Search form

The Fall 2006 TV Season: Still Photoreal and Subtle

Karen Raugust investigates how the vfx work featured in new and returning series this fall focuses on realism and subtlety.

Part of that mandate for the new season of Battlestar Galactica is to create ships, engines, guns and other sci-fi icons and to remain true to the franchise. Courtesy of Atmosphere Visual Effects.

The fall 2006 television season features a wide variety of new and returning series, many with bar-raising vfx work on display. While each series is unique in how it uses vfx, all are trying to rise to new heights, creatively and technically, while at the same time seamlessly integrating the magic. The goal on most of the shows is for the effects to be as photoreal and subtle as possible, even though they often deal with supernatural or scary subjects.

Battlestar Galactica (SCI FI Channel)

The guiding principle for Battlestar Galactica, starting with the miniseries first and then the weekly series, now in season two, was that we were doing a drama that happens to take place in space and happens to be in the future, says Gary Hutzel, vfx supervisor. While there were vfx set pieces, it was primarily a human drama.

Part of that mandate was to create ships, engines, guns and other sci-fi icons that are easily recognizable. Everyone knows what they are, and they dont have to be explained, Hutzel says. Another significant goal was to remain true to the franchise. It was important to keep elements of the original show intact.

As the show has progressed, more vfx shots have been required, both due to more episodes the number of continuous episodes increased to 20 this season and to a higher level of sophistication. At the end of last years season one, the show introduced New Caprica, the planet where the characters settle. Its basically a single street in a sandpit in Richmond [near Vancouver], Hutzel says. The rest of the planet is created in vfx. A lot of what were doing is about the feng shui of Galactica.

There also is more of a presence for a group of entirely virtual robots called Cylon Centurions. Initially, in the miniseries, they werent a big part of the plan, but theyve grown in importance as the show has continued, and a whole vfx team is dedicated to them now. Youre going to see a lot more Centurion action this year, Hutzel says.

Creating the Cylons was problematic in season one, according to Jeremy Hoey, senior digital matte artist and co-founder of Atmosphere, the lead vfx house working on the show this season. They were shiny and reflective, and it was difficult to have them sit realistically in the environment. Once the team worked out the character design, it also had to make improvements to the pipeline to be able to create the characters with the necessary speed and quality.

For example, Atmosphere and Hutzel sped up the process used to grab reference material from the set. It takes practically no time to capture the images, Hoey says. Atmosphere receives high dynamic range imaging (HDRI) from the producers, which gives it highly accurate renders of the robots. It also re-rigged the robots to quicken the animation process. The HDRI was a big revolution for us for the Cylons, Hoey adds. Its made a world of difference.

The Cylon Centurions, a group of virtual robots that were introduced in the miniseries, have grown in importance and a whole vfx team is dedicated to them now. Courtesy of Atmosphere Visual Effects.

The improved pipeline and results have led to more robots being included in the show. Theres a great payoff, but you have to be careful what you wish for, laughs Tom Archer, Atmosphere co-founder and lead compositor. Once we refined the process, theyve been writing a lot of Cylons into their scenes.

One of the main challenges about this show for the vfx team is the way its produced. The producers and directors encourage feedback from the actors, which means scenes can change drastically on the fly. Actors follow the script at first, but, by the third or fourth take, the scene takes on a shape of its own, Hutzel reports. Scripts for the 42-minute show are 52 to 54 pages, very long for episodic television, and entire scenes are sometimes deleted in post. They just get the cream, says Hutzel.

You cant storyboard the vfx, its impossible, he continues. Even a principle set piece, like a ship exploding, could disappear during the shoot, depending on how the scene evolves. My job is to go to the set, think on my feet, make things happen. Were expected to react to a changing environment on a daily basis. And we have the longest post schedule in the history of television. We never lock a show.

The brutal schedule and need for flexibility has led the production to boost its in-house vfx staff. In season 1, lead houses Zoic and Atmosphere both were on board. While Atmosphere continues to work on the show, much of the vfx is done by an in-house crew that has tripled to a dozen people. Its just to keep us on schedule, explains Hutzel. The schedule became, for a facility, unworkable. All the previs and most of the animation are done in-house, and the in-house staff takes many scenes to final. Atmosphere for the most part refines and outputs roughed-in, final scenes they receive from the production.

Battlestar Galactica runs on a brutal schedule. During season one, Zoic was brought in along with Atmostphere. Courtesy of USA Cable Ent. Llc. © 2003 USA Cable Ent. Llc. All rights reserved.

Hardware choices also have been dictated by the need for speed. For spaceship shots, previs and compositing are done in NewTek LightWave, which Hutzel says is flexible and allows the producer and director to work with him using the same interface. The team wanted to achieve natural-looking shots, as if there were a cameraman in space, not quite able follow a fast-moving ship, with slightly shaky results. Maya is too heavy for this, Hutzel insists.

