Double Negative with Chris McLaughlin

It was no surprise that this was going to be one my must-attend talks for this year, especially after I deeply enjoyed last year's insightful one with Nathan Ortiz (I might have to repost that post... because for some reason it disappeared on my blog?), and ho ho... it looks like the festival director knew of that, saving the best for last...

Chris McLaughlin is the Sequence Supervisor at Double Negative, having joined the studio in 2010. He works in Lighting TD, CG Sequence Lead and CG Sequence Supervisor on such works as "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2", "Paul", "The Bourne Legacy", "Fast and Furious 6" and "Rush". Most recently, Chris completed work on "Hercules" as CG Sequence Supervisor where he was responsible for all environment sequences along with the three-headed Cerberus. He is currently Sequence Supervising on next year's "Terminator: Genisys" (Yay!). But anyway back to the creature production of "Hercules".

The Nemean Lion was one of their proudest works, despite it being one of
the longest to render due to its detailed fur.

While "Hercules" (Featuring Dwayne Johnson, AKA, The Rock) might be one of their least popular works (Which is understandable considering all the other blockbusters that were released around the same time... still, I have read that it was able to beat out "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" during its third week), clearly a lot of love was put into the designs of the creatures and environments that were assigned to the DNeg crew.

Interestingly enough, the wolf from the "Bourne Legacy" was used as reference during the development of the 3 wolves, which definitely made things a little easier when it came to working on them. Needless to say, reference is incredibly important and any professional will immediately tell you the exact same thing, regardless of what you are working on. So gather as much reference as you can, gather photos, watch documentaries, just don't attempt to create something out of the blue and expect it to be good!

Zbrush sculpts were first sent over to the studio by their clients during the development of the creatures, from there, Chris and his crew begin working on these designs, to not just improve on their design (Making them not just appealing, but fiercer and more intimidating), but to also to adjust the anatomy to be more accurate. Walking/Running cycles were then used to see how realistic their movements are as well physics of their skin and fur (A little more on that later).

Previs (Or Previsualization) comes in all forms depending on what media it is being used for (Eg, storyboards and concept art). 3D animated previsualization has been used in the VFX industry since the 1980s and remains popular to this day. In a way, they resemble game cutscenes that are perfect for figuring out lighting, camera angles, etc.

Challenges involve the creation of hair/fur, water/swamp creature, realistic interaction between the actors and these effects. Several custom shaders and renderers were created even for the water and snow and hilariously a 'baby oil' shader was specially made for Dwayne Johnson himself (Seeing that he applies them throughout the movie). There were just a lot of tool that Chris mentioned during his presentation, and it was pretty hard to catch it all, but needless to say, I was awed but how much went into just the creatures alone.

Hercules had a digital double that was used clearly for more dangerous stunts or considerably impossible scenes (Particularly during the fight with the Erymanthian Boar), or when the real actor's interaction did not match the object it was interacting with (Such as the hands). They also had to keep in consideration about making sure details matched that of the actor himself, such as dirt, wounds, costumes... and babyoil.

While the Lernaean Hydra didn't have fur like the other creatures, other details were considered such as the more realistic stretching of their scaly skin (A volume rig was used for the surface of the body to do so). Not only that, a majority of the setting was also redone, using the blue screen for the environment (Seeing that swamp is mostly green anyway), the water area was actually extended, with extra details such as blood added into it. But that doesn't mean that the live shots are then deemed completely useless, they can of course be referred to when recreating that scene.

Green suited actors are also used as placements for these creatures (I'm sorry, I can't find the one that was shown in the presentation), to give the idea of weight for the actors, as miming won't always work.

And so my respect continues to grow for this studio, not just because they have worked on so many of my favourite movies, but also for the fact that they truly do go all out when it comes to what they do. A part of me wishes to learn more about VFX (To better understand the softwares used for it, especially when it comes to the brushes, shaders and renderers that are used) and perhaps get the chance to work with amazing folks like them someday, but the wiser part of me knows that that probably won't happen for awhile...

Despite their amazing contributions however, the VFX department seems to be the least respected out of all the departments in the film industry (As Mr Paul Wells so states), perhaps still being the youngest and all... 

But Chris McLaughlin also has a point, taking it as the biggest compliment when their visual effects actually go unnoticed by the viewers (Like "Rush", because that totally wowed me), they know they are doing great work, and if it helps, there are folks like us who deeply appreciate their hard work...