Archive notice: This article was originally published on September 2, 2013. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Alongside procedural processes, our second focus topic in DP issue 06:13 is "Canada". William Cheng and his work fit well into this because he lives and works in Toronto. Whenever a science-fiction film is shot in Toronto and a real set is needed for the shoot, in most cases William Cheng has worked on it.
The set designer is a trained architect, but has already worked in the film industry for around 15 years. His specialty is sets for science-fiction films, and during his career he has already designed sets for films such as "The Thing", "Resident Evil: Afterlife" and "RoboCop".
At FMX 2013, we met William Cheng for an interview, which you can find in DP issue 06:13, due to appear on September 4, 2013. Alongside impressive designs of the robot interiors of the gigantic "Pacific Rim" combat robots that he made available to us, he spoke about his collaboration with the postproduction department and Guillermo del Toro.
Although "Total Recall" is a remake, by now it is already an older work from 2012. But the set-design concepts of "The Fall" that William Cheng created for the film remain timeless and always equally worth seeing. In "Total Recall", "The Fall" is a gravity elevator that travels in a shaft right through the interior of the Earth, connecting Great Britain with Australia. This allows workers to travel to Great Britain for factory work every day.
The film’s big final fight scene also takes place on "The Fall"; parts of the elevator set were built for real for it.
Four drawings show the extensive and detailed work by William Cheng that is required in advance for such a set construction.
Anyone interested in the VFX of "Total Recall" after these images could find a detailed making-of report at fxguide.com, including about the explosion scene of "The Fall" during the final fight.
Incidentally, alongside this interview, in DP issue 06:13 you will also find a detailed making-of report for our cover story "Pacific Rim" by compositing artist Michael Ralla, who worked on the project for ILM. In it, he reveals quite a bit about the ILM workflow, the pipeline and his personal impressions of the work.
Make a note of September 6 for a visit to a newsstand if you are not yet a subscriber. In that case, you can browse the new DP issue as early as September 4.
About the author
Redakteurin der Digital Production
Article details
- Published
- Author
- Mirja Fürst
- Reading time
- About 3 min
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- 425