Have you ever been fascinated by films like Transformers, Deadpool, Captain America, Spiderman, etc.? Then you must know that a number of Visual Effects are used in these films. Now the VFX industry is on the verge of changing with the introduction of new tools, new concepts, and ideas. For now, the worldwide VFX industry thrives on comic books, science-fiction films, animated features and Virtual reality, so here we are looking at trends that might change the industry in near future.
VFX industry’s unstated goal has always been to make a photorealistic CG Digital Character, which is so realistic that the audience can’t tell the difference between the CG character and a real one. The best example of a realistic CG character was of Paul Walker’s in Furious 7 and Grand Moff Tarkin in Rouge One. Previously the difference between a CG and a real character wasn’t so realistic and one can easily identify a CG character. So, with the goal of creating more and more realistic CG character one can easily expect that upcoming films of 2017 would have far better CG characters. The expectations are skyrocketing after the revelation of the trailers of War for the Planet of Apes and Spider-man. In addition to the Digital Characters Digital, make-up will play a very big role in upcoming years. We have already seen brilliant digital make-up in films like Beauty and the Beast & Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.
New Tools are pampering the VFX artists daily and the tools are also changing. To help artists Foundry is coming up with new product ranges of Nuke, which also include a free version mainly for students and non-commercial usage. “Fusion” which is from the house of Blackmagic is also getting a lot of attention from the industry. However, according to the new trend, now larger studios are replacing their current pipeline with Nuke, due to the ease of use.
The screen replacement technique is silently making way for the Projection Screens. Using huge projection screens on the set instead of a green or a blue screen makes acting, direction and lighting process far more easy and practical. Digital set extension is also a bit cost effective and realistic than that of the screen replacement technology.
Studios and artists can practically do anything with CGI now, but of late, the demand of Practical Effects has grown. Most of the filmmakers now approach films by keeping practical effects in mind as a key consideration. The best example of this new demand is; The Force Awakens, Mad Max Fury Road etc. However, all these films have quite a bit of CGI work, but none of them are over the top and looks very practical and realistic.
Motion Control cameras are one of the most exciting trends in the world of VFX today. These cameras are present in the industry since the late 1970’s and help directors to record a certain motion of a camera and replicate that motion for multiple takes. This technique is mostly useful when one needs to repeat a camera motion for compositing or while capturing high-speed motion or high frame rate that needs to be revealed in slow motion with some added movement. With the increase in digital environments and 3D sets a 3D camera provides all the motion data that can be plugged into a motion-controlled camera, then the motion controlled camera acts as a robot and works according to the data it got from the 3D camera.
De-Ageing will play a big role in the upcoming films. Last year audience met a much younger Robert Downey Jr in the last installment of Captain America. Recently the De-Ageing process has progressed in such a way that no one could have imagined a few years back. Another instance of De-Ageing is expected in the upcoming film of Robert De Niro which is scheduled to release on 2018.
As expected, Virtual Reality enters a new phase as most of the tech companies are developing VR contents and devices to increase the audience share. But will the platform develop enough so that people can come back? To know this, we need some more time. However, VR is quite good for short series, games etc.
Parallel Storytelling is expected to become a rage over the next few years. The best example of parallel storytelling is the famous advertisement “Honda the Other Side”, in this advertisement two stories run parallelly. Only after pressing the R button on the keyboard, one can jump to the other side of the story which is completely different from the other.
Stop Motion is making a comeback, mostly due to handcrafted look and feel. Recently Mock Motion was being created which is CGI that looks like Stop Motion, but it lacks the originality and rawness. The simplicity of handmade puppets, sets and still images are attracting people more and more recently.
Invisible Effects are not as invisible that one may think of it. However, there’s a very less chance of viewers to notice it. With all invisible effects, VFX artists can now fix small continuation errors, set issues, dress issues and even the makeup. It looks fascinating, that how an artist can easily fix these issues which could have been disastrous.
So, these are the trends of the VFX industry. With all these, you can expect to get more VR and AR content in upcoming days, as various hardware platforms from companies like Facebok, Samsung, Apple, Sony and HTC has begun to come online.
