|
For the films visual effects, Whedon turned to LONI PERISTERE (Emmy Award winning artist for Best Visual Effects, Firefly) and the team at Zoic, with whom he had collaborated for the past seven years on Buffy, Angel and Firefly. “Serenity underwent a six-month overhaul in terms of how she was modeled, how she was painted and lit,” Peristere explains. “There are things we couldn't achieve during the time frame of the TV series that we were able to achieve making this film.”
To supervise the on-set special effects, Whedon tapped DAN SUDICK, who was nominated for an Oscar® for his work on Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.
One of the big set pieces takes place early in the film when Mal and three others are attempting to make it back to Serenity in a hovercraft “mule,” while being chased by a Reaver ship. “I wanted to shoot our actors with the actual backgrounds behind them—actual air whipping through their hair, and not get the digital airlessness that always bugs me,” Whedon notes.
To accomplish this, Peristere and his visual effects team choreographed the entire sequence in animatic pre-visualizations (or pre-vis) to create a moving storyboard of not only the action, but the placement of each crewmember or vehicle that would be involved.
Meanwhile, special effects supervisor Sudick designed and built a simulated hovercraft—an actual rig that could be pulled by truck. He created four different versions of the device to allow it to be shot from a variety of angles and depths, one of which could perform sharp turns in real time.
For the Reavers themselves, who were never shown in the series, Whedon wanted to create beings that were the physical embodiment of fear. “The idea behind the Reavers' design was always that they had mutilated their faces,” Whedon describes. “It's about aggression. It's about what will strike the most fear.”
The art department delivered conceptual illustrations by legendary artist BERNIE WRIGHTSON that captured in Whedon’s nightmarish concept for the Reavers in grisly detail. Then Whedon and director of photography Green devised ways in which the audience could glimpse, but never really see, the Reavers. “Banging on the door is always just a little bit scarier than the thing that comes through,” Whedon notes. “We wanted them to be just a little off. We wanted them to be a huge presence, but we didn't want a long lingering shot of a Reaver, unless River's fist is going to come into frame moments later.”
|
|