By TREVOR HOGG
By TREVOR HOGG
Exploring the impact that celebrities have on a society and on their own children is Jupiter’s Legacy,created by Mark Miller and Frank Quitely, which chronicles the origins of the first superheroes as well as the subsequent trials and tribulations resulting from a generational transition of power and responsibility. Adapting the Image Comics series for Netflix was showrunner Steven S. DeKnight (Daredevil) who was halfway through production when he was replaced by Sang Kyu Kim (Altered Carbon).
Overseeing the digital augmentation for the eight episodes was Visual Effects Producer Christina Graff (Stranger Things), with an epic battle taking place in the pilot. “Because the shoot was so large and the demands for every department was so heavy, visual effects ended up doing a lot of additional work,” states Graff. “Not all of the costumes were ready, so in some shots, like the Union of Justice press conference, there was an actor in a stunt suit with tracking markers.”
“We had multiple time periods, de-aging, superheroes with super powers, set extensions, and fantasy or supernatural, so it’s on par with Harry Potter. It was immense and the biggest thing that I’ve ever done. It was a huge ask of the vendors because we had to design powers of the superheroes, and there were so many.”
—Christina Graff, Visual Effects Producer
“The Escarpment provided this crazy, challenging place that has forests and crevices. The crevices are so outstanding that you can walk through them. It was also a great place for the characters to be challenged. They’re in maze and don’t know where to go. The shots would be great because we had these overheads from drones. Huge sets were built for the dust storm and the forest where the walls grew, which was repurposed as the alien planet where you see Jupiter. It was a collaboration between all departments in order to make that happen.”
—Christina Graff, Visual Effects Producer
Some of the vendors had to be on set for their assigned sequences, which meant that they needed to located near Toronto where principal photography was taking place. MR. X and Spin VFX met the criteria, while other significant contributors were DNEG Montreal, Mels Studios in Montreal, Important Looking Pirates based in Stockholm, BOT VFX in India and NetFX. Once the pandemic occurred a remote workflow had to be implemented. The in-house team in Los Angeles used Evercast to review with the showrunners, producers and vendors. “I bought a server for our team that we could remote into that had all of the media [which was downloaded seven days a week],” explains Graff. “The vendors had a much larger issue to deal with. The majority of the shots were in Canada. They had to figure out how to remote into their servers and get every single artist working along with doing internal reviews. Most of the vendors used Teradici.”
“The lights on the alien wall are one of my absolute favorite things because we designed it and figured out what it should look like. It had to be choreographed. I came up with the idea that each symbol should be the same color of a character’s costume. It provided a beautiful, colorful, dazzling image at the end that was awe-inspiring.”
—Christina Graff, Visual Effects Producer
“One of the biggest challenges was the Hilltop Fight because everybody at some point or another had a digital double. The environment was CG. We had actors on wires who were generally stationary unless being lowered for a landing. When they’re moving in the air in one form or another, we’re touching whatever the actors are doing. … Some of the most beautiful work is on the Black Lotus ship. I’m proud of the work on Episodes 107 and 108 on the mysterious island, and the Hilltop Fight because it was an immense amount of work on all accounts for all parties involved.”
—Christina Graff, Visual Effects Producer
Numerous shots required digital doubles, so body scans were taken for every superhero in costume for various specific scenes, as well as to allow for the de-aging of characters. “NetFX did an amazing job of de-aging a character for the scenes that took place in the 1930s,” reveals Graff. “There were no facial tracking markers. It was 2D beauty work.” Extensive storyboards were created for the Hilltop Fight in Episode 101 where the Union of Justice assembles to battle Blackstar [Tyler Mane]. “We had to show all of the actors what they will be doing, and it allowed us to set up shots to get specific angles. You have to understand what the objective is for the characters in that specific moment, and that’s my job, the breakdowns. In this case, Jim Mitchell was the first person to do a breakdown. I took it another step further, and the script kept changing too.”
Greenscreen was a major part of the world building. “Because the Hilltop Fight involved all of the characters, serious stunts, a long shoot, and Toronto being famous for not having good weather all of the time, we had to scout what the locations would be, and Jim went out with our DP Danny Ruhlmann [Messiah] to shoot some footage of the hilltop with regular cameras as well as a drone, which was used either to patch in or replicate as a CG environment. That particular set was shot with AstroTurf, so all of that grass needed to be replaced. We were in the largest stage that we could get at Pinewood in Toronto and that was a full 360 greenscreen set. Chester’s Rooftop, where he commits suicide in 1930s Chicago, was an outdoor set. Our art department built a rooftop asphalt that was on a trellis and we had a greenscreen around it.”
A mysterious island sets the entire narrative into motion. “Jim Mitchell, director Marc Jobst [The Witcher], DP Nicole Hirsch Whitaker [Patriot] and I met to rework the story to fit the locations that we had found that would suit these specific tests that each character needed to go through in order to learn how to work together as a group and succeed in getting their superpowers,” states Graff. “Visual effects had to tie each of these locations together, so we did a lot of concept work and location scouting. The Escarpment provided this crazy, challenging place that has forests and crevices. The crevices are so outstanding that you can walk through them. It was also a great place for the characters to be challenged. They’re in maze and don’t know where to go. The shots would be great because we had these overheads from drones. Huge sets were built for the dust storm and the forest where the walls grew, which was repurposed as the alien planet where you see Jupiter. It was a collaboration between all departments in order to make that happen.”