Animation Magazine's 35 Year Anniversary Issue

Page 142

VFX VFX

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Conjuring New Demons How the VFX artists of Stranger Things crafted more frightening monsters for the fourth season. By Trevor Hogg

T

he VFX artists working on the fourth season of the hit Netflix series Stranger Things had their work cut out for them. Set six months after the previous season’s Battle of Starcourt which introduced new levels of mayhem and destruction to Hawkins, the new season finds the central group of friends separated for the first time and navigating the special weirdness of high school! The new narrative explores three storylines set in Lenora Hills, Calif.; a Russian gulag and Hawkins, Ind. In fact, the creative ambition was so great that the number of episodes were expanded from eight to nine, with 30 visual effects companies working on over 4,000 shots. Rather than release everything at once, Netflix streamed the first half on May 27 and the second half will be made available on July 1. After being hired as a senior concept illustrator for Seasons 2 and 3, Michael Maher Jr. served as the visual effects supervisor for Episodes 401 to 406, while the remaining three were handled by Jabbar Raisani and Marion Spates. “As a whole, I have done over 1,500 storyboards for the show and got a couple of opportunities here and there to direct second unit, which got me up to speed to supervise — which was a totally different role!” says Maher. “But I’ve always been there through post as a visual effects art director, which meant I helped out with the visuals as the show got closer to release, with shots coming by, work-

ing on the animation and the look of the composite, and painting over things.”

Expanding the Territories The Byers family and Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) moving to Southern California and Jim Hopper (David Harbour) being a prison inmate in Russia added to the narrative scope. “There were a lot of set extensions, especially when you want to do these big outdoor settings with blizzard-like conditions,” states Maher. “A

lot of the scenes in Russia, for example, were shot in Lithuania. It is always interesting taking these huge locations that have been built and doing extensions to make them look as good as they do on screen.” Each season, there is an expectation that demons coming from the hellish dimension known as the Upside Down become even more imposing, powerful and threatening. “For Vecna, we drew a lot of inspiration early on from Nightmare on Elm Street and Pinhead

‘For Vecna, we drew a lot of inspiration early on from Nightmare on Elm Street and Pinhead from Hellraiser. I started the designs on Venca in August 2019 and would go to the writers’ room, throw stuff out at them and see what was sticking.’ — VFX supervisor Michael Maher Jr.

Freddy’s Back! Robert Englund portrays a disturbed man who is imprisoned in a psych hospital for a gruesome murder in the ’50s.

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june|july 22

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Articles inside

Animated Musings

4min
pages 150-151

Autonomous Animator

3min
pages 148-149

Creative Connections

4min
pages 152-153

Tech Reviews

10min
pages 144-147

Conjuring New Demons

6min
pages 142-143

Experiencing the World of Tomorrow Today

49min
pages 118-139

Unleashing the Dinosaurs Again

7min
pages 140-141

A Few Words from Monsieur le Délégué

6min
pages 102-103

First Look: Netflix Animation Spotlights

3min
pages 116-117

Flight of Fancy

6min
pages 106-107

20 Movies to Catch at Annecy

6min
pages 104-105

Brief and Beautiful Visions

15min
pages 108-115

An Animation Legend Looks Back

6min
pages 96-99

35 Animated Shorts to Explore, Ponder Ignore or Enjoy*

8min
pages 84-87

The Strike That Shifted the Landscape

7min
pages 100-101

The Essentials:35 U.S. Studio Movies of the Past 35 Years

1min
page 82

On Representation and Diversity: How Far Have We Come?

7min
pages 80-81

Riding the Japanese New Wave

5min
pages 78-79

A Lot Can Happen in 35 Years

9min
pages 76-77

Reflections on 1987 and the 35th

4min
pages 74-75

A Crowd-Sourcing Pioneer

4min
pages 72-73

35 Years of Great Quotes

11min
pages 68-71

Blue Skies Ahead for Red Animation

6min
pages 66-67

Drawn to Excellence

6min
pages 62-63

Cyber Group Expands Its Giant Footprint

6min
pages 64-65

Daughter of Invention

6min
pages 60-61

On Being a True Warrior

7min
pages 58-59

Crouching Teen, Hidden Powers

6min
pages 56-57

A Hero Who Keeps on Giving

6min
pages 54-55

And Never Feed Them After Dark

6min
pages 50-51

From Stage to Animated Screen

6min
pages 52-53

A Toon Town Trailblazer

6min
pages 44-45

Sophisticated Sci-Fi Is Back

8min
pages 46-49

The Red Ribbon Army Returns

3min
pages 42-43

Mavka, the Spirit of Ukrainian Culture

5min
pages 40-41

The Tiniest Movie Star

7min
pages 36-37

The Way of the Feline Samurai

6min
pages 38-39

Teddy Bears vs. Unicorns

6min
pages 34-35

Whatever Happened to Those Chipmunks?

6min
pages 32-33

A Real Disney Heroine

7min
pages 20-23

A Toy’s Origin Story

10min
pages 16-19

Here Be Monsters

9min
pages 24-27

Make It Extra — with a Side of Optimism

8min
pages 28-31
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