ILM's Behind the Scenes of Transformers

Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) has started a YouTube channel that it is using to post interviews and behind the scenes interviews and segments for films they recently have worked on. The two part video for the first Transformers film has an interview with Visual Effects Supervisor Scott Farrar as he explains the thought process and how they performed some of the special effects for the 2007 film. Sadly the site isn't big on embedding so click the links to watch - Part 1 | Part 2.

Tour of ILM's Renderfarm

This isn't TF news but just a look at Industrial Light and Magic's Renderfarm that was used to create the visual effects for the Transformers films among many others. The article from Slashfilm gets into a few details about the farm and includes a video (also below) that was made before the first Transformers (I am guessing 2006) that gives you an idea of the scale. Click here for the full article which includes another video, facts about the data center and more images. Thanks to Chris for the link.

Bumblebee, Scorponok Concept Art (Updated)

Update: As pointed out in the comments, the designs are from TF designer Ben Proctor's website. Something I posted about two years ago here. To view more of his Transformers work click here.

New concept art from the first Transformers movie has appeared online from TFG2. The art focuses on Bumblebee and Scorponok and give a hint in some of the early designs that were created for the two characters. Below are a few images but click the links below to view all of the pictures. (via TFormers)

Bumblebee | Scorponok

Interview with ILM Animator Shawn Kelly

The June 24th the Sarah and Vinnie Secret Show podcast for 97.3 KLLC San Francisco has an interview with ILM Animator Shawn Kelly who worked on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. He worked on the Star Wars Episodes I to III, the first Transformers film, and more.

In the interview he talks about working on Star Wars (while answering questions diplomatically as to avoid angering ILM founder George Lucas). He discusses how real world research (watching videos, recording themselves, etc) is used give the proper motion and detail to their animation and some of the basics involved in creating a sequence for a movie. Work on Revenge by ILM starting about a year and a half ago, before the film even went before the cameras. Also it turns out that Bay's Digital Domain did the Alice pretender sequences.

The direct link to the interview is here. Thanks to limelitedude for the link.

BD-Live Transformers 1 Deleted Scenes

More content from the BD-Live special features have made their way online with two deleted scenes from Transformers 1. The first scene shows the final fate of Fig (Amaury Nolasco) and the second is a scene between Maggie (Racheal Taylor) and Glen (Anthony Anderson) as she gets to work just before the meeting with the Defense Secretary (Jon Voight). Thanks to Teddy from allocine.fr.

Wal-Mart: Transformers 2 Day One Video

As part of the promotional push for the new release of Transformers on Blu-ray and DVD, Wal-Mart has a website of exclusive content for Transformers. Currently they have two videos up (both below thanks to MovieWeb). Click here to go to the site, the code is AllSpark62609 (yep All Spark and TF2 release date).

The first video, "On the Set: Day 1" is the first day of shooting at Bethlehem Steel. The video shows some of the set, Michael Bay at work, some prep work, actors and what would be a day of Bay on set without at least one big explosion. Of note is a scene is shown involving the "Arcee biker babes" and also show the Audi R8 that is unconfirmed as a Decepticon. From what I can tell the ladies are on three bikes (not sure if identical models) that are pink/red, purple/white, and blue/black. Now considering that Bethlehem is dressed a Shanghai, China location, you have to wonder what three Caucasian ladies are doing on those bikes. Could the three merge to form Arcee? Are they just riders up to no good? As usual, its all just guesses until showtime.

The second video, "Creating Transformers" is an amusing video with a good beat from ILM that show how some of the CGI work was done for Transformers I. It goes over many of the main scenes from the movie, shows the various stages in the creation of the TFs.


Thanks to Katie, Dave, Jeff, SpoilerTV, and Tahnee for the links.

Constructicon On Set? Nope

Update: As site readers pointed out, it turns out that picture is two years old. Between the date (July 27th), the mention of San Pedro (where Bay is reported to be shooting on the same date) and the way the background "fit" Bethlehem and related sets, it seemed like the real deal. Just to be sure, the TF story had an id of 814. Story ID 815 is about Happy Feet and 812 is an interview on Snakes on a Plane so pretty clearly the egg is on me. If only I had noticed the year.

