TV/STREAMING
“In Season 1, we did butt monsters, which are butts with arms, and they’re making a comeback this year in a bigger sequence. I’m excited to bring them to life because that’s not something you get to do every day. The butt monsters speak to the comedic factor of the show along with being terrifying as well. It’s the most fun that we had animating and coming up with different things that they’ll be doing.” —Armen Kevorkian, Creative Director & Visual Effects Supervisor, Encore Hollywood
TOP: When it comes to Cyborg (Joivan Wade) and Robotman (Brendan Fraser) there is a heavier reliance on practical effects for their characters. (Photo: Bob Mahoney/HBO Max) BOTTOM THREE: The plate photography, animation and final lighting of the Moonscape encounter in Episode 301 between Dorothy Spinner (Abigail Monterey) and the Candlemaker (Lex Lang). (Images courtesy of HBO Max and Encore VFX)
fun to do something different with that character. None of it is procedural. If she turns into a blob in a container, she comes out and forms into a person that takes a lot of blend shapes and morphing. It’s figuring out how to do go from CG cloth simulations to real cloth. The biggest challenge has always been Rita doing something that we have to reimagine how we’re going to do it. If I send back shots at all they’re usually Rita shots.” “Dorothy Spinner [Abigail Shapiro], the daughter of Dr. Niles Caulder, has these imaginary characters that she manifests which have to exist in the real world, such as the Candlemaker [Lex Lang],” explains Kevorkian. “He premiered last season and there is a little bit of him in Season 3. In Season 1, we did butt monsters, which are butts with arms, and they’re making a comeback this year in a bigger sequence. I’m excited to bring them to life because that’s not something you get to do every day. The butt monsters speak to the comedic factor of the show along with being terrifying as well. It’s the most fun that we had animating and coming up with different things that they’ll be doing. There was one moment where the Doom Patrol interacts with one or two of them. We sent our model to props which did a 3D print of one so that the actors could touch it.” Introduced is the Sisterhood of Dada, which consists of five bizarre supervillains with the ability to act as chaotic as the Dadaism art movement. “There is a lot that we’re creating for that storyline, for example, Dada birds,” states Kevorkian. “This season we also have a gorilla character from the comics called Monsieur Mallah that wears a beret and has a machine gun. There are a few images out there of him. He actually speaks and appears in a few episodes. We started from scratch to avoid any similarities with Grodd [from The Flash]. We built a model and whole new muscle and fur systems for him. The final ADR determines the animation. The facial anatomy doesn’t translate one-to-one with a human, so we have to cheat certain things to make it visually correct. I was never worried about Monsieur Mallah – he looks great.” Research is guided by the scripts. “If something gets mentioned in a script, like a character, I will do research to see if it’s something that really exists,” remarks Kevorkian. “I will always use that as my starting point. I will go ahead and conceptualize something and send it over to Jeremy, who knows exactly what he wants and is very
88 • VFXVOICE.COM FALL 2021
PG 86-89 DOOM PATROL.indd 88
8/29/21 2:46 PM
