Episode 64 - Captain Marvel (Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck, 2019) (with Trixter VFX Studio)
Captain Marvel (Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck, 2019).
The Fantasy/Animation podcast takes listeners on a journey through the intersection between fantasy cinema and the medium of animation. Available via Apple Podcasts, Spotify and many of your favourite podcast hosting platforms!
2021 kicks off with a supersonic bang as Chris and Alex return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) to explore the world of Kree Empires, alien shapeshifters, flerkens, and digital de-aging in American superhero feature Captain Marvel (Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck, 2019), based on the celebrated Marvel Comics character. Joining them for a discussion of Hollywood special effects production and the labour of fantastical imagery are the film’s VFX Producer Christine Neumann and VFX Supervisor Dominik Zimmerle of German visual effects studio Trixter based in Munich, whose work also includes a number of Hollywood blockbusters and other MCU entries Spider-Man: Homecoming (Jon Watts, 2017), Thor: Ragnarok (Taika Waititi, 2017), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (James Gunn, 2017), Black Panther (Ryan Coogler, 2018) and the upcoming Black Widow (Cate Shortland, 2021). Topics for discussion in Episode 64 include the industrial relationships between Marvel Studios and its VFX vendors; the splintering of effects workflow into elements of animation, camera/layout, simulation, body dynamics, lighting, pre-visualisation, rigging and compositing; what goes into the creation of digital assets/artefacts, and the challenges in Captain Marvel of replicating everyday or domestic spaces and objects; taste cultures and connoisseurship in contemporary VFX spectatorship; the vital role of controlled lighting environments and virtual camerawork in the design of pristine effects imagery; and the distinctions between a ‘photorealistic’ and a ‘caricatured’ cat.
Suggested Readings
Moszkowicz, Julia. 2002. “To infinity and beyond: assessing the technological imperative in computer animation.” Screen 43, no. 3 (Autumn): 293–314.
Pierson, Michele. 2002. Special Effects: Still in Search of Wonder. New York: Columbia University Press.
Turnock, Julie. 2015. Plastic Reality: Special Effects, Technology, and the Emergence of 1970s Blockbuster Aesthetics. New York: Columbia University Press.