This week's article is about Fantastic Beasts and Where to find them. A movie I'm totally not obsessed with. It is led by a Hufflepuff by the way, important info. Any Harry Potter universe movie is bound to have some form of animation because as much as we wish magic is real, it sadly is not.
The article opens by talking about the VFX company Framestore's previous involvement in Harry Potter, and how Warner Bro.'s hit them up to come back for the prequel of the movie series. They played an integral part in pre-production of this movie, making concept art for the creatures and the like. Their process was incredibly collaborative, with many departments working together to bring the magic to life. Not all creatures were used, but Framestore sat down to try and see what the ones they could use would bring to the table. The creatures first went through an animation test, and once they passed they were handed over to a team of 50 people to continue their journey. The team had to figure out how to work this animated creature into the environment fluidly. They had to convey emotions and personality through something unreal coming to life in the real world.
The Niffler, a long-nosed, burrowing creature with a need for shiny things had about 100 iterations. Four versions of the little hoarder before they started to piece him together with how to place him into his scenes. They used charmful animals like platypus's and moles, who also had the Niffler's spirit. Once he was set and ready to exist he traveled over to Framestore animators. They made him stand out in the New York City background by adding color around his eyes, top of the head, and tips of the feathers. They used a puppet on set for use of proper trajectory, scale, lighting, and actor interaction. Framestore used a Flesh and Flex rigging kit that they developed on their own to make the action of the Niffler's pocket more authentic.
The gangster goblin Gnarlack is what Framestore calls "one of the best digital humanoids yet". The goblin was heavily influenced by Ron Perlman. Ron went through motion capture sessions so that they could work to build Gnarlack, and even sat in front of 98 cameras so that they could real-time sculpt his face in 3D. The erumphet was a complex creature for Frameworks to bring to life. However, through the power of contained sets and a puppet from the stage show of War Horse they brought her to life. She was a work of mainly keyframed animation. The little bowtrucket named Pickett went through 200 designs before one was settled on to use for animation. For on set interaction they merely used a rod that also helped to reference Framestone's keyframes. Though his animation was too slow at first, Pickett evolved into the graceful little guy we now know.
A lot goes into creating whole worlds. Framestone worked not only on the creatures of Fantastic Beasts but also on some environments and Newt's bag and such. They even created a VR where people can interact with all the creatures they made. Animation could be the closest we ever get to having these creatures become real, physical things. Though it may not be magic, it really is something fantastic.
I was very happy to learn about how some of the creatures of Fantastic Beasts were animated. I loved them all very much, and it was astounding to see them come to life on screen. The work that goes behind all this is very tedious and full of long blown thought processes, but I actually wouldn't mind being on a team such as Framestore.
While the article went into depth about the creature production of fantastic beasts, I am still left with questions. Like, how did they go about making Frank? Or the Sweeping Evil? Were they the people who worked to design the Obscurus? If so, how did they work the Obscurus and Credence? I'm probably going to end up researching all of this, I just didn't realize I had these questions until I fully grasped the fact that the wizarding world is animated, not real. I mean I know that anyways, but one can always hope.
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