King Kong (2005)
Lead Compositor
A typical Kong Shot, with live action Naomi Watts, CG Kong and Rex, matte painted BG, miniature mid ground, CG foreground, with composited drool on the Rex's teeth, and composited smoke and vine elements.
First was the T-Rex battle sequence, a massive sequence with many different components. The fore ground miniature served as the base for the shot, typically filmed in multiple passes with different lighting we could blend in and smoke passes for atmosphere. For the world beyond the miniature we had a matte painting for the sky and distant mountains. Between this and the foreground miniature compositors added trees (generic miniature tree elements) and smoke elements to create the mysterious other world of Skull Island.
Of course no shot was compete with out Kong or the T-Rexs. These were carefully blended in to the background, with various tricks for cast shadows and interaction with the environment.
Kong was my first experience using Nuke, used along side the then maintain of the industry, Shake. Nuke was used to create all the tree and smoke layers that went between the matte painting and the foreground. There was a lot of bouncing between shake and nuke to get the balance of things right, but Nuke's 3D capability surpassed what we had in Shake, making it easy to create generic tree and smoke setups for other compositors to use.
Of course no shot was compete with out Kong or the T-Rexs. These were carefully blended in to the background, with various tricks for cast shadows and interaction with the environment.
Kong was my first experience using Nuke, used along side the then maintain of the industry, Shake. Nuke was used to create all the tree and smoke layers that went between the matte painting and the foreground. There was a lot of bouncing between shake and nuke to get the balance of things right, but Nuke's 3D capability surpassed what we had in Shake, making it easy to create generic tree and smoke setups for other compositors to use.
The Raptor's in pursuit
The sequence featuring the Raptors pursuing the crew up a steep sloped had a number of unique challenges. Lots of 3D projections created in nuke were used throughout the short sequence. Some created the environment, where as some were used to create scrapes as the Raptor claws dug in and slipped on the mossy surface,
This sequence also had me down on the blue screen stage with VFX supervisor Ben Snow. To complete the shots we needed some blue screen elements of the crew climbing. We spent some time on set making sure the quality of the blue screen was suitable and the actor's performances were what we needed. A fun time!
This sequence also had me down on the blue screen stage with VFX supervisor Ben Snow. To complete the shots we needed some blue screen elements of the crew climbing. We spent some time on set making sure the quality of the blue screen was suitable and the actor's performances were what we needed. A fun time!
A blend of live action foreground, miniature background and blue screen crew members.
After finally capturing Kong, the story returns to New York. Whilst the set constructed for New York was a massive recreation of the city during that period, it was only one storey high, with everything above the ground floor a computer generated creation. The roto and paint department did a hell of job, removing camera gear and creating mattes to remove the black night sky, so we could composite in the CG city.
Kong smashing his way out of the theatre is an example of one of the more complicated pairs of shots. The 2nd shot featured some difficult extractions with all the extras running over the dark night sky. Unique challenges to this shot were adding some warping to the billboard, as Kong pushes down on it, along with creating a convincing electrical shorting out animation as the massive KING KONG sign shorts out. Dress in the usual smoke and interactive effects, and you have a done shot! (easier said than done).
