All 16 felony charges against the Empire actor have been dropped. Smollett, who was accused of staging a phony hate crime against himself, has had his record wiped clean.Cook County States Attorney Kimberly Fox said: After reviewing all of the facts and circumstances of the case, including Mr. Smollets volunteer service in the community and agreement to forfeit his bond to the City of Chicago, we believe this outcome is a just disposition and appropriate resolution to this case. We standby the Chicago Police Departments investigation and our decision to approve charges in this case.While Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said: I stand behind the detectives investigation. Do I think justice was served? No, I think this city is still owed an apology. Johnson was joined by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel who criticized the Cook County States Attorneys office decision: This is a whitewash of justice. A grand jury could not have been clearer.Jussie Smolletts legal team shared this statement in the Chicago Tribune: He was a victim who was vilified and made to appear as a perpetrator as a result of false and inappropriate remarks made to the public, causing an inappropriate rush to judgment. Jussie and many others were hurt by these unfair and unwarranted actions. This entire situation is a reminder that there should never be an attempt to prove a case in the court of public opinion. That is wrong. It is a reminder that a victim, in this case, Jussie, deserves dignity and respect. Dismissal of charges against the victim, in this case, was the only just result. Jussie is relieved to have this situation behind him and is very much looking forward to getting back to focusing on his family, friends, and career.What a turn of events in this case! Do you think the court made the right decision? Sound off in the comments below.The post Jussie Smollett: All Charges Dropped appeared first on Fame Focus.

The Coldplay frontman has just been granted a restraining order which protects him and his girlfriend Dakota Johnson against an alleged stalker. On Monday, Martin reportedly filed paperwork against a woman who he believes has been stalking him for awhile. The stranger has allegedly visited the singers house multiple times, and even placed a package inside his gate. The stalker is said to have also left letters at his residence referencing his children, suicide, death, and delusions about what she believes is a romantic relationship with Gwyneth Paltrows ex-husband. Martin said the police have told her to stay away. But, now the 42-year-old has taken the matter into his own hands and officially filed a restraining order that protects him, Dakota and his children Apple and Moses whom he shares with Paltrow.The woman has been ordered to stay at least 100 yards away from the aforementioned parties until a court hearing next month.The post Chris Martin Granted a Restraining Order appeared first on Fame Focus.

In these VFX show reels we take a look behind the scenes of the 2017 movie Logan and find out just how they created all of the incredible and unbelievable VFX shots. Plus, we also take a look at how they make realistic 3D versions of actor Hugh Jackman who plays the mutant character Logan and Dafne Keen who plays the character Laura. Both incredibly realistic digital doubles that, arguably, seem to have almost broken free from the uncanny valley. See for yourselves! VFX by: Image Engine and Rising Sun Pictures Music by Monkey Media Like the music in this video? Get it onitunes,Google Play,SpotifyandAmazonThe post Amazing Before & After Hollywood VFX: Logan appeared first on Fame Focus.

The Boy Is Mine singer has officially filed for divorce from her ex-NBA star husband Shannon Brown.Monica met Brown in June 2010 when looking for someone to play the love interest in her video for Love All Over Me. The couple wed less than six months later in November 2010. Monica filed the paperwork earlier this month in Atlanta. The pair, who have been married nearly a decade, have a five-year-old daughter Laiyah together. Monica also has two sons from a previous relationship with rapper Rocko.No details have been released regarding whether she will be seeking child or spousal support from Brown. Monica and Shannon reportedly separated in October 2018, but then the 38-year-old shared a loving photo of the two together on Instagram. Fans recently noticed that she hasnt been wearing her ring in Instagram photos for the past month.Monica has been in the music business for over 25 years and shes still going strong. In December 2018, she released the ballad Be Human to introduce The Be Human Foundation, a non profit organization founded by herself. In January 2019, she released Commitment, the first single on her own label, Mondeenise Music. Best of luck to Monica and her family during this separation. The post Singer Monica Files for Divorce from Ex-NBA Baller Husband appeared first on Fame Focus.

By now, most Wendy Williams fans have heard about the talk show hosts latest drama (her husbands mistress recently gave birth to a baby girl), but now were hearing that Williams has been unfaithful herself.The TV personalitys ex-husband, Bert Girigorie, spoke with Radar Online and shared the details of her alleged infidelity during their marriage. Williams and Girigorie were married in 1994, and they reportedly called it quits a year later in 1995.Girigorie said: She would stay out all night and come home about 10 or 11 oclock in the morning and was like Oh? and she didnt offer any explanation. And that pissed me off. I just let it go. I do not wish her any ill will. I hope that she is able to find some peace of mind. After we broke up people started calling me up and telling me different things. At that point it didnt matter. Several people came to me with stories about her being with other people.He went on to say that he thinks their marriage was a complete publicity stunt: I didnt really consider it but looking back part of the reason why we hooked up was because I fit the profile that she thought would be acceptable to her parents. I came from a good family, a middle class/upper middle class family, educated. I was working at the radio station. I just fit the profile of the guy that she could bring home to her parents.With all thats going on in Wendy Williams world, this doesnt look too good for the TV star. The post Wendy Williams Ex-Husband Accuses Her of Infidelity appeared first on Fame Focus.

Marsai Martin, best known for playing the Johnson familys brainiac daughter Diane on Blackish, is now the youngest executive producer of a big-budget film.The 14-year-old came up with a new plot idea for the body-swap genre entitled Little. The film stars Regina Hall as Jordan Sanders, a hotheaded tech mogul known for her ruthless leadership style, who transforms into a teenage boss. When she happens to cross a 13-year-old girl armed with literal Black Girl Magic, Sanders is transformed into an actual Girlboss. Marsai is a perfect example of a young girl having creative ideas and anything-is-possible energy, says director Tina Gordon, who cowrote 2002s Drumline.Marsai Martin, born just outside Dallas, has been performing since she was just two years old. When Martin was nine, her family moved from suburban Texas to Southern California. Within months, she had landed over a dozen commercials and a role on a new ABC pilot, about an upper-middle-class black family in Los Angeles, which would later become Blackish.This is just the beginning for the successful young actress who wants to do a live-action Marvel film and is already diving into her own online beauty tutorials. The post Blackish Star Becomes Youngest Executive Producer Ever appeared first on Fame Focus.

According to court documents filed in Clark County, Nevada, the Oscar-winning actor filed for annulment just four days after tying the knot with his makeup artist girlfriend Erika Koike.Cage and Koike obtained a marriage license on March 23 and wed that same day at the Bellagio casino on the Las Vegas Strip.The Ghost Rider actor reportedly filed an annulment request on March 27. If the court refuses his request he wants a divorce, the filing noted.Cage, 55, and Koike, 35, had been together for at least a year, its unclear why the two split so suddenly.This was the fourth marriage for Cage. He was previously married to actress Patricia Arquette for six years from 1995-2001. His second wife was singer Lisa Marie Presley whom he married in 2002, but divorced three months later. He wed Alice Kim, his third wife, in 2004, the couple were together for 12 years before splitting. They had a son, Kal-El, in 2005 and divorced in 2016. Maybe marriage just isnt in the cards for Cage?The post Nicholas Cage Seeks Annulment Less Than a Week After Marriage appeared first on Fame Focus.

Law enforcement had been tracking 38-year-old John Ford, the guy who showed up twice at Kendalls home, for the past few weeks.Last October, Ford scaled a hill and ended up by Jenners swimming pool and came back again shortly after and ended up on her front porch.Ford who is actually a Canadian citizen whose visitor visa expired months ago, has been living illegally in the U.S. Ford entered the country a year ago from Canada at Sweetwater, Montana, with a non-immigrant B-2 visa, which allowed him to stay in the States for no longer than six months. ICE agents immediately began searching for Ford, and they got their man Monday at a New Mexico hotel.An ICE spokesperson said: This timely arrest could very well have prevented a violent crime. Our special agents acted quickly on this tip to ensure that this obsessive behavior didnt escalate to become a tragedy.Ford is currently in ICE custody in El Paso, Texas and is awaiting a deportation hearing.The Kardashian-Jenner family responded, We are extremely appreciative of the hard work by the Los Angeles Police Dept. and ICE, whose swift response and professionalism led to this mans apprehension. His actions have not only had a severe impact on Kendalls life, but the entire familys sense of security, causing us to fear for Kendalls safety as well as our own. Knowing this individual is in custody gives us peace of mind.The post Kendall Jenners Alleged Stalker Arrested by ICE appeared first on Fame Focus.

Ermias Davidson Asghedom, professionally known as Nipsey Hussle, was a Grammy-nominated rapper and songwriter from Los Angeles. Hussle was shot dead Sunday afternoon outside of his store, Marathon Clothing, in South Los Angeles. He was 33.Hussle emerged as a part of the West Coast hip-hop scene in the mid-2000s and he initially became known for his numerous mixtapes, including his Bullets Aint Got No Nameseries,The Marathon,The Marathon ContinuesandCrenshaw.The late rappers debut studio album, Victory Lap, was released in February 2018 to critical acclaim and commercial success, and was nominated for Best Rap Album at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards in 2019.Hussle was raised in the Crenshaw neighborhood of South Los Angeles, where he was member of the local Rollin 60s Neighborhood Crips gang. He leaves behind his girlfriend of six years, actress Lauren London, their son together, Kross and a daughter, Emani, from a previous relationship.The post Rapper Nipsey Hussle Shot Dead in Los Angeles appeared first on Fame Focus.

