – David Fincher’s methods and Zodiac‘s murder scenes
00:30:03 – Environments by DD and Matte World
00:43:41 – The VFX of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
00:57:27 – The VFX of The Social Network
01:03:15 – The VFX of Mindhunter
01:09:51 – Wrap up
01:12:45 – Patreon, YouTube members and Twitch Subs Credits
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Mike Seymour
March 14, 2021
fxguide
Mank is nominated for 10 Academy awards in this year’s 93rd Oscars in categories such as Best Picture, Lead Actor, and Best Director. It is also nominated for the VES award for Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature. The film follows screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz’s tumultuous development of Orson Welles’ iconic masterpiece Citizen Kane (1941).
There were several VFX supervisors nominated, Simon Carr (Territory Studio), Wei Zheng (Artemple), James Pastorius (Savage VFX), along with Peter Mavromates. In many respects, director David Fincher could have also been nominated for VFX. The director is himself an expert in visual effects and was a very active contributor to the film’s effect work. Peter Mavromates is a long-time collaborator with David Fincher and was officially the Co-producer, Post Supervisor and VFX Producer on the film. Additionally, Pablo Helman at ILM was key in creating the CG animals at the San Simeon zoo.
The film had its roots going back over 20 years. “We had a false start about 20 years ago, around 1999. The script had been written at that time but it never happened for a number of reasons,” Mavromates comments. “Probably a contributing factor was that it was black and white and if you weren’t Woody Allen in the 90s, you couldn’t shoot black and white. Even Mel Brooks had to change producers for Young Frankenstein because the studio wouldn’t let him shoot black and white and he had to find another studio.”
The movie finished filming about 2 weeks before the W.H.O. declared the COVID pandemic in Feb 2020. This meant nearly all the VFX was done using remote protocols at each of the VFX vendors.
The Fincher Analyst 