Behind the Scenes of One of the Most Iconic Sci-fi Films of Our Times - The Making of District 9
District 9, directed by Neill Blomkamp and produced by Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham was released on August 14, 2009. The film received an impressive collection of industry accolades, nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Visual Effects and Best Motion Picture, and reached iconic status within the sci-fi genre.
This interview with Blomkamp reveals the formula to its success lies largely in the strength of the partnership between the director and Animatrik.
The team behind Animatrik were able to harness VFX technology smartly and creatively to overcome production challenges, which not only bestowed Blomkamp with the cognitive and creative freedom to focus solely on direction without distraction from technical challenges, but also saw Animatrik’s Motion Capture Supervisor Brett Inneson nominated for Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture for the Visual Effects Society Awards 2010.
The beginning of a partnership
The production process of District 9 was the beginning of a long working relationship between Neill Blomkamp and Animatrik. 2009 was a busy year for the VFX and motion capture studios. Aside from District 9, it was the year that James Cameron’s huge blockbuster, Avatar was released, causing US-based studios such as Weta Digital to operate at full capacity. This prompted the team behind District 9 to look closer to home and connect with Animatrik through Image Engine, taking the post-production back to Vancouver and contributing to the locally growing VFX scene.
The film was shot in South Africa, with the design process and pre-production taking place in New-Zealand and post-production work in Vancouver, Canada. Working with small crews on both sides, Blomkamp remembers the post-production work with Animatrik as a “really cool experience.” The small team at Animatrik “were quite nimble with what they could do and were extremely helpful in just making the movie happen,” despite budget constraints and the unique challenges presented by, for example, the final design of the aliens. Fast forward to more than 10 years later, Animatrik has scaled rapidly, using cutting-edge technology and a fully equipped studio in Burnaby, and has worked together with Blomkamp on multiple projects, including Elysium and Chappie.
“As a director, the worst thing you could ever hear is something like “the data screwed up. Sorry, we lost the take.” Which may happen with more novice motion capture facilities. With Animatrik, there are never any errors. They always deliver everything perfectly.” - he explained when asked about the continued partnership.
The Art of Reverse Motion Capture
District 9 was an independent production with a small crew and a tight budget, but the strong partnership with Animatrik and Blomkamp’s creative ambition led to a film that became iconic. For example, perhaps to the surprise of many of the film’s fans, one single actor, Jason Koepp, played all of the aliens featured, asides from the protagonist. Limited resources were overcome by creative solutions.
The ideal scenario for motion capture production would have been to bring the mocap cameras to the on-site location in South Africa, in order to gather the relevant data for motion capture while the actors could walk around in that physical space, opening doors and picking up glasses. However, the on-site location filming wrapped up months before the motion capture work began, so Animatrik had to harness mocap techniques that could be used after an actor has shot the relevant scenes. The team did background restoration to hand animate on top of the actors in the takes, then hand-traced the motion onto a 3D object within the scene during post-production.
The initial challenges were exacerbated by the design of the aliens, who were designed with an extra ankle, similar to the leg of a canine. This required custom setups as the actors had to walk on stilts, which altered their gait significantly.
The lead actor ended up joining the crew in Vancouver to retake some of the shots, to account for all the scenarios that were not accounted for during the initial shoot. All in all, this resulted in five extra days of shooting and three extra days of stunt work with Animatrik.
The magic of technology and the future of storytelling
Filmmaking is a slow and painstaking process that typically involves a lot of moving parts. As Blomkamp explained, from a director’s perspective “the last thing on your mind is what technology you're using, what the cameras are, what you see with the motion builder, whether they're using motion blur.” Working with partners who are great collaborators and consistently produce quality results, is crucial in order not to have to think about the particulars of mocap and VFX work. This in turn gives space to the director to focus on the performance of the actors and rest assured that no perfect take or valuable data will get lost.
“I know that they're super high tech, but I don't associate technology with Animatrik. What I associate with Animatrik is when I arrive on set, every single thing that I need is like a finely tuned machine. So whether we need physical props that are objects for stunt guys to jump off of or knock into, they have a whole lumber department that's there with all of these props. If we need super high resolution facial capture, they can do that, if we need super high resolution video capture, they can do that too,” - elaborates Neil.
The early days of mocap and VFX showcased in such iconic films as District 9, led us to the present where game engines and real-time rendering are entering the scene. The shifting landscape is now sparking new discussions about the advent of storytelling powered by technology. Regardless of the future of VFX technology, directors need the right partners who can realize their visions and give space to the creative process, without detracting from the story.