I have been working in the VFX industry for over ten years, but before that, I started my career in games. My focus for most of my career has been lighting, however I have also worked in many other parts of the VFX process well.
How did you and Herne Hill get involved on this movie?
Sharina Radia, the VFX Executive at 20th Century Studios, brought the project to our attention. She thought we could be a good fit based on the artist profile within our studio and the type of VFX requirements involved with it.
How was the collaboration with director Arkasha Stevenson and VFX Supervisor James Cooper?
James and Arkasha Stevenson (the Director) worked very closely together to find the best balance between practical and digital possible. A major effort was made to keep as much of the work practical as possible and augment digitally where necessary.
How did you organize the work with your VFX Producer?
We had an amazing internal producer, Adam Quattrociocchi. Adam and I shared an office so that made collaboration and communication extremely easy. We had the luxury of working with a small but exceptionally talented team, so we were able to keep the tasking simple. As usual communication was the most important part of organizing the work. We prioritized communicating the notes to the artists and making sure they understood the shot’s direction before any work was started.
What were the sequences made by Herne Hill?
Herne Hill did work throughout the whole film however the largest sequences were the airport sequence, the Anjelica hanging sequence, and Jackal sequence at the end of the film.
Could you walk us through the creative process behind designing and animating the terrifying jackal creature?
Originally, the creature started as a practical suit; however, at some point in production, the director decided the creature needed to be more animalistic. At that point, we were provided with a rough sketch, and we used that, along with a lot of references to create a digital sculpture in Zbrush. This model went through several variations until we landed on the final design the director was happy with. The design was fleshed out by one of our amazing creature artists Nikita Lebedev. Particular attention was paid to the creature’s posture and a very prominent hump on its back. The jackal was supposed to be a pathetic and sympathetic creature as much as it was supposed to be terrifying.
What were the primary inspirations or references utilized in the development of the jackal’s appearance and movements?
We used references of many different animals especially for the details related to how matted the fur was and how much dirt and mange the creature had.
How did the animation team approach the challenge of making the jackal both frightening and believable?
As usual we started by using as many references as possible. A lot of the reference came from the animators performing the action themselves and then using that as a base for the performance.
Were there any particular technical or artistic hurdles encountered during the creation and animation of the jackal, and if so, how were they overcome?
The main challenge was that the jackal sequence was in slow motion. That provided the challenge of keeping the audience interested while grounding the performance.
Can you discuss the collaboration between the animation team and other departments, such as the director and special effects team, in bringing the jackal to life on screen?
The director was extremely specific about what she wanted, and we often had a performance from an actor on set in a grey suit. In this case we tried to maintain the actor’s performance as much as possible.
Could you provide insights into the creative process behind incorporating real fire with the CG fire?
CG fire is one of the hardest effects to create believably. We used every trick in the book to accomplish this. Practical fire was shot where possible, and we augmented the fire with a digital simulation and then composited in various elements to ground the effect in reality.
What were the main challenges with the fire sequences?
Several of the fire shots were in slow motion so that provided a challenge for our FX team since there is nowhere to hide. The audience really has time to look at the effect so that raises the bar for how realistic the simulation had to be.
Could you elaborate on the process of creating invisible visual effects, specifically in regard to crowd creation and set extension?
In the airport sequence we need to augment the extras that were shot with a lot more cars and people. We created digital crowd models and cars with as much variation as possible. We then did several motion capture sessions to make sure we had sufficient variation for performance.
In the end, we felt like we achieved a high level of believability, and hopefully the audience did not notice there were any digital elements in the shots.
What challenges did your team face when seamlessly integrating crowd elements and extending the film’s environment digitally, and how did you overcome them?
The biggest challenge was compositing the digital crowd in with the practical photography. We had to do a ton or roto and layers to make sure everything integrated seamlessly.
Can you discuss any innovative techniques or technologies utilized in the creation of invisible visual effects for crowd scenes and set extensions?
This was the first show we used Houdini crowd system for our simulations. It gave us a lot of flexibility and allowed us to iterate very quickly.
Can you discuss any specific scenes where visual effects were particularly challenging or innovative?
In the sequence where sister Anjelica hangs herself, we had to build a very complex fire simulation setup that would work for multiple shots. We then had to integrate this fire seamlessly with the practical fire that was shot on set. In shots where Anjelica was fully digital, we used different layers of cfx to simulate her robes as well as simulations on her limbs using ragdoll dynamics.
