Join us as we interview Jim Mitchell and the Visual Effects Wizards at Framestore-CFC and discuss their work on the Hollywood Blockbuster Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire!
In this VFXTalk exclusive we bring you up close and personal with Framestore's team and you get to ask them the questions and find out what really went on behind the scenes as they brought The Goblet of Fire to life! So jump on in and post the questions you have just been dieing to ask!
Post your Questions!
Please read through the articel below and then scroll to the bottom of the thread and post your questions!
Please also try to focus your questions on the areas of the film covered above, since other companies completed other parts. Once we have some good questions we'll gather them and forward them to the artists at Framestore to answer!
*Because this thread may contain spoilers from the movie, it is recommended that you go see the movie before proceeding further!
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"One of the biggest challenges in Goblet of Fire was the underwater sequence…The Framestore CFC team did such an amazing job that you really believe you're swimming with Harry in this mysterious yet beautiful underwater world, even though it only existed in the computer. It's one of my favourite sequences in the movie."
Jim Mitchell, Visual Effects Supervisor, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
The arrival of the latest instalment of the world's most famous boy wizard has become the most eagerly anticipated events in the cinematic calendar, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is no exception. The fourth adventure of Harry, his friends and his enemies opened on November 18th in the US and UK. Directed by Mike Newell, the Warner Brothers presentation features many familiar characters, including Daniel Radcliffe (Harry), Emma Watson (Hermione) and Rupert Grint (Ron), as well as plenty of new faces and creatures.
Having already triumphed with creatures created for previous Potter films (the Basilisk and the Hippogriff, to name but two), Framestore CFC was once more invited to join the fun. The company faced some of the toughest challenges yet thrown at it by a series that has consistently raised the bar on cinematic digital visual effects. Framestore CFC delivered over 200 shots for Goblet of Fire, including an astonishing underwater sequence, a carriage drawn by seven Pegasus-like creatures, and a cheeky quill pen with a character all its own.
The key event in the Goblet of Fire is the Triwizard Tournament - a sort of Wizardry World Cup - which had been discontinued for many years because of the high mortality rate, but which has been reinstated this year. Harry finds himself participating, vying for the Triwizard Cup not only with fellow Hogwarts pupil Cedric Diggory, but also with Fleur Delacour and Viktor Krum, champions from the colleges of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang.
The tournament takes the form of three Tasks, which challenge the contestants in a variety of dangerous magical environments. The Second Task takes place in the huge Black Lake, the mysterious body of water overlooked by Hogwarts. They are to dive into the lake and "recover what has been taken from them" - a mission which only becomes clear as they explore the mysterious depths. It was the creation of these depths that formed the main part of Framestore CFC's work on the film.
Once under the surface, Harry temporarily mutates, growing gills, webbed fingers and flippery feet to cope with life under water. Fleur and Cedric adapt to life underwater by having a magical air bubble around their mouths, while Viktor becomes half shark.
Harry and the mermaid - As he travels deeper down through the lake, Harry enters 'forests' of undulating kelp. A mermaid - not the siren-like beauty of popular myth, but a fishier, far less seductive figure, greets him with a song. She leads him to some underwater ruins in which Harry discovers what the purpose of the task is. Four children have been magically bound, and float, suspended and unconscious before him. Harry rescues Ron, and attempts a further rescue, but is warned off by the mer-people - who indicate that the others are to be rescued by his fellow contestants.
However, Fleur has been attacked by highly dangerous creatures called Grindylows (think squid-meets-piranha) and is unable to carry out her rescue. It is up to Harry to use all his wits (and a handy spell or two) to save the final victim and escape the vicious Grindylows…
"Without taking anything from the other facilities who worked on Goblet," says VFX Supervisor Tim Webber, "I do think that our 'Task' was among the toughest on offer. I'm not sure that something like this has ever been attempted before, where the whole of a sub-aqua environment in every shot is completely CG."
The point is taken up and emphasised by CG Supervisor David Lomax. "The sheer length of the sequence - we delivered over 6 minutes of underwater footage - was pretty daunting. When you add in the facts that it was all CG (blue screen acting excepted), with everything moving - all the plants and so on - and with even the medium through which you are looking at the action consisting of CG water with its distortions and floating particles - well, you're talking huge quantities of data and geometry."
The shoot for the sequence took place over several weeks, largely at Leavesden Studios. Says Tim Webber, "We shot what we could in the way of underwater blue screen material of the actors performing in a tank, but there were all sorts of limitations placed on them by the demands of the script and the environment. For instance, even with divers in the tank supplying Daniel with oxygen prior to the camera's rolling, we'd still have to wait for the bubbles to clear the shot before action could start, which cut into his available acting time. So, in addition to creating every single element of the underwater environments, we also had to create a CG Harry to carry out some of the action - and not just in long shots."
The Three Platforms - Framestore CFC's work began with the creation of the enormous, multi-tiered platforms that are both the location from which the competitors start the Second Task, as well as the site from which the spectators watch. An impressive aerial shot created entirely in the computer introduces these structures - CG constructs in composited lakeland environments, before we move in close for the lead up to the event.
After Harry dives in, he finds his body adapting itself to the underwater environment, and he soon starts to take advantage of his flippers, webbing and gills, relishing the experience. As he moves deeper into the lake, his (entirely CG) surroundings - the rocks, the plant life - make for an extraordinary and mysterious atmosphere. The Framestore CFC team had originally anticipated creating just three varieties of kelp by way of vegetation, but this grew to more than 10 iterations as the work progressed.
The fact that Framestore CFC had to compose and implement every single aspect of these shots called for a much greater degree of creativity and artistry than is normally expected from VFX teams. "Getting the atmosphere - the sense of buoyancy and fluidity, for example, both in the visible elements and in the camera moves themselves, were crucial in these scenes," says Max Solomon, one of the team's two Animation Supervisors.
Harry meets the Grindylows - As well as Harry, CG versions of the four unconscious victims and the Krum-Shark were also required. Of the CG creatures, the Grindylows were the most challenging, not least because there are more than 100 of them on screen in some shots. Whilst automated 'cycles' were used in a limited fashion, as much of the Grindylow movement as possible was carried out using hand animation. One tool that proved highly useful was the in-house 'Choreographer' software. This was originally developed in tandem with the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory team who needed something that would help bring large numbers of squirrels to the screen. The software was further developed and refined by the Goblet team to assist them in their Grindylow wrangling.
Included among the other sequences that Framestore CFC handled were the dramatic arrival of the Beauxbaton team's carriage - drawn by seven Pegasus creatures. The team were able to return to much of the geometry they'd created when building Buckbeak - the widely acclaimed Hippogriff for the third Potter film. The creatures were substantially tweaked in order to create the flying horse form, and the results are spectacular, with shots of the coach and seven being among the first to be used in teasers for the film.
The journalist Rita Skeeter appears for the first time in Goblet of Fire, a tabloid journalist and muckraker. Working as she does in the world of magic, her pen could not be anything less than a magical quill which takes dictation without being held, jumping across the page as people speak. Of course, a gutter journalist's pen is going to have its own ideas about what's occuring, and will write accordingly. Imbuing this little object with a character all it's own in the space of just 19 shots was an enjoyable challenge for Framestore CFC's animators.
Similarly, using hand drawn animation rather than relying overly on computers, gives a stained-glass window that comes to life during a scene between Harry and Moaning Myrtle a much more natural and beautiful look.
Looking back on 18 months work - from first conversations to final delivery - spent by 130 Framestore CFC artists and technicians, Tim Webber is philosophical. "The biggest challenge," he says now, "Was the sheer number of big challenges."
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