The 34-year-old actress is engaged to longtime boyfriend Louis Diame. RaesInsecurecostars Jay Ellis andYvonne Orjiconfirmed the news while walking the red carpet at the 2019 NAACP Image Awards over the weekend.Oriji told Entertainment Tonight: Were very excited for her, with Ellis adding, We all found out in different ways because were all on different text chains. We talk at different times, so we all found out at different times in different ways.Surprisingly, Rae also attended the NAACP Image Awards, but she did not comment on her relationship status. Rae played coy during her appearance on The View on Monday, saying, I have a lot of rings on my fingers.Rae and Diame try to keep their relationship out of the spotlight, though the businessman has accompanied the actress on several red carpets over the years.Rae prefers to keep her personal life private: I get so much feedback about everything. The one thing I dont need feedback on is who Im sleeping with.Well, congrats to the lovely couple, we wish them all the best!The post Insecure Star Issa Rae Is Engaged appeared first on Fame Focus.

In a recent speech the Venom actress revealed how she found out she was paid less than a tenth of her male co-stars salary. Williams admitted she felt paralyzed in feelings of futility.Williams and Wahlberg were asked to return to the set of All The Money In The World after director Ridley Scott decided to completely erase scandal-ridden Kevin Spaceys role. For a few of the scenes Spacey was digitally replaced by actor Christopher Plummer, while some scenes required the other actors to be present.Apparently the 38-year-old had agreed to receive no additional salary, just a per diem (a small stipend to cover daily expenses). While, Mark, on the other hand, had gotten his agent, Ari Emanuel, to negotiate a hefty sum for the extra ten days. Williams shared: In late 2017, the news broke that Id been paid less than $1,000 compared to the $1.5 million that my male counterpart had received for the exact same amount of work. And guess what, no one cared. This came as no surprise to me, it simply reinforced my life-learned belief that equality is not an inalienable right and that women would always be working just as hard for less money while shouldering more responsibility at home. Ive been a working actress since the age of 12. Ive been accredited by my industry at the highest levels and that still didnt translate to equal compensation.Then, Wahlberg was shamed into donating his outlandish salary thanks to Jessica Chastain. Williams said: Months passed and the actress Jessica Chastain, with whom I had in fact played sisters, offered to take my story to her Twitter. Jessicas audience was much wider than mine and she wasnt afraid to pick up a megaphone and be heard. Heard she was, there was an uproar and a public shaming within my industry that resulted in a $2 million donation to the Times Up Defense Fund.Michelle thinks there has been a slight shift in the industry noting: On the job I just completed two weeks ago, I have to tell you, I was paid equally with my male costar.Its about time!The post Mark Wahlberg Made 1,000 Times Michelle Williams Salary appeared first on Fame Focus.

The Hills alum has just announced that she and her husband, William Tell, are expecting their second child.The 33-year-old took to Instagram to share the news: Its been hard to keep this one to myself! Conrad captioned the pic of herself holding her baby bump. Very excited to share that our family will be getting a little bigger this year.Conrad and Tell who have been together since 2012, tied the knot back in September 2014. The pair already share son Liam, who will turn two in July.The ex-reality star turned lifestyle aficionado opened up about wanting children in a2015 blog poston her website. When asked how many kids she wanted, Conrad replied, Maybe two, that way we arent outnumbered.Well, it seems like everything is going to plan! Congrats to Conrad and her growing family.The post Lauren Conrad Pregnant with Baby Number 2 appeared first on Fame Focus.

Alec Baldwins wife opened up to her Instagram followers today in a very vulnerable way. The 35-year-old shared that she is most likely experiencing a miscarriage. Baldwin candidly wrote: I want to share with you that I am most likely experiencing a miscarriage. I always promised myself that if I were to get pregnant again, I would share the news with you guys pretty early, even if that means suffering a public loss. I have always been so open with you all about my family, fitness, pregnanciesand I dont want to keep this from you, just because it isnt as positive and shiny as the rest. I think its important to show the truthbecause my job is to help people by being real and open. Furthermore, I have no shame or embarrassment with this experience. I want to be a part of the effort to normalize miscarriage and remove the stigma from it. There is so much secrecy during the first trimester. This works for some, but I personally find it to be exhausting. Im nauseous, tired, my body is changing. And I have to pretend that everything is just fineand it truly isnt. I dont want to have to pretend anymore. I hope you understand.Hilaria continued: So, this is what is going on now: the embryo has a heartbeat, but it isnt strong, and the baby isnt growing very much. So we waitand this is hard. So much uncertainty, but the chances are very, very small that this is a viable pregnancy. I have complete confidence that my family and I will get through this, even if the journey is difficult. I am so blessed with my amazing doctor, my dear friends, and my loving familyMy husband and my four very healthy babies help me keep it together and have the perspective of how truly beautiful life is, even when it occasionally seems ugly. The luck and gratitude I feel that I am my babies mommy, is wonderfully overwhelming and comforting.The couple who share four young children together Carmen (born August 2013), and sons Rafael (born June 2015), Leonardo Angel Charles (born September 2016) and Romeo Alejandro David (born May 2018), have been married since June 2012. We will keep the Baldwin family in our prayers.The post Hilaria Baldwin Opens Up About Possible Miscarriage appeared first on Fame Focus.

The Amazon CEO and his wife MacKenzie have officially finalized their hefty divorce. Mackenzie says shes finished the process of dissolving my marriage with Jeff, and says shes given him all of her interests in the Washington Post and 75% of their Amazon stock. Shes also surrendered her interest in Blue Origin, the aerospace company Jeff started in 2000. Jeff will also be paying out a generous portion of what was the couples $149 billion net worth. Jeff and MacKenzie, who married back in 1993, just six months after meeting and way before Amazon, have four children together ranging in age from 13 to 18. The ex-couple both went to Princeton, but they met in New York when he was vice president of a hedge fund. After getting married, they quit their Wall Street jobs and moved to Seattle, where Jeff started an online bookstore in his garage- the beginning of Amazon.MacKenzie is an award-winning novelist and the executive director of an anti-bullying org. called Bystander Revolution.The division of their assets couldve been complicated by how much they have, and not only in cash. The pair own 400,000 acres of property and are two of the biggest landholders in the country. But, the split appears to be fair and amicable.The now-exes announced their plans to split following what they called a trial separation. Jeff has already moved on to former So You Think You Can Dance host Lauren Sanchez, who many speculated he was having an affair with while he was married. Glad the divorce was able to be civil.The post Jeff Bezos Divorce Is Finalized appeared first on Fame Focus.

So many bests, so much need for CGI! And we have some amazing VFX for you to see. In this showreel, we explore the epic action adventure fantasy film that is a sequel to the 2010 film Clash of the Titans. Of course, creating all of these incredible effects no only took huge amounts of computer animation know how but also some amazing artwork by very talented individuals. Come and see just what went into the making of Wrath of the Titans in these incredible VFX showreels! VFX By: MPC and Method StudiosMusic By: Monkey Media IncorporatedSong Title: Monkay BusinessMusic Links:Get it on itunesGet it on Google PlayFind it on SpotifyBuy it on AmazonThe post Amazing Before & After Hollywood VFX: Wrath of the Titans appeared first on Fame Focus.

Come and find out how the special effects in Terminator Salvation were done. See how modern day, ground breaking, CGI has helped movie makers add enhancements to their practical effects to the point where you cant tell if it was actually filmed or just a puppet in front of a green screen. In these reels we explore some subtle effects that really add that sense of realism. And some more involved effects that make bringing Terminator Salvations fictional world to the big screen possible. Enjoy VFX Reels By: Rodeo FX and Rising Sun Pictures Like the music in this video? Get it onitunes,Google Play,SpotifyandAmazon The post Amazing Before & After Hollywood VFX: Terminator Salvation appeared first on Fame Focus.

After 11 years of drinking wine alongside Hoda Kotb, Kathie Lee Giffords final day of Today has arrived.After a special performance from Flo Rida, who turned his hit My House turned into Kathie Lees House, Gifford sat down with Kotb for the last time.Gifford shared: I feel great, I do. The last two weeks, since all this crazy stuff began, I had no expectations. You want to bear it well. You want to honor the Lord with whatever you say and do, but you also want to have fun and remind people of why this show worked in the beginning. Because we have fun and we have a friendship and its real.In April 2008, everything changed when Gifford replaced Natalie MoralesandAnn Curryfor the last hour ofThe Today Show, chemistry was magnetic between her and Kotb.Gifford has been a daytime favorite since her days on Live! With Regis & Kathie Lee, so fans are going to miss her on the small screen Monday through Friday while she pursues other endeavors.Gifford will be devoting her time to writing and producing Christian music: The work that I want to do isnt here anymore. I am an artist, Im an actress, Im a writer, Im a songwriter, a director now. Thats the stuff that feeds my soul and I know that Im running out of time to do those things.Former first daughter Jenna Bush Hager is set to step in as co-host alongside Kotb on April 8. The post Kathie Lee Gifford Says Goodbye to Today appeared first on Fame Focus.

