Cinefex Weekly Update | Issue 29

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Article by Estelle Shay

Not surprisingly, the set of Catwoman -- Warner Brothers' newest comic book adaptation, directed by Pitof -- was overrun with cats during filming in Vancouver last year. In fact, the cats performed so well that Tippett Studio, which was hired to create computer generated cats for the film, in support of the show's principal effects vendor ESC Entertainment, found its job shrinking as principal photography progressed. "Originally, we were going to do about 40 shots," recalled Tippett visual effects supervisor Joel Friesch, who shared duties with co-supervisor Eric Reynolds. "The production figured they were going to give the real cats two or three takes, and if they didn't perform, they'd just move on and we'd do it with CG. But it was a credit to the trainers that these cats seemed to do everything they wanted."

Though the company ultimately ended up with just four shots in the film, they were key moments in an early sequence revealing how shy, sensitive graphic artist Patience Phillips (Halle Berry) becomes Catwoman. In the sequence, Patience is killed by her corrupt employers, and her body washes up on the banks of a reservoir under the watchful gaze of Midnight, an Egyptian Mau cat with mystical powers. The Mau beckons neighborhood cats to the scene, then walks up to Patience, climbs onto her chest and breathes life back into her, along with feline superpowers. "Pitof's camera moves in those shots were pretty ambitious," observed Friesch, "big elaborate moves that involved motion control -- which is why they couldn't use the real cats." The shots also included several extreme closeups of the cat's face, its eyes and nose even filling frame at one point. "We were a little hesitant about that. We thought we could do a pretty good photoreal CG cat, but we didn't want to go that close."

At the start of the production, Friesch traveled to Vancouver to take reference photos of the three Egyptian Maus used on set. Those photos, along with video reference and precise measurements of the real cats, were brought back to the studio, where Tippett crews built the CG replica. Modelmaker Jeff Unay made use of Tippett Studio's relatively new proprietary skin and muscle system, employed for the first time on Hellboy. "This was our first opportunity to use it on a photoreal animal," noted Friesch, "so we were pretty excited. Cats have this loose bag of skin, and when they move, the skin just slides over the muscles. Their knees almost vanish into their bodies when they move, because they have all this fur. We could achieve that kind of movement with this system."

The Tippett crew also employed its proprietary fur tool, first pressed into action for the 2001 film Cats & Dogs. "The Russian cat in Cats & Dogs had thick, gray, wooly fur," recalled Friesch, "whereas this was straight fur. So, we had to figure out a whole different texture. But we've learned a lot of tricks from using our fur tool on other shows. We keep refining it, and it just keeps getting better." Interestingly, the rare Mau breed's unusual coloring -- silver with black spots -- made the task easier. "We could hide a lot in the pattern. When you have something flat and single-colored, you tend to focus more on the surface and the quality of the hair. But when you have a pattern, there's so much more to look at."

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For the cat's eyes, Tippett artists avoided refractions or fancy rendering techniques. "We did a sphere," explained Friesch, "and put a pupil on it that animators could animate dilating or constricting. Then we put a transparent lens over that and did a couple of different light passes, putting the whole thing together in compositing." Pitof directed Tippett to shorten the cat's teeth so as to give it a less threatening appearance when seen at close range. "Pitof wanted the cat to have charisma, but he didn't want it to look mean or scary -- just strong and confident."

Animators spent long hours observing real cats in order to copy the typical cues of feline behavior. "Because the camera is so close," said Friesch, "there was a lot of attention put on ear tics and little eye moves and whisker movement -- all the tiny details. Cats are constantly moving something. Their whiskers are picking up information, they're always scanning and checking out their surroundings. Of course, the big advantage of our CG cat was that we could maintain an eyeline on something, which a real cat wouldn't necessarily do."

