The Effects Mastery of Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
To Bluescreen or Not to Bluescreen
Combining Miniatures, CG and Live Action
McGuinness decided to avoid bluescreens, and rely instead on rotoscoping. “I wanted to keep the natural light and avoid the obstruction of bluescreens. That way I could use the real environment, cut out everything that was around it, and replace it with ocean, replace it with atmosphere, with elements that hold continuity throughout the sequences. So I just bit the bullet and said let’s remove the bluescreen altogether. We’d have our senior compositors extract what they could before we went to roto. After roto the shot would go back to the compositors, and then we’d be putting our effects in. We were always finding the best and fastest methods.”
Never built full-scale, the French ship Acheron was created from a number of methods. “We started off with a boat that was similar to the Acheron, and modified it heavily, after the look of the U.S. Constitution. Yes, it’s a CG ship, but we used as much organic texturing as possible. The only full-scale portion of the Acheron was in the final battle where the sailors cross from the Surprise to the Acheron. Otherwise it’s a miniature and the CG.”
McGuinness says that the best use of the Weta models was in the final battle sequence. “We spent four or five months in previs constructing that final battle, and then once it had been edited that and Peter was happy with it, we went down to Weta and we shot the models, closely watching the previs.”
The Baja ship was outfitted with dump tanks and wave machines, but Asylum replaced most of the tank footage with live-action water plates. He also added the fine details of wind and bow wakes, always keeping in mind the continuity of wind and currents. “It was a question of taking the three mediums, the model, the tank ship and the CG model, and putting them into some organic water.”
Conveying a Director’s Vision
As supervising visual effects producer, Brooke Breton had the job of making sure that each effects facility completed their work in the manner best suited to achieving Weir’s vision of the film. “I work with visual effects facilities to make sure that the communication about that director’s vision is crystal clear and everybody keeps on track with very specific directives that are given from the director.” Another large part of her work is in making certain that effects goals are reached on schedule. “Everything must be paced. The director must have enough mental energy to devote to the task at hand each day. I’m also constantly in communication with the studio to make sure they understand how we’re going to get to our end goals, and how we’re going to get the critical visual elements that we need to get into the picture in time, so that the sound crew can start designing to fully specific visuals.”
Working closely with Weir allowed Breton to fully understand his intentions. “The visual purpose of this picture is to take you on a journey. Various scenes have different artistic elements that have a unique look and style about them. Peter wanted each to be very distinct. This is the early 1800s, a time when everything was fresh and wild and different for these people, and that’s what the viewer’s experience should be. It was a fantastic artistic challenge for all these facilities to take that on and present what it would be like to be the first person who set foot on the Galapagos, what it would be like to be in the midst of a such a powerful storm.” Fortunately, her job was made easier by Weir himself, whose attention to detail extends to his cast and crew. “Peter takes a very personal interest in every artist, to the point of getting to know them by name, and congratulating them on their shots. I can’t tell you how rare that is.”
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