Son'a collector break-away ship models: frm.
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Revision as of 12:05, August 29, 2016
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O'Connors set-up conformed to John Grower's vision of the collector's demise as he has stated, "''We wanted to show that it was blowing up from the inside out, so there were things coming out from off the surface, but at the end you want the whole thing to blow. And with that many timed events, and all their wires, you want to make sure one explosion doesn't set off some other one before it's supposed to. It took about 25 hours to actually load the model and test all the connections, to get it prepped to shoot–and then it's over in a split second. (...) And then we mixed the CG elements with the miniature work [the lamé-like sails and their burning disintegration were added by computer] and pumped it all together and they loved it–and that was all in the last week!''" ({{STC|121}}, p. 58)
O'Connors set-up conformed to John Grower's vision of the collector's demise as he has stated, "''We wanted to show that it was blowing up from the inside out, so there were things coming out from off the surface, but at the end you want the whole thing to blow. And with that many timed events, and all their wires, you want to make sure one explosion doesn't set off some other one before it's supposed to. It took about 25 hours to actually load the model and test all the connections, to get it prepped to shoot–and then it's over in a split second. (...) And then we mixed the CG elements with the miniature work [the lamé-like sails and their burning disintegration were added by computer] and pumped it all together and they loved it–and that was all in the last week!''" ({{STC|121}}, p. 58)
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While the burning up of the sails were largely executed in CGI, some physical elements were required to match up the footage in post-production, as O'Connors explained, "''We used a specially treated plastic film stretched over steel frames. The film was backed by pyro material, and we set the frame onto a latching box beneath that had fans and exhaust ducts built in. The pyro material on th back of the film was treated so we'd see some sparks and a bright burn suggesting the sails are some kind of exotic material. When we ignited the pyro, the fans extracted all smoke, so only the burn element photographed–creating something like the burning map of Nevada on ''Bonanza''{{'}}s opening credit. SBS put that right over its CG sails.''" (''[[Cinefex]]'', issue 77, p. 93) Matching all the physical model work with the CGI work in post-production, was something that was also foremost on the mind of John Grower who wanted to preserve all the interactive pyro lighting on the miniature. For this he closely coordinated with Don Baker to make sure the miniature lined up in a position that would match SBS' CGI model, "''They shot it all anamorphic, so to save tome, instead of scanning at 4K and then squeezing, we scanned the squeezed image. We tweaked the position of our CG collector to correspond exactly with the miniature.''" (''[[Cinefex]]'', issue 77, p. 95) Debris flying through the sails were then added digitally, though lighting was all adjusted to conform to the real lighting originating from the O'Connor explosions.
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{| class="wiki-sidebar" style="width:100%;"
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| colspan="1" align="center" |[[File:Son'a collector break-away ship model cast under contruction by the crew of Hunter-Gratzner.jpg|180px]]
| colspan="1" align="center" |[[File:Son'a collector break-away ship model cast under contruction by the crew of Hunter-Gratzner.jpg|180px]]
| colspan="1" align="center" |[[File:The Son'a collector break-away ship model rigged with explosives by the crew of O'Connors FX.jpg|150px]]
| colspan="1" align="center" |[[File:The Son'a collector break-away ship model rigged with explosives by the crew of O'Connors FX.jpg|150px]]
| colspan="1" align="center" |[[File:Son'a collector break-away ship model assembled and prepared for filming by the crew of Hunter-Gratzner.jpg|180px]]
| colspan="1" align="center" |[[File:Son'a collector break-away ship model assembled and prepared for filming by the crew of Hunter-Gratzner.jpg|180px]]
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| colspan="1" align="center" |[[File:Son'a collector break-away ship model receiving final detailing.jpg|180px]]
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| colspan="1" align="center" |[[File:Son'a collector break-away ship model detonated onstage at Van Nuys Airfield.jpg|180px]]
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| colspan="1" align="center" |[[File:Son'a collector destroyed.jpg|180px]]
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| class="even" | <center>HGI modelers constructing a main hull casting of the break-away model...</center>