My apologies for the mistake. Thanks to those for pointing out the error. Despite this blog mostly being about speculation and best guesses I do strive for accuracy where possible. Should I delete the entire post or leave it up for posterity's sake?

Latino Review provided a set report from San Pedro and provided a picture of what could be a Constructicon crane. As reported before it appears that San Pedro is being used as a continuation of the footage shot in Bethlehem and includes many of the Transformer cars seen there and mentioned on the call sheets, one of which was identified as a "Constructicon Earth Mover."
The SUV's are probably NEST vehicles. Could the image be a shot of the Constructicon? A place holder for the CGI element that will be inserted later? Just a crane on the set where things happen? Beats me.

One source told me that the Constructicon is not one of the group that forms Devastator from G1 cartoon. He is actually a single Transformer whose alt mode is one of the world's largest earth movers. As usual, its all speculation and guesses, but then that is part of the fun.

Transformers I Concept Art

James Clyne (concept artist) and Tim Flattery (illustrator) have posted some of their concept art that they created in developing Transformers (the first movie). The detail and imagination is pretty amazing. James Clyne's work includes early head designs of various Transformers (Megatron, Bumblebee, Optimus), set designs and moments familiar from the movie. Tim Flattery's work is 15 images that seem to focus on various Decepticon attacks that look really amazing. Thanks to Chris for the finding them.

James Clyne's Gallery (hit "Transformers" in the menu as opens separate popup)
Tim Flattery's Gallery

Paramount and DreamWorks To Split?

For about a year now there have been off and on rumors that Steven Spielberg has been displeased with the joining of DreamWorks and Paramount, which would lead to him leaving the company. Now the rumors are changing that DreamWorks is leaving Paramount. This is relevant because Transformers and its sequel (exec produced by Spielberg) are currently being financed under a joint Paramount/DreamWorks partnership.

According to the NY Times, the problem is apparently the power that Steven Spielberg wields in the company. Any project that he is attached to, no matter how small, gives him complete control on how the projects are used. This gives Spielberg "enormous leverage in any negotiation over taking the projects elsewhere." Considering that "elsewhere" is usually just another Viacom owned property, it is really a pissing contest.

Basically Viacom and Paramount executives wants to be able to tell Spielberg how high to jump and currently they can't. If there is anything that is more important to business executives then money, it’s the chain of command (i.e. chain of who kisses my ass and inflates my ego) and Spielberg disrupts that chain.

The split remains in the rumor stage and already DreamWorks has proven vital to Paramount's bottom line having brought several successful projects to the table. More then likely Viacom will try to work out the kinks rather then risk DreamWorks moving to a competitor and taking future potential future franchises with it.

How this impacts Transformers II is it simply doesn't. Its property is too important and too good a source of revenue to allow studio issues to rock its boat. Because the contracts have already been signed and pre-production started with the budget set (whatever it is, guessing $200 million), even if the split happens tomorrow TFII will remain a joint project between Paramount and DreamWorks.

Ferrar: More Robots For TF 2

Once again IESB scored a touch more info in regards to plans for Transformers 2, this time from Visual Effects Supervisor Scott Ferrar who promised "a lot more robots." They have started production on the visual effects and animatics. "The beginning animatics are unbelievable....Amazing performances on the part of the robots, unbelievable scenes they are going to be involved with."

Not able to give more details as Bay has seriously chomped down on information leaks (dang it). Ferrar really liked Bumblebee, in part because he was built first and also a challenge since no lines had to use emotions with the eyes etc for the acting. The learning experience with Bumblebee then helped them in creating the other Transformers for the movie.

The full video is here.

In addition, there is a brief interview with 4 other members of the Transformers Visual Effects team here.

(source)

Oscar Nom Scott Benza Interview

CNET interviewed first time Oscar Nominee Scott Benza about getting the nod for Best Visual Effects for his work in Transformers.
The full interview is here.

