CNICE EVERCOOL
Case Study
HOW TO CREATE A LAVA MONSTER AND A SUPER-HERO FIGHT?
“With time shrinking day by day, we tried to solve all the issues working closely with the director and in spite of many differences of opinions crafted a good-looking film.”
Adam Tunikowski, the CEO and co-Founder of Juice.
Juice had worked with the Spanish director Daniel Benmayor before, and this went so well that he invited Juice to work with him on the Chinese Cnice commercial.
From the beginning，Juice team was very excited as they knew this project will require a lot of design–concepting work. Juice also expected Cnice video to be quite demanding at the same time – created in a style which nods towards Marvel, Iron-Man, and good-versus-evil, the good is Chinese actor Elvis Hand as our superhero. The personification of the evil is a completely CG ‘lava-monster’, made of fire and looking very menacing. A large number of simulations, hero shots, and transitions as well as an impressive number of look-devs were required.
Almost everything you see on the screen in the final video was eventually created in CG: the city, the buildings, the cars, the apartment, the lab, the furniture, the equipment, the superhero’s several types of weapons symbolizing various forms of protection, and even the cover of the comic book he reads, which becomes the engine of the whole narrative. The fiery CG ‘lava-monster’ was to be the key element of the comic book world in which the action takes place.
LAVA MONSTER
The ‘lava-monster’ had to be clearly made from fumes and fire, however, the direction was not very specific. After introducing many concepts that did not turn to be entirely satisfying Juice reached out to their freelance community of talented artists. That was a good move. “In the end, we prepared over 20 look-devs for the monster itself and got much closer to the director’s vision”.
SUPERHERO
As we knew that the superhero would be involved in many complicated scenes, our recommendation was to create a real costume printed in 3D for the star Elvis Han and make him wear it on the set. That would make it easier to insert the actor into the CG world with no need for the heavy postproduction of himself – essential to follow the proper lighting. The director on the other hand wanted the actor to wear a simple motion capture suit and build the costume in CG.
The scale of movements, lighting, and angles, required for his coverage during the spot, forced us to come up to a solution in between: the costume got printed but definitely not in the final quality and therefore not allowing for it to last long while shooting and eventually replaced in CG. Nonetheless, the pieces that were worn by the actor in the shoot, allowed us for a pretty good reference of the light, shadow, and reflection.
ENVIRONMENT
The brief for the environment spokes of the need to create something that looks realistic. However, after a few proposals and suggestions from the director, it turned to something more cartoonish. We all joined forces to find the best references and several looks of the city recreated a new world for the video’s needs. It took more than we all expected but it was a huge lesson for all of us. Clearly, we had a different idea of what a comic or Marvel-style meant to all of us.
At the superhero’s mansion, a tiny part of the real actor interaction with the objects was physically built and extended. Also, a big part of the lab was built as a set, but in the end, proven to be mostly worthless, it had to be replaced by CG. All the rest of the interiors and exteriors were created in CG. Even details like the table and comic book cover were created from scratch.
SIMULATIONS
Director’s vision was to shoot explosions, fire, or water – things that we could use in the film instead of simulating them. Despite the fact that the live footage was really of good quality and the results were fantastic, the angles and light interactions did not allow to use most of it. In the end, 90% of the VFX shots had to be properly simulated and rendered.
SOLUTION
Using 20+ LookDev plates, a clear rundown can be captured for group creative workshopping. At this point, it was imperative we had a VFX Supervisor on hand, to steer the CG requirements. In the end, qualifying the budget spend from 40% CG, up to 90% in CG production.
Communicating clearly and early the objective, the process, and the expectations are vitally important. There may be creative differences in vision, but worked through skillfully, they were resolved during production. The crew found it’s OK to have misunderstandings as long as the right people looked for the solution. While it is OK to set about shooting complicated scenes, it is also OK to use solid reference and/or stock footage.
Postproduction is an artistically driven technical process. There is never one right way to proceed with such productions. The journey of taking art direction, mixing it with directorial vision, and crafting it technically into a storyline for a 30-second commercial, can take time, creative license, and compromise to make it to the best quality. If we didn’t have to go back and fix things, we could then spend the time building effects from scratch, where we could guarantee the quality.
Postproduction is a technical process but very much also a person’s business. Creating a spot with heavy CG elements can stand in the way of directorial vision when there are live-action elements to consider as well. And sometimes even if this approach seems to be harder and more demanding, we as a post-studio have to take it and live with it. While in the end, the film can work both ways.
We always try to suggest the most cost-effective solutions for our customers. In the end, 90% of the VFX shots had to be precisely simulated and rendered in order to work within the framing and tempo of the film.
“Often the decisions made in conjunction between the CG artist and production specialist, benefit client, and agency, while still delivering on the very tight deadline. And as we all know in today’s film and commercial world, times are not extending but constantly shrinking. Whatever solutions we might have to accommodate that – especially if they are in sync with cost-saving, we believe them to be the future of approach to the motion picture.”
Adam Tunikowski, the CEO and co-Founder of Juice.