LightWave 9 was coming out about the time the production was setting up its renderfarm, and the team was able to create its workflow based on the new version, before it was generally available. The 64-bit system reduces render times and allows the team to do four times as much work as it did previously, and it has a much faster interface. Hutzel says models can be fully textured in almost real time, and compositing can be done in the workstation environment rather than on the HD Flame, with similar quality and added flexibility.

To an outsider, the way we do things seems like chaos, Hutzel says. But theres a good reason we do what we do, and you just have to look at the results.

The producers are nothing if not original, adds Hoey. Theyre quite smart in how they use effects, and they seem to find ways to surprise us.

Blade fans have come to expect a certain look and style. The shows vfx mandate is to create weekly effects on par with the film effects. All Blade images courtesy of Zoic Studios and © MMVI New Line Television Inc.

Blade (SpikeTV)

A main vfx mandate at Blade is to keep fans that are familiar with past incarnations of the franchise happy. Theres a built-in audience familiar with the features, says Bob Habros, vfx supervisor of the short-lived new series. Theyve come to expect a certain look and style. We have to create weekly fx on par or as close as we can get to the film fx. The challenge is how we can do that, or at least get the flavor of it, on a weekly show.

For Habros and his vfx team at Zoic, creating film-style effects on a weekly schedule means thinking ahead. One thing we do is to jump on the plates as soon as possible, Habros adds. Theyre done weeks ahead of the shoot and usually dont change, so if the team can get them right away its a critical step in getting the work done on time. Habros points out that theres a risk; if anything goes into re-edit, then work is lost. But, so far, that hasnt happened often.

The show is about vampires, some of whom are killed in each show. People tune in weekly to see how someone gets it, basically, Habros suggests. We have to find new and surprising ways for how the vamps die. He points out the show has a distinct look, and the vfx need to support that. We want the fx to look rich and exciting, dangerous and lethal. Theres a coolness factor.

For Blade, the vfx team needs to think ahead to keep up with creating film-style effects on a weekly schedule. Plates are done weeks ahead of the shoot, which is crucial to meeting deadlines.

One challenge on any show is the render time. If the team is working on a scene thats in slow-motion, for example, its a dog to render, Habros says. It just kills you. Rendering is done in LightWave; other toolsets include Maya, Shake and Combustion.

Although the show features vampires, the goal is for everything to be as realistic as possible. A lot is accomplished through stunt work, and the vfx team spends a lot of time removing rigging and doing clean-up. But thats when the fights really come alive, Habros says. Its not sexy, but it looks great and we had a big part in it with the digital clean-up.

Heroes (NBC)

Heroes is a new series about average people who discover they have incredible abilities, such as flying, teleporting or being immune to injury. The show examines how they deal with that discovery. The idea is, what if you could do something mindblowing, and how would you deal with that in your life, says Mark Kolpack, vfx supervisor.

The vfx, created by Stargate Digital, are not front and center, but rather subtle, part and parcel of the show, he adds. Its done in a way thats not about making it like a comic. The show isnt like a comic book, but its visually inspired by that kind of look. We want to catch the viewer by surprise, just as the character is caught by surprise.

For example, the character Hiro can stop and start time. To freeze time, the team uses special rigs so a person can be stopped, mid-run, in the air. They then erase the rig and add 3D elements such as a bird in mid-flight or other objects. Various camera angles change the perspective of the shot, emphasizing the stoppage of time. With the vfx, youre selling the gag, Kolpack explains.

Stargate Digitals work on Heroes is not front and center, but rather a subtle part of the show. The goal is to catch the viewer by surprise, just as the character is caught by surprise. Credit: NBC Universal Photo.

Similarly, another character is indestructible; if her hand gets caught in something, it regenerates, or if her neck breaks, the pieces come together. The challenge there was to come up with a way to show her healing a broken bone moving back into place and the broken skin repairing, for example in a realistic way.

In another scene, one character tries to save another. The vfx team took 700 stills of the alleyway where the scene takes place and built a 3D version of it, using the stills as textures in the 3D model. The backgrounds were used to build a sphere around the alley, so the camera could spin around the characters as they were spinning (on a greenscreen stage with wires) and going below and above them, quickly changing perspectives.

The team works in AfterEffects, Maya, LightWave, Massive, boujou and PhotoShop, and uses Stargates virtual backlot to create exotic locations, either from source material it already has or by going out to shoot it. Vfx are created using a combination of stills, 3D and live shots, a mix that Kolpack believes makes each effect look as real as possible.

Were trying to bring film-quality vfx to this show, Kolpack says. But were trying to be the frosting on the cake and not be the cake.

On Jericho, there is no overall mandate for vfx, except that they should essentially be invisible to the viewer. The vfx teams approach is to recreate reality, on a per-episode basis. Courtesy of CBS.

Jericho (CBS)

Jericho, a new series about a Kansas town dealing with the aftermath of a nuclear explosion, also features vfx work that is intended to create a sense of realism. Its not really a vfx show, but there are elements about it that require vfx, says Craig Weiss, vfx supervisor. Theres the mushroom cloud, for example. And matte painting is used to create the look of Kansas, since the show is shot in L.A. There also is a need for sky replacement and rain.