Highlights:
- Couldn't sleep after getting the nom. Happy to achieve his goal of getting a nomination.
- Been with ILM for 10 years, worked on Pearl Harbor, The Island, Star Wars Episodes II and III.
- Specializes in "big heavy things - mechanical things - and really emphasize realism" so of course Transformers perfect for that.
- Steps for the visual FX process: artwork > pre-viz > gathering background plates, animatics > combine > add ligtening, natural phenomena, and so forth. Can take weeks just to put together a couple seconds of screen time.
- Transformers took two years, completed one month before release.
- Transformations difficult as had the robot look and the car, but not how to get from one to the other.
- "It was scary, and we'd hoped we could pre-build transformations for each robot and design shots around them. But that wasn't practical, so we designed a different transformation every time you see one in the film."
- "My favorite sequence in the movie is the desert highway sequence where Bonecrusher transforms and Optimus gets tackled off the upper level the freeway and down onto the lower level. The robots were moving very fast, maybe 80 miles an hour."

Congrats and good luck Scott!

TF Sound and Visual Effects Show

For those that live near Hollywood, CA that like the behind the scenes stuff comes news of a one night show that covers the sound and visual effects for Transformers.

From TFormers:

The MPSE Sound Show returns to Hollywood to reveal the sound effects of this summer’s DreamWorks/Paramount Pictures blockbuster “Transformers.”

Join award winning supervising sound editor/sound designer Ethan Van der Ryn (King Kong; the Lord of the Rings trilogy) and sound designer Erik Aadahl (Superman Returns; I, Robot) for an exploration of the sonic world of the action-packed Science Fiction film directed by Michael Bay. Clips from the movie will be screened with special “pre-dub” soundtracks showing off the variety of audio effects created for the motion picture. As an extra attraction, all sound will be played through a state-of-the-art audio system developed by Meyer Sound Laboratories so that you can hear every subtle and bonecrushing sound effect.

And as if that wasn’t enough, Scott Benza from Industrial Light & Magic will be our special guest to present how their computer animators recreated the Autobots and Decepticons for the 21st Century live action film.

By the end of the evening you will experience how the craft of movie making is "more than meets the eye."

One night only: Monday, November 5, 2007,at 8 p.m., at the Lloyd E. Rigler Theatre in the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, California, 6712 Hollywood Boulevard, just east of Highland Avenue.

General admission is $10. Seniors and students with valid ID are $8. Members of the MPSE and American Cinematheque are $7. Tickets can be bought on Fandango.com and at the Egyptian box office.

A co-presentation of the Motion Picture Sound Editors and the American Cinematheque made possible with support from DreamWorks Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Industrial Light & Magic, Meyer Sound, and Absolute Rentals. More information can be found at www.MPSE.org or www.AmericanCinematheque.com.

ILM's Scott Benza Interview

ILM animator Scott Benza discusses the details of the daunting task of creating Transformers for the big screen with Scientific America. The article writer apparently agree with me that Transformers are probably a lock for an Oscar visual effects award (I add sound and special effects to).

The full article is here.

Some highlights:
- Animation work began in November 2005 when provided with the 3-D animatics of the TFs.
- His role was to animate the characters, provide real movement, emotion and so forth, basically create CGI actors.
- Example technique used is Virtual Background Pipeline where digitial photograhs of a scene or location are stitched together to digital re-create the same scene. From this they can create the textures, reflections, camera moves and so forth needed for the scene. All this is done in Zeno, CGI software used by ILM.
(source)
- Custom built software by ILM was used "to calculate how Scorponok would move through its scenes" as the computer can work out the physics of the Transformers movements better.
- Benza is eying simulation software such as used by automobile companies, to possible improve the Transformers in the sequel. the software is desinged to take into account various conditions such as speed, vehicile type, road and so forth to create realitistc crashes. I guess in Transformers it would be used for CGI autmobiles and add extra layer of fluidity to their movements.
- Also seeking out ways to improve smoke, fire and water so even more realistic as currently its expensive and time consuming for computers to do.
- "ILM used 5,500 computer processors and 220 terabytes of storage to store all the models, animation, background plates, textures, reference materials and artwork for the film. Benza is counting on the further development of computer processors that take advantage of multithreading throughput, among other technologies, to continue his quest for lifelike animation."

"ILM on Transformers Effects"

IGN.com has posted an interview with Scott Farrar in regards to the visual effects for Transformers. The full article is here.

