Adventures in VFX

Before and After of Goodyear commercial 'Follow'

2008-03-25T08:58:00.000-07:00

So back in November, I was on a commercial shoot for Goodyear in Phoenix, Az. After two or three months of toil and creation back at base at Guava Visual Effects in NYC, we have finished visual effects and post on two spots for Goodyear. There were a number of challenges; two shots in particular. The first being a shot we created entirely from scratch, using over 40 photos and then stills grabbed from moving footage. The desired shot wasn't quite captured in camera. So ultimately a hero shot was needed that tied in with the script. It needed the Goodyear blimp to be followed by lines of cars heading towards the destination of the Phoenix Raceway.

We tracked an existing shot of the blimp with some amount of groundplain view in 'Boujou' (3d tracking software) and then began stitching the photos and stills onto this track to create a new enviroment with depth of field and lens distortion. There exists an number of car lots in the actual view. They were replaced by extending surrounding greenery. The moving cars however, that follow the blimp, are made in '3d' (software - Maya) then composited into the final shot. Lots of additional movement, like smoke and moving cars, people and flags were added to bring the scene to life.
The second shot involved more 3d cars. We extensively 'cleaned up' the backplate, removing overpasses and a majority of cars to help focus in on a shadow of the blimp and the 3d cars following.

One of the finished commercials, followed by a 'Before and After' or Shot Breakdown can be found on the Guava Visual Effects website.

Amazing accomplishment in CG by Michael Bay courtesy of the Onion.

2008-02-21T09:46:00.000-08:00

Hilarious and extremely serious VFX article (!) from "the Onion" about Michael Bay winning an Oscar. Read here.

Then We Came to the End

2008-01-26T10:55:00.000-08:00

If you are in advertising, connected in some way to the 'AD' industry or you are just a 'meedja' creative-type person yet down-to-earth and take the whole silliness with a truckload of salt, you will get a kick out of reading "Then We Came to the End" bu Joshua Ferris. It contains hiliarious insights and one liners. Without giving much away, it features death and arguments over which type face to use in this "Wickedly incisive satire." Dave, here at the 'G' is engrossed in it at the moment.

Adrenaline! Bleeding Eardrums! IdentiKit Blondes! All in the name of work.

2007-11-13T11:37:00.000-08:00

In the Nascar Pits, Phoenix Raceway, Arizona.

Now, I'm not a Nascar fan but the adrenaline and energy and the novelty of being in the pits and garages from sun up to sun down last Sunday was a ride and a half.

We were in Phoenix for a Goodyear shoot. Our Helicopter buzzed around the GY blimp as in drifted over the raceway before and during the race, capturing aerials for a forthcoming GY commercial. Our vfx team back here in NYC will have to enhance the backgrounds, remove cars and improve roads leading up to the stadium. This is so we adhere to the 'Pied Piper' type script where the cars are all following the GY blimp to its final destination, the raceway.

We will use a number of techniques and equipment to do this; digital matte painting to beautify existing vistas and using compositing tools such as Autodesk's Inferno and Flame and tracking software like Imagineer's Mocha or 2D3's Boujou. We may have to import 3d car models into the 3d compositing enviroment to aid the storytelling if the cars, which were all bumper to bumper on race day, will need to be seen driving forward and converging on the stadium.

The noise was deafening, even through our standard issue earplugs. I didn't know many of the Nascar drivers. All I had to do was look out for the Identikit Blonde wife or girlfriend and there was the driver with his shades on.

Motorbike Stunts, Huge Planes and Exploding Russians!

2007-10-14T08:49:00.000-07:00

These were some cracking viral pieces for IBM directed by Henry Littlechild of Outsider.

Shot in San Bernardino, the three spots feature clearing desktops in some unique ways. I was in attendance in my Visual Effects Supervising capacity. The set ups created a very fun vibe on location. The bodybuilder's legs were about as wide as my waist! He was huge! A link to the spots will up soon.

My VFX reel and work online.