The 35-year-old model is expecting her second child. Rose and her boyfriend Alexander Edwards both announced the news on Instagram last week. This will be the first child for the couple, while Rose shares six-year-old Sebastian Sebastian Taylor Thomazwith rapperWiz Khalifa.Rose wrote: @ae4president and I are SUPER excited to announce that we have a Sweet little Baby Boy on the way! P.S Sebastian is soooooo Happy to be a big brother!Shes currently 13 weeks pregnant and is suffering from hyperemesis gravidarum, a severe type of nausea and vomiting during pregnancy. Sources told TMZ that Amber was hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for a few days, getting IV treatments because she was sick and losing weight. The baby boy is due in October, close to Ambers birthday, and were told shes excited to share the same zodiac sign Libra.The post Amber Rose Is Pregnant and Feeling Sick appeared first on Fame Focus.

The reality star has plans to follow in her father Robert Kardashians footsteps by becoming an attorney, and shes aiming to get it done within three years.Kim revealed to Vogue that shes actively studying to become a lawyer. Shes not attending a law school as of now, but she does have a master plan to take the bar exam by 2022. The 38-year-old has begun a four-year apprenticeship at a San Francisco-based law firm, which she got started last summer with support and consulting from Van Jones and attorney Jessica Jackson.Kim admits her inspiration came from getting ex-con Alice Marie Johnson released early, which she did by lobbying President Trump and meeting with him face-to-face in the Oval Office.She admits the impact of Johnsons case was bigger than she expected: Im sitting in the Roosevelt Room with, like, a judge who had sentenced criminals and a lot of really powerful people and I just sat there, like, Oh, sh*t. I need to know more. I would say what I had to say, about the human side and why this is so unfair. But I had attorneys with me who could back that up with all the facts of the case. Its never one person who gets things done; its always a collective of people, and Ive always known my role, but I just felt like I wanted to be able to fight for people who have paid their dues to society.The post Kim Kardashian Taking Bar Exam in 2022 appeared first on Fame Focus.

Charles Van Doren, one of the most infamous TV game show contestants of all time, has passed away. According to Van Dorens family, the subject of an Oscar-nominated film died Tuesday at his Connecticut retirement home. Charles famously admitted to cheating on the NBC game show, Twenty-One, back in the 1950s. Van Doren actually testified before Congressional investigators in 1959, saying the shows were rigged. This lead to a huge scandal, because prime time game shows were enormously popular back then, drawing up to 50 million viewers.The 1994 film, Quiz Show directed by Robert Redford, was inspired by Van Doren. The movie, who starred Ralph Fiennes, earned four Oscar nominations and four Golden Globes nominations.Van Doren won $129,000, which would be equivalent to more than $1 million today, but later told Congress he had been given the questions and answers in advance. He also said he was coached up on how to create more drama as he pondered his answers on the show.Van Doren was disgraced after the cheating scandal. He went on to become an editor for Encyclopedia Britannica and wrote a few books.The post Charles Van Doren Dead at 93 appeared first on Fame Focus.

The late rappers Celebration of Life is taking place at the Staples Center today, and TMZ is live streaming whats expected to be a very emotional memorial service. Nipsey Hussle is being honored with an extravagant service in downtown Los Angeles, where 21,000 people are expected to attend. So far G-Eazy, Big Sean, Big Boy, James Harden, DeMar DeRozan, Russell Westbrook and Meek Mill have arrived for the event.Free tickets to the late 33-year-olds memorial were hard to come by this week, as they were purchased within minutes after they were made available to California residents. The heavily guarded affair is protected by a mix security from LAPD and Nation of Islam, as well as Staples Center personnel. The memorial program is full of notes of goodbye and memories from close friends and family. There are also letters written by James Harden, DJ Khaled, Kendrick Lamar, LeBron James, The Game, and many others.We also got the Order of Service and it confirms many of Nipseys celeb friends will be heavily involved, including Anthony Hamilton,Marsha Ambrosius,Snoop Dogg,Jhene Aiko,YG,Stevie WonderandBig Boy.Minister Louis Farrakhanwill also speak during the ceremony.May Nipsey Hussle rest in peace. The post Nipsey Hussle Memorial Service Draws Thousands appeared first on Fame Focus.

Yesterday, it was confirmed that the daytime talk show host has officially filed for divorce from her husband of over two decades, Kevin Hunter. TMZ confirmed that Williams served Kevin Hunter with divorce papers on the set of her show Thursday, finally ending things amid years of rumored infidelity and Kevins alleged mistress recently having a baby.The couple who have been married since 1997, share one son together, Kevin Jr., 19. Hunter also serves as Williams manager and is a producer on her show.In hopes of starting fresh, Williams has been scouring Manhattan looking for a new place to call home.Wendy and Kevin lived in New Jersey together for a large part of their marriage, but now Wendy believes starting over in new surroundings is what she needs. The post Wendy Williams Files for Divorce appeared first on Fame Focus.

Following Tuesday mornings episode of Today, the co-anchor announced via phone that she has adopted a second child, a daughter named Hope Catherine Kotb.The 54-year-old is now a mom for the second time, she previously adopted her now two-year-old daughter, Haley Joy in February 2017.Kotb got candid with her co-workers, some of whom were visibly emotional, when she revealed how big sister Haley is adjusting to having a new baby in the house: This morning at breakfast Haley was trying to feed the new baby her raspberries and I was like, Not yet, babe, Hoda said. She was literally marching around saying, Im a big sister.So happy to see that mom, baby, and big sis all appear to be in GREAT spirits!The post Hoda Kotb Adopts Her Second Child appeared first on Fame Focus.

The Game of Thrones actress has been done filming Season 8 since last summer, and apparently shes been on a hiatus from acting ever since.Turner explained to Dr. Phil during his new podcast, Phil In The Blanks: I actually am still on my break, I took a break off of work to focus on my mental health because I thought it was important.The future Mrs. Joe Jonas has been very candid with her fans about her mental health issues in the past.She tweeted back in January: If we can just all speak out about our experiences or our loved ones experiences we can help other people who suffer with mental illness not feel so alone. Lets keep this dialogue going.She told Dr. Phil: So Im still on that, and Im just about to go into press for the final season of Game Of Thrones, and a movieDark Phoenix that I did, the latest X-Men, is about to come out in June, so Im getting ready for a big press tour for that. So, it seems like her big hiatus wont last forever, although she does have another career in mind if she decides to leave Hollywood forever: I want to do a lot of things, and not just in the film world, at the moment I have a real urge to go to a police academy and become a copIm fascinated by crime and why people do things and the interrogation process, and how you can manipulate your words in order to get someone to confess, that interests me.Well, that would be an interesting turn of events, for now GoT fans can look forward to watching her in the epic shows final season.The post Sophie Turner Quitting Acting appeared first on Fame Focus.

In their efforts to recreate the ISS in the utmost detail, Evans and a team of artists in India began with a basic model of the station. From there, the model was split into individual assets. At that point, Evans and his team waited to see where director Daniel Espinosa would point his camera before focusing their effort into the most prominently featured parts of the model.One of the tricky things they had to deal with was how clean the actual ISS is in real life. Looking at reference photography, it all looked quite CG the normal trick to break this up would be to add layers of dirt to the object but they wanted to try their best to stay true to real-life so they erred away from dirt where they could and went crazy with things like bolts, rivets, handles, cloth basically anything that helped to add more texture onto otherwise pretty flat panels. They did, however, finally have to succumb and run a little dirt through which did actually help sell that last 2% of making something feel real.Another aspect of recreating the real-world ISS that cropped up was the literal mix-and-match nature of the station. Different modules of the International Space Station were built in different nations, by different teams of people. Huw Evans and his team went to great pains to ensure those structural differences were preserved for the final film.The planet Earth was all CGI too. As you might imagine, a special effects company like Doubled Negative has plenty of reason to have an in-house CG model of the planet Earth. And, According to Evans, the regularly-updated model can accurately portray the Earth from any angle. It rotates, it displays city lights and floating clouds. And thats just the base model.But Earth and the space station werent the only things they used CGI Models for.For a moment when Russian actor Olga Dykhovichnayas character takes a walk in space, this was done entirely by computers. As Evans explained, Dykhovichnaya submitted to a scan of her entire body to render a 3D model. From there, a team of artists in London went to work, adding details to the final version.Throughout the film, we see Jake Gyllenhaal, and crew., float through the International Space Station in zero gravity.There are many ways to achieve this effect. You could film in a Vomit Comet, but this is a very expensive method.You could have two guys in green costumes carry the actors in their arms in front of a green screen backdrop and then chroma key the background. But that would be a ridiculous idea. (3:15)No, Instead, for Life they opted to use wires to suspend the films actors. Its a cost-effective technique that allows the filmmakers to film reliably (and predictably) for long periods. Of course, on the tail end of things, Evans and his team tackled the detail-intensive work of scrubbing out every trace of the wires. Imagine the artistry involved in erasing a steel cable that happens to splice Jake Gyllenhaals face in two on-screen and removing it so cleanly that no one can tell the difference even when the image is blown up to the size of a movie screen. Maybe option two would have been a better idea after allMoving on to the films big bad alien named CalvinCalvin gets a lot of character growth over the course of Life. Like, literal character growth. He begins as a tiny organism and evolves quickly to a freaky predator. Evans and Espinosa accomplished this feat by splitting Calvins development into seven distinct parts: Petri dish Calvin, Finger-following tadpole Calvin, Finger-hugging baby Calvin, Hand-crushing flower Calvin, Mouth-erupting larger Calvin, Adult Calvin, and Final evolution stage Calvin.Now, every studio wants to deliver on a terrifying movie monster, but creature supervisor Aharon Bourland had something a little more intensive in mind. According to Evans, Bourland wanted her monster to be based in reality. Says Evans, Bourland worked up a whole biology for this creature and tried to base it all on real-world references as much as possible so each part of its design had a function. And it really paid off.Which movie VFX would you like us to breakdown next? Let us know in the comment section. Also, dont forget to like, subscribe and turn on notifications to receive updates on our latest videos.Like the music in this video?Music By: Monkey MediaSong Title:Links:Get it on Google Play:https://play.google.com/store/music/album/Monkey_Media_Monkey?id=Bowcdm4d3e27oxtldklnn7ynwju&hl=en_USGet it on itunes:https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/monkey/1457690282Listen on Spotify:Buy it on Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Monkey-Media/dp/B07NRQCQ7Y/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=monkey+media&qid=1554364061&s=gateway&sr=8-2The post Amazing Before & After Hollywood VFX: Life appeared first on Fame Focus.