Some highlights:
- Optimus having lips was because despite best efforts by ILM, the face mask while talking "looked horrible - they didn't resonate".
- There was a little cheating in regards to car to robot mass ratio due to design and look. This also resulted in more complex design and transformations.
- Screen tests resulted in Sam killing Megatron rather then Optimus, for increased impact and bravery.
(source)

Ben Procter Transformers Designs

Ben Proctor, Lead Robot Illustrator for Transformers, has posted up many designs, videos and explanations for the movie version of Transformers. Be sure to click all the images as they are not just thumbnails of the entire picture but a window into just one portion of the whole. Definitely a must see website for any Transfan. Also be sure to check out other projects as also show great designs for other movies such as Superman Returns and many more projects. Below is the hi-res final design ILM version of Optimus so can have fun with the details. Be sure to check the full gallery above for more hi res pics. Thanks to readers for the link.

Interesting discoveries includes Blackout naming goes from Devastator to Incinerator and then Blackout. Design work for the Transformers apparently started in mid to late 2005 with final designs confirmed around February 2006. Awesome prop that should get re-created and sold - Frenzy's blades. I noticed that Frenzy's design work went up to June 06, probably because no toy would designed so didn't need to give Hasbro the same year plus lead time for toy production. Other pics of note include the Mountain Dew bot, Toaster-bot used in the Dew commerical, Nokia Bot, and AllSpark which has lots of detail on its surface.

Ben Procter TF Designs - Talk about the how to of the process, very interesting read.
Gallery of Designs - 99 pics of TF design goodness. Go to bottom, many have hi-res versions availabe.

The Editing of Transformers

FX Guide has an article up that covers the effort that went into editing Transformers together. It also has a brief interview with Michael Bay that focuses on the editing aspect of putting the movie together.

The full article is here.

Some highlights:

- Editor Glen Scantleberry worked about 10.5 months editing Transformers together with a lot of it being alternate edits together for Bay to choose from and modify.
- Often used pre-visualizations to help edit the movie together since working off of footage that didn't yet include the CGI robots and needed to get timing right so could turn the edit over to ILM for inserting the CGI.
- Animatics where used in the editing but sometimes changes where made based on set or post production ideas (wonder how much included CGI heavy shots though).
- 5 editors and 1 associate editor worked on the film, all of whom worked with Bay in the past.
- The editors where not fans of the Transformers so Bay had to make sure they didn't cut out references.
- To edit, will put together a full length guild, with animatics, temp dialogue, temp music and temp sound effects to get idea of how things may go together. Usually the storyboards are the guide but subject to change based on director decisions during shooting.
- Bay had final-cut on the film so the theatrical version is the "Director's Cut". (It's why hear about "Extended Edition" DVDs instead as its the Director's Cut with cut scenes added back. If hear about a Director's Cut it usually means the studio had final say on how the movie was put together, usually for the worse cause of too many cooks in the kitchen syndrome.)
- "There are about 630 visual effects shots in the film. There are 430 executed at ILM, 91 at Digital Domain, 70 at the Asylum and the rest are 2D clean up and fixes done by CO3, ISolve and Ken Blackwell. Technical advancements were made in environments, lighting, and simulation of physical effects and integration of CG characters in a real environment."
- ILM did the Transformers, Digital Domain on other scenes including the soft-drink robot.
- “Overall, the most challenging shot is OH020 which is a 360 degree descending camera move on Optimus that rotating around to reveal all four Autobots transforming in an alley”, says ILM visual effects supervisor Scott Farrar. “The shot was filmed in two separate camera moves from two separate rigs: a Russian arm mounted to a camera car and a 50-foot Technocrane. The plates were combined and blended. The 768-frame-long shot moves from an overhead medium close up on Optimus finishing his transformation, into an extreme close up of all the moving parts, then widening out to reveal our hero talent. Shia and Megan watch all four robots individually transform with their own unique style.”
- 1.2 million feet of film shot for the movie

Transformers' Art Director Career Article

CGSociety.com has posted a great interview with Transformers' Art Director Alex Jaeger showing off a few early concept designs for Transformers, Star Wars, Star Trek, and Pearl Harbor. Check out the article if only for the art designs and concepts that where included. If don't like the head designs, he is the man to dislike (along with Bay).

