Feature: making batman v superman
Trevor Hogg comes face to face with the creative minds behind Batman v Superman’s blockbuster VFX and SFX
The VFX and SFX leads reveal how DC’S icons made it to the screen
O verseeing two iconic superheroes coming together for the first time in movie history is filmmaker Zack Snyder, who has assembled a team of cinematic talent that includes three veteran collaborators and an inner circle newcomer for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. “It’s evolved to the point where Zack feels good about bringing me in on an early and deep level,” notes visual effects supervisor John ‘DJ’ Desjardin who has worked on every film by Zack Snyder since Watchmen. “We like to look at what Patrick Tatopoulos is designing in terms of whole concepts and then we’ll work with him to say, ‘ You just need to build this little bit here because it’s the only part that any of the actors will interact with. All that other stuff we will build out later in CG.’”
Tools of the trade
The modern tools such as CAD, Maya, Photoshop and Zbrush are utilised by the visual effects and art departments. “A designer is no longer just a guy who builds things,” observes production designer Patrick Tatopoulos who has never before collaborated on a project directed by Zack. “There are concepts and designs that will never make it to the practical world but they will be connected to the CGI world.” New technologies also assist costume designer Michael Wilkinson, whose creative partnership with Zack dates back to 300. “I sketch and collage on the computer, and then work with talented digital artists to create detailed illustrations. We scan our actors digitally and produce exact life-size mannequins of them. We draw elements of the costume using 3D modelling programs, and print them by using 3D printers. We create fabrics from digital artwork using dimensional inks,” says Michael.
Storyboards created by Zack serve as the Bible for his movies. “A lot of times it’s just a discussion between DJ, Damon Caro [ stunt coordinator and 2nd unit director] and I about what the storyboard needs,” remarks SFX supervisor Joel Whist, who previously
I have always had a tendency to like more mythological creatures than anything else Patrick Tatopoulos, production designer
collaborated on Watchmen, Sucker Punch and Man of Steel with Zack. “There’s a big sequence where Batman takes out a bunch of bad guys to rescue somebody. The rough idea and geography of where this takes place was given at an early stage to Damon by Zack. Damon figures out all the moves that he needs to do within that space. From that techvis, his editor will throw in over-the- counter visual effects, like bullet hits, dust, and explosions. We all look at that and go, ‘Do you want to do that all practically?’ Sometimes there will be a safety call because it won’t work in the space. Then there will be a discussion with DJ. ‘ What size element do you want? Is it three quarters or full- scale?’”
Night and day
“Even if Bruce Wayne appears in the day the whole Batman language is about the night,” observes Patrick of the latest cinematic incarnation of the vigilante crime fighter portrayed by Ben Affleck. “I wanted to create layers of colour in our new Batman. There’s still black in there but there’s also a dark charcoal grey with more reflectivity that sometimes turns out as a warm or cool grey.” An armoured suit makes an appearance. “Zack wanted a huge, hulking silhouette that would convey the sense that Batman had brought as much protection as he could to the ultimate confrontation with Superman,” states Michael. “We were inspired by Frank Miller’s armoured suit in The Dark Knight Returns. Two multiples were made of the suit and because of the size and weight of the costume, parts of it were replaced with digital pieces so that the stunt department could achieve their amazing choreography.”
An iconic vehicle drawn on a coffee shop napkin by Patrick enabled him to establish the world of Batman. “For
Witnessing Batman and Superman being drawn into an epic clash of power and ideology is truly a major cultural event Michael Wilkinson, costume designer
me, Batman needs to have a car that jumps, can go off- road anywhere and is completely controllable. My Batmobile can go low to the ground like a Formula One and the four wheels can swing out and raise the whole body to become an off- road racing vehicle,” he explains. And Zack had a particular idea in mind: “When Zack was looking at the Batmobile he said, ‘It’s great but let’s make it look grungy and repaired.’” The superhero also takes to the air. “The Batmobile and Batwing are tightly connected. I wanted to have the Batwing to have the wings that could be flat or be raised above the cockpit and become almost like a hanging Gargoyle at the edge of the cave.” Patrick adds, “The Batmobile and Batwing are not vehicles that you take to look pretty in the city at night; they are made for war.”
