orcs with their arms sticking out of places that arms should not be sticking out of, images of orcs blending with each others that still gives me eerie thoughts when trying to fall asleep. Credit to the producers who continued to support the process, and to Duncan for not giving up on it. But special respect to Bill Westenhoffer for knowing how great the system could be and how great a difference it could make to the final movie if the system was to work as theorized. We had an army of programmers, and computer engineers working just off set where you could hear the constant din of computer server power cranking through data sets digesting a non-stop flow of information.
REVELATION
little to allow for the look. Something that I
The day it worked was nothing short of electric. We were shooting a scene within the Bedouin-inspired tent of Gul’dan (Daniel Wu) with four or more orcs. The scene called for the use of Steadicam, and during the scene there was a moment when we pushed into a close-up on Durotan, played by Toby Kebbell. The close-up was a low-angle heroic size, and as usual we shot the scene with actors in mocap suits, then went on to shoot clean plates. As the recorded playback started replaying large ork-sized characters into my Steadicam monitor, I started my clean plate. As the scene ending push was reaching the close up, the previously recorded orc image on my Steadicam gave a small, subtle look to the left. Naturally, I let the frame breathe just a
I think would have been lost had I not had the
assume I did the first time, but something that benefit of an active orc playback on my Steadicam monitor. For the first time, the “clean pass” was actually forced by the actor’s action and not the CG character’s action forced into a frame that was an approximation. I am not entirely sure the layman will be aware of such responsive interactivity, but I truly believe that there will be something different, something natural about the CG in this picture. Perhaps this subtle difference will contribute to Duncan Jones telling the story of orcs versus humans in a way that both sides deserve. To have been a part of this milestone in filmmaking, I will remain excited and grateful.
Peter Wilke on set. Photo credit: Doane Gregory/Legendary Pictures and Universal Pictures
Peter Wilke Peter Wilke is a Vancouver-based, 15-year veteran, A-camera operator who’s worked with several Academy Award-winning cinematographers including; Dean Semler, Russell Carpenter, and Andrew Lesnie. Peter has worked on many groundbreaking CG movies including; Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Roland Emmerich’s 2012.
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Peter has an honors degree in Science, and spent several years as a dolly grip before starting to operate. Although he is very passionate about filmmaking, his real passion is football, and he would give it all up to be able to kit up with the Arsenal Football Club! Go Gunners! Photo by Joe Lederer
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