Click here for the full article. The left pic is stats (click for bigger pic) on the Transformers and the number of pieces that comprises them. The pic on the right is an early concept design for Megatron by Alex Jaeger.

Some highlights:

- Career started at age 21 as Art Director on Star Trek: First Contact
- When designing Bumblebee, stuck with the original silhouette of the character but changed the horns for fins to help convey emotion, "like a dogs ears."
- Because Bumblebee didn't have a mouth, was difficult to design so could convey emotion. Used the same artwork, configured for different poses and facial expressions to test how emotion on the character.
- Alot of the transformation design involved working out what pieces could be moved, combined, etc to become the necessary part of the robot design.
- Jaeger spent about 2 years in working on the Transformer designs.
- Trips to auto shows, videos, and photos where used to help gets details correct such as light reflections on the metal surfaces and get texture and the like correct.
- Further modifications done to transformations reduce a busy look, so "We had to get some cohesiveness so they didn’t feel like walking junk piles, so we did a lot of posing the characters to try and tuck pieces in and get a cleaner silhouette, so that even at a quick glance you can tell what he is doing, what direction he is looking"
- Jaeger designed or helped design all the Tranformer heads.

(source)

Transformers Movie Props Update

The movie props auction that is currently going on, for the Fisher House Foundation which helps families of hospitalized military personnel and veterans, has been updated with some sweet new movie props including the '76 Camaro Bumblebee, the Allspark, and TF license plates, costumes, signed objects and so forth for 22 items in total. Thanks to Chad for the info. Good luck to the bidders.

Click here for the full list of available items to bid on.

Bumblebee 76 Camaro
Allspark
Glasses and Case

Popular Mechanics ILM Effects for Transformers Article

One thing doing this blog has shown me is how much news comes to you rather then having to hunt for it. Part of it is because of the very helpful readers that provide the tips but also the sites themselves pointing out the new article to me. Its just an observation into how sites like Engadget, Joystiq and the like get it done. I think of myself as a small fish in a big pond but apparently big enough to get noticed. Its pretty cool and its not a complaint because if it didn't happen I wouldn't find out about articles such as the one from Popular Mechanics that gets into how ILM created the Transformers.

I eat this stuff up. I don't want to hear over and over how hard the actors worked, I want to see and hear about how, what, etc on how they put together those amazing sequences involving the Transformers. Its the geek side of movies. The most important part of movies in my opinion. A movie can survive a crappy actor, it can't survive crappy visual and special effects. Its a excellent and long article worth the read for the interested.

Here is the description kindly provided to me:

When the animation put into Jar Jar Binks has audiences yawning, and Jurassic Park's velociraptor chases are old hat, it's hard to believe that any special effects wizardry can cause a stir at the box office anymore – but "Transformers" has done it. Popular Mechanics found out how the effects gurus at Industrial Light and Magic turned over a dozen regular autos into shape-shifting robots for Michael Bay's summer blockbuster. The artists discuss how they juggled the director's demands along with those of car manufacturers and fans, and also dish on the new techniques they used to make the transformation of real-world cars into fighting robots a believable feat.

The article just went live today with exclusive behind-the-scenes
shots from Paramount Pictures. It can be found at:

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/industry/4218826.html?series=6

Transformers: HBO First Look On YouTube

The U.S. HBO First Look at Transformers has been posted on YouTube for all to see. A lot of it is the usual cheerleading style that's designed to sell the movie. Most of the movie footage has already been seen in previously released clips and trailers but there are small new bits. There is a good amount of behind the scenes footage, explanations of how the Scorponok stuff is done, and some of the training the actors did to prepare.




This is probably the most seen of Rachael Taylor yet who has kind of disappeared because of the spotlight shown on Megan Fox. Not sure why, would think throw both eye candy at the press for selling the movie. Maybe she is doing the overseas press stuff.

As a whole its fine for trying to sell the movie, but I am really hoping that when do the DVD extras its a real behind the scenes deal that was shown in some parts only much longer. If people bought the DVD, they don't need another cheerleading "watch this movie" session. They have already been sold, now they want information. Thanks to Trailer for the links and "jombyd" who uploaded it on YouTube.