This article by Mirja Fürst originally appeared in DP 02 : 2013.
We spoke to Florian Gellinger, one of the VFX supervisors and founder of Rise | Visual Effects Studios, about the elaborate work “Cloud Atlas” and his workflow.
DP: What was it like for you to work on “Cloud Atlas”?
Florian Gellinger: Overall, it has to be said that the work was very relaxed despite the complexity and the amount of shots. We were the first VFX company on board and were therefore able to plan our personnel and technical requirements well in advance.
Accordingly, we are very happy to have proved that good preparation pays off not only in terms of the quality of the visible results. It was a really great time for everyone.
DP: How did you come up with the “Cloud Atlas” project?
Florian Gellinger: We worked with Dan Glass, the senior VFX supervisor of “Cloud Atlas”, back in 2008. Back then for the film “Ninja Assassin”. Since then, I’ve met up with him in Los Angeles and at the FMX in Stuttgart. When he set up shop in Berlin for “Cloud Atlas”, he called us. We provided him with some of our 3D artists and workstations for the pre-viz phase, scanned various locations and sets with our LIDAR scanner and when the shoot started, I supported Stephane Ceretti, the second VFX supervisor, on the set of the Tom Tykwer Unit with set supervision.
DP: Did you only work on shots for Tom Tykwer’s sequences – or also for the Wachowski siblings?
Florian Gellinger: We mainly worked on Tom Tykwer’s sequences. For example, we were the main vendor for the Luisa Rey episode in 1973 San Francisco. We created a nuclear power plant on an island for day shots as well as for twilight and night shots, including the bridge that connected the island to the mainland. We exploded an aeroplane and pushed a CG VW Beetle off the bridge. We also created a CG environment for dry-for-wet underwater shots. And finally, we transformed day and night shots of Glasgow and Düsseldorf into the San Francisco of the 70s. We also did some cleanups, sky comps and set extensions for some shots of the 1936 episode in Cambridge. For the Wachowski siblings we created some thunderstorm shots for the 1849 South Pacific sequence as well as a bionic CG eye patch for a doctor in Neo Seoul 2144 and set a SatComCenter on a mountain in post-apocalyptic Hawaii 2346.
DP: How many shots were there in total?
Florian Gellinger: We worked on 106 shots in total, spread over five of the six episodes in “Cloud Atlas”.
DP: Did you receive previews or a storyboard?
Florian Gellinger: We received the editing references for the respective shots. On the one hand, these were layouts from the production company’s in-house artists, the previews that our artists created with the directors or images from the art department for the SatComCenter, for example. On the other hand, sometimes it was simply the pre-graded source plates.
DP: How long did the work take, how many people at Rise | Visual Effects Studios were involved?
Florian Gellinger: We started with the pre-viz in July 2011 before the shoot, and then we were on set from time to time during the shoot to scan the locations or supervise. Parallel to the shoot, some of our artists were already creating the postviz. The actual editing of the shots started at the beginning of 2012 and continued into the summer. In total, over 40 people were involved in the project at times.
DP: How did you divide up the work in the team?
Florian Gellinger: There was a lead compositor for each sequence (nuclear power plant by day/night, car crash, “Glasgow to San Francisco” remodelling), who had his own small team. In 3D there was a lead artist who was mainly responsible for the explosion and bubbles in Houdini. Together with our Lead Pipeline TD, he integrated Houdini into our pipeline. There were also a few independent artists for the other 3D tasks.
DP: What tools did you use?
Florian Gellinger: We used Nuke 6.3 for compositing. We have customised it a little with our in-house tools so that some of the work is easier. For the 3D work, we use Maya and Houdini, which have also been enhanced with some custom tools. We use Faro Scene software to process our LIDAR scans and Geomagic Wrap to mesh and prepare the point clouds.
DP: Did you have to expand your in-house risebase database in any way or write new scripts for the project?
Florian Gellinger: “Cloud Atlas” was our first project in which Houdini was used. Accordingly, it first had to be integrated into our pipeline. Some special delivery functions were added to our in-house risebase database to simplify data exchange with the customer.
DP: How did you send the data to the directors for viewing?
Florian Gellinger: We uploaded HD QuickTimes to a server at regular intervals, from which both the directors and the editing room could download the data.
DP: How was the collaboration with the other VFX studios? Or was there no overlap in the work?
Florian Gellinger: We supplied a model of our VW Beetle to Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), which appears in the background during the chase with the skiff bike in Neo Seoul. We also rendered the SatComCenter for Method, who then placed it very small on the mountain from a distance.
We also provided the LIDAR scans for all the companies involved in the film. This means that every set and every vehicle was delivered as a 3D model to the companies that processed the corresponding shots.
DP: How did you like the finished film? Do you think that despite the large number of VFX studios involved, it was possible to achieve a homogeneous look for the effects?
Florian Gellinger: We organised our own small company premiere as a thank you to the whole team for their great work and to show our work to friends and customers. I think the look is very homogeneous.
This was also achieved by allocating the effects to the different VFX houses on a sequence-by-sequence basis as far as possible, so that there was a main vendor for each sequence who was responsible for creating a uniform look for their shots.
DP: Which shot in the film are you particularly happy with?
Florian Gellinger: We are actually very happy with all the shots because they all have their own special features. Be it the particularly unobtrusive integration of the San Francisco set extensions or more spectacular shots such as the aeroplane explosion or the car crash with the realistic air bubbles and cracks under water. We also like the SatComCentre on the mountain.
DP: What would you do differently in the workflow – with the knowledge you have now?
Florian Gellinger: Based on our experience with the numerous LIDAR scans and texture photos, we have developed a new workflow that allows us to light our 3D scene much faster and more efficiently and also to react much more flexibly to different lighting situations in the same set. There will also be an article on this in the next issue.