Larger elements, such as an abandoned 757 on a roadway and a crashed commuter plane behind it, were created by the vfx team. All vfx are done in-house using Maya for 3D, Inferno for compositing, mental ray for rendering and PhotoShop for matte painting.

Much of the vfx work is done for practical reasons rather to create a certain look or feel. If they could put a 757 on a road and shoot it, they would, Weiss says. Mostly, were recreating reality, on a per-episode basis. There is no overall mandate for vfx, except that they should essentially be invisible to the viewer. We want it to be seamlessly integrated and not draw attention to it, explains Weiss.

In some cases, however, vfx are used to create a certain atmosphere rather than simply for practical reasons. Much of the sky replacement is due to the need for a certain look that doesnt exist in reality, for example. The sky needs to take on a certain characteristic due to the fallout and aftermath, Weiss says.

Masters of Horror (Showtime) and Masters of Science Fiction (ABC)

Masters of Horror, in its second season, and the upcoming Masters of Science Fiction, are anthology shows. Each episode has its own director, unique non-recurring characters, and its own look and feel. Theyre little mini-movies with different directors and writers, says Lee Wilson, president of Anthem Visual Effects and vfx supervisor on both series. Its nice to know that next week we wont have to do the same effect again, he says. But the structure also presents a challenge. Theres no amortization of anything.

In the first season, Anthem spent a lot of time educating the different directors on what could be done with vfx and how vfx could, in certain situations, be superior to physical effects. In the second season, the team has been able to show the directors what was done last year, making vfx an easier sell. While there are still delivery and budget issues, it is easier to convince directors that vfx would give them the freedom to shoot scenes the way they want them. Theyre considering vfx now, where they might not have last year, Wilson adds.

The vfx in Masters of Horror is not for the squeamish, notes Anthem Visual Effects Lee Wilson. On Masters of Science Fiction, the vfx team is involved in creating characters, aliens, spaceships and robotic birds.

On Masters of Horror, a significant part of the work involves shots that would otherwise require complicated makeup work or the use of life casts. In one shot, a corpse in a tub pours hydrochloric acid on himself, ending up a skeleton after his skin and some of his clothing are eaten away. By using vfx, the scene can feature an actor rather than a life cast of an actor. vfx are also used in scenes where there are wet, gooey substances. A practical effect would require multiple takes, clean-up and resetting, so vfx saves time, always critical on a TV schedule.

A lot of the work on Masters of Horror is graphic. Its not for the squeamish, Wilson says. Were not doing Masters of Fluffy Cute Puppies.

On Masters of Science Fiction, where Wilson also is a consulting producer, the vfx team is involved in creating characters, aliens, spaceships, robotic birds and a wide variety of other effects. In one of Wilsons favorite episodes, Anthem created an adult elephant that was genetically altered to be 12 inches high, so it could serve as a pet in a future society. Hes pretty cute, Wilson says, noting that the creature straddles a fine line between being a realistic elephant and a character. We wanted to make him cute and endearing. Its not a major plot point but it drives some action.

Supernatural (The CW)

The mandate for vfx on our show has always been to achieve the real supernatural, says vfx supervisor Ivan Hayden. Its not over-the-top, glowy vfx. We want to get the fear of the monster and the danger across without taking people out of the scary moment.

For example, a scene might show something that was caused by a supernatural creature, such as plants dying, rather than the creature itself. Its always a case of less is more in the horror genre, Hayden says. We want the hair on the back of your neck to stand up rather than showing you the blood and guts. We dont want to step into the world of sci-fi and fantasy.

At the same time, the goal is to raise the bar and surprise the viewer. Its a challenge to do an effect that hasnt necessarily been seen before, adds Hayden. Its a challenge to present what everyones seen since the days of Boris Karloff in a way thats new but still frightens them on that childhood level. Youve seen a ghost a million times. How do you present it in a way thats new and fits with the feel of the show?

Its easier to make a big, sparkling, glowing effect, Hayden continues. You can hide the imperfections in a pixie effect. But its harder to keep it grounded in the real world. You have to base it on the laws of physics that we in the real world expect, even if its a five-headed dragon.

Less is more in the horror genre, so Ivan Hayden and his vfx team on Supernatural strive to raise the hair on the back of the viewers neck rather than show blood and guts. Courtesy of The CW.

In season two, the production has gone to a fully in-house vfx team, with four compositors and two 3D artists working mostly in After Effects and Maya, plus multiple plug-ins. (Work on the pilot was done by Entity FX and work in season one by Stargate Digital.) The main reason for the change to an in-house staff is the tax benefit. By putting the vfx team under the production budget, the producers get 43% back in provincial and federal tax credits. You get a bigger bang for the buck, Hayden explains.

He points out that the vfx team is doing better and better work each season, but that the goal is for viewers to be involved with the story. Theyre really doing some amazing work, and hopefully no one will notice.

Karen Raugust is a Minneapolis-based freelance business writer specializing in animation, publishing, licensing and art. She is the author of The Licensing Business Handbook (EPM Communications).

Tags