“Snow White” Cinematographer Mandy Walker on Casting a Visual Spell Through Past & Present
Nestled between a dental office and a local tavern in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Atwater Village is Tam O’Shanter, a Scottish restaurant inside a storybook style Tudor cottage, its interior a blend of rustic elegance and historical charm, a vestige of “Old Hollywood.” In the corner of the dimly lit room is Table 31, ...
Director Wes Ball & Oscar-Nominated VFX Supervisor Erik Winquist on the Groundbreaking Visuals of “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes”
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes took the franchise to new heights of photorealism and immersive filmmaking. The groundbreaking series has pushed the envelope in motion capture and beyond, starting with 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes and carrying on through three subsequent films. The latest film, Wes Ball‘s 2024 epic Kingdom ...
Oscar Nominated VFX Supervisor Paul Lambert on Turning the Worm in “Dune: Part Two”
Just nominated for his fourth Oscar for Dune: Part Two, VFX Supervisor Paul Lambert is a three-time Oscar winner—for Damien Chazelle’s First Man and two of director Denis Villeneuve’s films, Blade Runner 2049 and Dune: Part One. Having now worked on three of Villeneuve’s films thanks to Part Two, he has developed a shorthand with ...
“Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl” Directors Nick Park & Merlin Crossingham go Back to the Bakehouse
It has been almost two decades since the Oscar-winning stop-motion animation delight Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Now, the dynamic duo is back in a new adventure, Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl; however, the world has changed. Not only is the feature streaming on Netflix, a platform that did not exist in 2005, ...
Regional Sustainability Advisor Clara George on Greening Netflix’s “Virgin River”
A film or TV set is usually powered almost exclusively by diesel generators. These generators were loud, hot, large, environmentally unfriendly, and often used at such a low capacity that they were practically idling. They weren’t just bad for the environment; they were wasteful and highly unpleasant. This is increasingly no longer the case, as ...
“Twisters” Sound Editors on Creating the Ferocious Voice of Six Distinct Tornadoes
Catastrophic weather struck a chord with moviegoers over the weekend when Twisters blew apart box office expectations and raked in a whopping $81 million for its debut. The action spectacle, directed by Lee Isaac Chung (Minari) and filmed in Oklahoma, stars Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell, and Anthony Ramos as storm chasers determined to study tornadoes ...
“A Quiet Place: Day One” VFX Supervisor Malcolm Humphreys on Conjuring More Detailed “Death Angels”
A Quiet Place: Day One (now in theaters) personalizes its sci-fi mythology by centering the action around a cancer-stricken poet who’s hell-bent on getting a slice of her favorite pizza, alien invasion be damned. Written and directed by Michael Samoski, maker of indie shocker Pig, the prequel casts Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o (Us, 12 Years ...
Chasing Precision and Perfection with Aerial DPs on “The Blue Angels” – Part 1
Every year since the Blue Angels were established in 1946, crowds of all ages have oohed and aahed at airshows from Brunswick, Maine to Huntington Beach, California, as the United States Navy’s precision flight demonstration team performs intoxicatingly vertiginous aerial maneuvers in the skies. With six F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets flying a mere 12-18 ...
How “A Quiet Place: Day One” Production Designer Simon Bowles Harnessed VR to Unleash Aliens on NYC
When John Krasinki released A Quiet Place in 2018, the sonically immersive horror film made audiences hold their breath. Three years later, he followed the success of that film with an expansive sequel that saw the surviving members of the Abbott family run from their rural home in Part II. Now, we witness how the ...
How the Latest VFX Techniques Immersed the “Masters of the Air” Actors in Battle
Masters of the Air, starring Austin Butler and Barry Keoghan, is the latest celebrated WWII epic from Band of Brothers and The Pacific executive producers Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, and Gary Goetzman. The intense drama inspired by the 100th Bomb Group is the most detailed on-screen depiction of B-17 planes ever. The visual effects teams ...