Feel the force
Star Wars is part of the filmmaking language for the production crew. “A lot of the conversations between Zack, Damon and I are, ‘ When Batman has to move the Batwing around the factory to do this lets Millennium Falcon it over this way!” chuckles DJ who had to create 1,241 visual effects shots with the help of MPC, Double Negative, Weta Digital, Scanline VFX, Shade VFX, and Teamworks. “To the credit of Bryan Hirota and Scanline, he did a lot of modelling tests for me to see how they were breaking up surfaces into little flaps that would move around to show how the Batwing could move like that. The animation helped to connect it with a bit
The Batmobile and Batwing are not vehicles that you take to look pretty in the city at night; they are made for war Patrick Tatopoulos, production designer
I like the idea of the heat vision being a very violent thing for Superman to be able to turn on… it comes from deep within John 'DJ' Desjardin, visual effects supervisor
more of reality as you saw all those little surfaces move all the time. The Batwing didn’t exist in real life. There was a buck for the cockpit but that was the extent of it. The Batmobile was easier to make look right because we had a physical version that we could use as a reference for our digital model.”
Environment building was a major concern for DJ and his team. “Metropolis and Gotham don’t exist. We used Chicago as a basis for Metropolis and Detroit as the base core of Gotham, but they’re really cut apart. You can’t point to all that much and go, ‘ There’s a street in Chicago that looks like this.’ There are so many artificial buildings and we try to get rid of the really recognisable ones. By the time you finish doing that you have large CG representations of these two cities and also how they relate to each other. As we go through building up this universe, now with the Justice League movies, we’ll need to keep revisiting these locations and even build around them. It’s important to me that we construct them in such a way that we can go back and render them again, and they’ll be recognisable in the context of the other films,” DJ reveals.
Batman v Superman directly connects with its predecessor as the final battle between Superman and General Zod is recreated. “Not only did we reuse assets but I had the team at Double Negative that worked on the huge sequence at the end of Man of Steel,” he explains. “To be fair there are lots of different perspectives of that action so it’s not as easy as ‘Oh, look, this building collapsed at this angle so if we just bring the camera over here we can do it again there.’ You can do that but you’d probably have to add a lot of detail to that angle as well.” As to whether the criticism towards the amount of destruction featured in Man of Steel influenced Batman v Superman, DJ remarks, “It was important that much destruction went on because the point of our universe is, ‘ This is the reality of what happens when gods go to war with each other. It’s not a pleasant thing. Humans and all of the things they’ve made pay the price.’ Zack knew that we were going to be commenting on that in the sequel so it had to be that devastating.”
Girl power
Unlike her male counterparts, a female superhero makes a cinematic debut
courtesy of Gal Gadot. “We went back to the comics for our version of Wonder Woman,” remarks DJ. “She’s not just an Amazonian from Themyscira but also has an extra elevation to her status in the universe where she is a goddess and immortal. We expanded upon her powers based on that idea. Superman is an advanced version of the Superman who fought at the end of Man of Steel; that essentially was the first fight in his life and now he has more of a reign on his powers and is still god-like. Our Batman is closer to Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns; however, we’re not actually making that comic but that idea of him as an older more grizzled world-weary Batman had an influence right down to the shorter ears on the costume. He’s actually bigger than Superman – that was the iconic graphic image Zack wanted.”
Take two
When it came to the business end of the movie, the epic finale, and our heroes need to save the world, DJ says there were creative revisions.
“One of the biggest challenges for me was when we got to the end fight with Doomsday,” recalls DJ, who felt a particular long shot in the sequence wasn't quite working out. “We were approaching when that section was supposed to be done and I went back to Zack and said, ‘I don’t think you love this. I don’t think I’ll ever love it so let’s tear it down again and go back in with Damon. Let’s not change the fight choreography but change the camera. Let’s make it more like the Snow Speeders versus the AT-AT Walkers in The Empire Strikes Back.’ It became one of my favorite parts of the sequence and I'm so glad that we weren’t so precious with that initial idea.”
For DJ, who has been working on the Blu-ray version as well as prepping the broader sequel, Justice League, the wait is finally over over. “I'm really excited for fans to see the fun way these pieces all connect, from the heroes fighting all the way to end.”
Icons clash
Costumer Michael enjoyed the opportunity of reinterpreting Batman and Superman. “Hands down the most exciting film project I’ve been involved with. It’s the first time that the world’s most iconic superheroes appear together on the big screen. Fusing these two incredible mythologies and witnessing Batman and Superman being drawn into an epic clash of power and ideology is truly a major cultural event that we hope will resonate with the DC Universe’s legion of fans.” The cinematic journey with Zack continues for Patrick. “When you come onto a project and there are a lot of things that become part of the aesthetic – sometimes you repeat it on the next movie. The great thing about Justice League, without revealing anything, is that there are a lot more characters coming on board and that in essence is an opening for so much more design work, which is phenomenal.”
FYI Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is in cinemas from 25 March
We wanted our Wonder Woman to be strong, confident and every bit the equal of the film's male superheroes Michael Wilkinson, costume designer