For the shot of the cat breathing life into Patience, animators initially suggested adding a bit of subtle, but visible cat breath -- a suggestion that the production initially rejected. "We got a callback about two weeks after we delivered the shot," stated Friesch, "and they said: 'We want to see magical cat breath.' Fortunately, we had an element from a previous show, and our compositors were able to stick that in."

Another motion control shot had the CG Mau surrounded by a dozen or so real cats shot on the live-action set. "Production did six or seven takes of the real cats," said Friesch, "and in each take, some of them hit their marks, while others didn't. We had to go into all the different takes and pull out the ones that worked, then stick them in our shot. It involved a lot of plate building and retiming."

Though their work on Catwoman ended up being but a fraction of the overall visual effects undertaking, the Tippett crew welcomed the opportunity to refine their craft. "I always wanted to do a photoreal animal," Friesch remarked, "and to do one that is so recognizable was a big challenge. Then, to get that close -- it's hard to get anything CG to look that good that close."

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Compiled by Joe Fordham

Bond 21: The Associated Press has picked up a report from The News of the World stating that Australian actor Eric Bana, who starred in The Hulk and Troy, has been chosen to take on the role of suave super-spy James Bond in this twenty-first installment of the popular franchise, based on the novels of Ian Fleming. The news follows a recent announcement by actor Pierce Brosnan, the current reigning Bond, that he was handing in his license to kill. While still in negotiations, producers of the series are hopeful Bana will sign on to the new production, set to begin filming later this year.
Alien vs. Predator: Click here to view a new batch of new photos from Twentieth Century Fox's Alien vs. Predator, posted by ComingSoon.net. The film, directed by Paul Anderson and opening August 13, pits two of filmdom's most terrifying creatures against each other, unleashed by a team of scientists investigating an ancient pyramid buried in Antarctica.
Shadowmancer: Variety reports Universal Pictures has acquired the rights to this popular fantasy novel by G.P. Taylor. Taylor will adapt his own novel, about a group of 17th-century children who purloin an enchanted evil relic. Fortitude Films will produce the film and has already agreed to buy Wormwood, Taylor's second novel, which is a best-seller in the U.K. and will be published in the U.S. in the fall.
Code 46: MGM/UA has posted a trailer here for filmmaker Michael Winterbottom's science fiction drama, starring Tim Robbins and Samantha Morton as mismatched lovers in a near-future world where unauthorized social behavior is outlawed based on genetic encoding. Limited release opens in the U.S. August 6.
A Princess of Mars: The Hollywood Reporter states that Kerry Conran, director of Paramount's upcoming Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, is in negotiations to direct this Alphaville production based on the first in Edgar Rice Burroughs' series of colorful science fantasy adventures set on the planet Barsoom -- that's Mars to you and I. Burroughs' story revolves around John Carter, a Civil War officer from Virginia, who is transported to Mars and becomes a warrior in the service of Martian princess Dejah Thoris, battling six-armed green-skinned Tharks. Robert Rodriguez was previously attached to the project, but pulled out when he resigned from the Directors Guild of America this year in order to share director's credit with comic book author Frank Miller on Sin City.
Cursed: Fangoria reports Dimension Films has delayed the release of this Wes Craven werewolf film again, this time shifting its October 1 release to first quarter 2005.
Batman Begins: Warners' minimalist Batman website has launched its first teaser trailer here for director Christopher Nolan's upcoming Caped Crusader film. And click here for the latest pictures of actor Christian Bale sporting his Batsuit, as posted by CHUD.com, via Batman on Film. Coming summer 2005.
Die Hard 4: Variety reports that yet another rewrite is underway for Twentieth Century Fox's Die Hard sequel, which is being steered through the development process by Bruce Willis and his Cheyenne Enterprises partner Arnold Rifkin. Doug Richardson will try his hand at the script, working from an earlier version of the story by Mark Bomback, whose script was, itself, a redraft of a pre-existing Fox screenplay called World War 3.com. Richardson's deal is being finalized by William Morris Agency.
