Awards Ceremony 2021: Visual Effects in Judas and the Black Messiah
In the realm of visual effects (VFX), the next decade promises a significant shift as AI and real-time graphics take centre stage. This transformation, set to revolutionise workflows and creative possibilities, is already being felt in various industries, and the VFX sector is no exception.
The integration of AI and real-time graphics is expected to empower artists to create entire worlds, experimental sequences, and effects more efficiently. These advanced tools could manage up to 50% or more of production tasks, democratising content creation and enabling directors and writers to realise ambitious projects with smaller budgets. However, this integration may also lead to job role shifts and ethical considerations.
The team at Zoic Studios, a renowned VFX powerhouse, has embraced this change wholeheartedly. They collaborated on the visual effects for the critically acclaimed film, Judas and the Black Messiah, which was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and won Oscars for Daniel Kaluuya and H.E.R.
Nate Overstrom, the Creative Director/VFX Supervisor at Zoic Studios, leads the charge. With a background in both 3D and 2D art, Overstrom and his team handled a variety of shots for the film, including cleanup and period fixes, blood hits, muzzle flashes, explosion enhancement, rain effects, and debris effects from shootouts.
Overstrom's pipeline includes the use of Boris FX products, such as Sapphire, Mocha Pro, and Silhouette. The team is particularly excited about the potential of Silhouette with Mocha integration, which could streamline their work further.
One of the biggest challenges faced by the team during Judas and the Black Messiah was maintaining continuity during the police shootout at the Black Panther Headquarters. The facade of the building went through a progressive change in damage across the scene and was viewed from multiple angles. To address this, the team laid out the whole scene in 3D and mapped a colour-coded "hit" diagram to track the progression of damage.
The adoption of AI is also expected to bring down the cost for labour-intensive tasks, opening the door for more creative work. Rendering final-pixel quality images in seconds or minutes instead of hours will allow for more iterations and changes made in 3D instead of compositing.
As more content is created than ever before, the VFX industry will need ever more powerful tools to work smart and efficiently and keep up with increased demand. Real-time graphics are expected to improve, allowing for Pre-Vis, Tech-Vis, and Post-Vis tasks to be done in real-time, giving directors and producers more tools to make better decisions.
Zoic Studios has a rich history of working on high-profile projects such as Homeland, The Man in the High Castle, Godfather of Harlem, and more. As the industry continues to evolve, the team at Zoic Studios looks forward to exploring the capabilities of AI and real-time graphics to push the boundaries of what is possible in visual effects.
[1] Source: Various industry reports and expert opinions [4] Source: Interviews with Nate Overstrom and the team at Zoic Studios
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