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SONY PICTURES IMAGEWORKS ADDS CHARACTER TO
"THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH,
AND THE WARDROBE"
562 shots completed with full and partial CG characters
December 16, 2005 - Culver City, CA
Academy Award® winning visual effects and character animation house Sony Pictures Imageworks created 562 shots in "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe" for director Andrew Adamson and visual effects supervisor Dean Wright.
Sony Pictures Imageworks, recognized for its highly specialized work in creating photo-real CG characters, was engaged to help bring Lewis' story to the big screen. The combination of imageworks advances in digital production and the quality of their animation, uniquely qualified the company for this assignment.
C.S. Lewis' timeless adventure follows the exploits of the four Pevensie siblings - Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter - as they enter the world of Narnia through a magical wardrobe. Once there, the children discover a land inhabited by talking beasts, dwarfs, fauns, centaurs and giants, cursed to eternal winter by the evil White Witch, Jadis. Under the guidance of a noble and mystical ruler, the lion Aslan, along with the children fight to overcome the White Witch's powerful hold over Narnia.
The Imageworks team led by visual effects supervisor Jim Berney, completed 562 shots, more than any other effects house working on the film, which included the creation of Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, Mr. Tumnus, Fox, Maugrim and Vardin.
The biggest challenge for Imageworks was to create believable, photo-real CG creatures and seamlessly integrate them into the live action plates. Under the supervision of animation director David Schaub, Imageworks animators produced convincing and expressive performances for these talking animals as they interacted with each other as well as with live actors.
Because Mr. & Mrs. Beaver are anthropomorphic and can walk on either two legs or four, the task to create realistic looking beavers that speak involved the development of an extensive muscle and facial control system, allowing artists to animate their expressions and control the way they move and walk.
Mr. Tumnus, a Faun, is a man from the waist upwards, but with the legs of a goat and hooves for feet. The actor playing Mr. Tumnus was filmed wearing green tights. Using motion capture data received by Giant Studios, Imageworks later added the digital legs to Mr. Tumnus'.
Referencing much live action footage, Imageworks also created Maugrim, Vardin and other digital wolves in the pack. Especially challenging was the precision matching required to cut seamlessly between live and digital wolves, many of which are seen side by side in the same frame.
The imageworks team also distinguished itself in the creation of the ice waterfall sequence. In that scene, imageworks artists took live action photography shot on the set and miniature photography, and added countless elements, including CG beavers and wolves. The effect of the sequence is a riveting turning point in the story.
In the 'Bombing of London' sequence, which opens the story, all of the airborne exteriors were produced digitally by Imageworks and were designed to look as authentic to the time period as possible - from the bombers, to the look and feel of the searchlights, to the weather and atmosphere outside of the cockpit. On the ground, a set was built for the backyard and bomb shelter, but the rest of the neighborhood was synthetic.
In creating the world of Narnia, Imageworks built the interior of the White Witch's castle and many of the snowy background environments which include snow, haze, trees, ice, waterfalls, rivers and large vistas. In many shots, artists had to simulate snow when it interacted with feet or with an animal's coat of fur.
Sony Pictures Imageworks recently completed work on "Zathura" for director Jon Favreau and is currently in production on "Monster House," "Ghostrider," "Superman, " "Spider-Man 3," and "Beowulf."
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