Producer James Whitlam, Rising Sun Pictures, on collaboration, storytelling and bridging the gap.

Just one day after the Melbourne premiere of Charlotte’s Web and Australian Visual Effects house Rising Sun Pictures (RSP) is already thinking beyond their project, Charlotte. RSP’s Head of Production, James Whitlam, is in discussion with leading US studios about RSP’s latest recruit, Ken McGaugh, formally of Double Negative and one of the oscar-winning brains behind Gollum’s skin (Lord of the Rings).
‘It is a small industry, and there is an even smaller circle of decision makers,’ he says. In reality, Whitlam is a decision maker too. Following his nose, he’s on the hunt for a good story—this is what attracts talent like McGaugh—which in turn attracts the challenging work.

This is the philosophy that has seen RSP collaborate with directors on films like Superman Returns, Harry Potter 4 & 5, The Last Samurai, and the Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Charlotte is the most recent addition to a body of work which spans over a decade, and RSP’s first taste of character animation for a lead role.
It is Whitlam and his team of 10 producers and supervisors that are responsible for winning the work and managing through the teams of full time artists and contractors to deliver the brief.

Understanding the director’s needs
How film studios outsource visual effects services varies from a simple hand over of brief and live action plates right through to pre-visualisation, conceptualisation and onset supervision. To manage these varied needs, RSP assesses the client brief and draws together a crew that suits the individual client.
‘Paying attention to creating the right mix of people at the start of a job always pays dividends down the track.’
Prior to delivering over 100 visual effects shots, RSP set up a pre-visualisation crew for Superman Returns. Director Bryan Singer had a particular vision for the film. The previs team help Singer define a flexible architecture that could facilitate creativity throughout the shoot.
‘You hear a lot of talk about pre-visualisation. In essence it is collaboration with the filmmakers at the storytelling level. It could be help the story point, the pace of a sequence, or the cinematic choices that will be required. Sometimes it’s about understanding the physical and technical ramifications of those choices. It’s about understanding what the director needs out of the experience and delivering it in an interactive way.’
‘Sourcing work (like this) involves a lot of trust,’ says Whitlam. ‘More often than not, it is via recommendation and reputation from previous jobs. Our foot in the door on Superman was helped along by the work we had previously done on Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.’
Such projects see RSP spending a lot of time on set. ‘We offer ourselves as a sounding board, and a group that can offer innovative solutions to assist production with whatever they may require from the digital realm—from prevising a shot to creating new ways of reviewing work remotely.‘

Working towards common goals
Alternatively, a studio may approach RSP part way through a production with a specific task in mind.
‘Experienced visual effects film makers devote a lot of time and effort to designing pipelines that work for international multi vendor undertakings,’ says Whitlam, who points to the Harry Potter franchise.
‘It’s good to know that when shots are turned over, everything you need to meet the brief is at your finger tips.’
All visual effects for the entire Harry Potter series meet the global brief of ‘Magical Realism’.
‘It can’t look like science fiction. It has to look real, but… magic. There is a window that you must work in.’
RSP built upon this foundation when creating the Goblet of Fire, seen in the fourth installment: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
Whitlam says that Director Mike Newell’s ambition for the character of the fire was not completely defined at the time they were brought on board, allowing RSP to fully examine the entity of the fire.
Production was based in the UK, so RSP bridged the geographical gap with a tool developed with their sister company, Rising Sun Research. cineSync—now an industry standard—is a remote review and approval tool that allows directors, like Newell, to review visual media live with anyone, anywhere in the world.

