“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” by Fincher
Conference:
Title:
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Director(s):
Company / Institution / Agency:
- Digital Domain, Inc.
Description:
For “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, Digital Domain created
a fully computer-generated 3D head that carried the performance and photo-real likeness of Brad Pitt for 52 minutes of the movie (over 325 shots).
Digital Domain developed three main systems to create Benjamin’s CG head. The performance system was the most extensive. Instead of relying on traditional marker-based motion capture to bring a live actor’s performance to a digital character, Digital Domain went in a completely different direction and developed a system called emotion capture. First, three maquettes of Brad Pitt, aged 80, 70, and 60, were created and scanned. Then he performed a range of facial expressions while being volumetrically digitized using brand-new technology. That provided a database of every expression that Brad’s face could make. Separately, he performed the role of Benjamin on a soundstage while being shot with multiple digital cameras. The data from Brad performing the facial expressions were matched with the scenes and mapped onto a computer model of Benjamin at the older ages. Digital Domain’s custom rig
enabled hand animation, but it was built from, and locked to, Brad’s own face, to keep Benjamin’s expressions true to Brad’s face and performance.
Because precise placement of the CG heads on the live-action bodies was critical to the believability of the character as a whole person, the tracking system was the literal backbone of the process. A new method of shooting on-set using multiple cameras was developed, along with software to
track the exact movement of the body actor and the camera to place the CG head precisely on the body in 3D space.
To achieve believability, the CG head also had to be seamlessly integrated into the cinematographer’s richly lit sets and shaded with the proper physical characteristics of human skin, eyes, and hair. Techniques included a lighting system driven entirely by high-dynamic-range set acquisition and approaches borrowed from portrait photography.
Software:
mental ray, NUKE TRACK, Mova/Contour
Additional Contributors:
Director: David Fincher
Producers: Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, Ceán Chaffin
Visual Effects Supervisor: Eric Barba
Visual Effects Executive Producer: Ed Ulbrich
Visual Effects Producer: Lisa Beroud
Character Supervisor: Steve Preeg
Modeling Supervisor: Nick Lloyd
3D Integration Supervisor: Marco Maldonado
Asset Creation Supervisor: Karl Denham
Lighting Supervisors: Dan Abrams, Jonathan Litt
3D Effects Supervisor: Nikos Kalaitzidis
Compositing Supervisors: Sonja Burchard, Janelle L. Croshaw, Paul Lambert
Rotoscope/Paint Supervisor: Sarahjane Javelo
Matte Painting Supervisor: Wei Zheng
Digital Producer: Natasha Ozoux
Lead Character Riggers: Jonah Austin, David McLean
Character Riggers: Tracy Irwin, Adam Glendon Sidwell
Modelers: Pete Egbers, Kirk G. Mawhinney, Chad Roen
Junior Modeler: Austin Brown
Hair Lead: Steve Galle
Hair Modelers: Mattias Bergbom, Rowsby Ricard, Zack Weiler
Hair Dynamics: Takashi Kuribayashi
Animation Lead: Matthias Wittmann
Animators: James Parris, Dan Patterson, Patrick Perez, Marc Perrera, Tom St. Amand, Andrew Tamandl, Melissa Thompson
3D Integration Leads: Jesse James Chisholm, Ross Mackenzie, Mike Ramirez
3D Integration Artists: Timothy Cairns, Francis Camacho, Viki Chan, Megan Dolman, Koji Hamaguchi, Peter Herlein, Nick Jushchyshyn, Gary Laurie, Ryan Lorie, Michael Maker, Jim Moorhead, Ian Northrop, Winfield O’Brien, Alfredo Ramirez, Rene Segura, James Sweeney, David Wu
Lighting Lead: Bernard Obieta Ceguerra, P.E.
Lighting Artists: Mike Dalzell, Jeff Dierstein, Juan S. Gomez, Amanda Johnstone, Donna Lanasa, Kamy Leach, Nic Leach, Hoya Lee, David Liu, Chris Norpchen, Mike Roby, Jeremy Sternberg, Marc Toscano, Emerito Trevino
Matte Painter: Vanessa Cheung
Texture Paint Lead: Fin Teo
Texture Painters: Tim Matney, Sathyan Panneerselvam, Stan Seo
Effects Artists: Atsushi Ikarashi, Phillip Prahl, Thomas Reppen
Lead Compositors: Eric M. Beaver, Jessica Harris, Michael Melchiorre, Jason Selfe
Compositors: Dan Akers, Brian Begun, Dan Cobbett, Christina Drahos, Sven Dreesbach, Patrick Ferguson, Michael Harbour, Niles Heckman, Gabriella Kalaitzidis, Jeff Kim, Daryl W. Klein, Kenneth Littleton, Snake Maymudes, Kym Olsen, Marlo J. Pabon, Deborah Wiltman
Lead Technical Developers: Tadao Mihashi, Masuo Suzuki
Technical Developers: John Cooper, Frank Gallego, Michael Meckler, Rémy Torre, Casey Vanover
Paint Artists: Michael Brazelton, Howard P. Cabalfin, Wally Chin, Dan Clark, Viviana Kim, Stephanie Murphy, Vinh Nguyen, Kristen Swanson, Hirofumi Takeda, Keith Weilmuenster, Mattaniah Yip, Niki Yoblonski
Rotoscope Artists: Maura N. Alvarez, Scott Baxter, John Brennick, Lucinda Chee, Hugo Dominguez, Mark Duckworth, Gilbert Gonzales, Joanna Goslicka, Marlan Harris, Lyndal Heathwood, Lance Ranzer
Software Developers: Ross Kameny, Dan Milling, Doug Roble, Geoff Wedig
Previsualization Lead: David Rosenbaum
Previsualization Artist: Ronald D. Herbst
Visual Effects Editor: Steven Nevius
Visual Effects Assistant Editor: Brian Miller
Visual Effects Coordinator: Charlie Bolwell
Digital Effects Coordinators: Chris McLeod, Cynthia Richards, Bethany Wilksen, Virginia Wilson
Assistant Digital Effects Coordinator: Jamie Hartnett
Color Grader: Christopher Savides
Digital Production Administrator: Mana Toyoda
Technical Support: John Ceballos, Chad E. Collier, Patrick Courtnage, Jo Lockman, Natt Mintrasak, Tracy Watada, Peter Wilson
Visual Effects Accountant: Christopher Rockwell
Visual Effects Production Assistant: Perry Kain
Production: Paramount Pictures & Warner Bros. Pictures
