Studio created multiple large-scale full CG and digital set extensions, including one that transported the present-day New York skyline back to 1994; a team of 1,000+ artists across London, Montreal, Bangalore, LA, Toronto, and Adelaide delivered 896 shots, including 18 of the movie’s characters.
MPC shared a look at its visual effects contributions to Paramount Pictures’ Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, directed by Steven Caple Jr. The newest outing in the Transformers movie franchise, according to the studio, transports audiences on an “epic journey… to a world where ancient history collides with a battle for survival.”
Production VFX supervisor Gary Brozenich oversaw the visual effects, working with MPC VFX supervisors Richard Little and Carlos Caballero Valdés and MPC VFX producers Cindy Deringer and Nicholas Vodicka. The MPC team consisted of over 1,000 artists and production crew collaborating across the company’s studios in London, Montreal, Bangalore, LA, Toronto, and Adelaide, delivering 896 shots, including 18 of the movie’s characters such as Arcee; Bumblebee; Mirage; Optimus Primal; Optimus Prime; Rhinox; Scourge; and the planet-eating Unicron.
Major sequences included the start of the story in New York; the abandoned warehouse scene where the heroes meet the Autobots; the Ellis Island Battle; the Switchback Mountain chase; and the pivotal sequence where the Autobots meet the Maximals.
Brozenich met with the filmmakers in 2021 to plan how to bring the director's vision of a new Transformers film to life. MPC’s on-set crew traveled to Montreal, New York, and Peru to gather data from the shoot for the VFX work. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, MPC’s visualization team, supervised by Abel Salazar, worked alongside the director and VFX supervisor to craft previs for many of the film’s sequences. Then, they helped ensure a smooth transition into VFX by providing postvis for shots. Salazar and a team of artists continued into post-production, providing over 2,000 postvis, shots providing a foundation for MPC's VFX team to build on.
Character development began with concept art created by the production’s art department, with some of the designs receiving additional work from MPC’s Art Department, headed up by art director Leandre Lagrange. Lagrange and a team of six artists worked on concepts for volcano environments; details of Unicron’s design; Arcee’s face design; Optimus Prime’s weapon; and various holograms, including Arcee’s scan hologram. For the transformations, MPC developed a new proprietary tool that allowed animators to slice, separate, and transform geometry on a model, in any given shot, on any asset. The success of the transformations was a joint effort between multiple departments, including R&D, Animation Mechanic TDs, and CG Lighters.
MPC’s Environments team built multiple large-scale full CG and digital set extensions, from jungle environments to mountains and built-up cities. One of the largest was changing the present-day New York skyline back to 1994.
“It was really interesting to see how much Manhattan has changed over the last 30 years,” said Little. “We created a huge CG build of Manhattan based on images from photography and footage gathered from the early 90s. We had some incredible images of the skyline given to me by New Yorkers I worked closely with on the shoot in Manhattan. Some of these images came from their family’s personal photography collections. The Williamsburg bridge, which is heavily featured in the sequence when Noah meets the Autobots, was scanned and photographed to help our Environments team with the build. We were very fortunate the Manhattan authorities were so helpful in allowing us to collect the photography we needed.”
“MPC’s creative teams and supervisors were excellent collaborators for us on the film,” said Brozenich. “From asset creation and design to the creation of highly complex full-screen environments, the teams nailed the brief with flair. The robots were exceptionally crafted and animated. I was pleased to uphold the legacy of the franchise with them.”
"Our collaboration with director Steven Caple Jr. and production VFX supervisor Gary Brozenich allowed us to push the boundaries of what is possible in visual effects,” added Little. “Working on Transformers: Rise of the Beasts has been a thrilling and challenging experience for our team. We've combined our passion for storytelling with great artistry and technology to create an unforgettable cinematic experience for audiences."
Distributed by Paramount Pictures, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts was released in theaters June 8.
Source: MPC
Debbie Diamond Sarto is news editor at Animation World Network.
