Car chases, explosions and even adding water onto actors.
Today on the befores & afters podcast, we’re chatting to visual effects supervisor Mark Russell about the Doug Liman film, The Instigators. The heist movie is currently streaming on AppleTV+. This is one of those films full of seamless and invisible visual effects work by studios including Twin Pines, Assembly, Phosphene, Zero VFX, The Mill, Kiddan LA, with previs by The Brigade.
We talk about shooting car scenes, including having the actors on bluescreen, crafting digital cars and acquiring array plates. There’s a fun anecdote from Mark about one scene that involved an accidental crash in the photography, which was kept in one of the car scenes. We also talk about the several explosions in the film, and then what might surprise some people was shot on stage versus shooting exteriors. One of the coolest VFX stories Mark shares is about the evacuation scene for a building that involved water sprinklers…well…there were no water sprinklers set off for the shots, so that was all done by the VFX team, including rotoscoping a ton of actors to make them wet.
This episode is sponsored by Autodesk University 2024, the design & make conference. AU 2024 is the canʼt-miss virtual learning event of the year. Not only will you have the chance to learn about current trends in media & entertainment, but you can broaden your horizons in all things 3D visualization across architecture, construction, product design, and manufacturing. So don’t miss this can’t-miss virtual event, and sign up for your free Digital Pass at autodesk.com/beforesandafters.
Listen in, above, and check out a slideshow of images that showcase the planning that went into one of the car chases, including boards by storyboard artist Adrian Hashimi and previs by The Brigade. Zero VFX also has a cool breakdown on Instagram, shown below. Plus, The Mill has posted a video showcasing their digital rain effects.
