{"id":78681,"date":"2016-07-22T13:05:00","date_gmt":"2016-07-22T18:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/?p=78681"},"modified":"2016-07-22T18:59:44","modified_gmt":"2016-07-22T23:59:44","slug":"inside-atomic-fiction-an-exclusive-interview-with-a-vfx-powerhouse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/inside-atomic-fiction-an-exclusive-interview-with-a-vfx-powerhouse\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside Atomic Fiction: An Exclusive Interview With a VFX Powerhouse"},"content":{"rendered":"

PremiumBeat meets with VFX Supervisor Jim Gibbs to talk about the work of Atomic Fiction. See how the VFX studio builds worlds\u00a0for Game of Thrones, Deadpool, Star Trek Beyond and more.<\/h2>\n

Top image: Jim Gibbs and Kevin Baillie via Google Cloud\u00a0Platform<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

We recently had the pleasure to tour the Canadian office of VFX studio Atomic Fiction<\/a>. Before we get into the tour and our interview with VFX Supervisor Jim Gibbs<\/a>, here’s a little history on the studio.<\/p>\n

\n

About Atomic Fiction<\/h3>\n

\"Inside<\/p>\n

Atomic<\/strong> Fiction<\/strong> was founded in 2010 by visual effects artists\u00a0Kevin Baillie<\/a> and Ryan Tudhope<\/a>. Some of the duo’s earliest credits include previsualization and effects for Star Wars: Episode I<\/em><\/a> and Titan A.E.<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>By the early 2000s, Baillie and Tudhope where the first two employees\u00a0at The Orphanage<\/a>. There they began a relationship with VFX veterans\u00a0like\u00a0Jonathan Rothbart<\/a>,\u00a0contributing to projects such as Superman Returns<\/i><\/a>, Sin City<\/i><\/a>, and the Pirates of the Caribbean<\/i><\/a> franchise.\u00a0They also made contacts with celebrities like\u00a0Adam Sandler<\/a>, working on his films\u00a0Anger Management<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0You Don’t Mess with the Zohan<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

Baillie and Tudhope soon found themselves working for Robert Zemeckis<\/a> at Image Movers Digital<\/a>. They worked on the realistic CG captures of actors for A Christmas Carol<\/a><\/em>\u00a0as well as\u00a0animation for Mars Needs Moms<\/em><\/a>. Amid production of Mars Needs Moms<\/em>, Disney announced they would be closing Image Movers<\/a>. This gave animators and artists ample time to find new work once the film completed. While completing the film, Baillie and Tudhope decided to open their own VFX studio \u2014 Atomic Fiction<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

At the same time they were laying the groundwork for a new VFX studio, Sandler\u2019s team reached out for help on his next project, Just Go With It<\/a>.\u00a0<\/i>Realizing this could be their first gig, Kevin and Ryan worked on Just Go With It<\/em> out of their home, and with those funds they opened the first studio in Emeryville, California<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 just a mile away from Pixar. In that first year, their team also worked on Transformers: Dark of the Moon<\/em><\/a>\u00a0and the incredible facial reconstruction of\u00a0Richard Harrow<\/a>\u00a0in Boardwalk Empire<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Inside
\nImage: Boardwalk Empire via Atomic Fiction \/ HBO<\/em><\/p>\n

Notable Past Works<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Deadpool<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n
  • Game of Thrones<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n
  • Star Trek Into Darkness<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n
  • Flight<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n
  • The Walk<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n
  • Boardwalk Empire<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n
  • Need For Speed<\/a><\/em><\/li>\n
  • Transformers: Dark of the Moon<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n
  • Transformers: Age of Extinction<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n
  • Looper<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n
  • Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n
  • Pixels<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n
  • The Lone Ranger<\/a><\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Atomic Fiction just wrapped production<\/strong> on Star Trek Beyond<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em>They developed digital environments, digital set extensions, digital stunt doubles, and effects animation for the film. Here is a previous\u00a0example\u00a0of Atomic Fiction’s work on Star Trek Into Darkness<\/em>. Take a further look at their work with\u00a0the company’s 2016 reel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    \"Inside
    \nImages via     Art of VFX<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

