Double Negative Singapore embellishes Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Iron Man 2 & more







 

 

     





By AMRITA VALECHA

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2 September, 2010 - 13:04




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The Singapore division of one of the world’s leading VFX                facilities Double Negative which opened a year back with a team                size of 8 today boasts of an impressive lineup of projects and a                team of 55 and growing. Over the last one and half years the studio                has significantly contributed to the cutting edge of VFX of high                profile feature projects such as Iron Man 2, Green Zone, Kick Ass                and most recently Disney’s Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Dneg's                current productions in the Singapore office include John Carter                of Mars, Attack the Block and Paul. The studio will shortly commence                work on Captain America: The First Avenger.
 
 Here is a peek into the work of Dneg Singapore’s major projects                so far...
 
 Sorcerer's Apprentice
 The team at Singapore worked on approximately 288 shots in tracking                with about 31 bodytracks along with 189 roto/paint shots for the                film. On the 3D side, the facility did a lot of matchmoving and                object tracking and also a great deal of bodytracking as the characters                had to be relit. This included facial tracking and tracking of the                cloth.




Speaking to Animation Xpress Asia Pacific, Sam Schwier                - 3D Supervisor informs "It was one of the first projects the                Singapore office tackled with its newly trained team of artists,                and for many of them it was there first experience of feature film                work. The initial challenge was in the new artists becoming familiar                with the level of details required for film and in adjusting to                working within a scheduled project. Later on towards the end of                the project, the team also assisted on rig removal shots for the                final sequence.”
 
 The Fantasia sequence in the film was one of the challenging ones,                where the team had to get the whole set model and tracks entirely                accurate as it all had to be relit in 3D to match up to the tesla                coil sparks. Several difficult shots with large amounts of distortion                caused by the usage of wide lenses were tracked and here the team                needed to add set extensions.
 
 Iron Man 2 
 Major work done by Double Negative for the second installment of                Marvel Entertainment’s Iron Man was for the Monaco Grand Prix                sequence, which involved recreating race-day in Monaco, including                building augmentation, crowds and historic Grand-Prix cars. The                studio also created Whiplash's electric whips along with their associated                damage and destruction and the 'suitcase' armor that Stark implements                to quickly suit up for the Iron Man vs. Whiplash Battle sequence.




The work done in Singapore included 21 tracks for the Monaco sequence                including object tracks of Stark’s helmet for reflections and                object tracks of the cars. Dneg Singapore handled a majority of                the roto for this sequence, and marker removals and cleanup for                the suit up sequence. The Singapore team also composited all the                interior hotel shots overlooking the Monaco GP racetrack.
 
 “In terms of roto work the Monaco sequence was very difficult                due to the complexity of Whiplash's costume. Every single moving                piece had to be created and animated separately. There were also                lots of thin cables and other details that needed to be maintained.                It was essential to be extremely accurate with the motion-blurred                edges, as losing any detail meant that we were suddenly losing bits                of his suit.” 
 
 
 Kick Ass
 For this 2010 MARV Films’ super hero release, the brief given                to the studio was to keep the work gritty and realistic but not                to venture into the fantastical. The visual effects needed to be                understated, in keeping with the feeling of the story while at the                same time be very convincing so as not to distract the audience.                Double Negative's work started with previz and went on to include                the opening sequence, extensive set extensions, jet-pack effects                and an extended overnight fight sequence.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Kick Ass work in Dneg's Singapore office included set building for                matchmove along with 37 camera tracks. The team also provided a                number of object tracks for Dave's (the protagonist character played                by Aaron Johnson) jetpack so that rocket boosters, muzzle flashes,                and bullet casings could be added to it at a later date. The work                was for set extensions, BG replacement and a lot for reflections                of the New York skyline on the exterior glass. Due to the show being                shot on anamorphic lenses the team faced quite a lot of problems                with lens distortion on this show as well.
 
 
 
  
 
 
 Double Negative MDAlex Hope says, "We see huge potential for                Singapore as a regional hub. We've been impressed by both the caliber                of local talent and the commitment of the government to support                our industry. Our ambition is to build the nature and complexity                of work that we can undertake in Singapore. We'll also look to explore                the opportunities to work with Film makers in the region as our                capabilities expand."
 
 
 
 
 
 
 














Speaking about the                              education initiatives of Dneg Singapore, Oliver Atherton,                              2D Supervisor, Dneg Singapore "The level of education                              is good here but they are not necessarily focused                              on film stuff. There are people going into games and                              TV. We are working with some schools here to get them                              to train students more specifically for films, that                              is entry level VFX training for films. We bring in                              their students and give talks at their schools. We                              are trying to educate them on the different roles                              that are there under the VFX pipeline. There is a                              huge lack of understanding on the 2d side, 2d in VFX                              is not concept or matte painting that requires drawing                              skills. What we refer to as 2D here is compositing                              work.








 






 






 








Sam Schwier, 3D Supervisor,                              Dneg Singapore continued “Here we are currently                              only doing match-moving, camera tracking, object tracking                              and body tracking. 3D wise we don’t have the                              full pipeline here and we trying to set up the full                              pipeline in the next 3-4 years, but we got to do it                              slowly as it is a big undertaking to make sure that                              every single thing in the pipeline works. Our goal                              is to recruit local talent and we have to do it step                              by step."















 
    Double Negative Singapore Team