Amazing Hollywood VFX. So well done in fact that most of the time we dont actually see it, at all!But pretty much everything we see in the movies has a whole ton of CGI behind it, enhancing it into the polished scenes weve grown to love.For the Desolation of Smaug, Benedict Cumberbatch not only recorded the voice of Smaug but also had a camera strapped to his head as he thrashed about on the sound stage.Koba from the Dawn of The Planet of The Apes was a CG version of actor Toby Kebbell who acted out the bonobos part throughout. A fully computer-generated model was then constructed and rigged with the tracking points from Kebbells face and body. The motion capturing mixed with CGI is what made the chimps in the movie so convincing.Game of Thrones! Its pretty obvious to every viewer that Daenerys dragons were CGI. It would have been a lot less convincing to simply enhance giant puppets. But she still needed to interact with the dragons on set so rudimentary green props were used.The same challenge was encountered on a much larger scale with the skeletons.In Guardians of the Galaxy, Rocket Raccoons CG character was based on very a real raccoon named Oreo. Also, there was a teddy bear version that would be filmed after the plate, so the animators could get a feel of how its fur reacted to the scenes lighting. In many of Rockets dialogue scenes, a speaker and microphone were strapped to an extra to give the other actors something to react to and for the other scenes, actor Sean Gunn would kneel in front of them reciting Rockets lines. Many of his body movements were used in the final animation. Its no surprise that Man Of Steel is packed full of CGI.When your main character is expected to have super speed and fly around the skies, theres going to be some special effects involved. However, something that wasnt CGI was Henry Cavills pecks as the actor refused any digital touch-ups or enhancement to his body in his shirtless scenes. He also refused to take steroids to muscle up for the role saying it would have been dishonest of him to use trickery while playing Superman and he wanted to push his body to the limits to develop his physique into one that was worthy of the character.In X-Men Days of Future Past, Mystique was so much more complex than Jennifer Lawrence in a blue suit. The actors reels would have to transition seamlessly from one another and VFX artists added a system called Feather Groom tracked virtually to Lawrences blue skin changing color as the scales are flipped over. This system could be moved over her entire body like a ripple in water.For her role as Mystique, Jennifer Lawrence wore a special bodysuit. She had previously worn full-body prosthetics in X-Men: First Class but found that too uncomfortable.Some people wonder why the majority of the end fight of the Avengers was filmed on a green screen and not in the real Manhattan streets. Just the logistics alone, of shutting down a street for the entire shoot would have been a nightmare not to mention having to add so much digital debris and matte paintings afterwards anyway, that the whole thing may as well have been CGI from the start. And so it was. Artists had to create cars, mailboxes, fire hydrants, traffic lights, concrete streets, cables, bars, you name it, they CGd it.Amazing Hollywood VFX. So well done in fact that most of the time we dont actually see it, at all!But pretty much everything we see in the movies has a whole ton of CGI behind it, enhancing it into the polished scenes weve grown to love.Like the music in this video?Music By: Monkey MediaAlbum Title: MonkeyGet it on Google Play:https://play.google.com/store/music/album/Monkey_Media_Monkey?id=Bowcdm4d3e27oxtldklnn7ynwju&hl=en_USGet it on iTunes:https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/monkey/1457690282Listen on Spotify:Buy it on Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Monkey-Media/dp/B07NRQCQ7Y/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=monkey+media&qid=1554364061&s=gateway&sr=8-2The post Amazing Before & After Hollywood VFX appeared first on Fame Focus.

In this episode, we take a look at some incredible behind the scenes VFX footage from Captain Marvel. Find out just what went into this highly polished Hollywood Movie in this detailed VFX breakdown, presented by Jayme Gutierrez.How did Goose the cat fit so many tentacles into his mouth? What did actor Brie Larson have to do to shoot fire out of her hands? Was there really two guys behind her, firing flame throwers in front of a green screen? Maybe not. But find out what really went on in this amazing before and after Hollywood VFX breakdown of Captain Marvel! For those of you who enjoyed the music in this video, here are the links:Track Name: Brass MonkeyGet it on iTunes: https://music.apple.com/us/album/brass-monkey-single/1468001972?app=itunes&ign-mpt=uo%3D4Or Listen to it on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/3qfSZFaFOlOSlzBNYTujInFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/focusfameThe post Captain Marvel Without VFX; See Behind all the CGI appeared first on Fame Focus.

20,000 people have signed Return to Orders (a Christian Group) petition asking Netflix to cancel Amazon Prime Videos new limited series Good Omens. Youd think they wouldve at least watched an episode before calling for the ban, then at least they would perhaps realize that the show was created by Netflix and has a pretty great plot about an angel and demon cooperating to save the planet from the apocalypse.Return to Order is based on the work of John Horvat II. The Christian Group calls upon Americans to put principles into actions by working toward what is called an organic Christian society. Another Return to Order petition in April demanded Walmart to stop selling Satanic products following a protest in 2018 against a blasphemous ice cream chain called Sweet Jesus.The post Christian Group Attempts to Ban a Show They Havent Seen appeared first on Fame Focus.

The visual effects in Jordan Peeles 2019 American psychological horror US play just as important a role as the directors social themes. They help reinforce the characters motivations, act as a visual metaphor, and keep the audience glued to their seats without them even noticing any of the post-production trickery thats just happened. And thats when you can tell that the VFX have been done right; when people dont notice anything at all. Just in case you havent already seen it, spoilers ahead.Seeing as the main premise of this movie is that everyone has an evil doppelganger, it was fundamental the shots showing both versions of a character at the same time looked flawless. Now, instead of creating expensive digital doubles that sometimes dont quite convincingly mimic the motion or nuances of an actors performance, they decided to use a different technique.They shot every scene twice. Once with actors playing one character and then, having quickly gone through hair and makeup, their counterpart right after. Some scenes were also filmed using a body double in place of their counterpart.The idea was to get as much real footage of the actors playing both of their roles in order to splice it all together in postproduction. Which is far more practical than strapping a mirror to a body doubles face.Careful notes were taken for each camera movement, noting every camera position and rotation, in order to be able to recreate, as closely as possible, the same shot for each additional pass of the same scene.Having multiple versions of the same shot made it easier to track heads from other takes onto stunt doubles. The problem, however, with this method, arises when both doubles need to interact physically with each other.For this, Industrial Light and Magic ended up having to play a bit of Frankenstein by chopping and cropping actors faces and slicing and splicing parts from stunt doubles in order to create a hybrid version that made the interactions look more convincing.For the flashback where Red and Adalade first meet in the Hall of Mirrors,Jordan Peele made things look even more creepy by having actor Madison Curry stand in front of her photo double, instead of simply putting her in front of a mirror, making it feel all the more unnatural.When Adelaides counterpart reaches out and grabs Adelaides neck, Curry was filmed grabbing a green paper cup that was later replaced.Her hands were also later replaced as well as a full head replacement for an added surreal effect. For the deserted tunnels under the US, hallways were designed with movable walls, some on rollers. This allowed for them to be adjusted on the move however they wanted and meant that they could also switch to a green screen backdrop, ready for LIM to chroma in endless maze-like corridors.The ending areal shot in the movie was filmed in Nicasio, not too far from ILM studios. The only issue with the footage was that there were a lot of forested areas which meant that large parts had to be digitally removed in post-production for the line of tethered to be seen well enough.To make the huge line of tethered feel more tethered to the countryside, a team of 90 extras lined up in red jumpsuits on one of the hilltops. From there, ILM extended the rest of the line digitally to continue on as far as the eye can see. Please give us a thumbs up if you enjoyed this breakdown and be subscribe to be up to date with our latest videos!For those of you who enjoyed the music in this video, here are the links:Track Name: Brass MonkeyGet it on iTunes: https://music.apple.com/us/album/brass-monkey-single/1468001972?app=itunes&ign-mpt=uo%3D4Or listen to it on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/3qfSZFaFOlOSlzBNYTujInFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/focusfameThe post Amazing Hollywood VFX Breakdown: Us appeared first on Fame Focus.

