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biohazard DAMNATION

October 2012 [CG]

Workflow

Location hunting in Europe

KAMIYA

I think most people have gone to the states so was easier to imagine the place but what about Europe? I am not talking about places like Paris but poor countries in Eastern Europe. I think we all have different images about Europe.
When making the previous film there was no time for location hunting but for this project it was possible so I suggested that we go. Also, my previous work required me to stay in Poland for two months so when working on the screenplay I had the image of the city in mind. I wanted the members to have similar images. I wanted Director Doi to join me for location hunt but he was busy with ongoing project. I went after reading the scenario so I already had a rough picture. So the trip helped me build upon that.

SUZUKI

We traveled to Ukraine for location hunt. Since we were not familiar with Eastern Europe the photographs were good reference. Sometimes it’s difficult for a Japanese artist to express the feeling of Europe so we asked a studio in Europe to help us on some of the parts of the background. We also passed the reference to the studio so that we could have the same image in mind.

CG production workflow and staffing

SUZUKI

CG production started around early August of 2011. Including stereographic, the production time was about 12 months. We went for location hunting in the previous year November. We asked a stylist in Ukraine to collect clothing which was then 3D scanned at our studio. The number of staffs, including the director and casts, was 450 people. There were about 200 people from DF.
Compared to previous film it was denser and the production time was short so we have more staffs this time. When I decided on the members I first assigned the leaders. Since it was a large project, I needed the leaders to be capable of handling such volume work.

KAMIYA

The staffs knew what I wanted so it was easy for me to work with them.

SUZUKI

Having said that, many of our members were from the previous film so I believe they understood Director Kamiya-san's intentions which also led to bringing up the overall quality.

About the workflow

DOI

Character, background, animation, and effect were all running at the same time. Using the reference from location hunt we setup the scenes for all the settings. Using those settings we created low resolution background which becomes the base for motion capture (MC), animation and background productions.
For MC we did body capture and facial capture and we took that data to motion builder. We then proceed to motion edit. There we did the camera work, animatics and final animation.
For character production we first took the line drawing and worked on what we call it the “Aikora” which is using photographs to create images that are close to the final texture. After working on “Resident Evil: Degeneration” I’ve noticed that characters that were done by Japanese artists look more Japanese so this time I asked a Russian designer to work on the “Aikora”. Using that as a reference we created the CG characters.
Then we worked on lighting and compositing which were followed by Director’s check. I wanted to show more completed work to Director Kamiya-san and after his check we touched up on lighting and composite.

KAMIYA

The background came out last minute but I was happy with most of it and the color was great. As a result it went well that way.

SUZUKI

I have to apologize for the tight schedule…

Motion capture and facial capture actors

KAMIYA

The characters are basically English speakers so we hired actors from Hollywood and shot the film in Japan. Regarding action scenes, we used Japanese stunts. They usually create video conté to check the action scenes and this time we used it for 2 sequences.

Reflecting previous work and new challenges

DOI

The expressions and cloth simulation in the previous film was rigid. Reflecting on those, we worked especially hard on them. I also wanted to add more personality in the expressions and I think we have succeeded in bringing out a lot more emotions from the characters.

KAMIYA

When working with realistic full CG film it’s like a cat-and-mouse game of technology and progress. I think that is the hardest challenge.

The realistic look

DOI

Director Kamiya-san was particularly concerned about military weapons and he wanted to follow the actual models so in the end they turned out to be very real.
Other than Leon and Ada, characters in the film are all original and to make them look like people from Eastern Europe was difficult and we followed his advice for the realistic look.

KAMIYA

I chose the guns in relation to the scenes. Although it’s a fictional setting, anti-government guerrilla army and the SWAT team both use weapons that could be found in the area. Handguns are imported from the US so the US army holds what they would find in their country. But with Leon, since he is the main character, he carries custom made weapon. Sony on the other hand was more concerned about the creatures so for the rest I was able to do freely.

In relation to the game

KAMIYA

The weapons in the full CG film and the game are not necessarily in relation. The previous film required the use of weapons that appeared in “Resident Evil 4” but this time there was no need to follow the game so I chose the weapons based on reality and my own preference. But the latest game allows users to choose from a larger collection so at the end there were some weapons that appear in the game.

Greatest challenge

 

SUZUKI

Since the production time was short, we had to work on several things at once.

 

DOI

Since compositing and rendering were happening at the same time, compositing took some time. When I saw 400 cuts remaining, I thought I would not finish.