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Dig out your dancing shoes for this closer look at our teams work on Venom: The Last DanceAfter working as lead VFX partner on the first two films of Sonys hit anti-hero trilogy, we were thrilled to return to the franchise this year to help bring the epic finale to life!The Last Dance gave our talented teams the chance to flex their character building, animation and FX simulation skills, delivering just under 500 shots across 11 key sequences. In a series of recent interviews, VFX Supervisor David Lee has been sharing detailed behind-the-scenes insights on the work our amazing global crews delivered on the film.Read on for a closer look at our work! Wraith VenomIn The Last Dance, Venom couldnt become his full form without attracting the Xenophages, which meant Wraith Venom, the version of the symbiote that comes out through tendrils attached to Eddie, played a much larger role.This, coupled with the scenery we find them in during The Last Dance, provided an interesting challenge for our team. Venoms lighting is driven primarily by reflections, which, in the previous films, typically consisted of dark, moody settings. In contrast, the desert environment with only the sun as a single, direct light source meant that the team had to adapt Venoms lighting so as to not lose any intricate detailing.To do this, they added a sense of iridescence to his skin to give an additional layer of complexity in the light. In an interview with Digital Media World, David said, We started adding multiple, smaller light sources, but biasing them towards the key light direction to keep to the lighting on the plates. This gave us the improved form and detailing, allowing him to keep a similar aesthetic to the previous films and not just losing him to one large, hot reflection coming in from the Image-Based Lighting. The increased specular points of interest gave us nice, tight highlights to illustrate the wet, fluid nature of Wraith, which we combined with a soft subtle bounce to help him form without flattening him out from broad, bright sky reflections.Venom HorseDeveloping the Venom Horse was another key challenge for our team to overcome. Referencing the filmed performance of a real horse on set, the team built a full CG asset, rather than use a tracking model, in order to keep the movement looking natural while incorporating Venoms additional size and muscle mass.Venom is always a much larger character than the characters he has inhabited, but Kelly [Marcel] really wanted to emphasise the size and power of the Venom Horse, so we ended up even a little bigger than our references on set, David told Digital Media World.The decision to keep Venom Horses strides longer and stronger than a normal horse emphasized the symbiotes power and speed and allowed our team to play around with other elements of his personality. Speaking with Post Magazine, David shared, We leaned into accentuating the comic nature of the horse in performance such as the tongue flopping out of the mouth and hitting Eddie as he rides!It was also important that the design of Venom Horse incorporate aspects of the original character, creating one cohesive look across the symbiotes different physical forms. For example, the mane and tail are a mass of tendrils that mesh together when they collide, giving a liquid-like behaviour and look similar to the Wraiths tendrils that attach to Eddies back.XenophagesOur crew also developed the look of the fearsome Xenophages, drawing inspiration from a variety of animals from praying mantises and crocodiles to snakes and porcupines!Because development started from a visual point of view before being passed over to our Build and Animation crews, the Xenophages movements could only be designed once the base look was more defined one of the primary challenges that arose when developing these creatures, particularly when it came to the leg articulation.How it moved was a fun challenge for the animation team, led by Chris Lentz, which spent a lot of time playing around with different movement styles, David shared with Digital Media World. It became an important step in the development process to run the asset through animation as quickly as possible, so adjustments could be made to avoid biomechanical issues while trying to limit changes to its look.David shared with Art of VFX, We settled on a variety of insectoid type movements to give us a staccato motion, with limbs and head movements that were almost mechanical, as evident in some larger beetles and spiders. As the animation team worked through their motion tests, we fed this back into adjustments to the model itself to ensure everything worked correctly, before updating to a fully functioning rig for the final asset.Another signature physical trait of the Xenophages is the mouth full of rotating teeth, which came to life through a combined effort between our Build and Effects teams. Speaking with Animation World Network, David said, We would have our build department construct the external teeth, which were rigid. Our effects team would populate the interior of the mouth with these rotating teeth that pop out through these little gummy slits. Its almost like a conveyor belt and then they come back down again.Green SymbioteOf the new symbiotes the film introduced, our team worked on the the Green symbiote bonded to Officer Mulligan. Director Kelly Marcel wanted a distinctly different look and feel for this symbiote. Leaning into the concept of a translucent type appearance that showed aspects of the internal structure and vascular system, our team added complexity to the design with a rougher exterior surface, dialling iridescence onto the torso to produce a cyan-ish shimmer as it catches the light, and finished it off with a subtle, almost frosted quality to the exterior.To compliment the symbiotes unique look, it needed a distinct style of movement. David told Art of VFX, The addition of a tail that split into multiple lengths allowed us to lean into a more smooth, hypnotic type of motion. Similar to a snakes movements, its calm and slow, and belies the power he could unleash if he so wanted.Aeroplane FightOur work also included the aeroplane fight between Venom and the Xenophage, which consisted of extensive environment and skyscape build, creature animation for both characters, and complex FX work for the cloudscapes and plane damage.Despite some of the sequence being shot in the studio with a section of a real plane, the final scene ended up being a fully CG sequence save for Tom Hardys face and arms, which were taken from his performance in the studio, where he was shot on wires on the side of the plane.We had a lot of fans going when we were shooting, but it just didnt have the terminal velocity that is so fast. David explained to Digital Media World. Given the extremity of the environment we would be adding in post, we would require the greater control working digitally would give us over such aspects as reflections, lighting and the character interactions as they fight.Driving home the speed and drama during the battle on top of the plane, additional cloth simulations were added to Venom to enhance the sense of him being liquid at his core. His entire body, head and skin start to get this flutter like a dog hanging out a window of a fast-moving car! David told Animation World Network.Dancing QueenOur team put on their dancing shoes to create another first: the iconic Venom and Mrs. Chen dance sequence! This light-hearted scene also featured work from our DNEG 360 team, who provided mocap services on set.One of the challenges of this sequence came again from Venoms size. When filming the choreography with the stand-in, the distance between the performers had to allow for the symbiotes true stature, which was achieved with extendable forearms as a guide for his reach, and a large head piece to account for his height and provide an eyeline for Peggy Lus Mrs. Chen.Another consideration was how Venoms size would impact the way he moved as a dancer. David told Digital Media World, Initially, we thought we would have to apply a much greater sense of weight and slower speed for Venoms character compared to our dancers performance, but it became apparent looking at reference material of dancers that these big guys can be pretty light on their feet. So we kept Venom a little bit pacier than anticipated, and let the contrast between his normal style of movement compared to his dancing add to the humour of the situation. We just made little adjustments where required to prevent him from feeling too light it was a fine balance.Sharing his thoughts on the film as a whole, David told Animation World Network, It was fun for me to work on this kind of film because if youve got an idea about how something can be more exciting or might help the narrative then everyone is open to those types of ideas, which is fantastic.Want a closer look at our work on Venom: The Last Dance? Check out our VFX Breakdown!
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