Book of Skulls: The Hollywood Reporter states that British screenwriter Terry Hayes, who wrote the screenplay for Dead Calm, will adapt Robert Silverberg's novel -- a psychological thriller about a group of college students who discover an ancient book that holds the secret to eternal life. William Friedkin is slated to direct this upcoming Alphaville production.
The Big Friendly Giant: The Hollywood Reporter states that writer Ed Solomon, who penned scripts for Men in Black, Charlie's Angels and The-Inlaws, has been brought in to rewrite the adaptation of this popular children's book by British author Roald Dahl. The project has been in development for some time at Paramount. Producers for the project are Kennedy/Marshall Company and Michael Siegel.
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow: From an Associated Press story reported in TheHollywoodNews.com, Laurence Olivier is apparently making his big-screen comeback fifteen years after his death. Footage from the famed actor's films was used to create Sky Captain's villain -- a human leader of an army of killer robots. Another actor recorded the dialogue for the role. The report states that "the same sort of technology is to be used in Shooting Stars, an action suspense movie that marries present day commercial film pacing while set in the mid-1950s. Fifties film icons will be featured in the film using CGI and filmed footage."
Wake the Dead: Creature Corner reports that director Joel Schumacher has signed on to direct Dimension Films' adaptation of this IDW Publishing comic book. The story, an update on the Frankenstein legend from scribe Steve Niles (30 Days of Night), is being adapted by X2 co-writer Mike Dougherty. This version of the classic tale follows a group of college kids who experiment with reanimating the dead.
King Kong: Click here to read a SciFi Wire story about how director Peter Jackson is using Andy Serkis -- whose performance on the set of The Lord of the Rings films guided animators in the creation of Gollum -- to help Naomi Watts emote to her big hairy leading man.
Sin City: Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller's adaptation of Miller's graphic novel Sin City, slated for a 2005 release, was greeted with rave reviews at Comic-Con. Click here to read a report of the presentation and ten minute showreel at ComingSoon.net. Or click here to view three teaser posters advertising the film at Superherohype.com. The Internet Movie Database states special effects are being supervised by John McLeod, with makeup effects by Greg Nicotero of KNB EFX. Hybride Technologies and The Orphanage are handling visual effects.
A Sound of Thunder: Warner Brothers has released a trailer for Peter Hyams' upcoming film, loosely based on Ray Bradbury's 1952 time travel tale. Click here for Chicago in 2054, T-rex, mutated plants and animals, flesh-eating bugs, giant vampire bats, a tsunami tidal wave and more. Opens August 20.
The Magic Roundabout: My Movies.net has posted a trailer here to Pathé's upcoming computer generated film based on this children's television series, a series of five-minute stop-motion fantasies originally produced by French animator Serge Danot in France in 1963, then revoiced with an entirely new plot by producer Eric Thompson for BBC TV. Over 500 episodes were made between 1963 and 1967, concerning the adventures of Dougal the dog, Brian the snail, Zebedee the jack-in-the-box (sans box) and Dylan the spaced-out rabbit. The series grew to cult status in the U.K., with reports that characters were thinly veiled allegories for '60s French political figures, but this has never been verified by the original creators. The new CG feature will be released in the U.K. February 2005, starring the voices of Tom Baker, Jim Broadbent, Joanna Lumley, Kylie Minogue and Robbie Williams.

Sony Pictures Imageworks is an award-winning visual effects and animation company dedicated to the art and artistry of digital production and character creation. Imageworks has been recognized by AMPAS with nominations for its work on Spider-Man, Hollow Man, Stuart Little and Starship Troopers, and was awarded an Oscar® for the CG animated short film The ChubbChubbs.

At this year's SIGGRAPH, Imageworks will be presenting their annual life drawing classes, courses, show floor demonstrations and works in both the Electronic and Animation Theaters. Imageworks offers artists and animators the unique opportunity to work on traditional VFX films, character driven FX projects and CG animated features. Visit www.imageworks.com for more information.