Home » Community » Interviews » Screaming Death Monkey's Jeremy Hunt

300 © 2007 Warner Bros. All Rights Reserved. Images courtesy of Screaming Death Monkey.

Could you supply a bit of background on how and when Screaming Death Monkey was formed?

"I formed Screaming Death Monkey in 2004 after another company that I owned had closed shop. Most people ask how I came up with the name. I wish I had a good story but the truth is that a few years before I incorporated SDM I made a personal website and wanted an unusual name. Screaming Death Monkey was on the short list and every one everyone I asked said it was their favorite. When it came time for me to start a new company, I just used that name because a lot of the infrastructure was already done. Love it or hate it, I find most people don’t forget the name."

What are recent and current productions that have gone through Screaming Death Monkey?

"Well, I’ve done a number of commercials for clients like Kyocera and Blue Bell Ice Cream, music videos for Dashboard Confessional and Clutch, a feature length kids movie with photo real talking dogs, and spent the better part of 2006 working on this little movie called “300”, to name a few."

What was the outline of the specific project? (Who was the client, what were the requirements?)

"Warner Bros Picture was the studio with VFX Supervisor Chris Watts being our day to day client. We were given three sequences that required matte paintings, sky replacements, set extensions, fire and smoke effects and compositing."

What specific skills do you think Screaming Death Monkey possess that made them you the perfect choice to work on 300?

"I think SDM was chosen mostly because the visual effects supervisor, Chris Watts, knows me and my work and knew that we could give him the level of work that was required for the film. Also, we are a smaller shop with the ability to do big work so I think our costs were inline with what the budget of the film required. Most of the work was done in Canada so we had to be able to compete with their subsidized bids."

How many shots did Screaming Death Monkey complete for 300?

"I believe right around 80."

What makes up your pipeline? (What specific tools were used and why? How did Fusion fit into the overall production pipeline?)

"For this project we used Lightwave for the 3D work, Photoshop for the matte paintings of sky and textures, and Fusion for the effects and compositing. The blue screen comps were outsourced to my friend and long time collaborator, Wayne Shepherd, who owns At The Post. We have a strategic relationship and share space."

What were some of the biggest challenges you faced on this project and how did you overcome them? How did Fusion help in this regard?

"The biggest challenges were the skies and the smoke elements that we needed to create. For the skies I painted everything in Photoshop using a hybrid of photography and water colors to get the look that the client was after. From there they had to be brought to life. The clouds needed to move and roll like real clouds, etc. Fusion was indispensable in that regard. Being able to load the PSD and have all of the layers as separate loaders was great and, since the layers rarely used normal blending modes, Fusion’s ability to replicate what Photoshop was doing made the process very simple. From there I could move and warp the clouds so that they had movement and life. The grid warp tool has become my favorite tool in Fusion. I think it has saved the day on nearly every project I’ve done in the past couple of years and I haven’t found its equal in any other tool set. Once we got the pipeline down for the clouds, I was able to concentrate on the smoke. In one sequence the Oracle interacts with wispy tendrils of smoke. We went through a few R&D revisions and finally settled on 3D geometry with cloth dynamics morphing through a bone chain. This technique was great but needed a lot of clean up after the fact. The smoke needed to emit from these hot coals, so in Fusion we were able to Grid Warp the smoke and matte the areas, apply color correction and glows to simulate interactive light and dial in the opacity to really put the smoke in the scene. We also used Fusion to comp in filmed smoke elements and color correct everything to match so that the real smoke and the CG smoke looked very similar. One of the other things we were able to do right in Fusion was the fire embers. 300 has a specific fire look where all the flames give off a huge amount of embers and sparks. With Fusion we were able to produce that effect right in the comp without having to go to another piece of software. And when the client got very specific about movement and swirling and randomness, we were able to get the exact animation that they were after."

Who were the artists working on the shot? What particular features were essential in getting their work done?

"I did most of the Fusion work for the smoke and skies. David Sliviak did all of the particle work and cloth dynamics for the smoke animation. Over all I would say that Fusion’s 32 bit renderer and its ability to handle multiple image resolutions within the same comp really made things easier. And again, I can’t say enough about the grid warp tool! The big deal for me is that I rarely have to go to another program to get what I want and that is becoming more and more possible with the new 3D tool set Fusion has."

In which way were those matte paintings animated? What was in the plates (waves/fire/clouds/.....) that came from Photoshop? How many layers were used to create the look of the (waves/fire/clouds/.....) and how was it done? (Grid warps/Displace/Particles)

"I would say that the matte paintings had anywhere from 5 to 10 layers. Grid warps were the tool of choice to give a natural movement to the clouds."

What techniques were used to ensure that the look stayed consistent and that the artists were seeing the shots as they would be seen by the audience?

"Well, we worked primarily in log color space and kept everything 32bit which kept anything from clipping."

At what stage in the composite was the color treatment added?

"We would apply most of the look into our shots from the get go. This was called “The Crush”. But we knew that they wanted to have a lot of control in the DI so we didn’t let anything clip which gave them the room to crush it down even more if they wanted later, which they did, a lot."

Why did you choose Fusion to accomplish the shots?

"I use Fusion because it has consistently had the tool set that I required. It’s got a great paint package (that got even better with 5.1), excellent film tools, that amazing grid warp (have I mentioned that I’m a fan?), the particles and 3D tools. For this project specifically I used it because it has the film tools that we required. The 32 bit pipeline specifically. See attached frames and descriptions."

Which technique(s) were used to match the CG-grain to the film plates?

"Mostly this was done by eye. Settings were different from shot to shot so we came up with a good starting setting that was slightly tweaked per shot."

What was the minimum process for a shot in Fusion, and the maximum? (How many render passes were done on average per shot?)

"The minimum process was rendering and animating the skies and environments. This was between 5 to 10 layers. The maximum was some of the Oracle smoke shots that had as many as 20 2k or HD loaders with dozens and dozens of tools and mattes building the comp just for the smoke effects. That coupled with the skies and environments and those shots went through two or three comps comprising 30 or more loaders and hundreds of nodes."

In which plates were those Grid Warps used? How did they help in enhancing realism?

"I would say that every single shot we did for 300 used the Grid Warp to some extent. From animating the clouds to placing the smoke and adding one more layer of animation. It’s a very valuable tool."

Did you make use of EXR or PPF changes?

"No. Would have liked to but the production didn’t use EXR so we just kept a DPX pipeline."

How vital were Fusion’s rotoscoping capabilities on the project?

"Pretty vital. For the smoke we needed it to go in front and behind, through her legs, etc. The spline tools for the mattes made this a lot easier than it could have been. "

Are there any new features in 5.1 that you feel will further help you in your pipeline?

"The perturb feature in 5.1 is awesome. I really wish I had that on 300. The 3D tools keep getting better which is really exciting. Being able to keep more of my pipeline within Fusion is a great feature, and the paint changes are a huge improvement."

How deadline driven was this project and how did Fusion comply and assist in this?

"Every project is deadline driven! That’s one of the reasons I like Fusion. It’s fast and scalable."

What can we expect from you in the future?

"We’re working on a handful of shots for a film where we’re creating fireworks. Fusion will be the one and only piece of software we use for that job. A few commercials are in the pipeline as well. Later in the year I hope to produce and direct an effects heavy short film that will hopefully stretch what Fusion can do. Fusion is going to be my compositor and effects tool of choice. The more time I can live in Fusion and not have to go to other tools the happier I will be so I’m planning on doing all of the chroma keying and effects work as well as the online and color corrections. I’ll make sure you guys see the final project."

top