Previsualization
Encyclopedia
Previsualization is a function to visualise complex scenes in movie before filming. It is also a concept in still photography. Previsualization is applied to techniques such as storyboarding, either in the form of charcoal drawn sketches or in digital technology in the planning and conceptual of movie scenery make up.
department or dedicated rooms. Previsualizations can add music, sound effects and dialogue to closely emulate the look of fully produced and edited sequences, and are most encountered in scenes that involves stunts and special effects (such as colour wall). Digital video
, photography
, hand-drawn art, clip art and 3D animation combine in use.
' writings about photography, where he defines it as "the ability to anticipate a finished image before making the exposure" . The term previsualization has been attributed to Minor White
who divided visualization into previsualization, referring to visualization while studying the subject; and postvisualization, referring to remembering the visualized image at printing time. However, White himself said that he learned the idea, which he called a "psychological concept" from Ansel Adams and Edward Weston
. Though the term previsualization was and continues to be used by many noteworthy photographers, and had become part of the vernacular, it is often regarded as redundant.
The earliest planning technique, storyboards, have been used in one form or another since the silent era. The term “storyboard” first came into use at Disney Studios
between 1928 and the early 1930s where the typical practice was to present drawn panels of basic action and gags, usually three to six sketches per vertical page. By the 1930s, storyboarding for live action films was common and a regular part of studio art departments.
Disney Studios also created what became known as the Leica reel
by filming storyboards and editing them to a soundtrack of the completed film. This technique was essentially the predecessor of modern computer previsualization. Other prototyping techniques used in the 1930s were miniature sets often viewed with a “periscope,” a small optical device with deep depth of field
that a director could insert into a miniature set to explore camera angles. Set designers were also using a scenic technique called camera angle projection to create perspective drawings from a plan and elevation blueprint. This allowed them to accurately depict the set as seen by a lens of a specific focal length
and film format.
In the 1970s, with the arrival of cost-effective video cameras and editing equipment, most notably, Sony’s 3/4-inch video and U-Matic
editing systems, animatics came into regular use at ad agencies as sales tool for television commercials and as a guide to the actual production of the work. An animatic is a video recorded version of a hand-drawn storyboard with very limited motion added to convey camera movement or action, accompanied by a soundtrack. Similar to the Leica reel, animatics were primarily used for live action commercials.
The making of the first three Star Wars films, beginning in the mid-'70s, introduced low-cost innovations in pre-planning to refine complex visual effects sequences. George Lucas
, working with visual effects artists from the newly established Industrial Light & Magic, used footage of aerial dogfights shots from World War II Hollywood movies to cut together a template for the X-wing space battles in the first Star Wars film. Another innovation included shooting video of toy figures attached to rods; these were hand-manipulated in a miniature set to previsualize the chase through the forest on speeder bikes in Return of the Jedi.
The most comprehensive and revolutionary use of new technology to plan movie sequences came from Francis Ford Coppola
, who in making his 1982 musical feature One From the Heart
, developed the process he called “electronic cinema.” Through electronic cinema Coppola sought to provide the filmmaker with on set composing tools that would function as an extension of his thought processes. For the first time, an animatic would be the basis for an entire feature film. The process began with actors performing a dramatic "radio-style" voice recording of the entire script. Storyboard artists then drew more than 1800 individual storyboard frames. These drawings were then recorded onto analog videodisks and edited according to the voice recordings. Once production began, video taken from the video tap
of the 35 mm camera(s) shooting the actual movie was used to gradually replace storyboarded stills to give the director a more complete vision of the film’s progress.
Instead of working with the actors on set, Coppola directed while viewing video monitors in the "Silverfish" (nickname) Airstream trailer, outfitted with then state-of-the-art video editing equipment. Video feeds from the five stages at the Hollywood General Studios were fed into the trailer, which also included an off-line editing system, switcher, disk-based still store, and Ultimatte keyers. The setup allowed live and/or taped scenes to be composited with both full size and miniature sets.
of Industrial Light and Magic
used toy action figure
s and a lipstick camera
to film a miniature version of the Return of the Jedi
speeder bike chase. This allowed the film's producers to see a rough version of the sequence before the costly full-scale production started.
In 1992 Colin Green pioneered the process of Previsualization by working on Judge Dredd
.