如何在“未来城市”上演 超级英雄与熔岩怪兽的精彩打斗
JUICE曾与西班牙导演Daniel Benmayor有过合作，得益于这次愉快的合作，JUICE应邀加入了这次中国纳爱斯的广告项目。
得知此次项目需要大量的设计和概念方面的工作，JUICE团队从项目初期就非常激动。激动之余，他们也意识到此次项目同时也很有挑战，要求采用漫威系列，钢铁侠的风格，上演正邪双方的较量，中国演员韩东君将出演正义的超级英雄。而拟人化的邪恶力量则是全部由CG打造的“熔岩怪兽”，全身喷火且凶神恶煞。完成这样一部影片需要大量的模拟，英雄特写与转场，以及数目可观的外观开发（lookdev）工作。
最终观众看到的大部分画面其实由CG完成。广告片中的实验室，城市，公寓以及其他空间；基本上所有能看到的事物，楼房，家具，设备，车辆，超级英雄各种代表防护功效的武器，甚至是开场主角手里的漫画书，这本印着愤怒“熔岩怪兽”启动整个幻想故事道具，均为CG制作。而CG制作的 “熔岩怪兽” 最终也就是漫画世界里的反派主角。
—“熔岩怪兽”
作为“熔岩怪兽”火与烟是必不可少的主要创作元素，然而究竟从什么角度入手则不是很明确。在提交了很多概念设计，却一直无法令人完全满意的情况下，JUICE决定向他们广大的自由艺术家群体求助。果然，高手在民间。“最后，我们准备了二十多个怪兽的外观开发，终于离导演心目中的形象不远了”。
– 超级英雄
由于超级英雄会参与很多复杂场景，我们建议用3D打印技术为明星韩东君定制一套真的英雄装备，让他在拍摄的时候穿戴。这样在后期，就可以直接将其融入其他场景，避免在他身上产生大量的后期工作，对正确的光影效果很重要。而导演本人则希望让演员穿戴简单的动作捕捉设备，利用CG完成英雄的穿戴装备。
最终韩东君戏份的动作范围，采光光照和角度，迫使我们将两个方案折中：采用打印戏服，但质量不用最佳，在拍摄过程中自然磨损，最后被CG替代。但不管怎么说，演员穿戴的打印戏服，让我们对影片的光影和反射有了非常好的参照。
– 环境
项目简报提到需要创作逼真的环境和场景。然而在经过几次提案和采取导演的建议后，变更为更加动画化的风格。我们与合作伙伴一起，为打造片中的新世界找寻最佳的参照，设计了多款城市。最终成果超出预期，但这次经历也给我们上了一课，十里不同俗，百里不同风，不同的人群对于什么是漫画风，什么是漫威风格，都有自己独特的见解。
而在英雄的豪宅里的拍摄部分，真人演员与小物件有部分互动，一小部分的互动物件是真实制作与后期的结合。同时，虽然实验室的大部分场景都是实景搭建，但最后采用的很少，还是以CG替换了这部分内容。其余所有的室内外场景均为CG打造，甚至是桌子的细节和漫画书的封面，都由CG从无到有一步步完成。
– 模拟
导演最初的预想是拍摄真实的爆炸，火焰或是水花，直接采用，避免模拟。虽然真实拍摄的素材质量很好，很成功，但角度和光影互动问题使得能用的部分很少。最后90%的特效镜头还是需要实实在在的模拟和渲染来完成。
解决方案
比对超过二十个外观开发板，我们总结了详细的可选项情况，并以工作坊的形式进行了讨论。这种情况下，项目的CG需求就必须得有专人来把控，而我们内部刚好有能即刻上岗的视觉特效负责人。最后将预算细化调整，从40%的CG，调整到不超过90%的CG制作。
能够清晰地，尽早地沟通清楚项目目标，项目流程和项目预期，是重中之重。或许过程中有创意分歧和不同的预期，但在制片过程中，我们可以专业地探讨，统一，解决它们。我们发觉，产生误解也不要紧，只要有合适的人去找到解决方案就行。搭建片场，拍摄复杂的场面固然好，但去灵活使用参考或者采用库存的素材也没什么不好。
后期是一个需要审美带动技术的过程。而这种类型的制片从来都不是只有一种正确的制作方式。将艺术方向，导演构想和技术制作融合，凝练成一部30秒剧情的广告片需要时间，灵活的创意和妥协，才能保证最佳的成果。如果我们不需要修复片段，或许我们就得把这部分时间放在从头做特效上，来确保质量合格。后期虽然是主要靠CG技术的阶段，但也离不开人的元素。一段主要靠CG打造，但也有真人出演部分需要考虑的片段，可能会阻碍导演对整体影片的构想。有时候，虽然采用的方式比较硬核，也很有挑战，但作为后期工作室的我们也得迎难而上。而最终，不论哪种方式，都可拍出好的作品。
我们坚持向客户提供最优性价比的解决方案。此次项目的最后，片中90%的视觉特效都有必须，且精确的模拟和渲染优化，以配合电影的帧数和节奏。