Looking back on the project, what aspects of the visual effects are you most proud of?
I am most proud of how seamlessly the effects integrate with practical photography. It’s always the goal to not have the audience notice that the work is digital, and I genuinely believe we were able to achieve that on this project.
Tricky question, what is your favorite shot or sequence?
My favorite shot is a flashback of the jackal’s mouth. It always reminds me of a similar shot in the movie Alien when I look at it. I was incredibly happy that we were able to make our CG model hold up that close to the camera.
What’s the VFX shots count?
Just under 200 shots in total.
What is your next project?
Unfortunately, I can’t share that just yet as we’re still in the process of finalizing our involvement, but it’s something that we’re all really excited about at Herne Hill.
What are the four movies that gave you the passion for cinema?
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WANT TO KNOW MORE? Rumble VFX: Dedicated page about A Gentleman in Moscow on Rumble VFX website.
I’ve been in Visual Effects since the late nineties, starting out as a CG generalist. I’ve worked in different areas like Matchmove, lighting, FX, and compositing for projects in Cinematics, Commercials, TV, and Film. For the last 10 years, I’ve been a VFX Supervisor. After leaving a VFX studio I co- founded and ran for a decade until 2020, I’m now focused on production- side VFX Supervision.
How did you get involved on this movie?
I was working for Cinesite on Matilda as VFX Supervisor and they asked me if I was interested in this movie. I was a fan of the original movie, couple that with the opportunity to work with Doug Liman and Joel Silver —how could I say No?
How was the collaboration with Director Doug Liman?
Doug has made some amazing action movies, so I was both excited and a bit nervous to meet him. I quickly discovered Doug is an artist, always exploring different ideas, evolving and feeling his way intuitively. He loves getting ideas and inspiration from his creative team —weaving these ideas to create something new. Coming from a design background, I really liked this approach and had a great time working with Doug. It was a one-of-a-kind creative experience that I’ll probably never have again in my career.
How did you organize the work with your VFX Producer?
At the start of the show Jenn Sheer was the VFX Producer and I worked with Jenn at the prep & shooting stage. At the start of the movie all of the work was going to be placed at Cinesite. As the show grew in size other vendors were added based on Jenns previous relationships with those vendors.
What is the your role on set and how do you work with other departments?
My main role on-set was to be close to Doug and be ready to react to any new ideas that may surface as the day unfolds —he works quickly and intuitively so things change fast. We had a great data wrangler, Haley Shepard, who took care of all of the on set data capture allowing me to focus on approach.
During prep I had the time to talk with the other HODS about things that involved us both. I did a fair bit of previz to explain various layouts and shooting angles. My main day to day contact was with Stunts and Makeup. The stunt guys were great to work with, unlike VFX everything is so immediate, they would just show me fights or ideas in real time and we would work together to solve problems. It was great fun. Our Hair and Make-Up designer Flora Moody was also a great help in planning our additional tattoo fixes and wound/blood work required in the fights.
How do you approach orchestrating the crowd during a MMA fight in the stadium?
The crowd for the UFC fight is actually a real crowd. It was going to be a build for a long time but I think Producer Joel Silver managed to get a deal to shoot in between fights on a qualifying day. So the whole crowd is real apart from a small little 2D patch here and there to fill in some gaps. Easter Egg — Joel is actually in the crowd, he?s wearing a yellow shirt in the front row.
Can you elaborate about the creation of the crowd and the stadium?
So as I mentioned above the UFC crowd was real but we also shot portions of the fight in another area called The Apex. The Apex was built during covid to film televised fights without a crowd. The ring was a perfect replica of the main ring in Las Vegas. We added a panoramic DMP background, flashes and some 2D crowd to those shots to match the wide shots.
Could you elaborate on the intricate process behind creating invisible visual effects for the various combat sequences and stunts?
All of the fights had their own unique challenges but I will talk about the opening fight as that had all of the challenges in one fight. The A/B fight work as it was called by Garrett Warren (2nd Unit Director / Stunt Co-Ordinator) was something completely new. Garrett had been toying with the idea of hitting people with pads or other objects and people hitting pads for a while. The pads are often used when you see people sparring. When Doug laid out his vision for the fights Garrett and I got to work making a plan for the opening fight. Essentially the technique involves shooting multiple layers. The “A? is the puncher (they hit a pad) The “B? someone being punched (they are hit by a pad). We then shoot some alternate takes, background passes and slow action passes.