3D computer graphics
was relatively unheard of until the release of Steven Spielberg
's Jurassic Park
in 1993. It included revolutionary visual effects work by Industrial Light and Magic
(winning them an Oscar), one of the few companies in the world at the time to use digital technology to create imagery. As a result, computer graphics lent themselves to the design process, when visual effects supervisor (and Photoshop
creator) John Knoll
asked artist David Dozoretz to do one of the first ever pre-visualizations for an entire sequence (rather than just the odd shot here and there) in Paramount Pictures
' Mission: Impossible
.
Producer Rick McCallum
showed this sequence to George Lucas
, who hired Dozoretz in 1995 for work on the new Star Wars prequels. This represented an early but significant change as it was the first time that pre-visualization artists reported to the film's director
rather than visual effects supervisor.
Since then, pre-visualization has become an essential tool for large scale film productions, and have been essential for Matrix trilogy
, the Lord of the Rings trilogy
, Star Wars Episode II
and III
, War of the Worlds
, X-Men
, and others. One of the largest recent films to rely heavily on the technique is Superman Returns
, which used a large crew of artists to create elaborate pre-visualizations.
In this new era of previz today, a synergy of cutting edge technology has come to fruition using effective classic previs concepts along with real-time and motion capture technology. The forefront of this technology is constantly evolving.
While visual effects companies can offer pre-visualization services, today many studios hire companies which cater solely to previsualization for large projects. Often, common software packages are used for previs, such as Autodesk Maya, MotionBuilder and Softimage XSI. Some directors prefer to do previsualization themselves using inexpensive and user-friendly programs such as StoryBoard Quick
, FrameForge 3D Studio
, Poser
, DAZ Studio
, Vue, and Real3d
.
. By the end of the 1980s, the desktop publishing
revolution was followed by a similar revolution in film called multimedia (a term borrowed from the 1960s), but soon to be rechristened desktop video.
The first use of 3D computer software to previsualize a scene for a major motion picture was in 1988 by animator Lynda Weinman
for Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
(1989). The idea was first suggested to Star Trek producer Ralph Winter by Brad Degraff and Michael Whorman of VFX facility Degraff/Whorman. Weinman created primitive 3D motion of the Starship Enterprise
using Swivel 3D software designing shots based on feedback from Producer Ralph Winter and Director William Shatner
.
Another pioneering previsualization effort, this time using gaming technology, was for James Cameron's The Abyss
(1989). Mike Backes, co-founder of the Apple Computing Center at the AFI (American Film Institute), introduced David Smith, creator of the first 3D game, The Colony, to Cameron recognizing the similarities between The Colony's environment and the underwater lab in The Abyss. The concept was to use real time gaming technology to previsualize camera movement and staging for the movie. While the implementation of this idea yielded limited results for The Abyss, the effort led Smith to create Virtus Walkthrough, an architectural previsualization software program in 1990. Virtus Walkthrough was used by directors such as Brian De Palma
and Sydney Pollack
for previsualization in the early '90s.
The outline for how the personal computer could be used to plan sequences for movies first appeared in the directing guide Film Directing: Shot By Shot by Steven D. Katz, which detailed specific software for 2D moving storyboards and 3D animated film design, including the use of a real-time scene design using Virtus Walkthrough.
While teaching previsualization at the American Film Institute
in 1993, Katz suggested to producer Ralph Singleton that a fully animated digital animatic of a seven-minute sequence for the Harrison Ford action movie Clear and Present Danger
would solve a variety of production problems encountered when the location in Mexico became unavailable. This was the first fully produced use of computer previsualization that was created for a director outside of a visual effects department and solely for the use of determining the dramatic impact and shot flow of a scene. The 3D sets and props were fully textured and built to match the set and location blueprints of production designer Terrence Marsh and storyboards approved by director Philip Noyce. The final digital sequence included every shot in the scene including dialog, sound effects and a musical score. Virtual cameras accurately predicted the composition achieved by actual camera lenses as well as the shadow position for the time of day of the shoot. The Clear and Present Danger sequence was unique at the time in that it included both long dramatic passages between virtual actors in addition to action shots in a complete presentation of all aspects of a key scene from the movie. It also signaled the beginning of previsualization as a new category of production apart from the visual effects unit.
