Twenty years after the release of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, visual effects is more in demand than ever before. What better time to reflect on the magic spell cast by the beloved film franchise? For my new VFX Wire article, Harry Potter - 20 Years of Wizarding Wonder, I spoke with Adrian Wootton, … Continue reading VFX Wire — Harry Potter: 20 Years of Wizarding Wonder
Category: The Illusion Almanac
New Article on Virtual Production for Producers Guild of America
In my non-fiction life as a journalist covering film and television production, I recently had the honour of writing an article for Produced By, the official magazine of the Producers Guild of America. Into the Virtual World explores some of the ways in which live-action film and television producers can make the transition into animation and … Continue reading New Article on Virtual Production for Producers Guild of America
VFX Wire — The Visual Effects of The Crown
I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Ben Turner, production visual effects supervisor of The Crown, about the Emmy-nominated work done by the visual effects team for Season 4 of the Netflix streaming series. Read the complete article at VFX Wire. https://www.vfxwire.com/crowning-achievements-in-visual-effects/
The Creation of Fire City
Demons walk among us, but we cannot see them. That's the premise of Fire City: King of Miseries, a short film directed by Academy Award-winner Tom Woodruff Jr. that premiered on DreadCentral in 2013. Though self-contained, King of Miseries set the scene for the feature-length movie Fire City: End of Days (originally titled Fire City: The … Continue reading The Creation of Fire City
Extract: “Monsters of Hollow Earth” — Godzilla vs Kong Concept Design by ADI
In this exclusive extract from The Illusion Almanac: Creating Godzilla vs Kong, Amalgmated Dynamics, Inc. co-founder Tom Woodruff Jr. discusses the company's concept work for Godzilla vs Kong. Under Woodruff's direction, artists including Xander Smith, Justice Joseph, Ken Barthelmey and Bryan Wynia designed the monstrous denizens inhabiting the subterranean realm of Hollow Earth. Read the full … Continue reading Extract: “Monsters of Hollow Earth” — Godzilla vs Kong Concept Design by ADI
Extract: “Designing Mechagodzilla” — Godzilla vs Kong Concept Design by Legacy Effects
In this exclusive extract from The Illusion Almanac: Creating Godzilla vs Kong, Legacy Effects concept designer Jared Krichevsky discusses the company's design work for Godzilla vs Kong. The production design department brought in Legacy Effects to develop designs for the 2021 iteration of Mechagodzilla, a human construction built by APEX for use as a weapon against … Continue reading Extract: “Designing Mechagodzilla” — Godzilla vs Kong Concept Design by Legacy Effects
Extract: “APEX Aftermath” — Godzilla vs Kong visual effects by Luma Pictures
In this exclusive extract from The Illusion Almanac: Creating Godzilla vs Kong, Luma Pictures visual effects supervisor Brendan Seals discusses the aftermath of Godzilla's attack on APEX Cybernetics in Godzilla vs Kong. While the artists at Luma did not get their hands on the monsters of Godzilla vs Kong, they did however deliver a range of … Continue reading Extract: “APEX Aftermath” — Godzilla vs Kong visual effects by Luma Pictures
Extract: “City as Character” — Godzilla vs Kong visual effects by MPC
In this exclusive extract from The Illusion Almanac: Creating Godzilla vs Kong, MPC visual effects supervisor Pier Lefebvre talks about the construction of a digital Hong Kong environment for Godzilla vs Kong. Having previously discharged third-act duties for the 2014 reboot Godzilla, and after spearheading much of the spectacle in Godzilla: King of the Monsters, MPC … Continue reading Extract: “City as Character” — Godzilla vs Kong visual effects by MPC
Extract: “Animating Kong” — Godzilla vs Kong visual effects by Weta Digital
In this exclusive extract from The Illusion Almanac: Creating Godzilla vs Kong, Weta Digital visual effects supervisor Kevin Smith discusses the methodology used to bring the giant ape Kong to life for Godzilla vs Kong. With its track record creating the expressive simians of King Kong (2005) and the Planet of the Apes trilogy, Weta Digital … Continue reading Extract: “Animating Kong” — Godzilla vs Kong visual effects by Weta Digital
Extract: “Ape in the Rain” — Godzilla vs Kong visual effects by Scanline VFX
In this exclusive extract from The Illusion Almanac: Creating Godzilla vs Kong, the Scanline VFX team discusses the scenes involving Kong on the deck of the transport ship. As lead visual effects vendor for Godzilla vs Kong, Scanline handled the sea battle, the three-way Titan fight in Hong Kong, the attack on the APEX facility … Continue reading Extract: “Ape in the Rain” — Godzilla vs Kong visual effects by Scanline VFX
Graham Edwards 