The slow action passes help for scenes where there?s a lot of movement and occlusion of faces. It has a lot less motion blur and most importantly does not have a pad present in the plate. The beauty of this approach is you feel the punch on both sides of the action, the body dynamics of the A and B side is just right, you really feel the impact.
While Garrett?s focus in prep was on choreography, my focus was on methodology and producing a test shot for Doug. The methodology for shooting was crucial so that it could all be shot efficiently. We had two fast moving fighters, a moving, continuous camera move and a crowd in the background —it was complex. My work was breaking down the passes and providing a step by step method for capturing and testing what we needed on the day. We planned out “Dance Steps? for each character, we did live compositing on the day to check lineup and a few other tricks so that we knew we had what we needed to reconstruct the passes into the final fight.
Ultimately the test fight shot and the methodology we produced in prep gave Doug the confidence that this was going to work.
How do you ensure that these effects seamlessly blend into the action?
Mainly, judicious use of motion blur. The fights are so fast that motion blur helped us enormously. Henry Braham, the DOP, operated every shot himself and contributed enormously to the look of the fights employing seamless whip pans, camera dips & body wipes into the camera work. We had a great live action base for the shots with no slo-mo. Doug is not a fan of slo-mo and I agree it?s over done in action movies, it takes you out of the action. So we did some careful compositing and we kept the majority of what was filmed for real. I am not saying it was easy, it was painstaking work. Cinesite did an amazing job polishing the shots.
What specific techniques and technologies are employed to achieve invisible visual effects in high-energy fight scenes and stunts?
I think I touched on this above but I would also like to say the fights are really a very non-technical exercise. It?s very old school and really only employs VFX for that final invisible touch. From a technology perspective, camera tape & my iPhone were the most useful tools to quickly evaluate what we had shot. Things had to be in the correct place and the timing across takes had to work. We used the tape and LEDs to make sure our performers were in near enough the same place across takes. I used my iPhone to quickly check and compare takes with Doug, kind of like a 3rd monitor
I also don?t think it would have been possible without the grit and determination of Garrett, who is a force of nature. In addition, Derek Pueblo who is part of the stunts team did the live compositing using Premiere. Derek?s work was crucial in making sure we had the coverage we needed.
In tackling the creation of invisible visual effects for intense combat sequences and stunts, what challenges do you typically encounter during production?
The primary challenges were due to real world things like, “Oh that pad on the floor is 8 inches thick?. Having very thick pads was necessary for safety reason but added a lot of complexity when repositioning the main action against the clean plate. Real world lighting issues like rays of light and extreme lighting changes across takes. Sometimes it was adjusting to new ideas from Doug, or in some cases Jake would want to improve on an action. Time was always a factor, there were a lot of takes and we had limited time to get it all in the can.
Could you elaborate on the challenges you faced while orchestrating the oners, particularly in complex or dynamic environments, and how you overcame them during production?
The most challenging place to shoot was the Roadhouse bar after the boat crashes. There was lots of broken furniture and as we moved around shooting inevitably things got moved. Some furniture was also moved deliberately for safety reasons. We also had a lot of safety equipment to deal with mostly large pads. We dealt with the furniture by scanning and building a collection of chairs, stools and tables. We also built crushed cans, broken bottles and beer coasters to populate the dance floor area. Every take also had a comprehensive clean plate with the camera move and tiles. Henry (DOP) did an amazing job, we had clean plates for every shot.
What kind of tricks can you used with the oners?
The Oner?s are all fights —the key to making them continuous is a combo of great choreography, sensitive camera work and sweetening in VFX. Starting with Doug?s vision for the fight Garrett, Henry and myself worked together to realise a seamless final result. A whip pan, a foreground body wiping past the camera, all of these tricks allowed us to split up the action into beats and then rejoin them later for a seamless final shot.
Can you discuss about the environment work for the various locations?
To be honest the environment work on Roadhouse was not that big a VFX undertaking. The location and the sets built by Production Designer Greg Berry were just awesome, totally realistic requiring virtually no changes. We did do some work on the exterior warehouse at the start of the movie as we only had a partial set planned. We used a very simple DMP. The other big environment for us was the water environment and CG Roadhouse deck build. When the Seaclusion (Brandt’s Yacht) blows up a lot of the action in the water with the characters is shot in the tank at Pinewood Dominican Republic. Cinesite created a 360 degree environment and CG water for that whole sequence. They also created every boat that you see in the sequence in CG as well.
Where were the various locations?
