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By TREVOR HOGGImages courtesy of Digital Domain and Marvel Studios.Banding together in Thunderbolts* is a group of criminal misfits, comprised of Yelena Belova, John Walker, Ava Starr, Bucky Barnes, Red Guardian and Taskmaster, who embark on a mission under the direction of filmmaker Jake Schreier, with Jake Morrison providing digital support. Contributing nearly 200 shots was Digital Domain, which was assigned the vault fight, elevator shaft escape, a surreal moment with a Meth Chicken, and creating digital doubles for Yelena Belova, John Walker and Ava Starr that were shared with other participating vendors.Whats great about this movie is that [director] Jake Schreier wanted to ground everything and have things be a lot smaller than we normally would propose. The first version of our explosion with Taskmasters arrow tip was big. Jake was like, I want it a lot smaller. Jake [Morrison] kept dialing it down in size because he felt it shouldnt be overwhelming. That was the philosophy for a lot of the effects in the tasks that we had in hand in visual effects.Nikos Kalaitzidis, VFX Supervisor, Digital DomainMotion blur was a key component of creating the Ghost Effect.One of the variables would be if we looked at the shots assigned to us and had Yelena as a mid to background character, explains Nikos Kalaitzidis, VFX Supervisor at Digital Domain. We might have cut corners and built her differently, but we were the primary vendor that created this character, which had to be shared with other vendors that had to build her more hero-like. We had to make sure that the pores on her skin and face were top quality, and we could create and match the photographic reference provided to us along with the scans. Even though other vendors have their own proprietary software, which is normally a different renderer or rigging system, we provided everything we had once [the character] was completed, such as the model, displacement, textures, reference photography, renders and HDRIs used to create the final turntable.Sparks were treated as 3D assets, which allowed them to be better integrated into shots as interactive light.Serving as the antagonist is the Void, a cruel, dark entity that lives within a superhuman being suffering from amnesia known as Sentry aka Robert Bob Reynolds. In Bobs past life, he was a drug addict, and during a bout of depression he goes back to a dark memory, Kalaitzidis states. As a side job, Bob wore a chicken suit trying to sell something on the side of the road while high on meth. This is one of those sequences that was thought up afterwards as part of the reshoots. The Thunderbolts go into Bobs brain, which has different rooms, and enter a closet that causes them to fall out into a different dimension where its the Meth Chicken universe. A lot of clothes keep falling from the closet until they enter a different door that takes them somewhere else. We only had a few weeks to do it. We had to ensure that everything shot on set had a certain feel and look to it that worked with all of the surrounding sequences. What was interesting about this is they shot it, not with greenscreen, but an old-fashioned matte painting. Our job wasnt to replace the matte painting with a digital one that had more depth, but to seamlessly have the ground meld into that matte painting and make things darker to fit the surrounding environments.As part of the set extension work, the elevator shaft was made to appear as if it was a mile long.There is a point in time where they try to save themselves and go through the threshold at the top of the elevator shaft. Most of them fall and had to be replaced with digital doubles, which meant using the assets we created, having CFX for their cloth and hair, and making sure that the performances and physics were working well from one shot to another.Nikos Kalaitzidis, VFX Supervisor, Digital DomainConstructed as a 100-foot-long, 24-foot-high practical set, the vault still had to be digitally augmented to achieve the necessary size and scope. There were certain parts of it that we needed to do, like set extensions for the ceiling or incinerator vents or hallways that go outside of the vault, Kalaitzidis remarks. There was one hallway with the elevator shaft they built, and we provided three different hallways with variations for each one if the Thunderbolts needed to escape. Contributing to the complexity was the stunt work. We pride ourselves on going from the stunt person to the main actor or actress. There was a lot of choreography that either had to be re-timed and re-performed so it feels like the hits are landing on the other actor and the weapons are hitting the shields. The arm of the Taskmaster had to be re-timed while fighting John Walker. Kalaitzidis notes, They are fighting sword to shield, and the re-time in editorial didnt work out because there was a lot of pauses during the stunt performance. We took out those pauses and made sure there was a certain flow to the fight of the arm hitting shield. We keyframed the arm in 2D to have a different choreography to ensure that both actors were fighting as intended.The new helmet for Ghost makes use of a white mesh.Multiple elements were shot when