VFX Voice - Fall 2017

esulting tools for making VR and AR content “will flow back into
filmmaking and television,” Leo adds. “These tools will probably
make high-end, user-generated content increasingly streamlined,
but linear films and video content are a mature medium with over
a century of history. The tools may change, but the final content
will likely still follow established rules. On the other hand, the rules
for what makes a compelling VR or AR storytelling experience
haven’t been written yet.”
Aron Hjartarson, Framestore’s Executive Creative Director, calls
content coming out of such institutions, including Framestore VR
Studio, “non-traditional work.”
“[In our Los Angeles office], when it comes to non-traditional
work, we have been very busy working on anything from 360 video
content to full-room scale experiences,” Hjartarson explains.
“Distribution has been via several avenues – anything from
YouTube to the App Store, and everything in between. One of
the interesting things about these projects is that the clients are
diverse and come from different channels than our traditional
business. We are finding that our core competencies have a wider
application, from development to storytelling.”
Hjartarson emphasizes these new avenues increase the need for
VFX artists.
“As far as how VR impacts the visual effects industry, there is
greater demand for [visual effects artists] than before,” he says.
“[For the VR Studio], the majority of our artists still come from
our existing talent pool, which is deep and wide. But on the CG
and compositing side, we have expanded the skill set of many of
our artists to deal with the challenges involved, and even on the
development side, we have taken some of our best developers from
the traditional side, as well as added some new talent to complement
them.
“Also, 360 video is very challenging technically and needs supervisors
that have a deep understanding of camera systems, optics,
and how to reverse-engineer them. This is leading to a lot of R&D
work in computer vision/computational photography, which is
useful in traditional work. Thinking back to traditional VFX projects
I’ve done in the past, we have developed tools that would have
made those shows a lot easier. I think computational photography
will develop at a fast rate, providing viable solutions for volumetric
capture, which has a potential to influence everything we do, VR
and traditional.”
TOP: Rogue One: A Star Wars
Story (Photo credit: Film Frame.
Copyright © 2016 Lucasfilm Ltd.
All Rights Reserved.)
LEFT: Mohen Leo
BEST TOOLS EVER
While working on Air Force One in 1997, Richard Edlund, VES,
suddenly comprehended that digital techniques would eventually
push past generations of practical effects work and mechanical
engineering breakthroughs like motion control. Today, he views
the work he and others did on Star Wars and what followed in the
1970s onward as “steppingstones” on the way to a revolution that
continues to pick up steam.
“On Air Force One, we had a 22-foot wingspan 747 model [built
in the model shop of Edlund’s former company, Boss Films],”
Edlund recalls. “It was perfected – a magnificent model. But
halfway through production, our guys created a digital version
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