Tested: At this year's DesignerCon, we meet up with Ironhead Studio, the costume and prop fabricators who made Hela's jaw-dropping costume from Thor: Ragnarok! Jose Fernandez walks us through how his team made Hela's iconic headdress for Cate Blanchett to wear in the film, explaining how the helmet's pieces hold together and what goes into its brilliant finish.
8 comments:
I love the otherworldly and outlandish designs of the helmets and costumes shown in the video. While this mainly focused on Thor: Ragnarok - quite the visual spectacle on its own - the company also showed some incredible light-up pieces from Tron and a helmet from Aquaman. Those things are the kinds of visuals and gorgeous sci-fi fantasy pieces I want to create, work on, and design, and it was so cool hearing about the processes used to make Hela's insane helmet. All the branches and horns are so unbelievable that I thought it was for sure a CGI piece in the film, but seeing the real deal in front of me (even on a video screen) and hearing the step by step process from the digital modeling to 3D-printing to the paint and finish jobs to fitting it and how the pieces can detach was mind blowingly cool! I really hope one day I have a chance to do that awesome world building visual work myself.
This is really cool! I love that they created this helmet even though that many of the moments that Hela was on screen had a CGI helmet. It seems like that decided that if they took the time to make Loki and Thor's, making Hela's was important too. Also that they made it so that different points could be taken off so that she could wear part of it but that some could be CGI seemed really considerate towards the actor and her comfort. The fabricator estimates that the helmet only weighs about 4 pounds, which is really quite light all things considered. It is really wonderful that they spent all this time to create one aspect of a character and pay as much homage to marvel and the comics as possible. It sounds like these fabricator has done some really cool work with marvel, and I would love to see an exhibit that showed off armor, swords, helmets, etc from all the marvel/DC movies in an exhibition that champions both fantasy and design.
This helmet is gorgeous. I’m really impressed by the finish given how it must’ve looked when it came out of the printer. That being said, the thing that seems the most impressive about this is figuring out how to get the balance right, though I suppose getting it to be super light would help with that. I wonder if they needed to make any prototype version to make sure it would work or if they could just test everything in the model and then go for it. Separately, I think it is cool how seamlessly CGI and actual costumes can be integrated. Based on this interview, it sounds like sometimes the helmet was all real, sometimes it was all CG, and sometimes it was a mixture of the two. However, I assume that watching the movie it would be impossible to tell when the helmet is the practical and when it is CG. Part of me feels like eventually these types of costumes will be entirely CG, though Fernandez did mention them wanting the helmet so the actress could get the feel of moving in it, so maybe practicals will stick around to some degree just for that.
It is incredible what they are able to do these days. When I first watched this movie, I thought that for the most part that it was all computer generated. It was nice to see what lengths they took in creating this fantastic piece that helped so much to define the character so perfectly and distinctly. Hearing directly from the person who went through such efforts to develop it was lovely. The level of detail that they took when thinking about how it would fit the actor and how lightweight they could make it and the modular nature of it is stunning. The attention to these seemingly small things is something we don't often have the luxury of doing. We are most usually pressed for time, and resources in order to get it done for the short-lived production and then move on to the next problem. These are the things I enjoy learning about with other crafts.
I am in love with the way this helment turned out and the technology used to create such a realistic looking costume piece. I am surprised the creative team decided to actually create the helmet; CGI technology for movies is so advanced that it is assumed pieces like this will be computer generated. I love how the video walked through the modeling and 3D printing, and I wonder if this is the same way Marvel has created a lot of their other costume and prop pieces for their other films. It would be interesting to see if they carry the trend of half real, half computer generated throughout their creation shops. I hope an appreciation for both tangible and digital arts continue in movies, especially in sci-fi and fantasy films. Whether it is digital texture or real life paint, it is still mind blowing and always amazing to see artists create these fantastical pieces.
I recently saw Marvel’s Thor: Ragnarok and was blown away when Hela first pulls her hair back to turn it into this headdress. I thought it had to be done in CG as visual effects but it wasn’t necessarily done that way. It is insane for me to think that this headdress actually came to be a real feasible thing but with the technology we have now and the designers that are out there it really is possible. I am also amazed that it is modular too in that some of it may be added in post-production but that some of it was actually there during filming. The detail and finish are also astounding as it looks so well put together and balanced. The antlers with a gloss finish and the paint that all works so well together. A lot of thought and work was put into this once you see how closely detail oriented it is and they achieve this level of design with the other pieces they have done for the marvel movies as was shown briefly while they panned over them. These company blows me away but at the same time it makes me want to achieve the same level of craft as they work at.
That must have sucked to wear. I would have hatted to have that on my head, but it looks absolutely stunning. It is interesting to hear about the materials that were used to fabricate this and all the different considerations what had to happen when choosing materials. I think the most important consideration that they probably had to make was the weight of this piece and how it would effect the actresses balance. It is also interesting to hear how and why this piece comes apart. It makes sense to have it come a part I would just never would have seen the need for that until it was pointed out. The paintjob on this piece it amazing and it just really ties in the entire look. The use of 3D printing is also really cool. In the entertainment industry we are seeing more and more 3D printing because it is becoming more accessible in the industry.
I really am fascinated by the ways technology has woven into theatrical design. Modeling and 3D printing are fabrication techniques that have piqued my curiosity for quite some time. The sheer amounts of detail in the final piece is astounding. They put in an amazing amount of work to ensure that the piece was integrated so well into the character and the show. I appreciate that they didn’t just implant a piece that looked crafted by intense technology to show that they could; they truly put in the effort to allow it into the world of the show. It is really interesting that CGI was so seamlessly pieced together with the physical pieces. The attention to detail is truly incredible. As wonderful as this technology is, due to limited time and money it cannot be implemented in every theatre and film, so I look forward to seeing how changes are made to increase accessibility without compromising quality.
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