VFX VFX
previous page
TOC
Björn Mayer
Blood, Swords and Neon-Lit Cars Two new features, Kate and Yakuza Princess, use the magic of VFX to tell their action-packed samurai stories. By Trevor Hogg
T
he classic honor code of the samurai and its many implications are explored in two current VFX-driven features, Netflix’s Kate and Magnet Releasing’s Yakuza Princess. Directed by Oscar-nominated visual effects supervisor Cedric Nicolas-Troyan (The Huntsman: Winter’s War), Kate tells the story of a gaijin assassin who tries to discover the person responsible for poisoning her, while Yakuza Princess is filmmaker Vincente Amorim’s saga of a yakuza empire heiress who is hiding in Brazil to survive. Both stories are set in motion by acts of betrayal and rely on the successful marriage of special effects, stunts and visual effects to choreograph and execute dynamic fight sequences involving guns, swords, decapitations and lots of blood. Since Kate's director was a former VFX supervisor, life was easier on set for the visual effects team, but more challenging in post production. "Cedric knows how it's done and tells you what he wants," explains production VFX supervisor Björn Mayer (Oblivion). “You have to find a way to get it. It was challenging because the whole thing was shot at night. I’ve done my share of night shoots before, but never did it three months in a row. We were shooting in Bangkok, which has the craziest traffic, so getting to places took a while, and
‘Each and every blood splatter was created in CG with fluid simulation. For limbs, in some cases, we had practical mock-ups to use for continuity, but when they were severed it was completely CG.’ — Marcelo Siqueira, VFX supervisor, Yakuza Princess
www.animationmagazine.net 44
TOC
novemberr 21
previous page