In 1994, Colin Green began work on previsualization for Judge Dredd
(1995). Green had been part of the Image Engineering department at Ride Film, Douglas Trumball's VFX company in the Berkshires of Massachusetts, where he was in charge of using CAD systems to create miniature physical models (rapid prototyping). Judge Dredd required many miniature sets and Green was hired to oversee a new Image Engineering department. However, Green changed the name of the department to Previsualization and shifted his interest to making 3D animatics. The majority of the previsualization for Judge Dredd was a long chase sequence used as an aid to the visual effects department. In 1995, Green started the first dedicated previsualization company, Pixel Liberation Front.
By the mid-1990s, digital previsualization was becoming an essential tool in the production of large budget feature film. In 1996, David Dozoretz, working with Photoshop co-creator John Knoll, used scanned-in action figures to create digital animatics for the final chase scene for Mission: Impossible
(1996). When Star Wars prequel producer Rick McCallum saw the animatics for Mission: Impossible, he tapped Dozoretz to create them for the pod race in The Phantom Menace (1999). The previsualization proved so useful that Dozoretz and his team ended up making an average of four to six animatics of every F/X
shot in the film. Finished dailies would replace sections of the animatic as shooting progressed. At various points, the previsualization would include diverse elements including scanned-in storyboards, CG graphics, motion capture data and live action. Dozoretz and previsualization effects supervisor Dan Gregoire then went on to do the previsualization for Attack of the Clones (2002) and Gregoire finished with the final prequel, Revenge of the Sith (2005).
The use of digital previsualization became affordable in the 2000s with the development of digital film design software that is user friendly and available to any filmmaker with a computer. Borrowing technology developed by the video game industry, today's previsualization software give filmmakers the ability to compose electronic 2D storyboards on their own personal computer and also create 3D animated sequences that can predict with remarkable accuracy what will appear on the screen.
More recently, Hollywood filmmakers use the term Pre-visualization (also known as pre-vis, pre vis, pre viz, pre-viz, previs, or animatics) to describe a technique in which digital technology aids the planning and efficiency of shot creation during the filmmaking process
. It involves using computer graphics
(even 3D
) to create rough versions of the more complex (visual effects
or stunt
s)shots in a movie sequence. The rough graphics might be edited together along with temporary music and even dialogue. Some pre-viz can look like simple grey shapes representing the characters or elements in a scene, while other pre-vis can be sophisticated enough to look like a modern video game.
Description
The advantage of previsualization is that it allows directors to experiment with different staging and art direction options – such as lighting, camera placement and movement, stage direction and editing - without having to incur the costs of actual production. On larger budget project, the directors work with actors in visual effectsVisual effects
Visual effects are the various processes by which imagery is created and/or manipulated outside the context of a live action shoot. Visual effects involve the integration of live-action footage and generated imagery to create environments which look realistic, but would be dangerous, costly, or...
department or dedicated rooms. Previsualizations can add music, sound effects and dialogue to closely emulate the look of fully produced and edited sequences, and are most encountered in scenes that involves stunts and special effects (such as colour wall). Digital video
Digital video
Digital video is a type of digital recording system that works by using a digital rather than an analog video signal.The terms camera, video camera, and camcorder are used interchangeably in this article.- History :...
, photography
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
, hand-drawn art, clip art and 3D animation combine in use.
Origins
Visualization is a central topic in Ansel AdamsAnsel Adams
Ansel Easton Adams was an American photographer and environmentalist, best known for his black-and-white photographs of the American West, especially in Yosemite National Park....
' writings about photography, where he defines it as "the ability to anticipate a finished image before making the exposure" . The term previsualization has been attributed to Minor White
Minor White
Minor Martin White was an American photographer born in Minneapolis, Minnesota.White earned a degree in botany with a minor in English from the University of Minnesota in 1933. His first creative efforts were in poetry, as he took five years thereafter to complete a sequence of 100 sonnets while...
who divided visualization into previsualization, referring to visualization while studying the subject; and postvisualization, referring to remembering the visualized image at printing time. However, White himself said that he learned the idea, which he called a "psychological concept" from Ansel Adams and Edward Weston
Edward Weston
Edward Henry Weston was a 20th century American photographer. He has been called "one of the most innovative and influential American photographers…" and "one of the masters of 20th century photography." Over the course of his forty-year career Weston photographed an increasingly expansive set of...
