Raising Monty Python’s Graham Chapman from the Dead…in 3-D

Animation producer Justin Weyers describes the massive production challenges of turning Chapman’s A Liar’s Autobiography into an animated 3-D feature.

By Dan Sarto | Tuesday, November 6, 2012 at 7:27 am

Posted In | Magazines: AnimationWorld | Site Categories: 2D, 3D, CG, Films, People, Technology

The film was edited on a single Z800 HP workstation with an NVIDIA Quadra 5000 graphics card.

Justin explained how the film finally came together. “It was really quite amazing. We edited the film on one machine a Z800 HP workstation, holding an ultra fast Fusion I/O Duo, and NVIDIA Quadra 5000 graphics card. We streamlined creation of right-eye and left-eye comps making use of the 3D glasses in After Effects and writing a script by Paul Tuersley, which allowed switching eyes through multiple comps producing a smoother workflow. Also, Dynamic Link was huge, because it helped us make changes among the Adobe programs while avoiding constant, time- consuming re-rendering. Then we went to the post-production house, spent a day and a half just fixing a few things. And we were done. Doing all that editing, on one HP machine using Premiere Pro, was pretty unique.”

Justin also mentioned the ProjectChapman3D.com website that was created during the production. The site started as a repository for what his team was learning about stereoscopic 3-D. It grew into a substantial resource site and eventual home for all things related to the production. In addition, the film’s production inspired Adobe’ innovative Animate Chapman contest, where animators can download various Monty Python audio clips to use in making their own films.

Justin was honest in his assessment of the 3-D effort. “The stereo was a massive challenge. I’m not gonna lie. It was a challenge on the computers. Each company had their own pipeline. Each had its own challenges. For example one of the companies doing stop-motion, they had never shot stereo. They were getting left and right flicker. They were getting fluctuations when they were shooting left and then shooting right. It ends up the bloody neighbor was firing up their kiln and sucking up all the power and causing the spikes.”

He continued, “We lost 4 iMacs on this project. 2 literally burned up. Smoke came out of their tops. But on a positive note, everybody eventually figured out how to get their scenes done. It’s been a really amazing collaboration.”

Dan Sarto is Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of Animation World Network. He likes cats even though they tend to keep their distance.