What’s Wrong With This Picture?
On my recent flight to Beijing, I had the chance to catch up on some reading, and took in an article on a major visual effects blockbuster. Most of the article contained the usual: “we had to extend our ______ system beyond anything we had done before”, or “we didn’t think we could do it but somehow we pulled it off”. Nothing particularly remarkable, until the following passage from the VFX Supervisor caught my eye:
My first instinct was to go with a CG environment for this sequence because I thought that would give us more flexibility. But (the Director) wanted to shoot a miniature in the natural surroundings of real (landscape) and sky – and it was a great idea. We got all of that terrific setting for free by shooting the miniature there. Of course, in post, we had to change the skies to make them look consistent, because we were shooting on different days and the skies changed. We also added more (landscape).
Well, at least the miniature was still usable… right? Not according to this CG Supervisor:
Initially, the idea was that we would take the shots from the miniature as they were and populate them with (creatures and characters). But quickly we realized that the 2D roto that would have been necessary to place people behind all of these (structures) would have been astronomical. So we decided to redo a lot of it in CG.
So much for the “great idea”.
- Lesson #1: Your first instincts in your field of specialty are usually correct.
- Lesson #2: Your subjective self-preservation instincts vis-à-vis the hand that feeds you will almost always trump your objective professional instincts regarding the good of the production.
This sort of waste is so common in the film industry, that it is accepted with a winking, “you-know-how-production-is” coda. But it is quite frankly ridiculous - especially given the precedents that are seemingly ignored time and time again. For example, the replacement of inadequate or inconsistent practical elements with digital assets is by now a time-worn cliché – yet it still persists at the expense of much time and money. While clearly everything cannot be anticipated in advance, the forehead slaps come when you hear of experienced artists and technicians whose qualified instincts are overruled for the sake of a “comfort zone” that results in the crew chasing their tails and the studio burning cash.
The bottom line: hire the most talented minds you can, and then trust their judgment. You may be pleasantly surprised to find your film a little better and your wallet a little fatter.
Tags: animation production leadership, budgetary waste, production efficiency