. Though the term previsualization was and continues to be used by many noteworthy photographers, and had become part of the vernacular, it is often regarded as redundant.
The earliest planning technique, storyboards, have been used in one form or another since the silent era. The term “storyboard” first came into use at Disney Studios
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures is an American film studio owned by The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Pictures and Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios and the main production company for live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, based at the Walt Disney...
between 1928 and the early 1930s where the typical practice was to present drawn panels of basic action and gags, usually three to six sketches per vertical page. By the 1930s, storyboarding for live action films was common and a regular part of studio art departments.
Disney Studios also created what became known as the Leica reel
Leica reel
In film, specifically animation, a leica reel is a type of storyboarding device used in the production of potential series or features. Unlike actual storyboards or pitches, leica reels are used later in the development process, usually after voice actors have been hired and recorded, and thus are...
by filming storyboards and editing them to a soundtrack of the completed film. This technique was essentially the predecessor of modern computer previsualization. Other prototyping techniques used in the 1930s were miniature sets often viewed with a “periscope,” a small optical device with deep depth of field
Depth of field
In optics, particularly as it relates to film and photography, depth of field is the distance between the nearest and farthest objects in a scene that appear acceptably sharp in an image...
that a director could insert into a miniature set to explore camera angles. Set designers were also using a scenic technique called camera angle projection to create perspective drawings from a plan and elevation blueprint. This allowed them to accurately depict the set as seen by a lens of a specific focal length
Focal length
The focal length of an optical system is a measure of how strongly the system converges or diverges light. For an optical system in air, it is the distance over which initially collimated rays are brought to a focus...
and film format.
In the 1970s, with the arrival of cost-effective video cameras and editing equipment, most notably, Sony’s 3/4-inch video and U-Matic
U-matic
U-matic is an analog recording videocassette format first shown by Sony in prototype in October 1969, and introduced to the market in September 1971. It was among the first video formats to contain the videotape inside a cassette, as opposed to the various Reel-to-Reel or open-reel formats of the...
editing systems, animatics came into regular use at ad agencies as sales tool for television commercials and as a guide to the actual production of the work. An animatic is a video recorded version of a hand-drawn storyboard with very limited motion added to convey camera movement or action, accompanied by a soundtrack. Similar to the Leica reel, animatics were primarily used for live action commercials.
The making of the first three Star Wars films, beginning in the mid-'70s, introduced low-cost innovations in pre-planning to refine complex visual effects sequences. George Lucas
George Lucas
George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...
, working with visual effects artists from the newly established Industrial Light & Magic, used footage of aerial dogfights shots from World War II Hollywood movies to cut together a template for the X-wing space battles in the first Star Wars film. Another innovation included shooting video of toy figures attached to rods; these were hand-manipulated in a miniature set to previsualize the chase through the forest on speeder bikes in Return of the Jedi.
The most comprehensive and revolutionary use of new technology to plan movie sequences came from Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is widely acclaimed as one of Hollywood's most innovative and influential film directors...
, who in making his 1982 musical feature One From the Heart
One from the Heart
One from the Heart is a 1982 musical film directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The characters themselves do not actually sing but the powerful score dominates the movie. It is set entirely in Las Vegas, on the Las Vegas Strip and the desert surrounding the city...
, developed the process he called “electronic cinema.” Through electronic cinema Coppola sought to provide the filmmaker with on set composing tools that would function as an extension of his thought processes. For the first time, an animatic would be the basis for an entire feature film. The process began with actors performing a dramatic "radio-style" voice recording of the entire script. Storyboard artists then drew more than 1800 individual storyboard frames. These drawings were then recorded onto analog videodisks and edited according to the voice recordings. Once production began, video taken from the video tap
Video tap
A video tap is an accessory for a motion picture camera used in filmmaking to provide a video signal from the camera lens. Video taps are used to allow the film crew to see what is in the camera's frame without having to look through the viewfinder, as well as allowing video to be recorded and can...
of the 35 mm camera(s) shooting the actual movie was used to gradually replace storyboarded stills to give the director a more complete vision of the film’s progress.
