Paramount Press Junket Part 4: Transformers ROTF and G.I. Joe ROC special effects

Monday, November 2nd, 2009 6:56PM CST

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The Allspark.com has posted the fourth installment of their coverage of the Paramount Press Junket. This time around, we are treated to (among other things) some insight from Scott Benza, Industrial Lights and Magic Animation Supervisor and Shane Mahan of Legacy Effects.

Here are some excerpts, the first is from Benza.

Following Hasbro’s panel, ILM animation supervisor Scott Benza and visual effects supervisor Russell Earl took center stage, with Benza going first on both Transformers and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Earl would later be covering Star Trek’s visual effects, although he did work on Transformers). Benza starts off that ROTF was his fourth film working with director Michael Bay, having also worked on Pearl Harbor (2001) and The Island (2005), Bay was a very collaborative director and was open to many ideas, and his feedback helps improve some of the shots.

Benza starts off with how Bay understood some of the criticisms from the first movie in regards to the Autobots and the Decepticons, and how the Transformers got a make-over for ROTF, such as Megatron having fully functional tank treads (which was difficult for the animators). Spinning models of the Fallen and Sideswipe followed, as well pointing out on how lighting played about. He noted that Bay believed “the more messed up the robots, the more realistic they look”, hence the various scratches and dings. A lot of the concept designs were the basis for the robots, such as Ben Proctor, and feedback was exchanged between animation and art standpoints. Jetfire gaining a mouth compared to his early model is one such example, allowing them to animate him with more emotion which wouldn’t be as effective if it just his beard, followed by a short clip of Jetfire talking to Sam (Shia LaBeouf) that showed the mouth pieces in motion. One robot can be composed up to 52,000 pieces, Devastator alone the largest they ever dealt with, and several levels of resolution had to be created in order for the animation team to work with the Autobots and Decepticons fast and efficiently. Benza showed off four levels of Bumblebee, ranging from the most simplistic model to the most detailed one.

Here is an excerpt from Mahan's presentation.

Following the ILM presentation, a ride up to San Fernando so as to check out the special effects workshop that worked with Paramount on creating the Accelerator Suits for G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Legacy Effects, successor to Stan Winston Studios. Shane Mahan, co-owner of the shop, showed several of the suits used in Marvel’s Iron Man in 2008, from the Mark I to the enormous Iron Monger, as well several battle-damage pieces of the Mark III. Next up was two of the six Accelerator Suits used in Rise of Cobra, weighing almost 45 pounds, requiring 4 months to build and milled, and composing of over 30 pieces as well additional replacement if anything got broken. Legacy Effects originally laser-scanned Marlon Wayans (Ripcord) and from his measurements they built the first suit; Channing Tatum’s (Duke) suit had to be retrofitted later, even though it’s not the most ideal way but there’s no beating around it. The suits were designed in mind so that it’ll take at least 15 minutes to be fitted on with 2 to 3 people assisting, although the crew spared no expense on the padded cases when it came to shipping them overseas.

You may view the entire original summary of this event by clicking here.

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Credit(s): allspark.com