But the contribution of this new pool began immediately after a brief start-up period. They began to face several programming tasks to enhance the features of 3D and compositing packages we use, enriching them with new scripts and tools. For Softimage XSI, for example, they wrote other primitives, polygonal manipulation tools and some strange dynamics fields for particles (that seem to pop out from the screen!). And they have additionally focused on Maya, working on fluid effects, which we are interested in purchasing now that we know the capabilities. For compositing, while we are evaluating new packages such as Nuke, which seems to be a great software with good playout systems and several tricks for 3D manipulation, they did some experiments on Cyborg, the package we use mostly, trying to enhance the color corrector and mask tolls, but it’s a work in progress.

From a production point of view, remembering the awful experience we had on Pontormo, the team was called on to create a tool for compositing, which would automate the process they did by hand on that film, analyzing the image, slicing it according to its own complexity and acting to extract the matte in a better way. This tool is still under construction as a stand-alone for certain situations that we hope to avoid in the future.

Other programming was done for Il silenzio dell’allodola, a movie still in progress, about a prisoner who suffers violent abuses in jail. This time the production need was to create fly swarm animations for multiple shots staged inside the prisoner’s cell. We understood immediately that to make this work correctly we had to focus our attention on random fly behaviour, so we proceeded only after viewing a special documentary about insects that confirmed our ideas.

Adding smoke and fire to the village in E ridendo L’uccise took 70 layers of composite work.

In this case, I personally wrote the first animation script based on translation and rotation, using noises and random parameters and variables and resulting in a very good realistic feel, done in a very short time. Going this route avoided the drawing of single curves and paths from scratch for all CGI elements involved, which would have meant very time-consuming work and would have resulted in repetition cycle problems. Instead, by going random, the animation is ever changing.

Following my instructions the R&D team realized a custom interface where the operator can define parameters for scene complexity, such as the number of flies, reference objects to visualize and modify the size of the animation area, velocity and random movement intervals. They are still working on the scripting where we need to display fly paths to get trajectories, and to check for any geometric penetration problems with real elements. To accomplish this, they are working on Barnsley’s fractal interpolation algorithm and studying other methods written by Foley e Van-Dam.

Meanwhile, for the production E ridendo L’uccise, Videa was hired to create a realistic digital backlot, encompassing a medieval village entirely built in CGI. I spent several days in tight contact with set designer Giantito Burchiellaro (a very famous professional who worked with Federico Fellini), who rendered a color paint concept of the final scene, working on a pictorial took during location phase and a typical design for buildings that perfectly matched the era. With this great piece of art, the creative department of Videa started to divide the picture into single elements, obtaining detailed designs for each building, while respecting the style used by Burchiellaro and sending them to be modelled by the 3D department.

At the same time, I was on stage supervising the shoot, giving acting suggestions, studying camera moves and recording technical data on my beloved log.