Costing a whopping 321 million dollars to produce, Infinity Wars budget didnt just go on reuniting some of the biggest names in Hollywood. A huge whack of it went on state of the art VFX.(VFX by DNEG)Characters like Proxima Midnight and Corvus Glaive were actually completely CGI. Despite being played by Carrie Coon and Michael Shaw, all of their acting scenes were done in a mo-cap suit which was later used to rig their digital counterparts.(VFX by Rise)Sam Jackson plays Nick Fury in the Avengers films. However (Spoiler Alert) in the end credits after Thanos has snapped his fingers, Nick Fury is headed downtown with his closest agent Maria Hill. When suddenly half of the worlds population starts to disappear. CGI helicopters crash into buildings and all kinds of chaos ensues. This is when Fury looks at Hill and she starts to disintegrate. Using a clever mix of rotomotion, matchmoving and 3D models, VFX artists then added a soft wind to disrupt and carry away the outside shell of the 3d model, with a combination of RBD and FEM simulations. Pulling off this very convincing shot.A similar technique was planned for Nick Fury after he grabs Captain Marvels pager, but in the end, the studio decided to discard Sam Jacksons original plate, and switch over to a full CGI environment and a 3D model of Fury from the production of Winter Soldier used to bind together flakes and sand until affected by the soft wind. This way, they avoided more complicated matchmoving and rotoscoping headaches.In this Wakanda sequence, we see Okoye and King Tchalla strolling along a field which was actually a grassy hill in Atlanta. Thousands of trees and shrubbery was added using SpeedTree and Houdini. Also, many assets were pulled in from the Black Panther production and parts of the Golden City which were done by ILM.(VFX by CineSite)In his quest to steal one of the infinity stones from Thanos, Ebony Maw is torturing Dr. Strange aboard the Q ship. The character Ebony Maw was one of CineSites most difficult challenges due to him being a 100% CGI model, with some extreme close up shots.The plate featuring Benedict Cumberbatch was filmed on a half-constructed set in Atlanta and the ships interior was then rebuilt using a modular 3D construction, creating an alternative damaged version for later destruction sequences.Suits, like Starks and Parkers, were CG, and then tracked and mapped to the actors bodies, although full cgi models were used when the characters masks were on.CineSite was also tasked with tracking and sticking on the antennae to Mantis forehead.(VFX by Framestore)It was Framestores first time working with Spiderman and looked through past movies for inspiration. It has a metallic-sheen and allows Spidey to breathe in space as well as adding an additional layer of armour. Not to mention an additional 4 legsFramestores Capture Lab spent a month in Manhattan and New Jersey shooting photo reference, LIDAR and gigapixel panoramas to capture the environments that had to be recreated in CG.Framestore also worked closely with Marvel for two years, designing Iron Mans new Mark 50 bleeding edge suit. As opposed to the earlier movies, his new suit is made up of thousands of nanobots which rush into place on command, comprised of many different simulations and layers within Houdini.(VFX by Digital Domain)The pressure was on Digital Domain to make Thanos seem like a living and breathing super-villain, some would say the success of the whole movie hinged on his performance being believable. Thanks to their hard work alongside Weta Digital, Thanos is one of the most convincing CGI villains in cinema history.Like the music in this video?Music By: Monkey MediaAlbum Title: MonkeyLinks:Get it on Google Play:https://play.google.com/store/music/album/Monkey_Media_Monkey?id=Bowcdm4d3e27oxtldklnn7ynwju&hl=en_USGet it on iTunes:https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/monkey/1457690282Listen on Spotify:Buy it on Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Monkey-Media/dp/B07NRQCQ7Y/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=monkey+media&qid=1554364061&s=gateway&sr=8-2Read more here: www.famefocus.comThe post Amazing Detailed Before and After Hollywood VFX: Avengers Infinity War appeared first on Fame Focus.

Imageworks had already worked on all previous Spiderman movies so, in an attempt to give Spiderman Homecoming a fresh new look, producers were reluctant to involve them in this project. That is until they saw how crazy good some of Imagworks test material was! They created a computer-generated photo-real version of actor Tom Holland that looked and moved so convincingly that Tom and even the filmmakers thought it was real. One of the problems Imageworks realized was how all the iconic spidey comic book poses tended to make the on-screen animated character look a bit too artificial.To overcome this, Imageworks focused on all the wobbly bits of Toms performances. They paid close attention to all of the times Tom was off balance or slightly hesitant in a movement, adding imperfections to the animation and other details like being misaligned with the camera or not quite holding a pose correctly. All of this made the animation feel more human. Imageworks also worked on The Vulture, who uses an exoskeleton with huge bird-like wings. However, for reference, Imageworks didnt actually use vultures as you may have assumed. Instead, filmmakers wanted it to have more of a military/steampunk look. So, Imageworks took references from real jetpacks and other one-man flying machines. The end result was a bulky, heavy, powerful exoskeleton. However, this meant that The Vultures movements had to be slow, in order to stay true to how heavy things move. Remembering to slow down his animation went a long way in assuring he stayed grounded in reality. For the modern military jet and its cloaking device, Imageworks took all sorts of reference from modern, state of the art technology. Inspired by the real-world Adaptiv IR Camouflage tank cloaking system from BAE Systems, the idea they came up with was covering the whole plane in a screen that projects a 360 image of its surroundings. But instead of using a plane-shaped TV screen, they decided to cover it in LED squares and have a 360 camera to capture its surroundings. (Cantina Creative)Cantina Creative were responsible for creating a variety of HUD graphics, holograms and monitor designs.The HUD for Spider-Man was designed to be unique to the character but still fit within the MCU, making sure to also include a reference to the famous Stark Industries technology. They faced similar design and animation challenges with the tracking hologram in Spider-Mans suit, Vultures HUD, and many other screen graphics. All had to fit within the films design style while also conveying specific story points.(Trixter)To help populate the Grand Central cleanup scene, Trixter added additional background workers whose sized and outfits could be adjusted as needed. In the scene where Spiderman fights Schultz, Trixter used a CGI school and added 360 degrees of matte paintings for elements of midground and far away distances.Trixter also added a 100% CGI Spider-Man, who actually came from Imageworks. But Trixter applied rigging, muscle and cloth systems to it to make it look and move more like a loose training suit. They also worked on Schultzs gauntlets.For the Avengers compound, Trixter were given concept art that had been previously used for the Avengers compound, but, in the end, ended up remodelling it. (Digital Domain)For the Staten Island Ferry battle, Digital Domain created CGI versions of Spider-Man, Spider-Mans drone, Iron Man and the Vulture suit. They also used LIDAR to capture an actual Staten Island Ferry, as well as the one created on set, to help with creating the digital version.Despite being filmed with the lighting to mimic a specific time of day, it was later decided to change the time of day in post-production. (Method Studios)And finally, Method Studios did some amazing work creating the scenes for the Washington Monument sequence, that werent actually filmed on location as they were not allowed to film at the real monument. So, instead, they built very large chunks of it on set which actually gave them more control over lighting and stunts.Now, before you go thinking; I bet they just filmed it on its side and then flipped the camera 90 in post, they didnt. Instead, it was filmed upright, with Tom Holland supported on wires. However, they did have it just slightly pitched, to make stunts a bit easier, but not enough to be noticeable.Music Links:Track Name: Monkey BusinessGet it on itunes:https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/monkey-business-single/1451371572?app=itunes&ign-mpt=uo%3D4Get it on Google Play:https://play.google.com/store/music/album/Monkey_Media_Monkey_Business?id=B2odocy62qrgppq5tdqojciuvweFind it on Spotify:Buy it on Amazon:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07N8YKVZ6Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/focusfameThe post Amazing Before and After Hollywood VFX: Spiderman appeared first on Fame Focus.

