Tim webber of framestore far right on the set of gravity. Visual effects tools were vital to the telling of this story, particularly those created by londonbased vfx software development company foundry. After tim webber joined framestore, he rapidly became the driving force behind the companys push into digital film and television, developing framestores virtual camera and motion. Gravity, where the wild things are currently working on. Industry standard software now includes physicsbased phenomena, such. L r alex webster, cto tim webber, fiona walhinshaw. This week we talk to framestores tim webber, who was the vfx. Autodesk 3ds max is used in designing popular games like world of warcraft, need for speed, call of duty.
The british technology behind gravitys oscarwinning visual effects the british production team behind gravity offer an exclusive insight into the creation of their awardwinning visual effects. He is known for his work on harry potter and the goblet of fire 2005, the dark knight 2008, avatar 2009. The faces were shot at shepperton by chivo emmanuel lubezki in his incredible lighting rig and then projected onto geometry. Gravity tim webber, chris lawrence, dave shirk and neil corbould vfx supervisor, director the vfx team behind gravity didnt set out to invent cuttingedge techniques for filming but thats what the project demandedit was quite an extended process to work out how to do these effectswe werent setting out at the beginning to. He was vfx supervisor for gravity, for which his team won a bafta for special visual effects, and an academy award for best achievements in visual effects. Well be able to see for ourselves that levels of innovation in visual effects are as high as ever. Things in gravity are animated ahead of the time and therefore, the faces of george clooney and. During his career, though, the framestore visual effects supervisor has split his time between broadcast television and feature films and picked up several awards along the way. We came up with technical and creative solutions through talking to tim and alfonso, said tony clark, vfx supervisor and cofounder of rsp. Pictures, joins the set of presentations on academy awardwinning gravity, as does tim webber, who received the oscar for best visual effects. And jon landau, the academy award and golden globewinning producer from lightstorm entertainment, is coming to fmx. Tim webber is known for his work on gravity 20, the dark knight 2008 and children of men 2006.
The fantastic, frightening, fuzzy vfx faces of framestore. Paddington matt nettheimwarner bros 34 double negative. The trio of cuaron, lubezki and webber soon concluded they couldnt make gravity as they wanted to by simply using traditional methods. During the past four years, visual effects supervisor tim webber has concentrated largely on one film. He is known for his work on harry potter and the goblet of fire 2005, the dark knight 2008, avatar 2009, and gravity 20, for which he received an academy award for best visual effects at the 86th academy awards. The team then had to produce a photoreal digital child being born, again in one long continuous shot, in a small room.
Charting the lonely quest of an astronaut sandra bullock to survive after her spaceship is crippled, the. Autodesk tim webber is an academy awardwinning visual effects supervisor who has worked on some of the most iconic films of the last decade including the visually arresting film gravity. Fmx 2014 spotlights virtual production with gravity. Oscar winning vfx supervisor tim webber and members the visual effects team at framestore talk about their experiences of creating the incredible awardwinning gravity. It is the leading resource for post professionals world wide and provides free downloads, links to filmmaking resources, as well as tons of information about film and video editing, vfx, sound, colour, and animation. Framestore preproduction services launches for film and. Interview with vfx specialist tim webber nerdgeist. Cinemas greatest effects shots picked by hollywoods top. Tim webber, physicist who is now chief creative officer at framestore in london even if you dont need to understand the maths hidden in the software that the vfx industry use, webber feels it helps to understand the principles of what the equations are doing, pointing to his experience early in his career working on a 1996 channel 4 tv miniseries dramatizing gullivers travels and starring ted danson. Surfing with guinness the criticallyacclaimed surfer for guinness won more awards than any other commercial spot in 1999, and has been deemed the most iconic ad of all time in. Paul franklin was vfx supervisor on interstellar, which has just a bafta for special visual effects and is a nominee for this years vfx oscar.
Tim webber is an academy awardwinning visual effects supervisor who has worked on some of the most iconic films of the last decade including the visually arresting film gravity. Fmx is very proud that chris defaria, president, animation, digital production and visual effects, warner bros. Once something starts moving, it doesnt slow down as it would on earth, explains vfx supervisor tim webber of londons framestore, which handled the. Charting the lonely quest of an astronaut sandra bullock to survive after her spaceship is crippled, the film received ten oscar nominations, including one for best visual effects. Each pixel is made out of an led that we could control, explained framestores oscarwinning vfx supervisor tim webber. The framestore also have a pretty comprehensive list of all the vfx breakdown articles that have been written about gravity so far. This all happened at framestore, working in parallel with tim webber on vfx. The quantity of shots, and the complexity of the many effects used to create the unreal worlds proved a giant success for the team, led by vfx supervisor tim webber. Vfx is an evolving industry, and virtual production is shaping up to play a pivotal role in how studios will overcome the production challenges of tomorrow. He will report directly to fiona walkinshaw, framestores global managing director, film.
