Battle ready

extensive previz, postviz and techviz was done by previz supervisor Patrick Smith and postviz supervisor Heather Flynn from the third Floor

The central task for The Third Floor was envisioning the three epic battle sequences featuring the Tao Tei. Patrick Smith, the previz supervisor on location in Beijing, explains why it was so important to be there: “It allowed us to benefit from a level of inflection and raw passion that would have been lost through telecommuting into Beijing. We had entire heads of department meetings in our offices, working out responsibilities in a very fluid manner. Previz became a non-stop request line for different departments, where we would drop in and help mock up staging set-ups and lighting passes, define green screen locations and execute quick techviz requests, as well as our regular tasks in representing the action sequences.”

Each battle incorporated several long ‘oners’ that needed to be worked out to the finest detail. “Whenever you approach a long single take in previz, you know it’s going to go through many different iterations and ideas,” says Patrick. “Being technically fluid enough to switch gears while retaining some aspects of a previous idea is no easy task. You have to approach your scene files in a way that allows you flexibility… You have to be skilled creatively to be able to sell the visual aesthetic of new and fluid ideas through proper lighting, animation and FX so the visualised shot works not only technically, but also looks great and executes the vision.”

The way the crowds of Tao Tei needed to move in patterns was another challenge. “To achieve the look, we took cached animation cycles and instanced them to crawl on top of geometry and curves,” says Heather Flynn. “The creatures’ eyes are on their shoulders so we needed other ways to show expressions. We produced more emotion in their bodies and got creative with the composition to highlight the eye more than the face.”