Featured Animation & Special Effects:
Ridley Scott vision becomes reality at Absolute
Absolute Post can now exclusively reveal its ground-breaking work on the internet sensation that is Ridley Scott's vision of TED 2023. A collaboration of film industry heavyweights, the scene was conceived by Ridley Scott, written by Damon Lindelof, directed by Luke Scott and stars Guy Pearce. After an exhausting and inspiring three months, Absolute is proud to present results described by director Luke Scott as “phenomenal.”
The dramatic scene unfolds as a 2023 TED conference featuring Peter Weyland (Pearce) and is set in a futuristic auditorium of unimaginably vast proportions, complete with big screens, flying cameras and an audience of some 80,000 people – all of which Absolute created in post after a one-day shoot on blue-screen at Shepperton.
The job represents huge growth for Absolute, both creatively and practically. “It was bigger in every way, from the scale of the build to the duration,” comments Creative Director Ben Robards, who led the 2D post-production. “Individual shots lasted longer than entire commercials we’ve worked on.”
“We had to build the entire auditorium from scratch,” continues Robards, “adding all the large and small functional details such as screens, lighting rigs, air ducts, vents, cabling, banisters... everything to make it credible. There was a considerable amount of re-modelling and additional element-building right up to the eleventh hour.”
Leading the 3D team was Absolute Creative Director Jamie White. “Due to the highly secretive nature of the job, sub-contracting renders or basic work was out of the question. We drastically increased the power of our render farm and did everything we could to optimize render times and scene size. Using techniques such as final gather baking, texture baking, light baking, LOD rendering we managed to make the task of rendering the entire spot achievable.”
Luke Scott was impressed. “Absolute brought a lot to the table in terms of lighting, textures, behaviours of the crowd - the little touches that really make up the overall experience. They were ice-cool while constructing something vast, difficult and unseen within that time frame... The whole experience at Absolute is fantastic; it’s such a great environment to work in.”
Says Absolute CEO David Smith, “For Absolute to be chosen for such a huge project shows great confidence in our talents and commitment. For three months our team literally put their lives on hold in the pursuit of perfection and it has paid off 100%.”
See film at https://absolutepost.chillivault.tv/p/f59480e5f2bc0895f142
For images and interview opportunities, contact Mel Fong Brown: melfong.brown@absolutepost.com tel +44 20 7851 6700
Biographies
BEN ROBARDS
Ben Robards met CEO David Smith while working at The Mill in 2003 and signed up to join Absolute before the doors opened in Feb 2004. He started as an assistant but rapidly rose to leading a series of award-winning promos and adverts on Flame, winning awards for his work on the Arni and Kinski Sigur Ros video Glosoli and working with Peter Thwaites on the multi-award winning Shell - Movement. He was made joint Creative Director in 2011.
JAMIE WHITE
Jamie White studied computer animation from an early age and went on to gain a BA in Computer Animation from Ravensbourne College. He started at Absolute as a runner in 2007 and eventually became a CG artist, joint head of CG and Creative Director. His specialisms are lighting and rendering using Maya, Mental Ray and compositing in Nuke.
Absolute is a post-production house that creates hi-end visual effects for TV commercials, music videos, films and digital media. Absolute is a full-service transatlantic facility with London and New York offices running a 24/7 Flame and 3D service. For further information see www.absolutepost.co.uk