The team talk about the challenges that the cgheavy film presented and discuss the unique blend of cinematography and postproduction. Maths and physics feature very heavily, says webbers framestore. Rising sun pictures completed 17 shots for this sequence. It had to look real on one level, otherwise it would jar an audience out of the generally realistic vibe that chris nolan was giving the rest of the film. It took that long for people just to understand what we were talking about. Real conversations on reality computing tim webber, vfx. The new team is led by alex webster, who joins as md, preproduction services after running the third floor in london. The creative effects supervisor of londons awardwinning vfx house framestore was talking about the. Cuaron enlisted visual effects supervisor tim webber, with whom he had also collaborated on children of men. Framestores vfx supervisor tim webber stated that 80 percent of the film consisted of cgi compared to james camerons avatar 2009 which was approx 60 percent cgi. It was based on the technology used at that time, which in 201220 was most commonly putting images on screens behind rock bands or on screens at sports grounds. From that point it became harder to make any changes as the render times were so long they had 15,000 computer cores running on the film.
The art of the guillotine is a post production website designed for the film industry. During the first day of the web summit, in dublin, we had the opportunity to interview oscar winning visual effects specialist tim webber. The global production pipeline as the vfx industry continues to grow worldwide, we are seeing how facilities are constantly discovering new means to do better, more inventive work, with tight timelines and, in some cases, shrinking budgets, said cospectives rory mcgregor, product manager of. Celebrated 3d filmmaker celine tricart explores every facet of the art, from the technical to the practical, including. The creative studio faced some of the toughest challenges yet thrown at it by a series that has consistently raised the bar on cinematic digital visual effects. Cfx artists used a program that was designed for the fashion industry to digitally. Having already triumphed with creatures created for previous potter films the basilisk and the hippogriff, to name but two framestore was once more invited to join the fun. So much about it was so different to any film before, webber told afp.
Innovative studios are already combining cg, motion capture, and realtime rendering with more traditional production techniques throughout the production process to more efficiently bring. Rising sun taps cinesync to complete vfx for gravity. The filmography he and his studio have worked on include the dark knight, gravity. Tim webber was awarded both a bafta and an oscar in 2014 for gravitys visual effects. If you want more proof, check out these great interviews with oscar and baftawinning vfx supervisors paul franklin and tim webber, and animation director eamonn butler, speaking to digital arts at the vfx festival in london. Oscar winning vfx supervisor tim webber and members the visual effects team at framestore talk about their experiences of creating the incredible. Framestore has produced truly remarkable footage and done more than just.
Tim webber, who took home the vfx trophy on oscar night, will present the amazing new techniques and innovations used to make the muchlauded film. We said if somebody can do it, its tim, lubezki recalls. We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site, at no extra cost to you. The films climactic scene shows stone attempting reentry into earths atmosphere. Tim webber, the films vfx supervisor, remembers feeling exhausted after the very first meeting with director alfonso cuaron. On the other hand, simply replicating real burn injuries would have just been a grossout. Tim webber joined framestore in 1988 after an outstanding academic record in maths, physics and art and has been guiding the company in new directions while supervising some of the most technically and artistically challenging projects. Visual effects and filmmaking is all about the team, said gravity visual effects supervisor tim webber in his acceptance speech, taking time to.
The news, business, technology, and art of animation. The approach working alongside foundry, we spoke with oscarwinning vfx supervisor tim webber and members of the framestore vfx team about bringing director alfonso cuarons spectacular vision to life. Techniques and best practices for stereoscopic filmmakers provides a comprehensive overview of the theory, language, and methods behind stereoscopic 3d filmmaking, all in one package. Fx guide also have a podcast interview with tim that you can listen to here. Great hollywood bakeoff ahead of oscars is the icing on. Vfx supe tim webber on the challenges of gravity studio daily. The discussion is moderated by film journalist bill desowitz.
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