Completing 655 VFX shots and 23 sequences, visual effects company Double Negative certainly did take the lions share of the VFX work in Deadpool 2.For the parachute sequence, just before the X-Force members become X-X-Force members, DNEG put together plates and aerial shots, using a mix of CG doubles for far away scenes and real actors for close up shots. One of which being Actor Brad Pitts on-screen cameo.A lot of the downtown street chase was filmed on a soundstage for obvious and safety and road closure headache reasons. But it did mean that more practical stunts could be done and there was less need for digital doubles.That said, CGI was still used in places. Like, for example, when Cable jumps out of the exploding trailer. As well as all shots of his arm, which was done entirely with CGI.It was also decided to use a motion capture sleeve for Cables arm, instead of a practical effects metal arm because that would not only have taken extra time but would also have committed them to a specific design and made it more work to change, if needed, later on. This is because, using a prop sleeve would increase the size of the arm and therefore add to the amount needed to be removed, making the whole thing counter-productive.And with the render quality and lighting match these days, DNEG were pretty confident they could add a digital arm seamlessly.As for Cables chest and neck, they used a combination of CGI and prostheticsDNEG also worked on Firefists inner white-hot glowing fists, translating the concept art into the final effect on screen.So, now for some pretty challenging and kinda controversial VFX work. Just exactly how do you switch out Deadpools legs for those of a young boy?Firstly, putting trouserless baby legs on a grown mans torso is kind of a messed up thing to do. And, how do you do it without it looking creepy, dodgy or just plain wrong?Well, the production team soon realised that the more realistic looking, or normal, they made the legs look, the more people became immersed in the humour of funny, cute, little baby Deadpool pegs, rather than be repulsed by such a disturbing, horrible image.So then comes the next question; real of CGI?Well, DNEG went with CGI. As sticking a stand-in toddlers legs onto actor Ryan Reynolds would have meant trying to sync up two different performances and may have also compromised Rayans performance as Deadpool.Plus, the legs walking across the room had to be CG anyway, to better control lining up with Deadpools walking.But, how to shoot the scene?Do you make a hole in the couch and have Ryan kneel inside it, adding CGI baby legs in post? Well, while they did initially explore this idea, they soon realised that not having his legs free affected Ryans body language too much. So to get more of a natural feel they had him sat normally but put markers on his legs. This made the performance more genuine and even allowed Ryan to almost suggest some performances for the legs. Also, having childish poses that look funny on a full-grown man or adult poses on childlike legs for each time it cuts back to him, made the gag even funnier.For having him actually walking on his infant-like appendages DNEG did some quick mocap tests, having Ryan walk on his knees, which actually ended up looking quite good and gave them the height they needed. All that was left after that was to make sure he didnt lean backwards or forward too much because it wouldnt actually be possible to do that if he had short little legs. So, for realism, he needed to stay as upright as he could.Finally, we have the very brief shot of X-Men Members in the X-Men mansion that I said Deadpool technically wasnt in. And thats because he wasnt.Deadpool 2s production team sent lineup data and camera lens info to director Simon Kinberg, who was a producer on Deadpool 2 but also happened to be the director of X-Men: Dark Phoenix. So, while filming Dark Phoenix, he managed to get them a cheeky little shot of some mutants, matching the camera angle and lighting, ready for Deadpool to be superimposed on top. Like the music in this video?Links:Get it on Google Play:https://play.google.com/store/music/album/Monkey_Media_Monkey?id=Bowcdm4d3e27oxtldklnn7ynwju&hl=en_USGet it on iTunes:https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/monkey/1457690282Listen on Spotify:Buy it on Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Monkey-Media/dp/B07NRQCQ7Y/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=monkey+media&qid=1554364061&s=gateway&sr=8-2Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/focusfameThe post Deadpool 2 Without The CGI! VFX Breakdown (DNEG) appeared first on Fame Focus.

Avengers Endgame was definitely in store for some amazing VFX. Including a revamped Professor Hulk. Just look at the detail in the way the pores stretch and flex with his skin! Incredible! This sequence of Tony Stark, lost in space on the M-ship, was mostly done by Cinesite, who created the lonely exterior shots of the ship and retouched Nebulas eyes to make them blacker. Her CG robotic arm was added by them too and they also did the visual effects for the sequence where she gets the orb and damages her arm in the process.Cinecite also took care of the chase between the Outriders and Hawkeye beneath the rubble of the Avengers base. Choreographing the interaction between these 8 limbed creatures was pretty challenging.They created multiple animation cycles of the way the Outriders move, which included running, climbing, crawling and leaping. The scenes were blocked out first, which basically means key poses are created to establish timing and placement of characters and props in a given scene or shot and the animation was then later refined for each creature.One key aspect of Cinesites work was environments.For example, this shot was made up of CG buildings vehicles, and multiple bluescreen shots of extras positioned on cards placed in Nuke, to bulk out the shot.The sequence that involved Ant-Man giving Tony a mild cardiac dysrhythmia was also Cinesites doing Now, personally, despite how disappointing the character was for some, the VFX work done on Professor Hulk was insane! Whats also insane is how many different VFX companies worked together on this move, 14! Framestore developed their Machine-learning technology in order to create a quick first pass animation that could be used to help filmmakers decide on the edit before beginning the process of refining.Keyframe animation was then deployed for over 60 shots of Professor Hulk.This procedure of capturing the performance was key for the animators.A new facial capture system was also created by ILM, specifically to make Smart Hulk look as close to actor Mark Ruffalo as possible.Getting the look right look and performance also involved scans, facial capture and hand animation of the actor, as well as some concept art for reference. Digital Domain and Weta Digital incorporated new proprietary software to put more detail into the face.Now, seeing as Hulks face a lot larger than Bruces, tiny changes to his face had a big effect on the performance. So, a new subset of facial shapes was built to give animators more control in the animation allowing them to achieve more complex, subtle expressions.When it came to shooting Captain America fighting his younger self, this was filmed on a green soundstage. Yep, everything other than the bridge floor theyre standing on and a set of stairs was greenscreen! The only problem was, all the detail added in the amazing CG set made it more confusing to follow the action on closeups. So, in order to get a cleaner silhouette of the Cap, they had to go back and sneakily do things like blur areas and add more atmosphere to make the Caps pop out more. For the Cap fighting the Cap, they filmed actor Chris Evans fighting a stunt double and had VFX company Lola track Evans face onto the stunt doubles face.And finally, for the portals scene in the final battle, before Tony Stark does the whole switcheroo with the infinity stones, showing them off like engagement rings, Weta Digitals digital matte painting department created completely CG environments and compiled multiple passes that were each rendered through their respective portals with the same camera movement in order to key together and parallax in this incredible scene. If you enjoyed the music in this video, you can find links to it in the video description.Please give this video a like to help us out and let us know in the comments what movie youd like us to break down next! Like the music in this video?Music By: Monkey MediaTrack Title: Grease MonkeyAlbum Title: MonkeyLinks:Get it on Google Play:https://play.google.com/store/music/album/Monkey_Media_Monkey?id=Bowcdm4d3e27oxtldklnn7ynwju&hl=en_USGet it on iTunes:https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/monkey/1457690282Listen on Spotify:Buy it on Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Monkey-Media/dp/B07NRQCQ7Y/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=monkey+media&qid=1554364061&s=gateway&sr=8-2Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/focusfameThe post Avengers Endgame Without the VFX Part 1 [Cinesite VFX Breakdown] appeared first on Fame Focus.

With a total of around 2,700 VFX shots in Avengers Endgame, there is certainly a lot of VFX to talk about. So, for that reason, weve decided to make a 2nd video breaking down more effects and covering bits we left out of our previous instalment. For the space shots, DNEG used elements and techniques developed for Avengers: Infinity War as well as adding layered gas cloud elements to enhance the depth. Spacing out layers helped give a better feeling speed and scale. Once they had it all designed, it could then be used as part of a lighting rig to better key in things like Captain Marvel and the Benatar.When creating the Benatar, Previous models and textures of the Benatar were used as a starting point. However, the older versions didnt have enough detail for the close-up shots and so several techniques were used to increase the resolution.Extra greebles were added, straight lines were made to look more irregular, dirt, dents and flat surfaces were made to look more uneven in order to add more realistic imperfections.As for the rigging, that had to be redone from scratch.Additional parts that had never been seen before were also added, like the cargo hold, landing gear or the galley behind the cockpit.And despite how comfortable Chris Evans may look in this picture, its not because of sitting on a sunlounger as this shot was actually mostly real! Well apart from Captain Marvels costume and War Machines suit aaaand Rocket.Double Negative used Different approaches for Captain Marvels rigging and animation, such as digital-takeover, bodytrack augmentation, and digital-double shots.DNEG created an animation puppet and face rig with their Modular Rigging System, Pinocchio, Getting the movement right for the shot where Captain Marvel carries the drained Benatar ship back to earth was a challenge. In order to sell the shot, they needed to get a believable relation between the weight of the ship and her super-human strength. In order to remove to feel of Brie Larson dangling on wires, her body was replaced with a CG one. This way they were able to preserve the performance of Bries head while, at the same time, animate her body movement to fit perfectly to that of a person with super-human strength carrying a huge spaceship. Like anyone knows what that would look like anyway For Rocket, who wasnt actually mocaped by a raccoon, which would have been ridiculous but also quite funnyDNEG built a full CG raccoon skeleton and muscle system and based it on earlier models of the character.For the fur, they ended up developing and new workflow that allowed them to quickly take in Rockets groom from other VFX studios.They had to be careful with his facial expressions, too extreme would make the fur too dense in areas or look too cartoony, They also had to be careful with lighting so as not to tint the colour of his fur.For the scene where Captain America fights his past self.DNEG created a fully digital environment for the building interior and due to there being so much glass, a 360-degree digital environment and a matte painting of the whole city needed to be created because of the reflections on the glass needing to reflect parts of the background scenery that werent directly in front of the camera.For example, the reflection of this building that would have been somewhere over there, off shot. And every shot of the characters also had to be tracked in order to be able to apply their reflections and shadows to the glass as well. And finally, a fun little fact; DNEG actually injected some of their own personality into the movie by using the atrium and their London office as a reference for the interior design in the second half of the sequence. Like the music in this video?Music By: Monkey MediaAlbum Title: MonkeyTrack Name: Monkey BusinessLinks:Get it on Google Play:https://play.google.com/store/music/album/Monkey_Media_Monkey?id=Bowcdm4d3e27oxtldklnn7ynwju&hl=en_USGet it on iTunes:https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/monkey/1457690282Listen on Spotify:Buy it on Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Monkey-Media/dp/B07NRQCQ7Y/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=monkey+media&qid=1554364061&s=gateway&sr=8-2Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/focusfameThe post Avengers Endgame Without the VFX Part 2 [DNEG VFX Breakdown] appeared first on Fame Focus.