Securing a reputation
Having exposure to such well-defined pipelines has given RSP the opportunity to take on greater responsibility. In their blockbuster character debut, the team developed their own one inch thick bible for Charlotte and her webs, which gave everyone on the job a common visual language to use with the film makers.
‘We’d love the opportunity to do more character animation,’ admits Whitlam.
He’s keen to secure a reputation for this kind work through the promotion of Charlotte across Industry forums and festivals, although remains reluctant to commit RSP to chasing animated feature work. Aware of Hollywood’s sensitivity to box office performance, Whitlam believes that RSP’s current strategy of searching out quality story telling remains the surest bet for continued success.
RSP’s work culture suits the generalist that can problem solve in small teams, at all stages in the filmmaking process from script to screen.
‘Of course,‘ recognises Whitlam, ‘people will naturally gravitate towards one field.’
Typically, the teams comprise of a mix of permanent staff and ‘permalance’ contractors—permanent freelancers that travel the globe, seeking out desirable roles.
‘It seems like over half of the work force within our industry work contract, moving from film to film.’
In his own career, Whitlam considers himself lucky, cutting his teeth 15 years ago on film as a ‘runner, junior compositor and finally a vfx animator’ at New York Production and Design—Australia’s sole feature film visual effects outlet at the time. Eight features later, he joined Ambience, where, alongside Steve Matson, Whitlam built the animation department from one to forty to deliver international TVCs, Broadcast Design and a CG television series.

The difference between film and TVCs
‘Some people crave commercial (TVC) work,’ says Whitlam, ‘you get exposure to a wide variety of challenges in a short space of time. Occasionally you get to work with a great director on an outstanding idea, but with visual effects budgets the way they have been recently, those opportunities are few and far between. Commercial work breeds think-on-your-feet style problem solvers. They are good people to have around.’
Film, he says, allows for greater timelines—although often solutions need to be appropriate for hundreds of shots. More time is spent creating tools for that will allow many people to create a similar end result—enabling studios to coordinate a large number of visual effects vendors when the crunch time comes.
‘Having a flexible pipeline is the key.’
Despite these differences, Whitlam recognises that great talent exists across the entire Australian Industry.
‘Animators, in particular, can flow from one area to another with relative ease. Some compositors working in TVC do face a steeper technical learning curve when crossing over to film.’

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
To maintain the impression of ‘Magical Realism’, Rising Sun Pictures animated computer generated flames to create the Goblet of Fire, manipulated across over 50 different layers in any given shot.
Leveraging the physical nature of fire, the animation team introduced delays and quick retreats to represent behaviour that would subtly portray the reluctant and moody ‘character’ of the ancient flame. It was through the supply of a well defined brief which allowed RSP the freedom to explore the essence of the fire. Rising Sun Pictures compiled the scenes using the Fluid Dynamic Simulation tool found within Maya. The team relied on 2D compositing techniques to turnaround changes for the client quickly. These techniques relied on 3d renders of the flame, which were quite time consuming due to their delicate and complex nature.
‘One shot,’ says Whitlam, ‘could take over a week to render due to the simulation having to cache on an individual workstation.’

Charlotte - exploring character animation
In Paramount’s live action version of the beloved EB White tale, Charlotte’s Web, RSP was given the task of creating Charlotte, a photorealistic spider that audiences needed to empathise with.
‘In America, the book is on the junior school curriculum. It’s one of their national treasures. Everyone has a view on what Charlotte should look like.’
RSP spent many months working with director Gary Winick and VFX Supervisor John Berton Jr, to get the look of Charlotte just right. Much time was devoted to her face and eyes especially, which as the ‘windows to the soul’, were important to get right in addition to her body and movement.
To better understand the complex emotional expressions of Charlotte’s guarded character, visual effects editor Matthew Ozerski played out key scenes with a professional actor as reference for the animators.
‘It was quite emotional experience.’
And to create Charlotte’s movements, the animation team studied all types of reference including live tarantulas to ensure realism.
‘Her movements are very naturalistic, but as far as we know, she does not induce panic in audiences when they see a 50 foot spider projected on the screen. I think we struck just the right balance.’

Superman Returns - X-ray
Rising Sun Pictures indulged in the opportunity to create concept art for Warner Brothers as part of their pre-visualisation services on Superman Returns. These concepts were taken to final for Superman’s X-ray vision in the film.
‘The x-ray effects had not been conceptualised by their (productions) artists,’ reveals Whitman, who says that creating concept art is often the domain of the art department. The eventual solution, grounded in physics, was conceived at RSP. The team developed documentation for the look of the technique for the which was then handed onto other Visual Effects companies globally.
Having a fully supported research and development department, RSP will often seek out technically challenging roles to ensure that the filmmakers get what they need to achieve their vision.

View Gallery | Visit Website

Filed under: DG magazine 127