In the early stages of
Spider-Man 2, it became clear that this story would be full of intense action and that Doc Ock would be a complex villain, both as a character in the story and as a character of the visual and mechanical effects. This was good for the story but created many difficult challenges for both mechanical and visual effects. The dynamics of Doc Ock's arms and tentacles required a six-man mechanical effects operation (two arms and four tentacle props). Any given shot might use mechanical effects props, puppet tentacles, and digital tentacles. Many shots used all three.
DOC OCK'S TENTACLES
What made this project so unique were the tentacles. Director Sam Raimi wanted the tentacles to be busy at all times. The tentacle puppets could not hold any weight, and the CG tentacles simply were not there so we had to continually manipulate our props as if they were being moved by an invisible tentacle or in synchronization with puppeteers.
There are several times in the film when Doc Ock's feet are off the ground such as when he is carried down the street or taken up the side of a building by his tentacles. We built several rigs, one of which was a computerized cable system for our actor, Alfred Molina. It was rigged overhead to carry Alfred and simulate Doc Ock being carried by his tentacles.
THE FUSION MACHINE
Doc Ock invents a fusion device which goes awry and turns into a magnetic vortex pulling in any and all metallic items within its reach. Every item that contained metal was consumed by the machine: metal-frame glasses, ceiling lights, and metal from walls and window frames. In the film's final sequence, every metal object in the virtual city is pulled toward the giant vortex.
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Secrets of Spider-Man 2: The Nominees Tell All
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Most of the items were rubber-cast pieces with metal armatures, which enabled them to be stretched and manipulated to achieve maximum stresses. A good example of this is takes place during the first fusion event with the flexing of the big arched window at the end of Doc Ock's lab that explodes into the room, killing the doctor's wife, Rosie.
In the film's final battle sequence, Doc Ock has recreated a larger version of his fusion machine and allows more and bigger items to be inhaled by it. With the magnetic pull of the machine, cars and other metal objects are pulled down the street toward the magnetic vortex of Doc Ock's fusion machine as it roars out of control.
Large pieces of the set were on hydraulic rams, gimballed, to begin the piers collapse. Pieces of set dressing as large as structural beams, as small as nuts and bolts, and everything in between were rigged on overhead travelers with cable pulls to yank them into the magnetic vortex.
We had a lot of fun with this gag including using the magnetic pull of the fusion machine to destroy parts of the city and eventually to destroy Doc Ock's lab at the pier and the pier itself as the entire structure is pulled into the machine.
DOC OCK ESCAPES FROM THE HOSPITAL
In this shot, Doc Ock runs from the hospital, where he has just awakened up after the fusion accident, and into the street. He is about to be run down by a car, but at the last moment, the doctor's tentacles smack the car and hurl it back down the street. For this scene we had to estimate the distances to the impact between Doc Ock's tentacles and the car since the CG tentacles were going to be inserted later by the Imageworks team This gag proved to be extremely dangerous in many aspects. We began with a car on a track traveling at 25 mph toward Doc Ock. When Doc Ock's tentacles whip the vehicle back we initiated a high-pressure nitrogen-jerk back-ram, which was attached to the car to launch it backward when Doc Ock smashes the car.
DOC OCK THROWS A CAR THROUGH THE DELI WINDOW
In the scene where Doc Ock attacks Peter Parker and Mary Jane as they sit in a deli we were tasked with launching a car through the window of the deli. Our job was to create the physical effect of the car going through the window at just the right height and speed to allow the Imageworks team to seamlessly add the actors who were shot on the bluescreen and the computer generated glass and debris.
Director Sam Raimi wanted the impact of the car to appear very violent. We used a large air cannon to shoot the car through the window and the car was traveling at 65 mph when it left the cannon. Height was a very critical issue because the actors who were shot on the bluescreen and would be added in later needed to fit into the shot. If the car was too high, it would not look dangerous enough, if it was to low, it would conflict with elements of the computer generated world.
With our equipment, we could dial in the height within inches and the resulting combination of physical and CG imagery is very believable.
THE BURNING BUILDING
Exterior: Several propane cannons were used for explosions. One of the big elements was floating embers. We used air movers to blow burning two-inch squares of cardboard through the scene. Without these embers, this would have been just another fire.
Interior: Rather than using standard slotted pipe, we took wood members and added plumbing, turning them into fire pipes, When the camouflaged fire pipes were dressed into the set, we could shoot 360 degrees, showing plenty of fire without revealing the pipe of the flame bar.
THE TRAIN BATTLE
We went the extra mile and put the train cars on air bearings to enable us to simulate the train car turning as it goes around curves. This process worked in conjunction with the rocking of the trains on a platform.
In movies with computer-generated characters, we deal with many live elements. When a CG character comes into contact with a live set piece or prop it is up to mechanical effects to produce a reaction.
When Doc Ock and
Spider-Man fall on the train, an aluminum ceiling was dressed into the interior set of the train car. Air rams above train fired pistons in the shape of the characters from above to displace the interior roof. The rams fired in sequence to simulate
Spider-Man and Doc Ock rolling and bouncing along the top of train.
As they continue their fight atop of the train several trains were made to simulate various framings of the full sized train both low (showing roof only), and side only. Some live-action scenes were filmed on the full-sized train, which was shot with a bluescreen background.
When Doc Ock enters the train, he rips the end of the train car open like it was made of tin foil. To achieve this effect, rams were attached to both sides of the train and then brackets were attached to the position that Doc Ock's tentacles, later added by the CG artists, would pull the train apart.
Secrets of Spider-Man 2: The Nominees Tell All
