Dave Schaub of Sony Pictures Imageworks tells Bill Desowitz all about the additional animation in the alternate ending for I Am Legend, now on DVD/Blu-ray.
With Warner Home Video's recent release of I Am Legend on DVD and Blu-ray, most of the attention has obviously centered on the alternate ending, in which Will Smith's Robert Neville experiences a very different revelation and outcome as a result of his standoff with the infected survivors. Not surprisingly, critics have responded more favorably to the clarity and tenderness of the alternate resolution, and the more humane treatment of the combatants. And, naturally, Sony Pictures Imageworks is pleased as well, since the alternate ending shows off more of its animated work. VFXWorld discusses the additional work with Animation Supervisor Dave Schaub.
Dave Shaub: The last time I saw you was at The Annies, wasn't it?
Bill Desowitz: Yes, where you started telling me about the alternate ending of I Am Legend, and wondered if it would be on the DVD and Blu-ray versions. Well, it is, and the clip's been on YouTube, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to talk more about it.
DS: From our perspective, the alternate ending is what ended up in theaters because all along we were doing the ending that became the alternate ending. And it was right near the end that we took a little detour and gave them a different ending. And I think at that point, they took a look at both of them and decided which one they would go with.
BD: This was after it didn't fare well during test screenings?
DS: Yes, as far as I know. And what was interesting about it is we did two entirely unique versions, because usually they'll make a decision at some point to go down one path or the other. But we ultimately ended up doing both of them in full so that they had the option to go either way, and ended up with the shorter version in theaters. But it seems to be getting a lot of attention.
BD: Talk about the impact of the animation in the alternate ending, where we find out more about the infected, especially the alpha male.
DS: The challenge, just talking in general terms, was to pump up the performances that were captured. And the capture that we got was onset, which means they're wearing their spandex and have these big, big dots that were basically taped onto their costumes. It wasn't finessed, very fine-level detail. But it was enough to give us placement of the characters in the scene and relative positions in 3D space. It was a good start. But from there, you get into the finessing animation work, and taking those performances and pushing bigger and broader as the mutants tear into the basement and tear the place apart and slam against the glass. You know, when a real actor does that, there's always a sense of apprehension, guarding themselves a little bit. And as we got deeper into it, the alpha male is making the butterfly imprint on the glass. These were ideas that were fleshed out much later in the filmmaking process, so there wasn't any capture for that. So we did more and more animation as different bits of business as far as storytelling ideas. For instance, the butterfly pattern on the glass wasn't that clear -- he slammed his hand against the glass and smears [the shape of] a butterfly. So as we got deeper into this, whether it was for the alternate ending or not, after we learn more about the characters and how violent they needed to be, we just started animating a lot of this stuff.
BD: In terms of keyframe animation, did you use the usual tools?
DS: Yes, but I should mention that in some of the how-tos you see side-by-sides of the motion captured character and the emoting that's going on in the face and there are markers all over the face. That was purely for reference. We didn't rig the face for motion capture. That was purely animation. So those were traditional muscle controls in the face, we had low-level muscle controls, which pretty much represents 150 controls. And it was pretty similar to the way we set things up with a library of expressions or starting poses that we can hit easily, and then we can get in there and discreetly finesse things. Animators were acting these bits out as we needed different stunts.
BD: I read a very lovely quote in which you describe Neville's revelation that the infected are not monsters and that there is hope for the survival of humanity after all. Tell us more about what you are proudest of.
DS: Yes, I remembered being interviewed before they decided on this ending and talking about a certain level of communication that was happening in the eyes. Because the infected survivors don't speak, a lot of that emoting is done through the subtlety of the expressions. And, of course, what came out in theaters were these screaming infected characters and you had no idea what I was talking about. So in the alternate version all that subtlety comes through in trying to make the connection between Neville and the alpha male. Any time you do a human-like character, it's a huge challenge. So I think there's a level of finesse in the face in the alternate version that you didn't get an opportunity to see in theaters, where they just stormed into the basement, slammed into the glass and just got blown up.
Bill Desowitz is editor of VFXWorld.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
