Go beyond the black screen and into the mesmerizing world of The Electric State, where stunning visual effects transform ideas into reality. Discover the artistry and collaboration of each department in bringing the story to life with exclusive behind the scenes footage and interviews with the cast and crew.
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Short filmTranscript
00:00Rolling.
00:01Rolling.
00:02Here we go.
00:03Ready and action.
00:04There's an entire universe that exists here that I think is fresh and new.
00:18It does feel like you're entirely immersed in this world.
00:22It comes from this extraordinary graphic novel, The Electric State.
00:26For me, the book is like a keyhole into a world and so it's really exciting to see them
00:30coming in and bust the doors wide open.
00:33This film is one of the most ambitious visual effects movies I've ever worked on in terms
00:37of the number of CG characters that we have to develop, design, animate, and give voice
00:42to.
00:43Unbelievable.
00:44The design of these robots are retro-futuristic.
00:47Most of them are heavily inspired from the book.
00:50Kid Cosmo is in the original book and the visual effects department did a test very
00:55early on.
00:56They put a mo-cap suit on a little girl and had her just move around naturally.
01:00Because that's what Cosmo is.
01:02It's Kid Cosmo.
01:03It is Christopher in this new shell and I wanted Cosmo's movements to feel like a kid
01:08and being a kid's pretty fun.
01:10They have a full-size Kid Cosmo on set for our reference and it's just so cool looking.
01:17You're my special friend.
01:19We have been working with the top motion capture actors and experts in the world to
01:25imbue these characters with heart and emotion.
01:28Part of how we do that is when we're on set, we're working with a troupe of motion capture
01:31performers in the scenes with us that is led by the amazing Terry Notary.
01:36They all have their own unique personalities, their attributes, and so I wanted to create
01:40a little band of misfits.
01:42We did come here for five weeks before we even started shooting.
01:46And he took us through our paces, discovering a robotic world.
01:49We would rehearse the scenes and we would help each other.
01:53And through that, we started to carve out some of these characters.
01:56We are building this world together as a unit and it's really special.
02:00They breathe so much life into these robots that you're going to fall in love with them.
02:05When I read the script, I thought, oh, this is going to be primarily a voiceover role.
02:09My voice will come out of this machine.
02:11They said, well, the mo-cap actor will do this and the mo-cap actor will do that.
02:14And I said, well, could I do the motion capture?
02:18And they went, you want to do it?
02:20My immediate thought was, did I just bite off more than I can chew?
02:24It was a great deal of fun and it allowed me to be organically in the scenes with Millie,
02:29not just as a voice.
02:31For a human, you make a pretty great robot.
02:35I just loved all of our robot actors.
02:37They just did a wonderful job in bringing this to life for us.
02:41Devon was Cosmo for me.
02:43You kind of have to do one take with her and one take without her.
02:45And as soon as they take her away, I was like, no.
02:51I don't like it either.
02:52The top VFX companies are all working with us on Electric State,
02:57using the most cutting-edge technology to bring these characters to life
03:00in a way that you've never seen before.
03:02Charge!
03:05That's very impressive.
03:07These movement specialists, they wear a suit called an XM suit.
03:11This is a newer technology.
03:12It's a motion capture system based on accelerometers.
03:15It's recording acceleration and then integrating velocity to position.
03:19We decided to do that because we really wanted to gain the information
03:22of what Jay and Adrian's team were actually creating.
03:25It's also great because the directors can direct someone.
03:29You can frame appropriately.
03:31Action!
03:32Later on, we go back to the Vicon stage,
03:34which is the optical-based motion capture and recapture performance.
03:38We then go through and remap some of the characters.
03:41We tweak their actions.
03:43They are in there for days and weeks at a time.
03:46The awesome thing about being here
03:48is we get to see the actual robot
03:50and then we get to see us moving so we can tell what really reads.
03:53So this is kind of where we get to, like, make our magic happen.
03:57It's a win-win for everyone because on set,
04:00we get the takes that we need for Chris and Millie
04:02and then we can come back in the volume here
04:04and really fine-tune our performances.
04:06It's a real mixture.
04:08That's what glues it all together.
04:11Perm?
04:12Hit it.
04:13Alan Silvestri's scoring this movie.
04:15He is actually one of the greatest composers of all time.
04:18I actually like this song.
04:19And I think that music helps the film's visual effects
04:22feel grounded and familiar.
04:24It reminds me of music and the culture from that era.
04:28And I think that goes into the visual effects.
04:30Alan's recording an orchestral score for the film.
04:32It'll be in the vein of some of the great scores
04:34that he's done in the past, like Back to the Future.
04:37To see my book so truthfully translated, it's surreal.
04:40It's like, how is this even possible?
04:43The animation is truly state-of-the-art.
04:46There's a great adventure in it,
04:47but it's also very emotional and very, very funny.
04:50I think it's extraordinary.
04:51I've never seen anything quite like it.
04:53It's so fun.
04:54Like, it was unbelievable.
04:56What the hell is that?
04:57Look out!
05:03Perm, get us out of here!