FILM
TOP LEFT: The twelfth expedition sent to probe Area X stand before a ‘Shimmer’ field encompassing the phenomena. DNEG was lead VFX house on Annihilation, conceptualizing visual manifestations and mutations encountered within, as well as the Shimmer itself. TOP RIGHT: Live-action plate of same shot. MIDDLE LEFT: Among the mutations encountered by the team is a strangely mutated gator. Alterations to earthly lifeforms were developed at DNEG, then further refined through sketches made by director Alex Garland, with Procreate employed to facilitate the review process. MIDDLE RIGHT: Plate shot reveals physical representation of mutated alligator. Whenever possible, these were used both for lighting reference and to provide the cast and camera operators with a presence that facilitated performance and composition of shots. BOTTOM LEFT: Another view of the CG gator as it approaches the shack inhabited by the exploratory team. BOTTOM RIGHT: Photographying the prop version of the creature in the water provided excellent reference for mimicking the interaction of an animal in the water. OPPOSITE TOP ROW: Final comp of the gator in closeup. OPPOSITE MIDDLE ROW: Strange new denizens of Area X … or are they scarecrows? OPPOSITE BOTOM ROW: More examples of how Area X is introducing unusual changes to the earthly denizens inhabiting that realm.
32 • VFXVOICE.COM SPRING 2018
PG 30-34 ANNIHILATION.indd 32-33
is that the animal DNA is being messed with, so we looked at references of tumors and cancers to see what effects those have on how biology functions. Then that got rolled back into our creature design. In a science-fiction film, you can push things quite a long way into the realm of the fantastic, but for good cinematic storytelling, the way a thing behaves in a real-world setting has to make it recognizable for audiences to latch onto it and accept it, so grounding these animals in reality was always a factor for us.” As a result, physical presences were shot on set for nearly every incarnation of creature depicted. “Even though this created more work for VFX, in terms of having to paint things out, what we gained in terms of lighting and composition from having a physical object on set was tremendous,” Whitehurst maintains. “Then there’s the obvious benefit for our actors having something to work with, but all the wonderful bits of interactivity you get with light falling on a form that is properly framed in the shot can be even more important to the success of the effect.” One sequence involves a large creature in a confined space interacting with the investigating team. “If we’d shot this without a physical creature, the scene would have had no power,” states Whitehurst. “But with production having a big guy there,
presenting in a roughly correct form – with the right mass and presence, which is so much superior than just the old ball-ona-stick-for-eyeline approach – it allowed us to choreograph the scene. Rob used very directional lighting in the scene, which was casting strong shadows on the floor, so that was another aspect we were able to keep when we dressed in the CG.” The physical on-set presence also informed the editorial effort. “When Alex and editor Barney Pilling are cutting the scene, they can make a finer edit than if we’d only been shooting empty frames. I’ve noticed on VFX films that there is a strong tendency for scenes to be cut faster and faster when there’s nothing yet comped into the frame; this is because the thing that should be making the scene interesting is absent. So to keep pace in the edit, the instinct is to cut too quickly. But if you can see something actually happening, sensing the true rhythm of the scene and being able to build on that in a sensible fashion is much more straightforward. Then, when we drop in animatics of our work on top, it doesn’t change the whole feel of the sequence or trigger a re-think, because the correct feeling has been visible in there all along.” Everything taking place within the Shimmer – the territory encompassed by Area X – was a concern for the VFX teams. “There
was a ton of environmental work required to add the necessary strangeness,” says Whitehurst. “There’s a psychedelic multi-dimensional element that appears toward the end that had to be thought out and designed. There’s very little dialogue during that experience, and we had to make a lot of creative decisions before shooting it. Then it became necessary to reevaluate those decisions after evaluating the performances of the actors. It was important to find exactly what we could take from those performances to inform the effects we’d later create. In one instance, the performance was so strong and engaging that it suggested an effect far different than what we had imagined delivering. So being light on our feet and flexible was the key to deal with this aspect.” Translating difficult concepts into cinematic reality in a credible fashion is part and parcel of fantasy filmmaking, but that was even more difficult on Annihilation given that this is happening here on Earth in a modern setting. “There is a presence encountered in the film, but its physical manifestation is difficult for anybody to wrap his head around in any kind of rational way,” Whitehurst reveals. “With how it is created, the form is mathematical; but when you see it, the thing comes off as being psychedelic.” Even with all the challenges of depicting never-before-seen
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