streaming platforms like netflix and disney plus restrictions due to the global pandemic changes
in our lifestyle and advances in technology we have available in our homes have all changed
the way we consume media nowadays we are less likely to take three hours out of our day to go
and watch a movie and more likely to stream two movies at home or binge watcher complete series
this has created an interesting change in the entertainment industry now films are released
directly to streaming platforms or even created by and for that specific platform blockbuster movies
have their own mini series made documentaries comedy specials animated series and more and more
different kinds of original content is being created and a lot more money is being spent
on all of it and with more money a production can afford to have a better director better writers
and actors and of course better the effects the falcon and the winter soldier is a six episode
miniseries that was released earlier this year tippet studio industrial lighting magic rodeo
effects cantina creative crafty apes sony pictures image works weta digital trickster digital
frontier effects qpp stereo d and technicolor vfx provided over 2500 vfx shots for the series
so it's not really surprising that the cost per episode rose as high as 25 million dollars
the first episode in the series has a dramatic sequence where the falcon flies through a canyon
in tunisia rather than go to a canyon and record drone footage for reference
the vfx team used satellite imagery and height maps of pariah canyon and death valley to create
a terrain model the problem with using height maps is that the surfaces don't have any detail on the
vertical plane so the vfx team textured and shaded the canyon's walls to add the missing detail
however although this stood up well for high to mid altitude shots and for shots when the walls
are just whizzing by it wouldn't work for close-up work inside the canyon to overcome this problem
the vfx team mapped where the virtual cameras needed to be to get the shots they wanted and
then they created a set of different columns of rocky parts kind of like biscuits stacked on top
of one another they could then jam these columns together to give the walls the 3d details they
needed for the close-up shots for the live-action footage of the falcon flying and the men in wing
suits gliding the director decided to use gopro type action cameras these cameras have a very wide
angle lens and gives a very in-your-face action feel however when they shot principal photography
in front of blue screens it was an overcast day and the light was rather dull this meant
that although the actor's face was always crisp and in focus his body in the background wasn't
they solved this issue by creating a digi double of the falcon and aligning it perfectly
to the live-action footage in these shots the falcon's face is real but his body is fully cg
by doing this not only could they overcome the defocus problem but they could also light their
digital double exactly the same as their cg canyon so it would sit perfectly within the shot since
the falcon's face was shot on an overcast day it had to be digitally re-lit to sit correctly on
its now fully cg body they did this by rendering their correctly lit digi double complete with its
digital head they then extracted the spec and the sense of key light key light is the primary
source of light in the scene in this case the sun they then added this to the falcon's face on the
live action plate the hardest shot in this scene was when the falcon approaches the cockpit of the
c-130 plane once again principal photography was shot on an overcast and rainy day a large wire
rig flew the falcon in towards the c-130 but the sequence required him to approach the plane from
further away so they had to do a digi double hand off the plane itself had to have the propellers
substituted for moving cg ones raindrops had to be removed reflections added to the glass
and the whole plane had to be removed from the background and also re-lit since the vfx team had
to alter so much of the original plate and they already had to create a digital c130 asset for
one of the shots in the scene they decided to use this one too only about 20 of the plane in this
shot is from the original plate the nose and the parts where the falcon is touching it all casting
shadows onto it and even that had to be digitally re-lit using the same method they did earlier
the truck fight scene in the series takes place in germany but the live-action plates were actually
shot in atlanta and the reshoots were done in prague in this scene a fight is happening
on various fronts weapons are being thrown people are flying about driving from one truck to another
and jumping out of helicopters and all whilst the two trucks speed down the highway with this type
of fast and frantic sequence there is always a danger of overloading the audience confusing
them so that they don't know who is fighting or where they're fighting to overcome this the
vfx team actually built an 8 kilometer long cg environment where the action would take place
this gave the scene a natural timeline for example halfway through the scene the trucks
would be halfway down the cg highway and the background would be unique to that place along
the eight kilometer timeline by anchoring all the action to the plates on this timeline not
only had the team created a solid path through the scene that the audience could follow but they also
created a way the editor could procedurally change the pace and timing of the scene without losing
continuity or a sense of speed within the scene for example if the cg trucks ran at a speed of
120 kilometers per hour the scene would last less than four minutes if they went faster the scene
would be shorter and no matter where they put the virtual cameras if they switched position
or went to a different plate the cg background would never repeat itself
to create madripura the vfx team were given some artwork from ray chan and the art department as
well as reference material from the comics however this material was highly stylized and wouldn't
really stand up in the real world environment of the series so the vfx team had to find a way to
mimic the look of this iconic city and ground it in reality they did this by referencing a
different iconic city that actually exists hong kong the vfx team created a library of buildings
to give madrikur its own architectural language the main buildings were standalone but the smaller
ones were instanced and the team had to change the top elements and light patterns to break up
the repetition one thing the team had to focus on was to contrast the difference between hightown
home to the rich and powerful and low town home to the slums and the dark criminal activities
they also had to highlight that madrid is a pirate city full of fun and pirates but at the same time
seedy and dark finding the balance between the two was complicated if they made it too dark the city
would look dull and abandoned and if they made it too light it would kind of look like las vegas
for the final fight sequences the director needed to put cameras in places where you couldn't put
a normal camera and have them move in ways and at speeds that just weren't physically
possible in order to give the director the maximum flexibility with his shots
the vfx team had to create a digital photo reel new york city using detailed satellite
reference and street maps they created an accurate representation of new york city
and its shorelines they then used a proprietary system that accesses the building library and
instances buildings accurately matching each building height and footprint to replace the
original to enhance their digital new york city they added detailed rooftops iconic bridges
watercraft and aircraft street level set dressing traffic and digital crowds the street level battle
takes place next to a large construction pit in a street intersection in downtown new york
in order to give the filmmakers flexibility with their shots the vfx team had to make
a digital version of the entire location using photogrammetry and lidar coverage of the movie set
and the surrounding locations they created a photo reel copy of the construction pit and surrounding
streets this allowed the filmmakers to adjust the set to their cinematic needs to capture the stunts
they could place a camera wherever they wished they could expand the proportions of the set to
increase perspective and they could change the depth of the pit to heighten the sense of danger
so mcu superheroes seem to be paving the way to a future where a production for tv
no longer means cheap and cheerful where more and more big screen productions make small debuts and
where quality vfx are used much more widely not only has the mcu pushed the vfx industry to evolve
it has pushed the entire entertainment industry to do so also the statement of pushing forwards
and always striving for better is not only the mantra of any of the marvel superheroes
but also of the company itself and probably the reason why marvel never ceases to marvel
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