befores & afters: In 2019, Volucap CEO Sven Bliedung von der Heide was at his volumetric video capture outfit, located in Germany’s Studio Babelsberg, when Matrix director Lana Wachowski paid him and his colleagues a visit.
“Lana came in, and saw our very bright white capture stage, which already looked like a white room from the Matrix,” recalls Bliedung.
4 comments:
This is a really interesting idea to do it underwater. I have never been a huge fan of the Matrix but I can’t deny the fact that it was extremely formative for a lot of the sci fi media we see today. The idea of shooting film underwater is really interesting to me. Especially knowing how a lot of astronaut training takes place underwater to acclimate them to the lack of real gravity and the ability to move around on the z axis. So that is something that actually could be used for a lot of movies that take place in space if they haven’t already. Hell, I even wonder about the application in live theatre environments as well. I have seen pictures of a production of Shakespeare’s The Tempest where the entire stage had been covered in water like a gigantic fountain. It was incredibly interesting to see the interaction of design elements with the water.
Although the Matrix is among one of the most well-known movies, I’ve actually not seen it yet. However, the article does talk about some interesting and definitely very advanced technology used in the film industry. It came quite shocking to me how the director actively chose to do underwater shooting for effects because in my knowledge underwater shooting is always difficult, so taking on a challenging method instead of opting for an easier option is something really worth aspiring. One thing I really agree with is that everything moves and looks different underwater, which cannot always be achieved by VFX. In terms of VFX, I think it’s also interesting to learn when the production decides it would be more advantageous to use VFX instead of live action. For example, the article listed several places where the team thought using VFX would be easier, more accurate and/or have a better effect.
This was a really good read. Since I am much more into the live and performing arts, seeing practical effects is always so much more interesting to see in comparison to cgi. I think part of The Matrix's lasting cultural impact is how much it pushed against the bounds of it's medium and sought to make the medium serve the art piece.
I haven't seen the newest film because I'm just not as into television or movies as I used to be, I've not seen a movie since around 2018. But it's good to see that the Wachowski's (I assume they both directed? I only saw reference to Lana), are still seeking to push the limits of practical effects. I really hope more studios seek to do things with practicals wherever possible. With the tech of today we can pull off amazing things in comparison to 20 years ago. Video/Projections/Media becoming it's own discipline within Live Entertainment gives me hope in this regard.
While I don’t understand the technical side of this article, I am so impressed with the camera work and camera people’s dedication to their craft. I have never seen the Matrix so I’m not familiar with the scene they filmed underwater. From a technical standpoint, it seems like an odd choice though to film a shootout underwater. However, pushing the cinematography in this way allowed effects not otherwise possible and the integration of these images into the storyline. And it is more impactful when the effects are real versus being done afterwards with CGI. What I can’t totally wrap my head around is how they water-proofed this large camera set up in two days. I’m sure cameras are designed to withstand some rain but being completely submerged is another story. I also have never seen a camera set up like this with a large number of cameras in a cluster to help get this panning view of the actors.
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