2007-09-12T17:18:00.000-07:00

To view my new reel please click here.
To view some individual spots, please look at the Goodyear and Criss Angel postings below.

"If I don't put a visual effects shop out of business (on my movie), I'm not doing my job."

2007-05-25T06:47:00.000-07:00

This is a very intriguing article in Variety about Blockbusters taking their toll on f/x shops.

Goodyear shoot in LA, lit by DOP Oscar winner.

2007-05-20T09:02:00.000-07:00

I was Vfx supervising on the Goodyear shoot last week in LA. Production company was Tool of North America and the director was Harry Cocciolo. A very calm shoot. Everyone was up to speed from the last Goodyear shoot. Director of Photography was the 2006 Oscar winner Dion Bebbe, (for Memoirs of a Geisha) who did a cracking job and will make my life a lot easier over the next month or so.

Here is how the last couple of spots turned out for Goodyear. (2 commercials.)

The previous spots are still airing and have aired in the US during this year's Oscars and other prominent times, such as during episodes of "Lost" and "American Idol".

Also check out the 'BEFORE and AFTER' for the Goodyear spots here...

Here are some stills, below, from this and the previous Goodyear shoot in December 2006. The hangar in Tustin, Santa Ana, South LA, was 1,200 foot long and 200 feet high. It could have accommodated 5 blimps. It was very impressive. Compare the size of the coach parked in front with the hangar!

Mindfreak! No trickery involved. Honest.

2007-04-30T20:18:00.000-07:00

View here.

This is a cinema promo piece for Criss Angel "Mindfreak", running before Spidey 3 in the US. He was shot against green screen in Vegas. The alleyway and backdrop, which is all 3d, created by the CGfx team at Freestyle Collective, (our sister company downstairs from Guava), is based on the one down the side of our buildiing on 19th street, here in Manhattan. We, Freestyle CD, Hoon Chong and I loved coming up with the various imagery that builds at the start and climaxes at the end. The 'trick' itself, had to remain quite 'clean'. See the work here.

Trends in Visual Effects Interview

2007-04-23T08:46:00.000-07:00

Vfxtalk has posted an interview with myself and Alex, another Guava effects artist about the trends in Visual Effects. Read the full article here.

NYC ACM SIGGRAPH

2007-04-17T06:02:00.000-07:00

Representing Guava, Director of Animation Steve Talkowski and myself, gave a small talk on our latest work at NYC ACM Siggraph. Quite a few students, not put off by the 8 inches of rain that fell from Sunday into Monday in NYC were in attendence. Industry peers and highlights included Psyop and Framestore. We showed our MAC Cosmetics in store experimental piece and Frenchs - a classic piece of intergration animation to live action plates that we shot on South Beach in Miami recently. Our growing 3d department will announce new hires shortly.

Our French's spot featured in the New York Times.

2007-04-11T08:36:00.000-07:00

I composited excellent work by Guava's Animation Director Steve Talkowski for Frenchs Mustard. The spot was featured in the New York Times. Read the whole article and see the commercial here.
(We didn't see very much of the $12 million advertising budget at all. Note to our producers!)

Good Year on Vfxtalk.com

2007-04-03T14:52:00.000-07:00

A reasonable online article on the Goodyear job that I did was posted on VFXtalk.com this week. Read on...

My latest published interview

2007-03-01T13:39:00.000-08:00

I was one of the panel in a VFX roundtable discussion. It features my good self from Guava here in NYC and guys from Zoic, the Mill and Framestore.

March 1, 2007 - Boards Magazine
ANIMATION & VISUAL EFFECTS
VFX Roundtable
From dweebs to deities
Is post-production the new production? Our VFX roundtable discusses the evolving role of visual effects in the production process. Read the whole article here.

To view my new reel please click here.

Goodyear stills from shoot

2007-01-19T09:14:00.000-08:00

Here are some stills from the Goodyear shot in December 2006. The hangar in Tustin, Santa Ana, South LA, was 1,200 foot long and 200 feet high. It could have accommodated 5 blimps. It was so impressive! Compare the size of the coach parked in front with the hangar!