BLURRING THE LINE
SFX SUPERVISOR JOHN FRAZIER AND VFX SUPERVISOR JASON SMITH EXPLAIN HOW PRACTICAL AND VFX WORK TOGETHER IN TWO COMPLEX SCENES
Practical and visual effects seamlessly work together to produce scenes such as a transformation of Bumblebee while Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg) is driving, and an ocean scene where human cast members struggle to survive while Transformers battle on a partially submerged spaceship
For the driving scene, Michael Bay wanted the door to open, Mark to slide out of the seat into the street [in Detroit] and for the roof to start opening, explains SFX supervisor John Frazier, who rigged a convertible with a moving steering wheel and a swivelling seat that slid two feet out of the car while the visual effects team from ILM digitally inserted the roof. “There are certain things that you’re going to miss [during the shoot]. We had to go back and do some close-ups.” ILM VFX supervisor Jason Smith admits the effects seem almost unbelievable, even to him. “I’ve actually had a couple of funny moments where I’m looking at these shots and thinking, ‘Wait a minute. Did we do that with Mark Wahlberg?’ Then I remembered that’s him hanging out [of the car] travelling over the road!’”
For the water scene, a massive steel platform was constructed, which was a quarter of a size of a football field and could go up 45 degrees. “When they’re in the water we did a lot of stuff on that platform, which was 60 feet by 150 feet and weighed about 500,000 pounds,” states John. “It was all done hydraulically. The platform was also used for when they’re in space.” Jason was in awe of the mechanical structure. “The scale of the platform was shocking. We were able to tilt it and have the actors respond. There were giant water tanks out there that we could throw thousands of gallons of water onto the platform. The fact that we’re getting practical water is a huge benefit, but also means that you’ve got nowhere to hide. It has to match up because real water is splashing over a human on one side of the frame and on the other side, CG water is splashing over a robot.”