Tippett Studio created the mysterious monster that destroys New York City in Paramounts record-breaking CLOVERFIELD. The Tippett team was helmed by Visual Effects Supervisor Eric Leven, while Tom Gibbons, Chris Morely and Steve Reding were the creative leads that completed key dramatic and complex vfx shots involving the monster and the deadly parasites, integrating them expertly within photographic and digital environments.
Commented Jules Roman, CEO of Tippett Studio, "The monster, which so far has been kept tightly under wraps by the filmmakers, is garnering praise from film critics and fans alike for its fearsome contribution of murder and mayhem to the movie. We're very proud of this latest star in Tippett's historic cast of creature characters."
"We loved working on CLOVERFIELD; it was a fantastic opportunity to breathe life into a monstrous 25-story character shown from a unique perspective," added Leven. "An incredibly tight budget and deadline made the show challenging, but great collaboration with the director, producers and J.J. [Abrams] made it a lot of fun, too. What boy doesn't grow up wanting to make giant monster movies; smashing buildings, stomping on tanks and blowing things up?"
Tippett's crew was responsible for such scenes as the carpet bombing of 10 blocks of Manhattan, an entire sequence -- composited together to look like a single shot -- dedicated to the deadly parasites, digital rats and a full-CG shot of the creature in all its glory lasting more than one minute. In order to feel like it was part of one continuous take, multiple shots were stitched together to give the movie the aesthetic vibe of found footage shot by an amateur.
Phil Tippett, visual effects pioneer and founder of Tippett Studio, added, Its about time. The planet earth can always use a good monster.
Tippett Studio, founded in 1984 by animation pioneer Phil Tippett, is an Academy Award-winning visual effects company specializing in a wide range of CG animation and digital effects for feature films and television commercials. The company has created visual effects for more than 50 films, including THE GOLDEN COMPASS, ENCHANTED, CHARLOTTES WEB, CONSTANTINE, HELLBOY, THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS, HOLLOW MAN, STARSHIP TROOPERS, BLADE 2, ROBOCOP and JURASSIC PARK. Tippett Studios recent work can be seen in the Feb. 15 release of THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES for Paramount. They are currently in production on SOUTH OF THE BORDER for Disney.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
