Warner Bros. Pictures – RobWinfield

FEATURE FILM
ROLE: Senior VFX Compositor
VENDOR: Sony Pictures Imageworks
CLIENT: DC Entertainment | Warner Bros. Pictures
VFX SUPERVISOR: Jim Berney
DIRECTOR: Martin Campbell

For DC Entertainment’s highly-anticipated superhero entry “Green Lantern,” I was tasked with a handful of shots for the “training platform” sequence. Here, mortal Hal Jordan learns to wield his Lantern powers on the distant planet Oa.

The entire sequence was shot greenscreen in mo-cap suits, utilizing only the actors’ heads for the final composites. Each shot consisted of a CG pan & tile OA environment background and midground, a more detailed platform foreground with neighboring architecture, and a multi-layered CG Hal and/or Sinestro suit. Additional elements included “constructs” of a sword made of green energy, and the famous Lantern ring.

Since the only practical element retained from plate photography was the actors’ heads, the primary challenge was blending real necklines with CG suit collars. Often, the CG elements needed extra warping and tracking to create a convincing blend. Also, the Lantern suits needed to be alive with green arcing energy, and dialed to intensity depending on the actions of the training sequence.

FEATURE FILM
ROLE: Senior Flame Artist / VFX Compositor
VENDOR: Method Studios
CLIENT: Warner Bros. Pictures
VFX SUPERVISOR: Joe Henke
DIRECTOR: Nima Nourizadeh

“Project X” is a teen raunch-com that utilizes the faux-documentary found-footage technique to depict the ultimate high school party. The film culminates in a fiery showdown, featuring an angry flamethrower-wielding party-goer, thousands of drunken panicked teenagers, water-dousing helicopters, news crews, and a swat team.

Although there’s a considerable amount of practical fire in the shot footage, including the flamethrower, much of it needed enhancement to intensify the chaos and danger of the situation. And due to the footage’s frantic handheld nature, cleanup and integration of additional fire, smoke, and people/props proved that much more challenging.

I was tasked with creating the initial flamethrower explosion, where the police shoot one of the tanks, causing it to ignite. I also enhanced a number of flamethrower plumes, enlarged gas explosions, tracked leaves to fake trees that I made catch fire, and removed countless fire bars and hoses scattered throughout the set.

Lastly, on a number of shots, I assembled multiple disparate plates to appear as one continuous take, the main one being the run through the house, as it’s being doused with water from a hovering helicopter.