Behind the Scenes: Creating Visual Effects for THE CROODS with Louis Flores

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Category: Interviews

Created: Thursday, 21 March 2013 07:04

Published: Thursday, 21 March 2013 07:04

Written by Lupe Haas

Go behind the scenes of Dreamworks’  THE CROODS with visual effects lead Louis Flores. One of THE CROODS visual artists explains how visual effects are created for animated films.

Louis, who has worked on How To Train Your Dragon, Kung Fu Panda 2, and Monsters Vs. Aliens, and most recently THE CROODS, gives us a sneak peek at creating visual effects for an animated film.   

CM: Which movie sequences did you work on for THE CROODS?
Louis:  I developed a lot of the fire that you see in the movie; the opening sequence for them [characters] running through the desert - I was lead on that; and I developed the look of the dusting of the characters; the elephant smashing through giant sand dunes, I did that actual shot; and I worked on a lot of the corn rocket stuff, when the  rocket blasts off from the cornhusk.

CM: How many visual artists were there for this film?
Louis: I think on this movie we got to around 30. There were five leads and each lead gets tasked with a sequence and also usually you get tasked with some sort of visual development like the water, or smoke, or fire.

CM:  How does the process work when you have different teams working on different sequences?
Louis: Sometimes you start out really rough with no animation in the scene or not a whole lot, and then you develop and as the scene progresses. Then we all do the final integration as well. The leads actually composite the final elements into the background…

CM: And do the team leads bring some of that design to you, to the team to say this is what we’re going for?’
Louis: A lot of the times the visual effects supervisor and production designer will posts stuff on our website, so that we can see what specific sequences should look like, the feel of things, as far as the atmosphere that we need to add…clouds and whatnot…  We have access to all of the references they’ve either shot or taken online, or that we shoot internally as well.

CM: What do you research to create something that’s from a prehistoric time period?
Louis: For effects, it’s really more about heading towards realism. If you look at the effects, it is not too cartoony for the most part. They have to fit it into the environment more so than an overly designed Kung Fu Panda type of fire or smoke from that movie.  So typically, we look at realistic reference. We’ll go out and shoot. When the little gerbils come out of the ground, we actually went to the park and stuck stuffed animals in the sand and popped them out to see how the sand would shoot out.

CM: Oh, wow!
Louis: And then we passed that on to the artist who works on that shot.

CM: I read that some of the shots were done in a way where it looked like a hand-held camera.  Did that affect your work or how you were going to visualize it?
Louis: It doesn’t really anymore… I think it was actually more of an issue when we first started doing that type of thing, but now the layout department has gotten so good at it with that particular type of camera work that is either not too extreme or distracting for us or for the viewers.  It’s really a non issue at this point.

CM: How did you get your start in the business?
Louis: I actually went to school to become an illustrator, and then right before I graduated, I kind of fell into the whole computer thing and I landed a job at a game company. And there, I got to do every aspect of production. So I got to model, rig, light, and do special effects. And then, I went to work for a live action company and then Disney, and then here [Dreamworks], and it’s been a good run.

CM: What’s your favorite part of doing what you do?
Louis: I think seeing it all come together is probably the best part of it. It’s great to always be learning in our department because the software is always changing, and the technology is always advancing. So it’s nice to be current, but when it’s all said and done, when you go see it in the theatre, that’s when its truly exciting.

CM: And speaking of technology, what’s the latest advancement that had everybody excited in your field that made a big difference?
Louis: In our particular department, it was when we got an in-house simulator, and it allowed us to do very large scale explosions, and things like that, that didn’t require a lot of time basically. It allows you to iterate pretty quickly. It was nice to be able to get a launch on a shot, and say ‘hey, we want to have this giant explosion behind this mountain,’ and then you could easily block that in, in a day and show it and keep going really quickly from there. So, for me personally that was one of the exciting things on this show.

CM: What was the most difficult visual effect on this film?
Louis: You know water is always tough. To make it look either realistic or behave correctly, but I think it looks fantastic. Those guys did a great job of making that all work out. Some of the harder effects are also, when the mountains are blowing up basically, or shooting giant fumes through the clouds and things like that. Those are pretty difficult shots.

CM: So do you illustrate every frame, or what is the correct term for what you do?
Louis: You simulate…  You start with a scene, then you pull in, what we call assets, like character, or a torch, or the ground and then we use simulations to do different kinds of effects, whether it be dust or rocks breaking or whatnot.  Then basically set up all the right parameters and let the computer simulate the final effect that you want. On top of that, you can add different things to control it and get the final element.

CM: And how long did you work on this project?
Louis: Roughly two years.

CM: Is there a crew screening, where everybody can marvel at what's been done with their work?
Louis: We get to watch the movie a lot during production. It’s always in bits and pieces, it’s in the storyboards, and the story is always changing, so you never get an impression of what the final elements are going to be like. So the crew screenings are a lot of fun too. You don’t see it with the final music and the sound effects, but it’s fun to sit there with the whole crew and enjoy the movie.

CM: What’s been your favorite movie to work on?
Louis: Another Chris Sanders movie actually, which was How to Train your Dragon, and honestly this movie, the Croods. Those are the two best pictures here, and I personally like him as a director. I think he brings a lot of heart to his films.

CM: As far as 3D, how does that affect your work?
Louis: That was challenging, when we transitioned to 3D. At this point, for the most part, we’ve sorted out all the hurdles that we had before, so it doesn’t really affect us, unless they ask us to specifically generate elements, like having a torch go towards the camera or things like that.  That becomes a little more difficult for us to make it look right. But they don’t do that too much anymore, so that’s nice! I think 3D has gone more about pushing the depth into the screen, as opposed to just throwing stuff at the audience.

CM: Well that’s kind of ironic, because in live action that’s probably the easiest effect to accomplish.
Louis: (chuckles) Exactly!

CM: What’s next for you?
Louis: I am guessing it will probably be How to Train your Dragon 2.

Catch Louis Flores’ work in THE CROODS starting March 22, 2013.

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