« The biggest challenge was setting up a pipeline between different software and visual effects departments, » confides Michael Moercant, Motion Design Artist. « The motion design department was the first link in the production chain, and every adjustment we made had a significant influence on the subsequent steps. During production, we had to find a solution to limit the amount of calculated imagery without undermining the existing pipeline, and especially not restricting artistic modifications. »
« This scene was important from the start of the project, as it initially required a lot of visual research to get something as close as possible to what the director imagined, » says Agathe Sayegh – Motion Design Artist. « The biggest challenge was primarily in the logistics of production. » There were both the collages of faces, the movement through the kiosk, the emergence of the form of the nun, the rhythm, the number of pages, their movements, etc., but also the collaboration between the motion design department and the 3D department, which worked almost simultaneously with quite long production and rendering times. « Each team had technical constraints, a vision of the result, and had to wait for the other team to produce a sequence to be able to work, and vice versa. It was both a simultaneous hand-in- hand and relayed work, » concludes Agathe. Laurent specifies that « After the motion design department, this sequence went to the FX department, responsible for transforming these static images into pages turning naturally and experiencing the effect of the wind. It was a huge technical challenge. »
« We quickly opted for a procedural process and set up our first system with Houdini, » Bastien recalls. « We were fortunate to work with a particularly creative Houdini artist, Benjamin Saurine. He came up with the idea of an endless series of pages entering and exiting the magazine simulation. A bit like a barrel organ in a 4D space. Funny anecdote: from the first days of testing, we obtained very good results that were even included in the final version. »
« The FX department then exported data that allowed the lighting department to work on the textures of each page via the 3D software Maya, and then integrate the appropriate light for a realistic render, » Laurent continues, « all while scrupulously following the animation created from the beginning by the motion design department. »
Christophe ‘Tchook’ Courgeau simultaneously took care of the digital set extension of this sequence and specifies that « The sequence was initially shot on a street in Tarascon, France and later replicated in a studio with a blue screen background. We had to extract photogrammetry data from the filming location and clean it up in order to digitally recreate some surfaces that were missing details, such as the window bars for example. » He acknowledges that « living in the country where the film takes place was an advantage for his digital environment and set design team. It was easier to propose sets and atmospheres to the director because these are familiar places for us, and practically, we were able to take photos when needed. »
Bastien Brenot concludes: « The work of the assets, lighting, and compositing teams allowed us to achieve the level of extreme realism we needed for this scene. The recreation of the street, the kiosk, and the magazines was so precise that our entirely 3D-manufactured shots fit seamlessly into the edit with the real shots. »