99% of the movie was shot on location in The Dominican Republic. The Roadhouse bar itself was masterminded by Production Designer Greg Berry. The entire bar was fully working, it had a kitchen, bar taps and even a video- village built into the structure. It was a joy to shoot at the Roadhouse, the access for crew, lighting etc Greg just made it all very smooth.
We also shot a lot around the coast, on the Yacht and at the Pinewood tank. The open water work was the hardest as almost everyone had some level of sea sickness. Try looking at a camera monitor in a 2 meter swell for about 30 minutes – Bluurghh!
By the end of day two Dramamine, Salty biscuits and Ginger Ale seemed to help.
Which location was the most complicated to create?
The area around the Seclusion after the Yacht explodes was complicated. It was mostly a continuity jigsaw puzzle, any changes to layout then had a knock-on effect to every other shot. At that point whilst in layout VFX Producer Lauren Ritchie engaged with Proof to help out with previz. A lot of the shots in that sequence are shot at water level, so incredible amounts of paint work and CG water integration were required by the Cinesite team.
Can you elaborate about the creation and animation of the crocodile?
The Crocodile was something that evolved over the movie, sometimes it was a big thing, sometimes just a sinister swirl in the water. In the end we landed on a something in the middle. A jump scare and some powerful action from the Croc. We studied real crocs and took the big tail swish and body roll as the most impressive parts of how they would attack. Those moves formed the main action when taking down Del.
How did you handle the crocodile interactions with water?
There were plates of the real water where we see poor Del holding on to the rope before he is grabbed by the Croc. We had to keep all of his splashes and then carefully add the CG splashes on the same plane using some careful blending between both. Essentially the Croc is a 3d object and he creates the splashes within the sim, once meshed that water contains all of the environmental reflections and Croc reflections needed for compositing.
How did you approach the filming of the intense boat sequence?
Well this was a pretty big deal, as it was split over so many shooting days and locations. For example when Jake is on the yacht some of that scene is on the real yacht on location, but when he goes downstairs that?s a set, and when he emerges we are back in the Pinewood tank. So again some meticulous planning and mapping out of skies/lighting and sea colour was required to make it seamless.
As I mentioned previously once the boat blows up it?s all a continuity issue with the various boat positions and drifting debris. We did a complete CGI Simulation/animation of the whole sequence from an aerial view to show the progress of the yacht sinking and the debris positions, which helped get everyone on the same page.
Can you elaborate on the integration of visual effects in capturing the realism of the boat sequence?
The toughest parts of this was the white water and wakes. In some shots we had to match the velocity and quality of the water which I was really worried about. Thankfully Cinesite?s FX team had just completed another water FX heavy show which meant they were battle- hardened going into this sequence and completely nailed it. I would go as far to say they made it look easy and I know it?s not, lots of sims and wedging is required to get that final look.
What were some of the technical challenges encountered during the filming and the VFX work on the boat sequence?
The biggest challenges in the boat sequence were getting all of the shots to match from a continuity POV. Making sure the land and skies and sun all match up from shot to shot. It?s not really technical as such more attention to detail, this stuff can really catch you out. From a VFX technical perspective the burning man shot coming out of the water was tough as it had everything. It had a close up CGI Yacht extension, all BG boats were CGI one being on fire, we had to track and roto-aim the fire guy and make him displace smoke as Jake punches him. All of this while keeping the live action water from the tank in a whip pan shot – pretty tough.
Were there any memorable moments or scenes from the movie that you found particularly rewarding or challenging to work on from a visual effects standpoint?
Shooting the first fight of the movie at Warehouse with Post Malone was pretty full on, scary and exciting. There was so much happening and a lot of technical issues with playback equipment. We stuck to our plan, adapted and got a great looking sequence. After that night everything seemed a little easier.
Looking back on the project, what aspects of the visual effects are you most proud of?
The fights for sure. They were something nobody has ever done before in a movie —you can?t often say that in the world of VFX. They were new, challenging and required a lot of collaboration to pull off and so were very rewarding.
After our final delivery I caught up with Doug and he was super happy with the work. I guess I was pretty proud in that moment having a legend like Doug say we did a great job —sounds cheesy but its true.
Tricky question, what is your favorite shot or sequence?
Oh that’s a tough one but I think maybe the opening fight. We all had so much invested in that fight. Its the coming together of Doug vision, amazing fight choreography, great camera work and a sprinkle of VFX magic.
How long have you worked on this show?
I worked on the show for around 14 months. 15 weeks in the Dominican Republic on location and the rest in post.
