Making of Gravity: The Samurai Way

A remarkable movie ever in the history of film and entertainment industry, the blockbuster ‘Gravity’ is directed by Alfonso Cuarón.

Today’s blog post describes the utilization of VFX as well as Animation in the famous multiple award winning movie, Gravity.

This blog initiative is taken by MAAC Kolkata to inform the readers about the diverse Visual Effects, camera, and other apparatuses techniques adopted while working in the VFX breakdown of the movie, Gravity.

Let’s have a look at the different techniques and how they were accomplished with the help of VFX and Animation.

Being a winner of Oscars, Bafta and VES awards, Gravity has experienced significant success across the globe.

The film gathered ample stars from film reviewers to fill up the galaxy that it so dedicatedly delineates.

However, have you ever thought how the amazing space scenes were made? Or the rock debris created?

Framestore is the mastermind Visual Effects provider of the film that was liable for the award winning VFX in the film.

The entire pre-production, production and post-production techniques through filming-all were done in Britain.

The film is honored with the three top Visual Effects prizes- the Oscar, the Bafta and the VESawards.
The entire VFX is functional under the supervision of Visual Effects Supervisor Tim Webber.

During the initial stages of the film, it was discussed that all the shots will be done with actors in real space suits, they would be hung on wires on partial sets, and the wires will be extended as per the requirements and put in the ground.

However towards the end, substantial parts of the movie are done through CGI and the truth is, a major part of it is computerized/computer generated than actually real.

In the movie, the sole components that are captured with a camera in most part of the shots are the parts of faces.

The endlessness of room, the Earth, the stars (each of the 30 million of them), the space transports.

Hubble Telescope, the International Space Station (ISS), the bounteous and similarly disgusting sections of flotsam and jetsam, even the space suits: they were altogether made by Visual Effects craftsmen at Framestore.

The accomplishment of the VFX breakdown of the movie was no easy process as all the things had to be daintily crafted.

The very initial step down the previous years was to make Gravity’s visuals in pre-vis.

Pre-vis is a fundamental Animation process normal to all movies that squares out the activity in every scene before recording begins.

However, for Gravity it was definitely not fundamental – it was careful.

VFX Producer Charles Howell is of the view that they spent about an entire year to assemble the set before beginning the film.

The time when they started to turn up on set, the film was essentially bolted.

The entire set was needed to be pre-vised for numerous reasons.

The team wanted the camera to move in addition to 12 minute ceaseless shot.

The scene is set in space where you have a camera that can roam completely anyplace and the actors are staged to meander totally anyplace in a – topsy-turvy, underneath, finished the best, wherever – the degrees of flexibility are considerably more prominent.

A major portion of the live-action is done in an extremely confounded shoot at Shepperton studios.

Indeed, even the utilization of Stereo 3D, so regularly scrutinized as a bit of hindsight, was arranged amid pre-vis with Stereoscopic Supervisor Chris Parks.

The first content read ‘Gravity: A Space Adventure In 3D’ all things considered.

How Sandy’s cage was crafted

With the help of the pre-vis finish, Webber and his associates begin making the methods that would help replicate miniaturized scale gravity.

Thereby it removed the requirement of the nearly treks in ‘the vomit comet’, Nasa’s creation to give some moments of close weightlessness.

The team worked together with the Bot and Dolly Motion Control and the on-set special effects group (the bosses of physical, in-camera effects instead of the computer based universe of Visual Effects).

Cameras were tied to the immense automated arms and George Clooney and Sandra Bullock were placed in a wide range of apparatuses, numerous recently produced for the film.

At that point the arrangement of the lightbox was hit upon and the confined LED box known on set at ‘Sandy’s enclosure’ assumed control over a huge piece of the shooting duty.

In its standard arrangement the container would be a 10m 3D square, with tremendous LED boards containing very nearly two million lights making up its dividers.

The effective utilization of LEDS permitted Chivo to light the performing actors with considerably more prominent adaptability than the conventional lights.

Thus the diverse hues reflecting off the Earth, moonlight, daylight and starlight could all be replicated.

The action is operated in a way where the bullock is tied to a rig in the focal point of the box as the camera moved around her, accomplishing the delusion that it is her that moves.

The camera is flexible enough to zoom in and zoom out from any position and the main annoying thing that Sandra might have felt is the camera racing towards her face and stop dead, only a few centimeters from her face.

The VFX team of Framestore administered motion control actions and movements for the purpose of the rigs.

The team has efficiently produced a complete mesmeric digital surrounding on-set utilizing the LED screens.

The film is not at all complete at the Shepperton and thus Cuarón captured the live-action performances of Bullock’s character as Ryan tries to keep on alive in an inhospitable environment.

It was time to head towards creating the universe around her.

Building the galaxy’s biggest jigsaw

Every elements of the galaxy were shot with the assistance of CG.

The creation of the spacesuits, space shuttles, the telescope and the ISS were done through CG.

A considerable portion of the Animation was meticulously key-framed with hand.

A huge number of animators were indulged in animating the animes.

It is seen that Gravity’s camera is, in some way, another character that played a major role in the movie.

The extremely minute details of the interior sets are all CG inside the ISS.

Moreover, the interior of the space ISS were incredibly detailed and modeled by animators at the Framestore.

Hope you all have enjoyed our blog.

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