From blockbusters to romance movies, visual effects (VFX) are widely used in order to create scenes that are possible only in imagination or too dangerous to shoot in reality, or simply to save costs.
Since the adoption of the technology 10 years ago,...
From blockbusters to romance movies, visual effects (VFX) are widely used in order to create scenes that are possible only in imagination or too dangerous to shoot in reality, or simply to save costs.
Since the adoption of the technology 10 years ago, VFX has become an essential part of the Korean film industry and is now recognized by Hollywood and asian film markets.
In recent years, the Korean VFX industry has found its foothold in global projects.
After supervising VFX of the chinese movie called <Three Kingdoms - Resurrection of the Dragon, 2008>, Koreans took on the overall supervision of VFX in <14 Blades, 2010>, the movie jointly produced by China and Hong Kong, in 2009.
The movie, <14 Blades> is the newest production by Daniel Lee, the director of <Three Kingdoms - Resurrection of the Dragon>.
It is a historical drama that features spectacular martial art and fighting scenes.
While VFX in <Three Kingdoms> focused mainly on large scale battle scenes with numerous soldiers, visual effects for <14 Blades> needed to create mysterious fights between masters and cities of the ancient time. In particular, to realize the beauty of a character, 'Toto' and unique martial art scenes, research and development for computer graphic were carried out to make the texture of garments look real.
The film required a total of 800 cuts, which were larger in quantity and more difficult than other works.
The work continued for a year from January, 2009 to January, 2010. After three-month pre-production, shooting spent another three months and then about 50 artists joined CG work for six months including the two months of DI.
This report shows the whole production procedure of VFX in <14 Blades>, centering on actual cases.
The procedure will be divided into pre-production, production, and post-production. The report also explains challenges and solutions presented in each process and compares them to the final result so as to review the cases where advanced VFX planning and supervising techniques were applied.
A. Full 3D scene – Reproduction of virtual cities in the Ming Dynasty
B. Digital Double – Creation of action scenes by the warrior 'Toto'
C. Prologue scene by Particle Effect & Simulation
D. Matte Paint work
In addition, the report specifies what is so special about VFX and shooting techniques, technological development process in the film <14 blades> and analyzes the achievements.
A. Application of Cloth Simulation technology - Use of homemade software
B. Application of natural circumstance simulation
C. Development of pipeline for global project
Lastly, the study takes a look at the cases of global projects to identify their advantages and disadvantages, thereby presenting 'a guideline for global VFX project.'
Korea's VFX technology has rapidly grown in a relatively short period of time.
I hope the technology to develop further and be internationally recogni- zed through standardized work process.
In this regard, I hope that this report will set the directions for future VFX producers and that more studies will be conducted in this field.