KODAK CINESITE CREATES FULL CG SHOTS FOR 'THE 13TH WARRIOR'

M2 Communications (Los Angeles) / [Unknown author] / September 1, 1999
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Cinesite Visual Effects has completed more than 75 compositing and effects shots for Walt Disney Pictures' THE 13TH WARRIOR. The film, an exotic, action-packed Viking period drama, starring Antonio Banderas and directed by John McTiernan and Michael Crichton, is based on Crichton's novel "Eaters of the Dead". John E. Sullivan (THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR, ERASER) was visual effects supervisor and Peter Menzies, Jr. (HARD RAIN, THE GENERAL'S DAUGHTER) was cinematographer. In the film, Banderas' character is forced to join a band of Vikings in their quest to confront the Wendol, mysterious and terrifying creatures. The Wendol are suspected of gruesome killings and the pillaging of innocent villagers. Cinesite's most complex and elaborate challenge involved the entire CG creation of a Viking ship caught in a violent storm. The final product consisted of some 80 separate layers of CG seamless composites to create the final photo-realistic shot. In addition to the challenge of coordinating the creation of these separate elements so they come together as a unified whole, Cinesite was charged with creating one of the most computer-intensive types of animation--violent ocean waves. Visual Effects Supervisor/2nd unit director John E. Sullivan had to decide whether to shoot live elements or create a completely computer-generated shot. "I did quite a bit of research," he says. "I investigated what it would cost to take a crew to the North Sea, mount a camera on a ship, and try to shoot plates." When Sullivan factored in the uncertainty of the weather, as well as the additional costs of safety suits for the cold water, combined with building a miniature ship, he opted for the CG route. "This was the most challenging part of the whole project for us," says Jerry Pooler, visual effects supervisor for Cinesite. "The shot involved a 95-foot boat going over 300-foot swells in the ocean. You can see portions of characters and horses, bales of fur on the deck, and sails flapping in the wind. Any one of these elements presents serious challenges for an all-CG shot because it involves a lot of elements that had to look organic." Work on the shot started with a 3-D team exclusively dedicated to creating the water (using Dynamation software) and the boat (modeled using Pixar's Renderman). Each had to look just right and interact with the other. When the director signed off on the shape and the motion of the wave and the movement of the boat, everyone concentrated on the animation. They focused on the creation of the ropes, sails, and objects inside the boat that would be affected by the violent wind, rain, and tremendous waves. "It's one thing to put a boat on a calm ocean; it's another to put it on a stormy sea," says Pooler. "We've got a Viking ship that's supposed to be made of wood with lots of unusual details, and it's not on a flat ocean; it's in the middle of a huge storm and the waves are outstandingly large. There are so many aspects that could give the whole thing away as a piece of animation--in the detail and movement of the boat, the sail, the water--but it all came together so that audiences think they're looking at the real thing." "It has been a collaborative process," Sullivan says of his work with Cinesite. "We are able to look at and color-timed shots so they fit seamlessly with the live-action, and everything rings true. A big plus with Cinesite is that we can use their scanning and recording technology which preserves the integrity of the original film that goes through the digital process."

Cinesite Visual Effects is a division of Cinesite, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Kodak Entertainment Imaging business unit. For more information, visit their website at www.cinesite.com.

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