Instead of working with the actors on set, Coppola directed while viewing video monitors in the "Silverfish" (nickname) Airstream trailer, outfitted with then state-of-the-art video editing equipment. Video feeds from the five stages at the Hollywood General Studios were fed into the trailer, which also included an off-line editing system, switcher, disk-based still store, and Ultimatte keyers. The setup allowed live and/or taped scenes to be composited with both full size and miniature sets.
History
Before desktop computers were widely available, pre-visualization was rare and crude, yet still effective. For example, Dennis MurenDennis Muren
Dennis Muren, A.S.C. is an American film special effects artist, most notable for his work on the films of Steven Spielberg, James Cameron and George Lucas. He has won eight Oscars for Best Visual Effects.-Early life:...
of Industrial Light and Magic
Industrial Light and Magic
Industrial Light & Magic is an Academy Award-winning motion picture visual effects company that was founded in May 1975 by George Lucas and is owned by Lucasfilm. Lucas created the company when he discovered that the special effects department at 20th Century Fox was shut down after he was given...
used toy action figure
Action figure
An action figure is a posable character figurine, made of plastic or other materials, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, video game, or television program. These action figures are usually marketed towards boys and male collectors...
s and a lipstick camera
Lipstick camera
A lipstick camera is an extremely small video camera which is approximately the size of a typical tube of lipstick. They are useful for capturing images that a conventional camera would not be able to capture due to size or weight constraints....
to film a miniature version of the Return of the Jedi
Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi is a 1983 American epic space opera film directed by Richard Marquand and written by George Lucas and Lawrence Kasdan. It is the third film released in the Star Wars saga, and the sixth in terms of the series' internal chronology...
speeder bike chase. This allowed the film's producers to see a rough version of the sequence before the costly full-scale production started.
In 1992 Colin Green pioneered the process of Previsualization by working on Judge Dredd
Judge Dredd (film)
Judge Dredd is a 1995 American science fiction action film directed by Danny Cannon, and starring Sylvester Stallone, Diane Lane, Rob Schneider, Armand Assante, and Max von Sydow. The film is based on the strip of the same name in the British comic 2000 AD...
.
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
was relatively unheard of until the release of Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
's Jurassic Park
Jurassic Park (film)
Jurassic Park is a 1993 American science fiction adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Michael Crichton. It stars Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Martin Ferrero, and Bob Peck...
in 1993. It included revolutionary visual effects work by Industrial Light and Magic
Industrial Light and Magic
Industrial Light & Magic is an Academy Award-winning motion picture visual effects company that was founded in May 1975 by George Lucas and is owned by Lucasfilm. Lucas created the company when he discovered that the special effects department at 20th Century Fox was shut down after he was given...
(winning them an Oscar), one of the few companies in the world at the time to use digital technology to create imagery. As a result, computer graphics lent themselves to the design process, when visual effects supervisor (and Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop is a graphics editing program developed and published by Adobe Systems Incorporated.Adobe's 2003 "Creative Suite" rebranding led to Adobe Photoshop 8's renaming to Adobe Photoshop CS. Thus, Adobe Photoshop CS5 is the 12th major release of Adobe Photoshop...
creator) John Knoll
John Knoll
John Knoll is a visual effects supervisor at Industrial Light & Magic . One of the original creators of Adobe Photoshop , he is recently best known for his work as Visual Effects Supervisor on the Star Wars prequels and the 1997 special editions of the original trilogy...
asked artist David Dozoretz to do one of the first ever pre-visualizations for an entire sequence (rather than just the odd shot here and there) in Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
' Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible (film)
Mission: Impossible is a 1996 action thriller directed by Brian De Palma and starring Tom Cruise. Following on from the television series of the same name, the plot follows a new agent, Ethan Hunt and his mission to uncover the mole within the CIA who has framed him for the murders of his entire...
.
Producer Rick McCallum
Rick McCallum
Richard "Rick" McCallum is a German-born American film producer mostly known for his work on the The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles as well as the Star Wars Trilogy: Special Edition and prequel trilogy...
showed this sequence to George Lucas
George Lucas
George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...