What’s the VFX shots count?
I think it was something around 400 shots.
What is your next project?
Good question! The current climate is slow but I am talking to various people about various shows. I would love to do another action movie —it was a lot of fun.
What are the four movies that gave you the passion for cinema?
Jason and the Argonauts, I was always amazed by the Ray Harryhausen skeleton sequence as a kid. Star Wars obviously as it blew my mind when it came out. I am also a massive Dune fan and have watched the original maybe 50 times. I am also very fond of Barry Lyndon by Stanley Kubrick. The lighting by John Alcott is truly amazing, its a beautiful film.
A big thanks for your time.
WANT TO KNOW MORE? Cinesite: Dedicated page about Road House on Cinesite website. Prime Video: You can watch Road House on Prime Video now.
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Eric // I studied 3D Animation at Vancouver Film School, after which I worked as a 3D generalist in Vancouver for a few years. Following that I took great advantage of the opportunities this career provides to work, and travel, in lots of interesting places around the world. I narrowed my focus over the years, specializing in creature work and animation – and I’ve been working as an Animation Supervisor since 2010.
How did you and Scanline VFX get involved on this show?
Nick // Scanline became involved early on, as soon as Production VFX Supervisor Alessandro (Ale) Ongaro and Production VFX Producer Thomas Elder-Groebe began looking for Vendors to tackle the various work in the film. We had a previous relationship with Legendary and Director Adam Wingard from Godzilla vs. Kong, and Scanline had also just worked with Ale on Netflix’s ‘The Adam Project’.
What was your feeling to be back into the MonsterVerse?
Eric // Thrilled of course! Giant monsters fighting *and* acting truly is the stuff of dreams for animators. Both myself and Bill Bridges (Animation Supervisor) had previously worked on Godzilla Vs Kong, so it was really great to have that continuity with Adam Wingard. Alessandro made it clear we were kicking the VFX up a notch from the previous film, with new Monsters and some pretty wild environments – so it was very exciting to jump into an ambitious new project while having some familiarity.
How was the collaboration with director Adam Wingard and VFX Supervisor Alessandro Ongaro?
Nick // It really was a fantastic team to collaborate with – I’m not just saying that because they might be reading! Adam and Ale allowed for a lot of creative exploration, while still offering clear guidance on the key items that were important to them in our sequences. We began in most cases with previs, and any major points of reference that they were hoping to see in our work. From there we were free to explore what we thought could make the sequence more visually interesting and engaging for audiences. This included pitching various environment designs throughout hollow earth, various FX designs for major destruction or FX beats, and animation alternatives to support the story and, in some cases, pacing.
After creatively brainstorming we would pitch our ideas to Ale, and refine them based on how he and/or Adam reacted. This allowed our entire team to feel like they had room to creatively explore in an open and collaborative environment.
How did you organize the work between you and with your VFX Producer?
Nick // Scanline’s Zac Mallett is a gem of a VFX Producer, and his robust knowledge of the VFX Process was really a huge advantage for me and the entire Scanline team. Zac and I have a long history of working together, and it made this collaboration fairly straightforward.
Early on we empowered our Supervision team to run with their respective areas of focus. Eric handled all things creature performance and animation, DFX Supervisor Jono Friesler handled FX, CFX, Crowds, Asset Development, and other special projects while CG Supervisor Amir Eleswy spent his time focusing on layouts through environment builds. Ashwin Karthik in lighting, Comp Supervisors Alan Stucchi and Amanda Roop, as well as VFX Art Supervisor Cameron Thomas were all very integral to the team, each playing key roles in getting this show’s volume and complexity delivered to the highest standards, especially with a team spread across seven locations throughout the globe.
What are the sequences made by Scanline VFX?
Nick // Our primary sequences were the Opening Sequence, the Cairo / Pyramid Fight, and the final battle in Rio de Janeiro. Additionally, we worked on the beginning portion of the Ape Fight sequence (until Kong travels through the waterfall), the Crawl Back / Under Repair Sequences (where Kong retreats and powers up with his arm brace), additional Hollow Earth builds in the ‘The Ruins’ and ‘Destroyed Base’ sequences, as well as the introduction of Mothra at the pyramids. There were also a few additional vignettes / shots we helped out with throughout the film.
Could you elaborate on the technical challenges faced when creating the visual effects for Kong, Godzilla and Mothra, particularly in terms of conveying their massive scale on screen?