Animation Director Jason Boose on Creating a Madcap “Garfield” for a New Generation
Chris Pratt voices the iconic, lasagna-loving star of director Mark Dindal’s The Garfield Movie, which uses Garfield’s love of Italian cuisine and the indoors as a jumping-off point for an origin and adventure story in one. A sweet-faced kitten gloms onto lonely Jon (Nicholas Hoult) at a restaurant and doesn’t let go until an unexpected ...
How the Animation in John Krasinski’s “IF” Came to Live Seamlessly Among Live-Action
Written and directed by John Krasinski, IF is a fantastical inverse of Krasinski’s A Quiet Place and A Quiet Place Part II. A contemporary fairy-tale journey inspired by Krasinski’s own daughters, IF pairs live action and animation to bring us Bea (Cailey Fleming), a tween who learns she can see everyone else’s imaginary friends, and ...
“Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” VFX Team on Bringing a New Generation of Primates to Life
The events in Wes Ball’s Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes take place 300 years after the death of Caesar (Andy Serkis), the focus of the previous Apes trilogy kickstarted by director Rupert Wyatt in 2011 and then led by director Matt Reeves for the final two films. Apes have now evolved into a ...
“Dune: Part Two” Cinematographer Greig Fraser on Finding Clarity in Chaos
In part one of our interview with Dune: Part Two cinematographer Greig Fraser, the Oscar-winner took us on a trip to the planet of Giedi Prime, home to the vampiric Harkonnen clan, to reveal how he captured that bloodless light during Feyd-Rautha (Austin Butler)’s gladiator scene, those inky blacks during Feyd’s fateful meeting with Lady Margot, and ...
Lights, Camera, Action! How Tax Breaks and Funding Can Lure Film Productions to Germany
The panelists on stage at the law firm Greenberg Traurig for a discussion held in conjunction with the Motion Picture Association during the 74th Berlin International Film Festival represented a notable list of luminaries from across the film and television industry. Mediated by Greenberg Traurig Partner Laura Zentner, they were largely in agreement regarding the ...
Lights, Camera, Action (Plan): A Focus on the Filmmakers of Tomorrow at Berlinale
The 74th annual Berlin International Film Festival just drew to a close. Per tradition, the entertainment law firm Morrison & Foerster and the Motion Picture Association gathered some of the festival’s notable attendees for a topical annual panel discussion. This year, co-hosts Christiane Stuetzle, a partner at Morrison & Foerster, and Sabine Henssler, Vice President ...
“The Creator” Oscar-Nominated Sound Team on Blending Retro-Futurism, Robot Monks, & the Didgeridoo
The Creator‘s Oscar-nominated supervising sound editors, Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn, had a dream experience creating the soundscape for director Gareth Edwards‘ vision of a nightmarish future. The timing of the film couldn’t have been better—The Creator is set at a point in human history where there’s an outright war between humanity and ...
How Pixar Director Peter Sohn Got Personal in His Oscar-nominated “Elemental”
How do you make fire feel endearing rather than scary? And how do you turn water into a gusher of emotions? Those were key questions faced by director Peter Sohn when he set forth to make Elemental. The Bronx-born animator previously helped anthropomorphize rats, robots, dolphins, and dinosaurs in Ratatouille, Finding Nemo, WALL•E, and The ...
Transportation Manager Ryan Doucette on How Warner Bros. Turned “Kung Fu” Season Three Green
Ryan Doucette is the manager of transportation compliance for Warner Bros. Studio Operations, Canada, and while that title might not immediately bring to mind a job at the forefront of the studio’s efforts at creating ever more sustainable productions, that’s precisely where Doucette finds himself. “This is probably not as exciting as talking to a ...
How “Avatar: The Way of Water” Visual Effects Wizards Conjured Underwater Magic
How long can you hold your breath underwater? One minute? Two? Maybe three? For James Cameron’s highly-anticipated Avatar: The Way of Water, now in theaters, the cast had to take lessons from free diving expert Kirk Krack in order to fluidly capture the transcendent water scenes. Why so? Bubbles. The sequel picks up from the ...
