Tasked with creating full CG environments, simulated explosions, energy effects, laser beams, armored ants, and other digital assets, over 1,000 studio artists delivered more than 800 shots on the Marvel’s first MCU Phase 5 installment.
MPC’s Adelaide, Montreal, Bangalore, and Los Angeles teams collaborated on the visual effects for Marvel Studio’s Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania. Led by VFX supervisors Malte Sarnes and Axel Bonami and using the latest digital tools and artistry, the combined team helped create the film's breathtaking visuals, with over 1,000 artists delivering over 800 shots.
The company’s Adelaide and Los Angeles-based concept art teams were tasked with designing the background for a specific location in the Quantum Realm, Guerilla Village, under the supervision of art directors Nicholas Pill and Leandre Lagrange. To visualize this environment, the team researched microscopic, subatomic, and neural network references and artists such as Gerard van Smirren. Because Guerilla Village is a hideout, the team’s designs conveyed a sense of protection and secrecy.
MPC Montreal’s artists worked on two large-scale full CG environments, the Guerilla Village and Chronopolis. Both sequences involved two battle sequences featuring CG crowds, an army of battle ants, and hundreds of FX elements seamlessly integrated into the plate. They also created the character Veb, voiced by actor David Dastmalchian. MPC’s modeling and texture artists researched creatures, including jellyfish, to create Veb’s translucent skin while animators conveyed the character’s emotion.
The Adelaide team also worked on multiple sequences within the Quantum Realm, including Hank and MODOK’s Aerial fight, Cassie’s Transmission, Janet’s Homestead, the Observation Deck sequence, and the Blight approach. In addition, the FX department created a variety of simulations, including explosions, energy effects, laser beams, and refractive energy.
To create the Homestead environment, the Assets department built a library of detailed CG foliage and vegetation to distribute throughout the environment, adding depth with multiple layers. The Quantum Realm environments, built by MPC, spanned over 40 kilometers in diameter and included 20 kilometers of Quantum Skies. The skies included numerous effects, such as slow-moving portals, stars, noise waves, and clouds.
According to the studio, the most challenging work was the Blight, which involved large-scale environment destruction and the Blight retraction and its reversed environmental effects. In addition, Kang’s transformations were another major task, which included look development for his mask and powers, including forcefields and laser beams. The studio also created various creatures such as variations of Ants, including armored ants carrying objects on their backs, those repairing Hank's ship using welding tools, snail-like horses named Snorses, digital doubles, and vehicles.
“MPC Adelaide was given the daunting task of presenting the first sequence of images in our film,” said Production VFX Supervisor Jesse J. Chisholm. “This was our first look at the newly designed Quantum Realm. If our audience didn't buy this is as a real place, we knew our movie would fall on its face. The next undertaking was to create Kang's suit transformation and his ship, the Timesphere. Malte and his team once again perfectly integrated the plate-based photography and CGI to give our audience something tactile to bite into.”
Chisholm explained the last piece of the puzzle: creating the Blighted Core and the sequence that follows on the Observation Deck. He noted, “The Observation Deck scene required heavy storytelling in making our world feel dangerous, but also great restraint in world-building, allowing Scott and Cassie a moment of emotional connection.”
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania is in theaters now.
Source: MPC
Debbie Diamond Sarto is news editor at Animation World Network.