Nick // A big challenge we had on the film was speed vs. scale. Since Adam preferred quick, action heavy sequences with a focus on Titan vs Titan conflict, the majority of the action beats were previsualized to be fast-paced and action packed at the Titan’s perceived scale. However, from a human’s eye, the characters would be moving much slower. Therefore, we had to decide, case-by-case, if we favored creature performance or real world physics in any of the given scenes. This obstacle was ultimately overcome through a close collaboration with Animation, Environments, FX and comp to try and create appropriate solutions based on location, action beat, and story.
Another particularly large hurdle on this show was in environments. The degree of environment builds, especially with our real world locations, was especially challenging. The variety, complexity, and sheer volume of digital environments were enormous, and the detail level and FX-Friendly nature was additionally quite a large challenge, especially while trying to work with an efficient budget and timeline.
What innovative techniques were employed in animating Kong, Godzilla and Mothra to ensure their movements appeared realistic and proportional to their colossal size?
Eric // I’d love to say that we developed some innovative methods to achieve that effect, but in the end it always comes down to leaning heavily into animation fundamentals. In this case that meant walking a very tight line regarding weight, inertia and momentum, and in particular – speed. We needed to find a balance between the fact that creatures of that size would, in reality, visually move quite slowly – with the need to keep the action punchy and exciting. Those decisions were aided by the context of the sequence – is it in Hollow Earth? Is it taking place around humans? Alessandro worked with us to find that balance in the early stages, coining the term « Titan-time » to describe how the Titans, when seen outside of the context of humans, could move at a speed we’d be more familiar with at a human scale. When they were viewed from a human perspective – for example a street level camera in a city on the surface – we would need to stay more true to their massive scale.
Technique-wise we used a shot-dependent mix of keyframe and motion capture across our work with the bipedal creatures. We found that performing with just a little extra deliberation – a bit slower, heavier, and with more thought behind every motion – gave us better results than simply slowing down captured motions.
Given the immense scale of Kong, Godzilla and Mothra, how did the visual effects team approach integrating these creatures seamlessly into live-action footage, ensuring they interacted convincingly with their environment and human characters?
Nick // For the integration of live action footage with our digital titans, there were a few factors to watch out for. As we did on location in Rio, Ale and the VFX team had an ability to view the Titans via a VR viewfinder live on location – making sure we were framing for the massive size of our titans. This meant for a more realistic camera move and blocking of the talent. After plate photography, we always made sure we had that location scanned, with photographic reference for digital rebuild along with an HDRI for lighting.
In post production, these shots always ended up having our Titan’s animation slowed down, since they needed to be perceived more from a human’s relative perspective.
What were some of the key technical and artistic challenges faced by your team when conceptualizing and creating the Kong’s Power Glove Arm?
Eric // Like any major element in a film like this, it began with concepts from the production art department. Starting with awesome concepts is something which always gets everyone excited, and we were eager to build upon that foundation to produce a final design that would fit the requirements of Kong’s action-heavy performance. Ale was happy to have us continue the conceptual development in 3D with an eye toward its in-shot use. Nick Lloyd, our veteran Scanline concept artist on the project, was able to re-imagine the concept work in a rigged and animatable context, then modeled revised mechanisms against our Kong production rig, and worked with myself and Bill to reduce performance hindering interpenetrations and other engineering nightmares.
Many of the artistic challenges stemmed from the fact that the Arm Brace was meant to have been built using similar design language to the mule vehicle – a VTOL Cargo ship, the same used in the delivery of the brace piloted by Trapper – so it was important to incorporate recognizable bits, parts which could give hints of human use – such as ladders for scale – without filling the design with clutter, or making it feel unsubstantial or weak.
The final challenge was designing the brace’s transformation into its « power punch mode. » This was conceptualized in animation by moving parts around, and adding improvised bits, before sending it all back to the modeling and rigging teams to reconcile into the final rig used in the film.
Can you walk us through the creative process behind designing the Hollow Earth and the Pyramids environments?
Nick // Hollow Earth builds were quite a different beast then the Pyramids environment, specifically in that one is real world and the other is fictitious.The Pyramid environment was a tangible location where we leaned into known photography, mapping coordinates, and various videos we could find of these locations. This process gave our ENV team and Supervision team the answer key, and made notes and approvals straightforward (while still taking time and effort).