, who hired Dozoretz in 1995 for work on the new Star Wars prequels. This represented an early but significant change as it was the first time that pre-visualization artists reported to the film's director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
rather than visual effects supervisor.
Since then, pre-visualization has become an essential tool for large scale film productions, and have been essential for Matrix trilogy
The Matrix series
The Matrix is a science fiction action franchise created by Andy and Larry Wachowski and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. The series began with the 1999 film The Matrix and later spawned two sequels; The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, both released in 2003, thus forming a trilogy...
, the Lord of the Rings trilogy
The Lord of the Rings film trilogy
The Lord of the Rings is an epic film trilogy consisting of three fantasy adventure films based on the three-volume book of the same name by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. The films are The Fellowship of the Ring , The Two Towers and The Return of the King .The films were directed by Peter...
, Star Wars Episode II
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones is a 2002 American epic space opera film directed by George Lucas and written by Lucas and Jonathan Hales. It is the fifth film to be released in the Star Wars saga and the second in terms of the series' internal chronology...
and III
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith is a 2005 American epic space opera film written and directed by George Lucas. It is the sixth and final film released in the Star Wars saga and the third in terms of the series' internal chronology....
, War of the Worlds
War of the Worlds (2005 film)
War of the Worlds is a 2005 American science fiction film adaptation of H. G. Wells' novel of the same name, directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Josh Friedman and David Koepp. It is one of three film adaptations of War of the Worlds released that year, alongside The Asylum's version and...
, X-Men
X-Men (film)
X-Men is a 2000 superhero film based on the fictional Marvel Comics characters of the same name. Directed by Bryan Singer, the film stars Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Anna Paquin, Famke Janssen, Bruce Davison, James Marsden, Halle Berry, Rebecca Romijn, Ray Park and Tyler Mane...
, and others. One of the largest recent films to rely heavily on the technique is Superman Returns
Superman Returns
Superman Returns is a 2006 superhero film directed by Bryan Singer. It is the fifth and final installment in the original Superman film series and serves as a alternate sequel to Superman and Superman II by ignoring the events of Superman III and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace .The film stars...
, which used a large crew of artists to create elaborate pre-visualizations.
In this new era of previz today, a synergy of cutting edge technology has come to fruition using effective classic previs concepts along with real-time and motion capture technology. The forefront of this technology is constantly evolving.
While visual effects companies can offer pre-visualization services, today many studios hire companies which cater solely to previsualization for large projects. Often, common software packages are used for previs, such as Autodesk Maya, MotionBuilder and Softimage XSI. Some directors prefer to do previsualization themselves using inexpensive and user-friendly programs such as StoryBoard Quick
StoryBoard Quick
StoryBoard Quick is a storyboarding software application for creating and editing digital storyboards for non-graphic artists. Used primarily in the film and TV industry by film directors, producers, writers, commercial production companies and educators to produce a visual layout of media projects...
, FrameForge 3D Studio
FrameForge 3D Studio
FrameForge Previz Studio is previsualization storyboard software for writer/directors of film, video and advertising content....
, Poser
Poser
Poser is a 3D CGI rendering and animation software program optimized for models that depict the human figure in three-dimensional form, mostly used to pose and animate the figures in a similar way as a mannequin...
, DAZ Studio
DAZ Studio
DAZ Studio is a 3D figure illustration/animation application released by DAZ 3D Inc. It is compatible with most files intended for use by Poser. It is available free of charge . Version 1.0 was released in Fall 2005. Version 4.0.0.335 is the current release as of June 29, 2011...
, Vue, and Real3d
Real3D
Real3D, Inc. was a maker of arcade graphics boards, a spin-off from Lockheed Martin. The company made several 3D hardware designs that were used by Sega, the most widely used being the graphics hardware in the Sega Model 2 and Model 3 arcade systems. A partnership with Intel and SGI led to the...
.
Digital pre-visualization
Digital previsualization is merely technology applied to the visual plan for a motion picture. Coppola based his new methods on analog video technology, which was soon to be superseded by an even greater technological advance – personal computers and digital mediaDigital media
Digital media is a form of electronic media where data is stored in digital form. It can refer to the technical aspect of storage and transmission Digital media is a form of electronic media where data is stored in digital (as opposed to analog) form. It can refer to the technical aspect of...