Walker throws Yelena across the vault. Normally, with a shot like that we would do the hand-off of the stunt person to the main actor during the whip pan, Kalaitzidis explains. But in this particular case, the director wanted us to zoom in on the main actress after the stunt actress hits the ground. The camera was more or less handheld, so we had to realign both cameras to make sure that they were working together. The ground and background had to be redone in CG. The most important part was, how do we see both the stunt actress and Florence Pugh? That was done, in part, by matchmoving both characters and lining them up as close as possible. We even had a digital double as a between, but what helped us was accidentally coming up a new solution with our Charlatan software. When using Charlatan to swap the face, the artist noticed that he could also do the hair down to the shoulders. All of a sudden, he began to blend both plates together, and it became a glorified morphing tool. There is another shot where Walker does a kip-up. One of the stunt guys springs off his hands and lands on his feet. We had to do the same thing but using a digital double of his character and lining it up with the actor who lands at the [desired] place. We matchmoved his performance, did an animation, and used the Charlatan software to blend both bodies. It turned out to be seamless.The live-action blazes from Backdraft were a point a reference when creating the fire flood.The elevator shaft had to be extended digitally so it appears to be a mile long. We had to come up with a look of how it goes into the abyss, which feels like a signature for a lot of different sequences throughout the movie, Kalaitzidis states. They shot the live-action set, which had a certain amount of texture. Jake felt that the textures inside of the set could be more reflective, so we had to enhance the live-action set to blend seamlessly with the set extension of the shaft that goes into darkness. They had safety harnesses to pull them, which had to be removed. There is a point in time where they try to save themselves and go through the threshold at the top of the elevator shaft. Most of them fall and had to be replaced with digital doubles, which meant using the assets we created, having CFX for their cloth and hair, and making sure that the performances and physics were working well from one shot to another.When youre phasing in and out, you might have four heads, and we called each one of those a leaf [a term coined by Visual Effects Supervisor Jake Morrison]. With those leaves we would make sure that they had different opacities, blurs and z-depths, so we had more complexity for each of them. As the leaves separate into different opacities, we also see them coming together. There is a certain choreography that we had in animation to achieve that.Nikos Kalaitzidis, VFX Supervisor, Digital DomainDigital Domain contributed nearly 200 visual effects shots, with lighting being a major component of the plate augmentation.Sparks are always fun to simulate. I always like 3D sparks because theyre more integrated, Kalaitzidis remarks. We also take the sparks and give them to our lighting department to use as interactive light. The same thing with 2D sparks, which have a great dynamic range within the plate and crank up the explosion to create interactive light as well. Explosions tended to be restrained. Whats great about this movie is that Jake Schreier wanted to ground everything and have things be a lot smaller than we normally would propose. The first version of our explosion with Taskmasters arrow tip was big. Jake was like, I want it a lot smaller. Jake kept dialing it down in size because he felt it shouldnt be overwhelming. That was the philosophy for a lot of the effects in the tasks that we had in hand in visual effects. A particular movie directed by Ron Howard was a point of reference. Kalaitzidis explains, Jake Morrison told us, Take a look at the fires in Backdraft because they are all live-action. There was a lot of slow motion. Looking at the texture and fire, and how the fire transmits into smoke, studying the smoke combined with the fire, we used a lot of that to adhere to our incinerator shot.A slower mechanical approach was adopted for the opening and closing of the helmet worn by the Taskmaster.Costumes and effects get upgraded for every movie, with Ghost (Ava Starr) being a significant example this time. Ava can phase out for up to a minute, so she has a bit more control over her phasing power, Kalaitzidis states. This is interesting because it leads to how the phasing is used for choreography when shes fighting and reveals the ultimate sucker punch where she disappears one second, comes back and kicks someone in the face. How we got there was looking at a lot of the footage in Ant-Man. We did it similar but subtler. The plates were matchmoved with the actress; we gave it to our animation team, which offset the performance, left, right, forward, back in time and space. Then in lighting we rendered it out at different shutters, and one long shutter to give it a dreamy look and another that had no shutter so it was sharp when we wanted it that was handed to compositing, which had a template to put it all together