Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse | VFX Breakdown
Category
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Short filmTranscript
00:00 [MUSIC]
00:10 Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse pushes the envelope of artistic and
00:15 technical innovation, and
00:16 redefines the notion of what visual effects can achieve in animation.
00:20 The principal challenge of the film was to create a cinematic experience that
00:25 spanned a vast and complex multiverse built from visual styles never seen
00:30 before on screen.
00:31 >> You don't understand, I'm not from here.
00:33 >> In order to create six unique handcrafted worlds,
00:38 our development team built artistic tool sets from the ground up.
00:40 These new tools empower artists to paint millions of brush strokes,
00:45 draw comic inspired ink lines,
00:49 [MUSIC]
00:52 And control shadow and light like a painter.
00:54 [MUSIC]
00:56 The goal was to drive the emotions of the movie in revolutionary ways and
01:00 to see the hand of the artist in every frame.
01:02 We wanted to incorporate distinct visual styles in each dimension.
01:07 [MUSIC]
01:10 This ranged from the steady, organized camera work in Miguel's world,
01:14 to the monochromatic depiction of Miles' Brooklyn, and
01:16 the graphically staged dripping watercolors in Gwen's Manhattan.
01:20 [MUSIC]
01:22 We extended our use of ink lines to characters and entire environments.
01:26 [MUSIC]
01:29 A team of 40 dedicated artists played a crucial role in breaking away from
01:33 the traditional 3D style and propelling the film's essential 2D aesthetic.
01:37 [MUSIC]
01:43 Mumbatun was rendered in a vintage Indrajal comic style.
01:47 This introduced the need for other effects, such as paper textures,
01:50 like misprints, color offsets, control over color groupings.
01:55 We also added loose line work and heavy dot patterns.
01:58 New tools were created to manage and apply color palettes, where each shot
02:02 might need different color assignments, color separation, and misregistration.
02:06 [MUSIC]
02:08 In Gwen's watercolor themed world, integrating a 2D painting application
02:12 into Houdini allowed us to procedurally create convincing,
02:15 beautiful watercolor simulations.
02:17 This tool was also used in scenes involving Spot's transformation.
02:21 [MUSIC]
02:23 Spot required a unique collaboration between many departments.
02:27 For example, animators would draw rough 2D effects,
02:30 while effects artists applied watercolor elements, and
02:33 compositors combined these with additional layers,
02:35 like proprietary line tool work, to bring together Spot's groundbreaking look.
02:39 [MUSIC]
02:45 The ultimate goal of our team of artists at Imageworks was to recognize and
02:49 employ the visual structure of a comic universe and
02:52 translate it into a cinematic language.
02:54 The common thread that wove all of these worlds together was a film design
02:58 rooted in an aspirational view of comic book art.
03:01 [MUSIC]
03:03 Audiences are transported to new worlds created through artistry,
03:07 passion, and above all, collaboration.
03:10 [MUSIC]