. By the end of the 1980s, the desktop publishing
Desktop publishing
Desktop publishing is the creation of documents using page layout software on a personal computer.The term has been used for publishing at all levels, from small-circulation documents such as local newsletters to books, magazines and newspapers...
revolution was followed by a similar revolution in film called multimedia (a term borrowed from the 1960s), but soon to be rechristened desktop video.
The first use of 3D computer software to previsualize a scene for a major motion picture was in 1988 by animator Lynda Weinman
Lynda Weinman
Lynda Weinman is an American business owner, computer instructor, and author, best known for the company she started with her husband, Bruce Heavin, the multi-award winning online software training web site, lynda.com....
for Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier is a 1989 American science fiction film released by Paramount Pictures. It is the fifth feature in the franchise and the penultimate to star the cast of the original Star Trek science fiction television series...
(1989). The idea was first suggested to Star Trek producer Ralph Winter by Brad Degraff and Michael Whorman of VFX facility Degraff/Whorman. Weinman created primitive 3D motion of the Starship Enterprise
Starship Enterprise
The Enterprise or USS Enterprise is the name of several fictional starships, some of which are the focal point for various television series and films in the Star Trek franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. It is considered a name of legacy in the fleet...
using Swivel 3D software designing shots based on feedback from Producer Ralph Winter and Director William Shatner
William Shatner
William Alan Shatner is a Canadian actor, musician, recording artist, and author. He gained worldwide fame and became a cultural icon for his portrayal of James T...
.
Another pioneering previsualization effort, this time using gaming technology, was for James Cameron's The Abyss
The Abyss
The Abyss is a 1989 science fiction film written and directed by James Cameron. It stars Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, and Michael Biehn. The original musical score was composed by Alan Silvestri...
(1989). Mike Backes, co-founder of the Apple Computing Center at the AFI (American Film Institute), introduced David Smith, creator of the first 3D game, The Colony, to Cameron recognizing the similarities between The Colony's environment and the underwater lab in The Abyss. The concept was to use real time gaming technology to previsualize camera movement and staging for the movie. While the implementation of this idea yielded limited results for The Abyss, the effort led Smith to create Virtus Walkthrough, an architectural previsualization software program in 1990. Virtus Walkthrough was used by directors such as Brian De Palma
Brian De Palma
Brian Russell De Palma is an American film director and writer. In a career spanning over 40 years, he is probably best known for his suspense and crime thriller films, including such box office successes as the horror film Carrie, Dressed to Kill, Scarface, The Untouchables, and Mission:...
and Sydney Pollack
Sydney Pollack
Sydney Irwin Pollack was an American film director, producer and actor. Pollack studied with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City, where he later taught acting...
for previsualization in the early '90s.
The outline for how the personal computer could be used to plan sequences for movies first appeared in the directing guide Film Directing: Shot By Shot by Steven D. Katz, which detailed specific software for 2D moving storyboards and 3D animated film design, including the use of a real-time scene design using Virtus Walkthrough.
While teaching previsualization at the American Film Institute
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
in 1993, Katz suggested to producer Ralph Singleton that a fully animated digital animatic of a seven-minute sequence for the Harrison Ford action movie Clear and Present Danger
Clear and Present Danger
Clear and Present Danger is a novel by Tom Clancy, written in 1989, and is a canonical part of the Jack Ryan universe. In the novel, Jack Ryan is thrown into the position of CIA Acting Deputy Director and discovers that he is being kept in the dark by his colleagues who are conducting a covert war...
would solve a variety of production problems encountered when the location in Mexico became unavailable. This was the first fully produced use of computer previsualization that was created for a director outside of a visual effects department and solely for the use of determining the dramatic impact and shot flow of a scene. The 3D sets and props were fully textured and built to match the set and location blueprints of production designer Terrence Marsh and storyboards approved by director Philip Noyce. The final digital sequence included every shot in the scene including dialog, sound effects and a musical score. Virtual cameras accurately predicted the composition achieved by actual camera lenses as well as the shadow position for the time of day of the shoot. The Clear and Present Danger sequence was unique at the time in that it included both long dramatic passages between virtual actors in addition to action shots in a complete presentation of all aspects of a key scene from the movie. It also signaled the beginning of previsualization as a new category of production apart from the visual effects unit.