| class="even" | <center>HGI modelers constructing a main hull casting of the break-away model...</center>
| class="even" | <center>...with O'Connor VFX crew rigging the break-away model with explosives...</center>
| class="even" | <center>...with O'Connor VFX crew rigging the break-away model with explosives...</center>
| class="even" | <center>...before being finished and assembled by HGI's crew...</center>
| class="even" | <center>...before being finished and assembled by HGI's crew...</center>
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| colspan="1" align="center" |[[File:Son'a collector break-away ship model receiving final detailing.jpg|180px]]
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| colspan="1" align="center" |[[File:Son'a collector break-away ship model detonated onstage at Van Nuys Airfield.jpg|180px]]
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| colspan="1" align="center" |[[File:Son'a collector destroyed.jpg|180px]]
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| class="even" | <center>...and finalized by Waters (top) and Hahn...</center>
| class="even" | <center>...and finalized by Waters (top) and Hahn...</center>
| class="even" | <center>...for its fiery on-stage demise at Van Nuys Airfield...</center>
| class="even" | <center>...for its fiery on-stage demise at Van Nuys Airfield...</center>
| class="even" | <center>...resulting in this end result.</center>
| class="even" | <center>...resulting in this end result.</center>
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While the burning up of the sails were largely executed in CGI, some physical elements were required to match up the footage in post-production, as O'Connors explained, "''We used a specially treated plastic film stretched over steel frames. The film was backed by pyro material, and we set the frame onto a latching box beneath that had fans and exhaust ducts built in. The pyro material on th back of the film was treated so we'd see some sparks and a bright burn suggesting the sails are some kind of exotic material. When we ignited the pyro, the fans extracted all smoke, so only the burn element photographed–creating something like the burning map of Nevada on ''Bonanza''{{'}}s opening credit. SBS put that right over its CG sails.''" (''[[Cinefex]]'', issue 77, p. 93) Matching all the physical model work with the CGI work in post-production, was something that was also foremost on the mind of John Grower who wanted to preserve all the interactive pyro lighting on the miniature. For this he closely coordinated with Don Baker to make sure the miniature lined up in a position that would match SBS' CGI model, "''They shot it all anamorphic, so to save tome, instead of scanning at 4K and then squeezing, we scanned the squeezed image. We tweaked the position of our CG collector to correspond exactly with the miniature.''" (''[[Cinefex]]'', issue 77, p. 95) Debris flying through the sails were then added digitally, though lighting was all adjusted to conform to the real lighting originating from the O'Connor explosions.
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Matthew Gratzner has expressed an exceeding satisfaction about the end result, "''This is probably one of the most exciting pyro shots of any spaceship on film. It just goes on and on. There are so many incendiary explosions all the way through. It really scaled out beautifully.''" (''[[Sci-Fi & Fantasy Models|Sci-Fi & Fantasy Models International]]'', issue 35, p. 22) The sentiment was shared by original commissioner John Grower, who summarized, "''There was a company back east called Illusion Artist that was able to take our CG database and read that and cut that out of foam. [The science ship] was symmetrical, so they were able to do a third of the ship and sent it back to L.A., to Hunter-Gratzner, who we hired to do the miniature build, and they were able to [put it together in record time–it was just amazing! So that miniature actually was the exact same shape and form as our CG model.''" ({{STC|121}}, p. 58)
Matthew Gratzner has expressed an exceeding satisfaction about the end result, "''This is probably one of the most exciting pyro shots of any spaceship on film. It just goes on and on. There are so many incendiary explosions all the way through. It really scaled out beautifully.''" (''[[Sci-Fi & Fantasy Models|Sci-Fi & Fantasy Models International]]'', issue 35, p. 22) The sentiment was shared by original commissioner John Grower, who summarized, "''There was a company back east called Illusion Artist that was able to take our CG database and read that and cut that out of foam. [The science ship] was symmetrical, so they were able to do a third of the ship and sent it back to L.A., to Hunter-Gratzner, who we hired to do the miniature build, and they were able to [put it together in record time–it was just amazing! So that miniature actually was the exact same shape and form as our CG model.''" ({{STC|121}}, p. 58)