From a Hollow Earth perspective, the environment work quickly could become untethered from reality, so our challenge was to always ride the line of making it creatively interesting, while also balancing story tone and grounding the design with real world reference. Before we started our work, Ale shot some amazing material in Iceland, and we grafted those details throughout our work to help ground our builds in photorealism. Overall it was an interesting balance of creating visually striking environments that had a uniqueness to them, while still grounding them with earth-like features that the audience could connect with, yet keeping that massive scale.
Could you elaborate on the intricate process behind creating the visually stunning effects for the epic showdown between Kong and Godzilla amidst the backdrop of the Egyptian pyramids?
Nick // Ale kicked off this sequence with some developed previs, which gave us a great starting point! Once turned over, our team began breaking down the previs into beats, and placing them into scale-appropriate layout scenes that were true to the real world location. From there, we tried to find the best photographic references of those areas, grouping our highly viewed parts of Cairo and the pyramids into ‘jump cameras’ that our modeling, surfacing and environments team began building. This process was masterfully executed with great leadership from DFX Supervisor Jono Friesler, CG Supervisor Amir Eleswy, and Environment Supervisor Thomas Warrender.
Eric and Bill’s animation team did a fantastic job of taking the flow from the previs, but also bringing their own ideas and polish to the various beats. This scene had quite a few moments of tension, prior to Kong and Godzilla really smashing each other, and it was in those moments from the animation team that we really were primed for a huge scale, satisfying showdown.
After we had our world built, and animation was ready, we got ready to do the fun stuff of destroying everything! FX Lead Will Wallace did most of our early development on this sequence, making sure we had great setups for pyramid destruction, ground impacts, dust simulations, grit passes, and more. Early on we really tried to make sure our setups had nice scale detail, speed and textural breakup, so when the viewer saw our shots, the gigantic scale we were trying to capture was visible.
In terms of the destruction depicted in the film, particularly around the iconic pyramids of Egypt, what were some of the key challenges your team faced in realistically portraying the chaos and devastation caused by the clash between these colossal titans?
Nick // I touched on it briefly above, but scale, speed, and detail were really challenging at our Titans’ scale. Ultimately the edit and fast-paced action were the primary driver for us, so we needed to conform our fx design to fit the pacing. Ultimately we ended up art directing this to the story beat specific requirements.
The Pyramid fight gave us some slower moments to really showcase the scale and slow speed of real world physics, while Rio ended up needing to pack A LOT of speed and action into a small amount of time.
Could you elaborate on the intricate process behind bringing the epic final battle in Rio de Janeiro to life through visual effects?
Nick // Rio was an absolute beast! Early on, it was evident that 90% plus of the shots in Rio would end up needing to be digitally created, so we got underway on a massive build of two primary areas, Copacabana Beach and the downtown area near the Lapa Arches.
CG Supervisor Amir Eleswy took lead on this build, both the construction of a gigantic portion of the city digitally, but also the challenge of maintaining destruction continuity as the massive five-way Titan battle unfolded. What this ended up meaning is an initial ‘non-destroyed’ build (which needed to be built for destruction), followed by a destroyed build.
Layout and Animation worked hand-in-hand with the environment build efforts to make sure we were being very clear on the needs per editorial beat, and per shot, so that the builds satisfied the needed points of the story.
In particular, how were the colossal Titans, Kong and Godzilla, animated to convey their immense size and power during the intense combat sequences?
Eric // In addition to the delicate balance of speed and weight, I’d say crafting Titan performances with an awareness and understanding of the destruction they wreck on their surroundings – blocking that destruction along with their animation (and setting beats that would be further simulated in FX) – was key to conveying their power.
Not only was it very important to imagine the impacts and havoc they would wreak on the environment, but how it would, in turn, impact the Titans themselves. In the end, how much (or in some cases how little) they were affected by their surroundings as they battled one another helped convey each Titan’s respective size and power.
Once that blocking was established, it came down to the work of the FX team. Nothing sells scale and power like the way a Titan crumbles a building with a casual grab, or smashes a pyramid into rubble and dust as they carelessly fall through it. The detail and physics of Jono’s team’s simulation work was the element which both conveyed the earth shattering power of these beasts, but also grounded it.
The final battle scene showcases numerous scenes of massive destruction throughout Rio de Janeiro. Can you walk us through the methodology used to realistically depict these catastrophic events while maintaining a sense of visual coherence and storytelling clarity?
