Special Effects in Animation and Live-Action.

Diana Martinez

Phys 123

11/18/2015

Third Term Paper - Special Effect in Animation and Live Action

Special effects in animation and live action filmmaking has become one of the most common things used in modern day filmmaking. In my paper, I will compare and contrast the creative visual effects used in the animated film, "The Lego Movie" (2014) with the realistic live action film, "The Avengers" (2012). While there were distinctly different stylistic approaches used, both films broke new ground in digital technology and problem solving in order to create some of the most memorable shots in the film.

“The Lego Movie’s” visual effects was both extremely creative and entertaining. The filmmakers specifically wanted the film to feel like stop motion even though it was animated using entirely 3d software. In order to achieve this look, months and months of research went into studying how stop motion looks the way it does and asking the question: How can I make my 3D animation feel like stop motion? The reason for this design decision was that the filmmakers wanted the audience to feel like they themselves were playing with the lego toy. In essence, they wanted the audience to be imagining with the movie. So, in order to tackle some of the most difficult effects such a water or fire, the team decided that using large clumps of bricks to create that effect would probably be the most successful. Often times the fire would just be a cycle of a few lego bricks to simply show the action. Other times, effects animators created a “particle simulation” so that an explosion would be generated using different bricks. Both of the different effects can be clearly seen a when Wyldstyle and Emmet are escaping the bad guys on Wyldstyle’s motorcycle in the beginning of the film. The fire shooting out of her motorcycle is a simple cycle animation, while the explosion in the background as they land on another road is a simulation. This mesh of effects creates an new and unique experience for the viewer. It’s refreshing to see a film use the effects to push the story and create a believable, yet imaginary, world.

In contrast to “Lego Movie’s” heavily designed special effects, “The Avengers” aimed to create extremely realistic visual effects. In fact, the film broke ground on the technology used to create the realistic effects. The effects were vital to the film’s success since the setting was in an actual place,  New York City while also taking place during present day. If there are any blatant imperfections the filmmakers could risk the audience’s detachment from the movie’s suspension of disbelief. On of the most important shot… if not the most important shot of the entire film was the shot at the climax of the movie, when all the superheroes finally work together to defeat the villain. There is a complex panorama shot of New York City, circulating to each superhero as they fight. It is a very long shot (about 45 seconds) in which the artists needed to essentially build New York  City in order for the camera to move around realistically. The way in which they were able to achieve this was by having a team of artists go to NYC and film over 1200 locations as reference. Also, there was a lot of compositing used to get each character in the scene. In fact, the original shot of Captain America (played by Chris Evans) fighting was eventually scrapped because the choreography didn’t fit the story moment (of the superheros fighting together). S0, the artists used the special effects rig of captain america to animate his entire fight in that scene instead - but the animation and visual effects have such great quality that the audience does not even notice that it’s not actually Chris Evans fighting. Instead, it’s captain america fighting, which is a true testament to the quality of storytelling. So, for “The Avengers”, the visual effects such as, explosions, breaking of buildings, movement around the space, etc., needed to be realistic so the the surrounding area stayed believable for the characters to perform.

In looking at both films: What are the design decisions and why the movies chose to follow that direction? Are they similar in any way? My answer to that is while the style varies between the two, they are similar in the fact that the visual effects was used as a tool to create a believable world for the audience to accept. “The Lego Movie” needed the audience to feel as though they were children playing and imagining stories with legos. “The Avengers” needed to appeal to a variety of audience members, from the average movie-goer to the classic comic book nerd. Shots in that film such as the sweeping panorama fight shot were both an important story moment and homage to comic book lovers. It is clear that the filmmakers of both films considered the audience’s entertainment first. While both movies were revolutionary in the visual effects, the success of the films were entirely because of the story, characters and the creating of the believable world.

In conclusion, there are many different stylistic approaches to visual effects that must be determined by the story. The use of special effects in a shot can highlight the filmmaker’s intention but must never take over the story. And in words of the great Bill Sienkiewicz, artist and comic book writer, "when the special effects are at the service of the story and draw you into it, that is really the magic." In other words, filmmakers fool the audience first with the story and keep them that way with the special effects. And successfully fooling the audience is one of the best feelings in the world.