In 1994, Colin Green began work on previsualization for Judge Dredd
Judge Dredd (film)
Judge Dredd is a 1995 American science fiction action film directed by Danny Cannon, and starring Sylvester Stallone, Diane Lane, Rob Schneider, Armand Assante, and Max von Sydow. The film is based on the strip of the same name in the British comic 2000 AD...
(1995). Green had been part of the Image Engineering department at Ride Film, Douglas Trumball's VFX company in the Berkshires of Massachusetts, where he was in charge of using CAD systems to create miniature physical models (rapid prototyping). Judge Dredd required many miniature sets and Green was hired to oversee a new Image Engineering department. However, Green changed the name of the department to Previsualization and shifted his interest to making 3D animatics. The majority of the previsualization for Judge Dredd was a long chase sequence used as an aid to the visual effects department. In 1995, Green started the first dedicated previsualization company, Pixel Liberation Front.
By the mid-1990s, digital previsualization was becoming an essential tool in the production of large budget feature film. In 1996, David Dozoretz, working with Photoshop co-creator John Knoll, used scanned-in action figures to create digital animatics for the final chase scene for Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible (film)
Mission: Impossible is a 1996 action thriller directed by Brian De Palma and starring Tom Cruise. Following on from the television series of the same name, the plot follows a new agent, Ethan Hunt and his mission to uncover the mole within the CIA who has framed him for the murders of his entire...
(1996). When Star Wars prequel producer Rick McCallum saw the animatics for Mission: Impossible, he tapped Dozoretz to create them for the pod race in The Phantom Menace (1999). The previsualization proved so useful that Dozoretz and his team ended up making an average of four to six animatics of every F/X
F/X
F/X is a 1986 American action-thriller film about Rollie Tyler , an expert in the art of special effects with a reputation built by his work on many low-budget hack-and-slash films such as I Dismember Mama...
shot in the film. Finished dailies would replace sections of the animatic as shooting progressed. At various points, the previsualization would include diverse elements including scanned-in storyboards, CG graphics, motion capture data and live action. Dozoretz and previsualization effects supervisor Dan Gregoire then went on to do the previsualization for Attack of the Clones (2002) and Gregoire finished with the final prequel, Revenge of the Sith (2005).
The use of digital previsualization became affordable in the 2000s with the development of digital film design software that is user friendly and available to any filmmaker with a computer. Borrowing technology developed by the video game industry, today's previsualization software give filmmakers the ability to compose electronic 2D storyboards on their own personal computer and also create 3D animated sequences that can predict with remarkable accuracy what will appear on the screen.
More recently, Hollywood filmmakers use the term Pre-visualization (also known as pre-vis, pre vis, pre viz, pre-viz, previs, or animatics) to describe a technique in which digital technology aids the planning and efficiency of shot creation during the filmmaking process
Filmmaking
Filmmaking is the process of making a film, from an initial story, idea, or commission, through scriptwriting, casting, shooting, directing, editing, and screening the finished product before an audience that may result in a theatrical release or television program...
. It involves using computer graphics
Computer graphics
Computer graphics are graphics created using computers and, more generally, the representation and manipulation of image data by a computer with help from specialized software and hardware....
(even 3D
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
) to create rough versions of the more complex (visual effects
Visual effects
Visual effects are the various processes by which imagery is created and/or manipulated outside the context of a live action shoot. Visual effects involve the integration of live-action footage and generated imagery to create environments which look realistic, but would be dangerous, costly, or...
or stunt
Stunt
A stunt is an unusual and difficult physical feat, or any act requiring a special skill, performed for artistic purposes in TV, theatre, or cinema...
s)shots in a movie sequence. The rough graphics might be edited together along with temporary music and even dialogue. Some pre-viz can look like simple grey shapes representing the characters or elements in a scene, while other pre-vis can be sophisticated enough to look like a modern video game.
See also
- AnimationAnimationAnimation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
- ScreenplayScreenplayA screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
- StoryboardStoryboardStoryboards are graphic organizers in the form of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence....
- List of motion picture-related topics
- Script breakdownScript breakdownA script breakdown is an intermediate step in the production of a play, film, comic book, or any other work that is originally planned using a script.-Film and television:...