Completing over 300 VFX shots, Framestore certainly bit off a nice chunk of the VFX work in Avengers Endgame.From helping to breathe life into a Smart Hulk, to completely replacing costumes, whaaat? These guys certainly know their stuff. So its no wonder they ended up working on such an amazing project. Framestore were the original developers of the character Rocket back in Guardians of the Galaxy Volume one, giving him a slight upgraded for Vol. 2. For Avengers Endgame, Framestore have given him yet another upgrade. This time, making him a little greyer. Care needed to be taken not to overdo any tweaks to the character. Too much and he ran the risk of looking like a totally different character.They also gave his suit a refresh, adding goggles and a red scarf. So, lets talk about the Quantum suits, made of high-tech armoured cloth and carbon fibre that we see them wearing to travel through the quantum realm. Heres a fun fact, they werent even wearing them! Nope, for these shot, the actors just wore their everyday, casual, superhero costumes.Why?, you may ask Well, we do too. The most logical explanations are; timing, flexibility and convenience (weirdly).Having CGI costumes meant that they werent locked into any specific design nor did they have to wait for costumes to be made. They could incorporate the nano-tech effects more seamlessly and seeing as theyd need to create full photoreal costumes for transitions anyway, just tracking them to the actors for the rest of the scenes makes sense. That would be my guess anywaySo, reasons aside, to achieve this, Framestore built digital doubles for each character. They then set about building the suit based on concepts provided by Marvel Studios. Their Ant-Man esque helmets that look like they were made from a mix of nanobots and Guardians tech look pretty good.However, personally, I think they could have improved it slightly by adding a subtle head jolt from the inertia of the movement to really link it to the head in the shot.Heres a really roughly put together shot with his head jolting verses not jolting. Let us know in the comments which one you think looks more natural. Now, brushing aside this costume swap, been there, done that.Lets talk about what Framestore did to bring back the Quantum Van from Ant-Man and the Wasp.Framestore used scans from the original to build the whole model on.They used Nuke to get it to look as close to the original as possible and then decided which elements needed to be 3D. For the quantum effects, they used a mixed of optical FX; aberrations, colour breakup, heat distortions, and even their own blue plasma. For the big Quantum Gate time travel portal, this effect was magnifiedAnd had to integrate with the Avengers shrinking and falling down into it. To achieve this they had to use a lot more optical effects, such as; smoke, heat distortions, aberrations, atmospherics, time echoes and lens-tilts with a few flares for good measure in order to key it all together nicely. Framestore also worked on the super realistic looking smart HulkTo get the ball rolling, they developed their machine-learning technology to learn source footage of Mark Ruffalo for it to then create a solve in order to match it in animation.With this technique, they were able to create a first pass of animation that would help filmmakers decide on the edit in order to begin adding face-shapes to use in the rig.The build of his face was challenging you cant just pop on a hulk head with the face cut out.as Ruffalo and Hulks face shapes are so different. For example, Hulk has a bigger mouth and deeper eye sockets. So tiny changes to Ruffalos face had a huge effect on smart Hulks performance.So, a new subset of facial shapes was created with more complex and nuanced expressions to give animators that extra bit of control that they needed.Like the music in this video?Music By: Monkey MediaSong Title: Monkey SeeAlbum Title: MonkeyLinks: Get it on Google Play:https://play.google.com/store/music/album/Monkey_Media_Monkey?id=Bowcdm4d3e27oxtldklnn7ynwju&hl=en_USGet it on iTunes:https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/monkey/1457690282Listen on Spotify:Buy it on Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Monkey-Media/dp/B07NRQCQ7Y/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=monkey+media&qid=1554364061&s=gateway&sr=8-2Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/focusfameThe post Avengers Endgame Without the VFX Part 3 [Framestore VFX Breakdown] appeared first on Fame Focus.

Racking up a total of 7 sequences comprising of 337 VFX shots, Digital Domain was one of the many VFX companies responsible for making Avengers Endgame, that looked like this, to look like this! For the scenes where we see Thanos on his retirement planet, Digital Domain did an amazing job of bringing this artificial environment to life but it didnt come easily. A completely photoreal alien planet had to be created without it looking too much like Earth. They had to create alien plants and also the fruit that we see Thanos picking which is a mix of Guava, Artichoke, Kiwi and Kiwano, also known as horned melon. Time was spent getting the lighting on the plants to look just right, with plenty of subsurface scattering, making sure they looked nicely backlit by the sun. Atmospheric elements like dust particles were added in comp as well as some good old God rays, otherwise known as volumetric lighting. But this low angled sunlight shining through the many layers of animated alien plantlife took a lot to render. Renders would use nearly all of their render farm, taking a whole weekend to complete.Aside from some alternative versions like Damaged Nebula and a clean Hulkbuster, Digital Domain recycled most of the CG characters they used in Infinity War for Endgame, with the exception of War Machine who was actually new to them.Both War Machine and Hulkbusters models were shared assets from another company.Thanos had some minor upgrades since Infinity War. More resolution was added to the Thanos model and textures. Additional controls were added to the rig, including the face, to allow for more detailed facial performances, such as partial facial paralysis, for example.In order to make his face look and move like it had suffered the wrath of using all the infinity stones at once, so extra controls around the mouth were added in order to improve the realism of muscles not quite contracting the way they should. For the scene where Nebula fights Nebula, it was shot in a way that didnt really show both faces at the same time. Which made it much easier as it meant that there wasnt much Digi-double work to do, leaving them with just the other tasks, such as; replacing future Nebulas arm, makeup and costume touchups, eye replacements and adding the orangy stripe to her head.Shooting this scene on a green screen soundstage actually made it more difficult for Digital Domain due to them having to make an entire digital set, matching the already established lighting on the actors that could also hold up to close-up shots.To save on time, due to deadlines, they reused parts from other sets that they had previously created, adding additional textures and more resolution.Thankfully, they were given quite a bit of freedom when creating the set which allowed them to insert lighting to match the already established lighting, baked onto the actors. For the holograms in the scene where Thanos finds out about the future, they already had a nice about of the animation work already done, like the scene where Thanos loses his head, literallyWhat they did do was to film the same scenes but from the perspective of Nebula and then create the 3D holograms but in the perspective of the audience. After that, once achieving the right hologram style for the shots, it was then applied in 2D. Like the music in this video?Music By: Monkey MediaAlbum Title: MonkeySong Name: M-1000Links:Get it on Google Play:https://play.google.com/store/music/album/Monkey_Media_Monkey?id=Bowcdm4d3e27oxtldklnn7ynwju&hl=en_USGet it on iTunes:https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/monkey/1457690282Listen on Spotify:Buy it on Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Monkey-Media/dp/B07NRQCQ7Y/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=monkey+media&qid=1554364061&s=gateway&sr=8-2Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/focusfameThe post Avengers Endgame Without the VFX Part 4 [Digital Domain VFX Breakdown] appeared first on Fame Focus.

At the time of the production of Avengers Endgame, Weta Digital already had quite a sizable amount of VFX work on their plates. And, aside from planning multiple future Avatar movies, they were also working on Alita: Battle Angel.But, that didnt mean that they werent able to still deliver some amazing VFX for Avengers Weta Digital worked mostly on the 3rd act battle scene of the film which takes place on the rubble of the Avengers compound.Now, seeing as the Avengers compound was situated next to a forested area beside the Hudson river, debris from all the destruction also featured some tree stumps.The only problem was, after compiling a rough cut pre-visualization of all the shots filmed, all those lovely broken tree stumps made it seem more like they were fighting in a smashed-up forest rather than a demolished Avengers compound.So Weta took on the tedious tasks of rotoscoping out all the actors in order to replace the background with less trees.The lighting of the backgrounds throughout the fight was designed to subtly change in accordance with what was happening in battle. For example, Thanos destroying the Avengers compound or when our heroes seem to be in a position of desperation, the lighting was dark and gloomy but when help arrives through the portals, it brightens up slightly. These subtle lighting changes were added to almost subliminally tell the audience whos winning in the fight.Creating the huge portals was challenging. For Endgame, these needed to be huge, making it way more involved than the ones from previous movies.Sparks needed to be spinning really fast and floating while, at the same time, cooling off, causing some particles to fall and others to float away.To make it all look more natural, they created custom simulations to behave as wind fields.This was then passed on to the lighting team along with some controls to alter the size and length of the sparks the time of rendering.Captain Marvels costume was initially designed to be similar to the 2024-era Captain Marvel look. However, filmmakers changed their mind post-production and wanted it to look even cooler. So, Weta were tasked with creating a CG costume for her instead. The Mark 85 suit in Avengers Endgame needed to keep a sense of flexibility while at the same time not looking cheap, plastic, knock off, Halloween costume.So, seeing as the red and gold areas are more noticeable than the grey parts, they were able to hide a lot of stretching in those grey parts, clever. This meant they could preserve the sense of rigidity in the suits material while, at the same time, giving it the flexibility they needed.Aside from some extra fixes to Thanos facial rig that they didnt have time to fix in Infinity War, Thanos was, essentially, a different Thanos from the 2014 Guardians of the Galaxy era.But, instead of de-ageing his face, they made animation changes to his fighting style and movement, making him look more agile and stronger, having him appear more like a warrior in heavy armour.However, due to the design of his armour looking as restrictive as wearing a suit made of cardboard boxes, they did a lot of things behind the scenes to give him full flexibility while still allowing his armour to appear rigid.Weta built Thanos using their muscle system that scans ahead of the animation, searching for any movement that would require muscles to contract beforehand. You can see a good example of that in this shot. Notice how his bicep fires a couple of frames before he actually moves?Subtle muscle twitches and flexes were also added in shots where Thanos was stood still to greatly improve the realism.And finally, we come to what Weta calls the Blip effect. You know, when all the bad guys turn into dust.Watching the almighty Thanos satisfyingly turn into dust and get carried away by a gentle breeze was all thanks to some very carefully timed and well-crafted work.They created a simple 2 colour mask with the same growth algorithm used in the final effect that they could quickly update with any necessary timing changes. This allowed them to not only be able to show VFX supervisors how the blip would transition over Thanos body but also, once the client was happy, it could then be matched 1 to 1 as Thanos turns into dust. Like the music in this video?Music By: Monkey MediaAlbum Title: MonkeyTrack Title: Monkey BusinessLinks:Get it on Google Play:https://play.google.com/store/music/album/Monkey_Media_Monkey?id=Bowcdm4d3e27oxtldklnn7ynwju&hl=en_USGet it on iTunes:https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/monkey/1457690282Listen on Spotify:Buy it on Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Monkey-Media/dp/B07NRQCQ7Y/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=monkey+media&qid=1554364061&s=gateway&sr=8-2Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/focusfameThe post Avengers Endgame Without the VFX Part 5 [Weta Digital VFX Breakdown] appeared first on Fame Focus.