Nick // DFX Supervisor Jono Freisler and FX Supervisor Shareef Shanawany took the lead on making sure the destruction efforts were streamlined, working closely with the entire FX team at Scanline. The sequence was meticulously broken down by FX item per shot (which were many… on every shot 🙂 ), and tasked out to the appropriate artist we knew would excel at that task. From there, a lot was thrown at compositing, led by Compositing Supervisor Alan Stucchi and Art Supervisor Cameron Thomas, to shape each shot to the visual coherence necessary.
Given the complexity of the visual effects involved in the creation of the final battle, what were some of the most significant technical and creative challenges the team encountered, and how were they overcome to deliver such a visually stunning and emotionally resonant sequence?
Nick // From a technical standpoint, keeping everyone’s efforts organized and pulling together as one team on a complexity level of this sequence was most challenging in my mind. With five titans to animate, multiple different muscle simulations and groom sims, creature interaction, creature effects, environment detailing, environment destruction, atmospherics, destruction history, all with complex lighting and comp…. It was a challenge to keep everything moving together toward an extremely high end product. The entire team really had to be on point to get this completed!
Creatively, the challenge really became stepping back from all that technical complexity, and trying to view each shots’ needs and aesthetics. Each shot needed to be shaped and polished based off of the editorial beats and story conveyed, so making sure the end product satisfied these points, looked photographically believable, and respected the Titan’s scale was a constant challenge.
Were there any memorable moments or scenes from the film that you found particularly rewarding or challenging to work on from a visual effects standpoint?
Nick // It’s still a little fresh for me, but I think the Pyramid Fight and the battle in Rio were both very challenging, as well as extremely rewarding. Both sequences really stress-tested our team in technical planning, creative exploration of FX, and overall team work due to the extremely wide variety of VFX that were necessary in these sequences.
Looking back on the project, what aspects of the visual effects are you most proud of?
Nick // Pyramid Fight, the battle in Rio, and the world building in Hollow Earth are all neck-and-neck for me. The team did a fantastic job to pull these off.
Which sequence or shot was the most challenging?
Nick // The Freezing Ice Wave at the head of the Rio De Janeiro sequence, followed by its shattering with Skar King landing on the beach was an especially challenging shot technically. We had dozens and dozens of simulations that needed to work together, hundreds of lighting renders to be assembled in comp, not to mention trying to nail the shot creatively to Ale and Adam’s liking.
Is there something specific that gives you some really short nights?
Nick // The Rio Sequence, particularly the Ice Wave shot mentioned above, ended up needing some later nights toward the end of the schedule.
What is your favourite shot or sequence?
Eric // Too many favourite shots!… but, I’d say the sequence with the greatest amount of them is probably the Cairo Pyramid fight.
Nick // I’m a bit partial to the Pyramid Fight myself, but I’m really proud of all of our team’s work throughout the film.
Tricky question, are you team Godzilla or King Kong?
Eric // Tricky indeed, I’d have to say Team Kong – he’s got so much attitude.
Nick // Team Kong!
What is your best memory on this show?
Eric // Among many great memories I think one of my favourites was during the later stages of production, when the animation team was near its peak size – and we had a team lunch. These days with so many of us working remotely it was great to bring that team together, get to know each other without a screen/webcam between us, and celebrate how the show was going. That and (Animation Supervisor) Bill Bridges breakdancing in the mocap suit.
Nick // There were lots of great memories of the show, but definitely one of my favorites was getting to watch an early cut with Alessandro at the Legendary offices to see the full scope and spectacle of the film.
How long have you worked on this show?
Eric // I was involved with the film from October of 2022 though January 2024.
Nick // I was involved with the project about the same amount of time Oct ‘22 through Jan ‘24.
What’s the VFX shots count?
Nick // All in all we did about 29 minutes of the film’s run time (34.5 minutes with handles), and right about 453 shots + OMITS.
What is your next project?
Eric // I’m working on a Netflix comedy film – it involves creatures again, but this time on the opposite end of the size spectrum: insects!
Nick // I’ve stepped back into my role as Scanline’s Head of VFX, assisting our show teams globally across all of Scanline’s current slate.
What are the four movies that gave you the passion for cinema?
Eric // Putting me on the spot! – I think the films which most inspired my career choice would be:
WANT TO KNOW MORE? Scanline VFX: Official website of Scanline VFX. Alessandro Ongaro: Here’s my interview of Production VFX Supervisor Alessandro Ongaro.
Dive into the captivating world of Los Farad, the series of Amazon Prime Video set against the stunning backdrop of Costa del Sol and with the invisible visual effects crafted by the teams of the Spanish studio Twin Pines:
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