Animal Logic created almost 600 visual effects shots as the lead vendor for director Baz Luhrmann’s 3D box office hit, The Great Gatsby.
In our fourth collaboration with the visionary Australian director, Animal Logic worked closely with Oscar winning production designer Catherine Martin and VFX Supervisor Chris Godfrey, from early pre-production to the final DI stages.
Using a combination of historical references, concept art, and reference shoots in New York, Animal Logic’s team of up to 175 artists working over 18 months, created the CG environments required to bring to life the thriving energy of New York, and the sumptuous estates of Long Island in Gatsby’s world.
Animal Logic VFX Producer Ingrid Johnston says “Being part of the process from the beginning meant we could really take advantage of the rich, detailed production design, and the inventive use of 3D, building on this to create a digital world that delivers a totally immersive and visually exciting experience for audiences.”
After building a library of 1920’s buildings, street props and crowds, each area was built out and dressed with hero period bulidings and characters. Shots were then rendered through Animal Logic’s newly developed physically-based surfacing and lighting pipeline.
Animal Logic VFX Supervisor Andy Brown says he was thrilled by the quality of the renders: “In the High Line sequence, Gatsby and Nick drive into Manhattan in the Duesenberg, so we had planned to integrate the car into our CG environments by adding reflections and shadows onto the real Duesenberg – but the renders of the car looked so good, we replaced the whole exterior of the car in quite a few shots.”
The estates such as Long Island for Buchanan’s, Gatsby’s and Nick’s cottage, were modelled primarily from concept art and scans of the sound stage sets to provide a seamless CG extension – each with its own unique look.
Locations such as Times Square, the High Line and the Queensboro Bridge all required a full CG set, complete with CG people and traffic.
Animal Logic’s CEO, Zareh Nalbandian says “It’s always a real privilege to work with Baz and Catherine Martin. They make thrilling, innovative and groundbreaking movies in Australia for global audiences. Baz is relentless in his pursuit of perfection, he challenges each and every person on the crew to innovate and push the boundaries of digital filmaking and to do great work. We’re very proud of the wonderful world we helped create on Gatsby.”
