Today marks the release of the feature film Perfect Stranger, directed by James Foley and starring Halle Berry and Bruce Willis, and the opening title sequence is the work of New York-based Rhinofx. In the movie, a journalist (Berry) goes undercover to ferret out ad agency exec Harrison Hill (Willis) as her best friend’s killer.
The idea for the opening sequence was to create something ambiguous. Through gradual progression you go from one color space into another with a lot of intricate details of nebulous matter. Then you realize that you are looking inside an eye that is being scanned. It’s actually Halle Berry’s eye and she is trying to get authorization into a building. Arman Matin, visual effects supervisor, said the sequence is based upon a fractal generation program.
“This time I wanted to design something that really pushed that fractal boundary and create something that looked a lot more filmic,” Matin said.
As if Rhinofx didn’t already have a lot on its plate with Perfect Stranger and spot work, the company was also tapped to do visual effects for 57 shots on The Nanny Diaries, starring Scarlett Johansson and directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, set to be released this fall. While this was not Rhinofx’s first foray into feature films this job was by far its most extensive, involving story boarding, pre-viz, shooting, CG and compositing.
While working on two feature films and spots simultaneously was not without challenges, Camille Geier, senior vp of production, said, “It’s completely elevated us to a whole new level. A lot of what we learned will now be implemented in commercials–from workflow and a technical point of view to resources and how to be more efficient with the R&D process. It is actually more efficient and more cost effective to allow yourself a little bit more planning time.”
One of the things researched extensively for The Nanny Diaries was repeatable cameras. Harry Dorrington, visual effects supervisor, pointed out they needed a system that was affordable and efficient. Factors to consider were setup time, constraint of location and portability.
In The Nanny Diaries–which tells the story of Annie Braddock (Johansson) who is hired to care for the young son of a wealthy Upper East Side couple–there is a sequence of shots where Annie observes people in environments. These live-action moments freeze and transition into museum dioramas where audiences then find Annie looking on, this time in a museum environment. “These seamless shots required extensive previsualization, multiple motion control passes repeated in multiple environments and CGI elements,” explained Matin. “We had to be able to set up a motion control camera in Central Park, on Fifth Avenue during rush hour, on a west village rooftop and an alley in Soho. These recorded moves and camera positioning had to be replicated in a stage environment several weeks later.”
So they relied on the Mo-Sys Control System by Kontrol Freax. Matin said most mocon systems are very bulky and take a lot of prep time. But the Mo System does not have to be pre-programmed. The camera operator performs his functions, which are recorded by the system.Then it repeats the same moves.
Rhinofx also worked on a dream sequence involving the nanny flying over New York City. The day of the shoot was gray so they modeled a majority of the city to create artificial lighting. To create a romantic look, they used digital matte painting, creating new skies and new directions of light, which involved tracking the shot and building replacement CG elements in some cases to further augment the lighting.
Geier pointed out it is unusual for a visual effects house to take on a lead role in a live-action romantic comedy like The Nanny Diaries. “We were lucky with The Nanny Diaries that the directors were very interested in hearing our ideas, not only the technical execution but creatively how the script and those scenes can be enhanced. That was a different dynamic than what you get with commercials. Agencies are often looking for collaboration, but this was going into a little more depth, making the narrative work as well,” Dorrington said.
Oscar Nominees Gather For Cocktails, Dinner and The Annual Class Picture
Five days before the Academy Awards, nearly every nominee gathered for a cocktail reception, dinner and class picture shoot that served as an Oscars orientation.
The event Tuesday night at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures was a stand-in for the annual Oscars luncheon usually held about a month earlier but scrubbed because of the Southern California wildfires.
With the voting over and winners determined, contenders got chummy and the mood was cheerful. Best actress favorites Mikey Madison and Demi Moore hugged and chatted. So did best actor front-runners Timothée Chalamet and Adrien Brody.
"Everyone say Oscar nominee!" best actress nominee Cynthia Erivo shouted gleefully from the front row of the museum's David Geffen Theater, where the dozens of nominees sat for their group picture.
Clustered in front with Erivo were three best supporting actress nominees: her "Wicked" castmate Ariana Grande, Monica Barbaro of "A Complete Unknown" and Zoe Saldaña of "Emilia Perez" along with Madison, nominated for "Anora." The five women stood in a circle and talked happily together after the photo, and kept the conversation going as they descended the stairs together to dinner.
In the back of the theater, a trio of best actor nominees sat together: Sebastian Stan of "The Apprentice," Colman Domingo of "Sing Sing" and Brody, of "The Brutalist."
After the photo was taken, Academy President Janet Yang gave the orientation presentation, reminding everyone that the 97th Academy Awards will be held Sunday.
She greeted first-time nominees and acknowledged there were also some with more than one.
Denis Villeneuve, director of "Dune: Part 2" and a four-time nominee, raised his hand. Sixteen-time best original song nominee... Read More