Proof Inc., one of the film industry's leading visualization houses, provided extensive previs and postvis services to the new Marvel Studios motion picture "Guardians of the Galaxy," it was announced today by Proof's Creative Director/Founder Ron Frankel. The film was released by Walt Disney Studios on August 1, 2014
Ron Frankel, Proof's Founder and Creative Director, said, "Our assignment on Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy was to previs several of the big action set pieces in the film. We enjoyed working closely for the past year and a half with director James Gunn to maintain his vision and make those sequences exciting. 'Guardians of the Galaxy' presented us with numerous big action sequences that have really never been done before. Full CG, high-adrenaline battle sequences that required a lot of choreography and blocking for the staging of the action. James was very good about seeing the action from the audience's point of view, and doesn't want viewers to be lost or confused by any of the action. We really built some amazing stuff with James for Marvel's 'Guardians of the Galaxy' that we are very proud of."
Adds Earl Hibbert, Proof's Previs Supervisor on this project, "Another of the big challenges we confronted on this film was helping James to bring the characters 'Rocket' and 'Groot' to life. It was very important to James that the audience forget that these two characters were CG, and, instead, accepts them as real characters – characters that actually exist in the world of the film – because they really are the heart of the movie. As far as technical challenges, there was a lot of green screen involved in production, and most of the sets were built from scratch, so we had to make sure that the action we designed during previs would fit into the sets that were being constructed. I worked very closely with Production Designer Charlie Wood and Visual Effects Supervisor Stephane Ceretti to make sure the dimensions of our set would closely match the actual build. In this manner, the action we designed during previz could be captured on the set, while still giving James the flexibility to improvise new shots if he wanted to."
"This previs and post team was great, one of the best I've ever had. All of the sequences turned out amazing, and I had a great time working with James and Stephane. This was a big complicated film that presented some real challenges, so to see it come together the way it did was incredible," Hibbert concludes.
Adds Stephane Ceretti, VFX Supervisor on "Guardians of the Galaxy," "Working with the Proof teams both in London and Los Angeles was a great experience. We started developing the sequences early in prep with our director, James Gunn, Earl Hibbert, Proof's Previs Supervisor, and the storyboard artists. We wanted to be as prepared as possible for a fairly complex and fast paced shoot. Earl and his team did an amazing job at collecting all the information from James, the Art department and the VFX department, to come up with previs that really made sense and made a big difference in the way we prepped and shot the movie. All of the main sequences were previsualized before we started shooting, which allowed all departments to get a visual sense of the film and what was required to achieve it during the shoot. It was also an essential tool for the VFX vendors."
"Once back in Los Angeles, the previs team transformed into a postvis group, still spearheaded by Earl. We had a huge task ahead of us, with more than 1900 VFX shots to postvis. We could not show the movie without fully post-visualizing our two CG characters, 'Rocket' and 'Groot,' and all the spaceships and aerial effects, as well as adding in backgrounds and set extensions for many of the green screen sets. A huge effort was put in the collaboration between James, Earl, the editors, and the VFX department to complete a version of the director's cut that would have all the shots postvised."
"All of Proof's work was invaluable to everyone involved in the project, from Prep, through Shooting, and through Post. They were an integral part of the process," Ceretti concludes.
Among the action sequences for which Proof designed the previs:
The Kyln Escape: For the sequence in which the Guardians come together as a team for the first time, James Gunn really wanted to build character and humor into this sequence. The choreography and visual effects were very complex. Proof provided James and Stephane with a great deal of data to enable them to work quickly while on set.
The Space Pod Chase: For this fun ride sequence that features the lead characters in a chase while escaping from the film's villains, James had very specific action beats he wanted to hit. James gave the Proof team a good deal of freedom to come up with interesting shots and choreography, while maintaining the overall goals of the action he had in mind. The sequence feels fast, vicious, and dangerous – the audience feels as though these characters could die at any moment.
About "GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY"
From Marvel, the studio that brought you the global blockbuster franchises of Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and The Avengers, comes a new team-the Guardians of the Galaxy. An action-packed, epic space adventure, Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy" expands the Marvel Cinematic Universe into the cosmos, where brash adventurer Peter Quill finds himself the object of an unrelenting bounty hunt after stealing a mysterious orb coveted by Ronan, a powerful villain with ambitions that threaten the entire universe. To evade the ever-persistent Ronan, Quill is forced into an uneasy truce with a quartet of disparate misfits-Rocket, a gun-toting raccoon, Groot, a tree-like humanoid, the deadly and enigmatic Gamora and the revenge-driven Drax the Destroyer. But when Quill discovers the true power of the orb and the menace it poses to the cosmos, he must do his best to rally his ragtag rivals for a last, desperate stand-with the galaxy's fate in the balance.
Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy," which first appeared in comic books in Marvel Super-Heroes, Issue #18 (Jan. 1969), stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, featuring Vin Diesel as Groot, Bradley Cooper as Rocket, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, with John C. Reilly, Glenn Close as Nova Prime and Benicio Del Toro as The Collector.
James Gunn is the director of the film with Kevin Feige, p.g.a. producing. Louis D'Esposito, Alan Fine, Victoria Alonso, Jeremy Latcham, Nik Korda and Stan Lee serve as executive producers. Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy" is written by James Gunn and Nicole Perlman. The film released in U.S. theaters on August 1, 2014.
About PROOF INC.
Founded in 2002 in Los Angeles by Ron Frankel, Proof Inc. is one Hollywood's leading providers of high-quality visualization services for the feature film and live entertainment industries. In addition to Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy," the company's other recent projects have included "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire," "Riddick," "Fast & Furious 6," "Man of Steel," "The Hangover, Part 3," "42," "Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters," "The Amazing Spider-Man," and "The Hunger Games," to name just a few. Upcoming projects include "A Night at the Museum 3," "Pan," "Tarzan 3D," "San Andreas: 3D," "Gods of Egypt," and "Fast & Furious 7."
From the start of development through to delivery, the talented digital artists of Proof help filmmakers tell their stories and realize their visions. Whether a major studio feature film, a large-scale architectural installation, a TV commercial, or a live concert, Proof's unique blend of visual artistry and technical expertise ensures that the company's work on any project is as accurate as it is evocative. Proof specializes in four areas of creative services:
Previs: A collaborative process using 3D animation software and real-time computer graphics to generate preliminary versions of shots or sequences;
Virtual Production: Proof provides on-set visualization, the synchronization and compositing of live photography with 2D or 3D virtual elements, for immediate visual feedback;
Postvis: This is a creative process whereby filmmakers can direct the parts of their film that weren't captured during photography because they were either impractical or impossible to get in camera;
Event Visualization: Proof's artists have the ability to create accurate visualizations to test designs for any kind of event, ranging from a theme park ride to a fashion show, and from a concert to an urban scale multi-media projection.
Proof's Headquarters Office is located at 5150 Wilshire Blvd., Suite # 300, LA, CA, 90036. The phone is 323/465-6930 and the website is www.proof-inc.com
