VFX breakdowns are indeed proving to be a terrific source of education to the folks who are interested in learning the art and science of the industry. DNEG’s recent breakdown of West World 3 made for an elaborate treasure trove, offering insights into the massive task of making images as close as possible to vision of the filmmaker.
“What if robots could feel? In the new ‘Westworld III’ Animation VFX Breakdown, DNEG’s Animation team discusses how they conveyed emotion and personality through movement for the show’s non-host robots”
They shared: “DNEG team stayed with the blocking and framings as they had been shot. As the actors did not have anything exactly the right size to react to onset, there was some work done in animation to make eye lines work. The actors for the sequence when the Mech crashes through the wall didn’t have anything to work against onset and so they were pretty much pantomiming where they thought they would be seeing the 14 foot Mech. It did give us some difficulty with eye lines, but we tried to solve as many of those problems through animation as possible, just making sure that our poses were putting the bot or the bot’s appendages in the places where it would make sense based on their eye lines filmed in camera.”
Speaking about the robots they shared: “The Delos Riot Control Robot RC3110, aka The Mech, was obviously a less humanoid-style droid for DNEG to build. It existed both in a ‘suitcase’ component form and, once folded out and transformed, in a full bulky ‘attack’ robot. In terms of animation, the robot’s force was something DNEG had to pay close attention to. This should be treated like a gorilla. We were then immediately all on the same page with the idea of this massive, very heavy, very muscular robot that has a certain amount of grace to all of its motion, but when it’s really moving fast you just get the sense that there’s just no stopping it.”
Posting on their social media account, they captioned, “What if robots could feel? In our new ‘Westworld III’ Animation VFX Breakdown, our Animation team discusses how they conveyed emotion and personality through movement for the show’s non-host robots. Watch their amazing work below”
It is indeed amazing to learn how teams work together to create a world that doesn’t exist in reality.