    Aside from Star Trek Beyond<\/em>, the company is currently working on other blockbuster projects<\/strong> like Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

    \n

    Inside the Atomic Fiction Montreal Office<\/h3>\n

    I’m standing outside the doors of Atomic Fiction’s office in Montreal on Rue de Bleury. This inconspicuous downtown building houses an array of different companies and government offices, like the\u00a0Directeur de l’\u00e9tat civil<\/a>. T<\/span>oday I’ll be heading up to the eighth floor. I make my way through the lobby to the elevator bay. With a quick push of 8, I soon find myself standing outside of two locked walnut\u00a0doors. Without a keycard, I press the doorbell hoping they haven’t forgotten about my visit.<\/p>\n

    I’m buzzed in and greeted by one of Atomic Fiction’s newest employees \u2014 who has been given front desk duty for the day. I am immediately handed an iPad with a digital non-disclosure agreement. I peruse the terms and sign my name. Unlike my behind-the-scenes tour with the NHL Dallas Stars<\/a>, I won’t be permitted to take any photos. The NDA I just signed makes sure of that.<\/p>\n

    I start to peek around the entryway for signs of life. A walled-off front desk with the Atomic Fiction logo is immediately to my left. On my right is the kitchen, cafeteria, lounge, and a small conference room. A\u00a0giant chalkboard wall in the kitchen\u00a0is covered with scribbled pictures and anecdotes, such as how to use the new espresso machine.\u00a0A few employees hang out and discuss something, before they grab a drink and return to their desks. From here I can’t see any workspaces, obviously to prevent any visitors from seeing too much work that is currently in progress.<\/p>\n

    \"Inside
    \nImage: Office space via Atomic Fiction<\/em><\/p>\n

    I’m soon joined by Russ Dub\u00e9, the Head of Studio<\/strong> at Atomic Fiction. Russ has over twenty years of experience in VFX and\u00a0animation in commercial work, television, and film. He has been running the Montreal office for over just a year, recently moving from New York, where he worked on countless projects as a freelance Senior VFX Producer.<\/p>\n

    With a big smile on his face, Russ greets me, double-checks I’ve signed my NDA, and immediately starts the tour. We briefly start off in the kitchen area which\u00a0I had voyeuristically glanced at. Russ tells me that my visit came at a great time, as\u00a0Atomic Fiction wrapped production on Star Trek Beyond<\/em> just days prior to my arrival.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    We walk through the kitchen area and head down a short corridor into the office space. A handful of offices line the outside perimeter of the floor, but I soon enter a massive open workspace<\/b>. Rows and rows of white desks and computer monitors galore take up the entire floor. There are no cubicles, but the desks are aligned into various sections for different departments. I catch one employee meticulously combing through an actor’s individual strands of hair<\/b> for an undisclosed project. I do not envy her at this moment.<\/p>\n

    Russ tells me that the Montreal office is\u00a0running at full capacity<\/strong>, and they have had to open additional office space on the seventh floor below. We walk down the stairwell to see\u00a0another room of monitors, with this floor mostly occupied by employees working on a separate project. We are nearing time for my interview, so Russ leads me back to the eighth floor. One of our final stops is the screening room.<\/p>\n

    \"Inside
    \nImage: Atomic Fiction Screening Room via     Google Cloud Platform<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

    The screening\u00a0room is used every morning for dailies.<\/strong> There the VFX supervisors watch all the work done up until then, and comb through scenes with artists as their shots arise. These meetings can last all morning long. I’ll touch more on dailies later.\u00a0<\/em>As the office has grown, so have the company’s needs. Russ tells me that the current screening room will soon be demolished to make way for a larger screening room at the other end of the floor. Growing pains.<\/p>\n

    We depart the screening room for an empty office, which is where Kevin Baillie and Ryan Tudhope work when they are in town. Russ leaves to grab my interviewee. As I wait in the office, I consider\u00a0which chair to sit in. Do I sit at the sofa? The chair? Do I pull a power move and take Kevin’s chair? I take a seat in Kevin’s\u00a0chair, only to then get back up and slink my way to the couch.<\/p>\n

