VFX Behind-the-Scenes from Hugo, Avatar and More

Get insights in to the visual effects work involved in Hugo, Avatar and Synecdoche, New York with these behind-the-scenes gems.

Thanks to the Manhattan Edit Workshop event called “From The Cutting Room: An Evening with Visual FX Artists Rob Legato and Mark Russell” you can get a ton of insights into the inner workings of some classic visual effects shots.

In these first two clips Rob Legato talks through some of the pre-vis needed to pull off some of the most complex and extended shots in Martin Scorcese’s 3D masterpiece Hugo.

When everybody in the room says it can’t be done, then it’s worth doing…because then it’s fun.” – Rob Legato

In this last clip Mark Russell talks through some work he did on Charlie Kaufman’s eccentric Synecdoche, New York to expand the physical locations with computer generated worlds, within worlds.

Visual Effects Work on Avatar

In these three clips Rob walks through some of the work involved in bringing James Cameron’s Avatar to the screen, including inventing the motion capture technology needed to shoot computer generated images in a live action style.

Rob also talks through the details of using the computer-based camera to create very complicated scenes all inside a small studio space – limited only by a very active imagination.

In this last clip Rob talks through the final stages of pulling a scene together from the blocking of the actors, to experimenting with the framing to the final edit. Loads of great insight here: