Mr. X Takes You for a Ride in "Four Brothers"
Visual effects studio Mr. X takes the audience for a ride in the climactic car chase of the new Paramount Pictures action thriller FOUR BROTHERS. Created for the film's acclaimed director, John Singleton, the sequence is an action packed blend of digital effects and live action. Starring Mark Wahlberg, Tyrese Gibson, Garrett Hedlund, and Andre Benjamin, FOUR BROTHERS is the kind of gripping urban drama acclaimed director John Singleton is known for. The story follows four men who band together to uncover the mystery behind the death of the woman who raised them -- and to exact vengeance on the killers.
Toronto, Ontario. (PRWEB) August 17, 2005 -- Visual effects studio Mr. X
takes the audience for a ride in the climactic car chase of the new Paramount
Pictures action thriller FOUR BROTHERS. Created for the film's acclaimed
director, John Singleton, the sequence is an action packed blend of digital
effects and live action.
Starring Mark Wahlberg, Tyrese Gibson, Garrett
Hedlund, and Andre Benjamin, FOUR BROTHERS is the kind of gripping urban drama
acclaimed director John Singleton is known for. The story follows four men who
band together to uncover the mystery behind the death of the woman who raised
them -- and to exact vengeance on the killers.
Amidst a howling
snowstorm, the brothers, with Bobby (Mark Wahlberg) at the wheel, race after
their suspects at breakneck speed down the backstreets of Detroit. Mr. X worked
with the filmmakers to design and plan the complicated sequence, generating
elaborate pre-visualizations for each shot.
"Our most rewarding
experiences at Mr. X come when we partner with the filmmakers at the earliest
conceptual stage to help design and shape the execution of complex effects
sequences," explains Dennis Berardi, VFX Supervisor for the film. "On BROTHERS,
we had the opportunity to work closely with the production team to create
meticulously accurate pre-visualization for the sequence. Through this we were
able to assist the director to choreograph the action, uncover filming
challenges, and develop a complete filming solution down to each camera lens and
position well before shooting began."
Weather continuity emerged as one
of the key challenges of the shoot. The team at Mr. X is no stranger to
digitally enhanced weather though, having effectively tackled nearly 300 shots
for ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 (2005), the previous year. Utilizing photographed
elements of a real blizzard as well as computer-generated snow, Mr. X was able
to turn a production's uncooperative mild weather into a believable winter,
digitally enhancing and integrating a snowy, wintry atmosphere into the action
of FOUR BROTHERS. These snow effects included blizzard elements and snow
particles, snow banks, debris, as well as visible breath elements.
While
the snow surely added a lot of excitement to the sequence, a car chase wouldn't
be complete without a dramatic crash. In this case, the crash was tightly
choreographed so it was decided that a completely computer-generated car would
be used for several shots.
Mr. X has built a reputation for
photo-realistic CGI and this project was no exception. Berardi cites their
attention to detail as the key to their success, "Our artists used the original
car manufacturer specifications in modeling all of the vehicles involved.
Textures, reflections, and other tiny imperfections posed the greatest
challenges to realism, but 17 layers of rendering later, our digital vehicles
fool even the most experienced eye."
The filmmakers were thrilled with
the end result, which may be the most recognition the visual effects team
receives. Berardi remarks, "If we've done our job right, the audience will be
caught up in the action and won't even notice we were there!"
On FOUR
BROTHERS, the Mr. X team was led by Visual Effects Supervisor Dennis Berardi,
along with Senior Technical Director Colin Withers, CG Supervisor Sean Cohen and
Compositing Supervisor Aaron Weintraub, along with Lead Compositor Kristy
Blackwell. Artists used such tools as Alias Wavefront's Maya, RenderMan, Deep
Paint 3D, and MentalRay for the 3D work, Shake, Flame, and Inferno for
compositing, and PhotoShop for some subtle 2D elements.
Mr. X continues
to build upon its successful track record of partnering with filmmakers to
create story-driven visual effects, as seen in ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13, ICE
PRINCESS, DAWN OF THE DEAD (2004) and RESIDENT EVIL: APOCALYPSE, as well as
dozens more. Upcoming projects for Mr. X include such anticipated titles as THE
GREATEST GAME EVER PLAYED, A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, TRUTH, JUSTICE AND THE
AMERICAN WAY, REVOLVER, and SILENT HILL: CENTRALIA.
Paramount Pictures
presents FOUR BROTHERS, an action-packed urban drama directed by John Singleton
and starring Mark Wahlberg, Tyrese Gibson, Andre Benjamin, and Garrett Hedlund.
FOUR BROTHERS was directed by Singleton from a screenplay by David Elliot &
Paul Lovett, and is produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura and executive produced by
Ric Kidney. The film is scheduled for U.S. release on August 12.
Who is
Mr. X?
Bringing together a unique mix of artists, filmmakers, VFX
supervisors, and programmers, Mr. X specializes in partnering with filmmakers to
provide story-driven visual enhancements. The artists and creative minds at Mr.
X are known for their superb, photo-realistic achievements in CGI, their skills
in digital matte painting, VFX compositing, and Post/VFX supervision, as well as
for their realistic digital creations of epic-scale and otherwise impossible
stunts. With a studio equipped with a rare mix of the latest imaging
technologies, the team at Mr. X is committed to pushing the limits of the
digital realm, and in making the impossible, possible.
With credits on
dozens of distinguished projects including ICE PRINCESS, ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13,
RESIDENT EVIL: APOCALYPSE, DAWN OF THE DEAD (2004), WRONG TURN, BLIZZARD,
ARARAT, THE SWEET HEREAFTER and many more, Mr. X helps to define the very look
and feel of a film.
For more information on Mr. X, please visit their
website at www.Mrxfx.com, or
for pictures or interviews, please contact Dennis Berardi at (416) 595-6222, or
via e-mail at e-mail protected from spam bots.
For public relations
materials, bios, or further backgrounders, meanwhile, please contact publicist
Angela Mitchell at (904) 982-8043 or e-mail protected from spam
bots.
Note: For a complete list of Mr. X titles and credits on FOUR
BROTHERS, please refer to the credits list in the attached PDF file. Images from
FOUR BROTHERS are also attached -- please do not crop, and credit © 2005
Paramount Pictures and Mr. X, Inc. whenever these images are used for your
story.
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/8/prweb273671.htm