    \"Inside
    \nImage: The Walk painting via\u00a0Caleb Ward<\/em><\/p>\n

    Right above the sofa hangs a rather stunning painting of Philippe Petit walking between the World Trade Center towers in New York. Atomic Fiction was the main VFX studio behind Robert Zemeckis’<\/em> The Walk<\/a>, producing an astonishing 40 minutes of footage<\/em>.\u00a0I come to learn that the painting was originally made for Robert Zemeckis, and a\u00a0duplicate found its way into this office.<\/p>\n

    \n

    VFX Supervisor Jim Gibbs<\/h3>\n

    \"Inside
    \nImage: Jim Gibbs via Atomic Fiction<\/em><\/p>\n

    Russ returns with Jim Gibbs<\/a>, a\u00a0Visual Effects Supervisor<\/strong>\u00a0at Atomic Fiction. Russ starts the timer on his phone and leaves us be.\u00a0You’ll notice that Russ is a very prompt person, the perfect person to run a VFX\u00a0studio.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

    As I exchange pleasantries with Jim, I come to learn that he is from Garland, Texas<\/a>. Leave it to me to travel all the way to Montreal to meet a guy who grew up 25 minutes down the road from me in Dallas. Gibbs studied computer graphics at Texas A&M University<\/a>. At the time, the program was not very robust \u2014 but it was up-and-coming. Many of the students graduating around the same time wound up at ILM<\/a> and Pixar<\/a>. There was not an established undergraduate workflow, so Gibbs had to study architecture. A perfect start to the world building he would do in VFX. After the graduate program, Jim landed a job at Image Movers Digital<\/strong> in San Francisco.<\/p>\n

    \"Jim-Gibbs-VFX-Supervisor\"<\/a>
    \nImage: VFX Supervisor Jim Gibbs via Google Cloud Platform<\/em><\/p>\n

    Gibbs was recruited to work on the CG motion capture for A Christmas Carol<\/em>. It was there he met\u00a0Baillie and Tudhope<\/strong>.\u00a0You should see the puzzle pieces falling into place now.<\/em>\u00a0Gibbs stayed with Image Movers Digital throughout the end of Mars Needs Moms<\/em>. He recalls the announcement of the company’s closure.<\/p>\n

    Everyone assembled in a big room and then we went home for the day. Some people left right away. I stayed on\u00a0shuffling through work with the lighting departments and compositing. I stayed on until December.<\/p>\n

    Kevin and Ryan\u00a0were supervising the completion of the project, so they jumped into Atomic at the end of Mars Need Moms<\/em>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    Around October and November,\u00a0Baillie and Tudhope were hard at work on Sandler’s Just Go With It<\/em>. By January 2011 they moved into their new office, and Gibbs was\u00a0the first to join. The company worked out of an old sugar refinery. The building had great bones, and there the open office layout was born. One of the first projects was a music video for the\u00a0KinKi Kids<\/a>, a Japanese pop music duo.<\/p>\n

    The two band members met the perfect girl, but she turned out to be a robot. We added sparks and retimes to make her look more robotic. The final shot was their faces pasted on dummies in a box.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    \"Inside
    \nImage: Transformers 3 via Atomic Fiction<\/em><\/p>\n

    At the same time, Atomic Fiction would also agree to work on the Chicago explosion sequence<\/strong> in Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon<\/em>.<\/p>\n

    Transformers 3 was a big launch pad. It had a crazy timeline and we were still working out a lot of our pipeline. We worked like crazy for a solid month and a half. There were car explosions and Transformers tearing up Chicago, disintegrating people.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    Jack and Jill<\/em> picked up at the end of Transformers, and kept the studio running long enough to get work<\/strong> doing face replacements on Boardwalk Empire<\/em>. Keep in mind, all of this happened in the first year of operation<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

    2012 also proved to be a major year for the VFX house, as Atomic Fiction worked on several more projects that helped shape the company. They created the futuristic world of Looper<\/em>.<\/p>\n