It's like the instruction manual to the Green Lantern Corps.
How the ring works, how the mind works.
It's a training program to become a fully-fledged Green Lantern.
KILOWOG: Welcome to Ring Slinging 101.
Or as I like to call it:
The worst day of your worthless life.
The total visual effects number for the film was approximately 1400 shots.
Putting together the training platform was daunting.
BERNEY: And we've been working on it from day one.
It's just a huge model. A huge environment.
SCHAUB: Probably one of the toughest sequences...
...because of the evolution we went through...
...and the amount of business that's happening in there.
These things you have to plan carefully.
And here, when he raises the gun and there, all right?
On your third burst I'll be here and you lower the gun.
The training platform is where we see the constructs used the most.
TOMAR-RE: The ring's limits are only what you can imagine.
His moment with Tomar-Re at the beginning...
...the construct he creates, that moment where they have...
...where he starts to get the idea what creating a construct is all about.
A construct is basically the ring bearer's will...
...and imagination manifested by the ring.
So it's anything you can think of.
And typically, it's used by Green Lanterns in battle.
[GRUNTING]
A lot of the constructs were scripted originally...
...and some we changed when we got on to shooting itself.
Then smack him.
The constructs were originally conceived as flat 2D artwork by the Art Department...
...then handed over to Sony who then would build the 3D models.
The effect of creating constructs and blasting...
...requires about 10 or 15 different layers of effects.
SINESTRO: I fear nothing.
Because of the nature of the constructs, their scale, their size...
...how they appeared, the brevity they appear for, how they disappeared...
...we had to make sure we allowed for the framing to obviously accommodate...
...like a jet engine or a machine gun.
So before shooting any scene...
...we had to nail down exactly what the construct was...
...the timing it would come on, you know, how big it was...
...and how it would interact with the characters.
A lot of this was realized in storyboards as well.
Some of these moments where Hal gets his feet to clamp down in boots...
...and constructing the table.
KILOWOG: Let's see what you've got.
Kilowog puts Hal through the physical...
...contortions of training.
KILOWOG: Here, let me help you.
Finishing that off, we finish with him and Sinestro together.
This is the human.
He tests him in a traditional fight...
...but using constructs created by their rings.
SINESTRO: A sword?
How human.
And gives Hal a horse-whipping.
I do believe I smell fear.
We had to go into each shot knowing what the construct was gonna be.
Ryan Reynolds had to know what the construct was, so he could react suitably.
Mark Strong had to know the constructs, so he could react suitably as well.
It's hand-to-hand combat.
They're creating one construct, that one gets knocked over, other one gets created.
That was orchestrated over many, many weeks before we actually shot that.
REYNOLDS: Then let's do it.
And that was choreographed with our stunt coordinator, Gary...
...and with Grant Major, Production Design, to make sure we came up...
...with a really cool set of tools they could use during that fight.
Will is what makes you take action.
Fear is what stops you.
Then once you shoot it, you know, you come back and you edit it all together.
SCHAUB: And even from then, the work just started.
And started, basically, re-prevising the entire sequence...
...and deciding where in this environment they were gonna be from shot to shot.
At one point, there were two levels to the platform.
They began on the top. He got hammered through...
...and got bounced down to the bottom platform.
All details were being worked out.
Constantly going back into the edit process and refining and tightening it up.
All the while the environment guys were in there building the Oan environment.
BERNEY: So then now you could tie your characters into that...
...with both lighting and effects.
And of course, you have all your timings of, you know...
...when they create their constructs. You start putting together the effects...
...for the constructs and you start layering it together.
Many artists were involved with every shot...
...from layout, match-moving, getting the suit tracking.
If one thing didn't work in that puzzle, you'd lose audience from the beginning.
KILOWOG: Your constructs are only gonna be as strong as your will.
And your will is pathetic.
As the actor, you really have to put your faith in the hard-working artists...
...behind the scenes to make this thing pop off the screen...
...in a unique and incredible way.
It's bizarre, but the more difficult something is...
...the bigger the mountain you climb, the more effort you put in--
When you sit there and you see it on the big screen, it's worth it.