“Hollow Earth and Revisiting Kong” by Smith and Clayton
Conference:
Type:
Title:
- Hollow Earth and Revisiting Kong
Presenter(s)/Author(s):
Project Affiliation:
- Weta Digital
Abstract:
Godzilla vs. Kong is a classic hero’s journey that follows Kong on his quest to reconcile his past and defend his future. In this talk, VFX Supervisor Kevin Smith teams up with Animation Supervisor Dave Clayton to discuss Kong and the evolution of his personality and creating some of the amazing worlds he explores.
Weta Digital worked hand-in-hand with filmmakers to imagine and visualise shots of Kong’s story moments well in advance, including Kong’s hilarious ‘morning routine’ Animation beats, editing style, and pacing were heavily explored from the early stages.
Weta was responsible for Hollow Earth and the spectacular effects created by the ships that travel there in pursuit of Kong.
Weta assumed responsibility for building thirteen hero environments, some of which sprawled hundreds of kilometres. One features a physical impossibility, with the horizon meeting an entirely new landscape rather than the sky. Another is in Antarctica, where wild weather whips through the scenes, coating sets and characters in layers of snow. Kevin and Dave will explain how they worked out a system of blocking out action beats and layouts as a single big choreographed movement independent of shot cuts. This approach gave filmmakers flexibility and freedom to get their action locked down in unison with FX and layout and edit the film as if it were a live-action sporting event, capturing a moment in time and presenting it to an audience with maximum drama.