because there were a lot of various renders going on at that point. It was a craft between animation, lighting and compositing to dial it in the way Jake Schreier wanted it.A physicality needed to be conveyed for the Ghost Effect. We would recreate the wall in 3D and make sure that as Ava is phasing through in 3D space, she doesnt look like a dissolve but actually appears to be coming out of that wall as her body is transforming through it, Kalaitzidis explains. That was a technique used wherever we could. Another key thing that was tricky was, because we had some long shutters in the beginning in trying to develop this new look, it started to make her feel that she had a super speed. We had to dial back the motion blurs that gave us these long streaks, which looked cool but implied a different sort of power. Multiple layers of effects had to be orchestrated like a dance. When youre phasing in and out, you might have four heads, and we called each one of those a leaf [a term coined by Morrison]. With those leaves we would make sure that they had different opacities, blurs and z-depths, so we had more complexity for each one of them. As the leaves separate into different opacities, we also see them coming together. There is a certain choreography that we had in animation to achieve that.Stunt rehearsals were critical in choreographing the fight between Taskmaster and Ghost inside the vault.Explosions were dialed down to make them more believable.[Ghost (Ava Starr)] can phase out for up to a minute, so she has a bit more control over her phasing power. This is interesting because it leads to how the phasing is used for choreography when shes fighting and reveals the ultimate sucker punch where she disappears one second, comes back and kicks someone in the face. How we got there was looking at a lot of the footage in Ant-Man. We did it similar but subtler.Nikos Kalaitzidis, VFX Supervisor, Digital DomainConstructing the Cryo Case to store Bob was a highlight. It was one of those effects that no one will pay attention to in the movie in regard to how much thought went into it, Kalaitzidis observes. We went through a concept stage with the previs department to come up with almost a dozen different looks for the inside of the Cyro Case. Digital Domain was responsible for how the energy is discharged from Yelenas bracelet for the Widow Bite effect. That was fun because it was established in Black Widow and was a red effect. We went from red to blue, and the Widow Bite was like the explosion when we first did it; it was big arcs of electricity, and Jake Schreier had us dial it down and be more grounded, so we made it smaller and smaller. Not only is it the electricity shooting out as a projectile and hitting someones body, but what does the bracelet look like? We did some look development as if theres an energy source inside of the bracelet.Contributing to the integration of the vault fight was the burning paper found throughout the environment.Allowing the quick opening and closing of the of helmet for Ghost was the conceit that it utilizes nanomite technology.Helmets proved to be challenging. In the MCU, there are these helmets that have nanomite technology, which justifies why they can open and close so fast in a matter of four to six frames, Kalaitzidis states. Ghost had a cool new helmet that had a certain white mesh. We had to break the helmet up into different parts to make it feel mechanical while receding and closing. That happened quickly because there are lot of shots of her where she touches a button on a collar and opens up, and you want to see her performance quickly. It worked well with the cut. For the Taskmaster, we only see it once, and Jake wanted the effect to be more mechanical. It wasnt nanomite technology, and he didnt want to have it magical. Unlike the other helmets, it had to be nice and slow. We had to make sure that it worked with the actors face and skin so it doesnt go through her body and also works with the hoodie. As the helmet goes back, you see the hoodie wrinkle, and it does the same thing when closing.Contributing to the surrealness are the Thunderbolts entering the dark recesses of Bobs mind and encountering his time spent as a chicken mascot high on meth.One of the more complex shots to execute was the fire flood effect in the vault. If the room was exploding, we had a lot of paper on the ground and ran a simulation on that so it would get affected, Kalaitzidis remarks. Then they would run a lighting pass to make sure whatever explosion was happening would light the characters, the crates in the room and ceiling to ensure everything was well integrated. A collaborative mentality prevailed during the production of Thunderbolts*. We were graced with having such a great team and working closely with Jake Morrison. Having him in the same room with Jake Schreier during reviews so we could understand what he was going through and wanted, and the sort of effects he was looking for, was helpful.Watch an informative video breakdown of Digital Domains amazing VFX work on the vault fight and elevator shaft escape for Thunderbolts*. Click here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0DtdBriMHg
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