Consisting of 140 VFX shots, the illusion battle between Spider-Man and Mysterio in Spider-Man Far From Home was so full of CGI that if we were to show you behind the scenes footage of the fight without CGI, it would look like thisNo, neither Tom Holland nor Jake Gyllenhaal were filmed for the most part of the entire sequence, and definitely not this guy.So, instead of just showing the scene without VFX, which would just be a blank screen, were going to take you behind the scenes to find out just how the guys at Framestore created this amazing sequence.The sequence for the illusion battle wasnt ever set in stone and actually ended up being made while it was being designed.So, aside from all the VFX work, Framestore was also encouraged to come up with creative designs of the Illusion Battle sequence.To do this, they started with a pre-visualization by Proof and began building storyboards and concept artwork, adding movie references and other things to put Spidy in all sorts of uncomfortable scenarios.By the time they were finished designing the sequence, they had only 8 weeks to complete it. Fortunately, Framestore was able to quickly present concept ideas to the team over at Marvel, by sending rapid prototypes, made by modelling as much as they could in 2D while using as much stock footage as they could, as well as a 2.5D projection technique. This allowed them to promptly and efficiently produce a kind of animated storyboard full of ideas and sequences, for the client to decide upon. For the shots where Spider-Man ends up pulling a crane through the hologram effect, all the action was first blocked with concepts before VFX work started. The environment and action were completely created from scratch which gave the animators a nice amount of freedom to add or remove shots in order to get the timing and feel of it all spot on. The spooky green smoke that we see pour into each scene was done in Houdini and, also, really added to the spookiness of seeing Iron Man as a zombie.The resurrected Iron Man needed to be chilling but not too horrifying or gory while at the same time looking pretty cool. Due to the fact that Framestore was working on the sequence before any shots had actually been filmed, they were also able to help out with the shots on set.Now, most of the shots were fully CG but there were some that really needed to be done by the actors themselves. Like, for example, the scene where Mysterio grabs MJ.However, due to the scene not having yet been filmed, Framestore was able to take advantage and block out the animation with a CG version of MJ before the shooting began.This way they could light a scene with precise lighting information for the position of the Eiffel tower lights and also the light from the moon, and render it before passing to production making whatever they filmed on set be, pretty much, the exact plate material they needed.And lastly, whenever our hero breaks out of the illusion world theres a blue sparkly transition, based on the transition we see in the B.A.R.F technology scene in Captain America Civil War.The transitions move slowly, revealing the real world bit by bit.Framestore helped drive the voxelization process before passing it on to the comp team for the final look in Nuke. Like the music in this video?Music By: Monkey MediaAlbum Title: MonkeyLinks:Get it on Google Play:https://play.google.com/store/music/album/Monkey_Media_Monkey?id=Bowcdm4d3e27oxtldklnn7ynwju&hl=en_USGet it on iTunes:https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/monkey/1457690282Listen on Spotify:Buy it on Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Monkey-Media/dp/B07NRQCQ7Y/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=monkey+media&qid=1554364061&s=gateway&sr=8-2Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/focusfameThe post Spider-Man Far From Home VFX Breakdown [Framestore VFX Breakdown] appeared first on Fame Focus.

The 2018 Ant-Man and the Wasp was certainly full of all sorts of VFX challenges, what with our heroes shifting from big to tiny to huge, and being transported to the quantum realm, as well as creating a load of realistic life-size ants. No, to achieve all of this back in the day before VFX got so good would have been too much of a challenge. Forced perspective and other camera trickery can only get you so far. But what if you want to go quantum? Responsible for 200 shots, Cinesites Montreal team spent 8 months on delivering six key VFX sequences for the movie. One of which being the sequence where 20 huge trap-jaw ants are working on the quantum tunnel, using power tools and carrying props around Dr Hank Pyms laboratory.Cinesite were mainly responsible for bringing those massive ants to life.To do this, they did extensive research in order to create a library of various realistic walk cycles, in various poses so that they could move and interact with their environment at a larger scale in a more natural and believable way. Now, due to the natural smooth texture trap-jaw ants have, the CG ants easily ran the risk of looking too pristine and plasticy. So, to better define roughness, subsurface scattering and light transmissions were added by the look development team.Different thorax proportions and head shapes were given for the audience to better distinguish between the ants. But it doesnt just stop there.The realistic translucency of the ants bodies was designed to vary from ant to ant depending on their age. This was done by including internal shapes in order to simulate the thickness of a real ants skin, which is otherwise known as chitin, and help the shading work. Many shots of the set featuring the ants on the upper and lower floors inside Hanks lab were actually expanded further with CGVarious props were also added to the scenes, like these AA batteries, for exampleAnd, in some cases, removed and replaced with animated CG versions to allow for better interaction between the CG ants. For the Scott under house arrest shot outside Hanks lab, Cuinesite used a CG environment of a San Francisco suburb created using lidar scans and 360-degree reference photos to create a 2.5D set extension. Like the music in this video?Music By: Monkey MediaAlbum Title: MonkeySong Name: Monkey JacketLinks:Get it on Google Play:https://play.google.com/store/music/album/Monkey_Media_Monkey?id=Bowcdm4d3e27oxtldklnn7ynwju&hl=en_USGet it on itunes:https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/monkey/1457690282Listen on Spotify:Buy it on Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Monkey-Media/dp/B07NRQCQ7Y/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=monkey+media&qid=1554364061&s=gateway&sr=8-2Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/focusfameThe post Ant Man and the Wasp Without VFX [Cinesite VFX Breakdown] appeared first on Fame Focus.

From incredible hand to hand combat with knives and guns to fighting with horses and guns, John Wick Chapter: 3 featured all sorts of creative and unbelievable, places to have a bit of a scrap.Yes, modern-day VFX allow storytelling (and fight scenes) to get crazier and crazier, while at the same time still looking, somehow, believable.One good example of those incredible VFX sequences is the infamous bike chase over the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge. Image Engine delivered only 8 VFX shots for this scene. But that didnt mean that there wasnt much work involved. With shots as long as 1000 frames, full of extensive and complicated CG, plate stitching and comp integration, Image Engine certainly had their work cut out.Creating assets that had to be photoreal while also matching practical ones. Creating seamless camera transitions between the Verrazano bridge footage and greenscreen shots while, at the same time, matching the animation style to the live-action stunt shot. As well as adding extra realistic-looking VFX elements and executing perfect 2D integration.The sequence was made by combining on-location shots of professional stunt drivers riding at 100km/h, as well as some rigged crash stunts with dummies, on the Verrazano Narrows Bridge and some less impressive-looking shots of Keanu and the guys sat on bikes in front of a green screen while being pushed around by some other guys in green zentai suits, for the close-up shots.In order to allow for seamless transitions between shots, they paid careful attention to both action and camera movement choreography. To get a seamless transition between the riders and bikes, they took cues from the shots of the Verrazano Bridge stuntmen. Of course, Keanus face also needed to be added in some shots. But, unfortunately, only one take of Keanu riding on the real Verrazano bridge was filmed so that take was inevitably the one that was used for the base of the 2.5D face replacements as it had the correct lighting on it.They also created a 3D face replacement of Keanu using cyberscan and some texture photography while creating his hair in Houdini.Stitching together the real shots with the greenscreen ones required a mix of cutting out bikes frame by frame and tracking CG objects and backgrounds all to the live-action footage.Getting the animated CG background to perfectly match the real moving one is really where the magic of this shot lies and Image Engine have absolutely nailed this! Like the music in this video?Music By: Monkey MediaAlbum Title: MonkeyLinks:Get it on Google PlayGet it on iTunesBuy it on AmazonListen on Spotify:Follow us on TwitterThe post John Wick: Chapter 3 Parabellum Without VFX [Image Engine VFX Breakdown] appeared first on Fame Focus.