Creating Weather And Worlds With Movie Magic - CinematicThoughts

Mother Nature makes time happen all around us. But do you know what it takes to simulate the weather or create those cinematic environments in some of your favorite movies and TV shows?

A team of VFX artists are needed to recreate the scenes from Doctor Strange's Many Madness at Hurricane Sandy on Netflix's Kaleidoscope.

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What do you want to know

• Creating Time in Movies and TV Shows Requires Collecting Real-World References


• Effects simulation is the ability of VFX to create that illusion of reality in a film/TV project.


• VFX artists can create any world you can imagine.


• Framestore is an Oscar-winning VFX agency.

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For this story, I wanted a big visual effects company in Hollywood. I spoke to Framestore, the Oscar-winning visual effects agency that has created stunning visual effects for some of your favorite movies and TV shows, from 'Avengers: Infinity War' to 'The Last of Us'.

The company is up for another Oscar at the 95th Academy Awards for "Top Gun: Maverick."

Simulate screen time

So let's talk about the magic of visual effects needed to create stunning sunsets, terrifying storms and glorious weather on screen.

“We always start by gathering real-world references,” says James Whitlam, managing director of Framestore's film and television division. This real-world reference serves as the basis when creating visual effects.

For weather events, they rely on video footage rather than storm tracking.

"We're not professional stormtroopers, so we rely on documentary footage for something like this," Whitlam said.

For example, in "Kaleidoscope", the scene took place during Hurricane Sandy. So the visual effects team relied on photography and visualization to simulate bad weather on stage.

"Because we couldn't get permission to photograph an apartment in lower Manhattan, it became necessary to use stock footage which presented additional challenges, like changing the footage given to us from day to night and light up the whole city for our needs," says Whitlam.

But it takes time and precision to create the weather and environment you see on film or on a flat screen.

An organic environment such as a field or forest takes on the stage of "complex modeling and abstract activity that increases the time needed to achieve the illusion of reality".

But when you introduce things like rain, fire, and smoke that require a different level of VFX skill, it's called "simulating effects."

“These artists mimic unique natural phenomena,” Whitlam said.

In Netflix's "1899," he discussed the complexity of creating hurricanes. He said it was one of the items that took him the longest to make.

“These full CG shots require simulated passes for ocean waves, bubbles, spray, wakes, rain and more. These are computationally intensive processes with runtimes in the hundreds thousands of CPU hours," Whitlam told us.

In multi-page

There are no limits to creating the worlds and environments you see in your favorite movies. In Whitlam's words, "If you can imagine it, we can create it."

VFX artists use artificial intelligence or AI to create worlds you have never imagined before. Whitlam says the only limitation is the cost of doing it.

"The only limit is the time it takes to create an entire world and that costs money!" exclaimed a Framestore executive.

Creating the environments you see in movies is often a collaboration between a production designer and a visual effects supervisor. In a feature film, a director gives final design approval, much like a showrunner in a television show.

"Visual effects are often the first thing consulted after a script has been shot for production, and usually what's finished," says Whitlam.

Award-winning research

Framestore's VFX work has received Oscar nominations and awards at the Annie Awards.

This year, Framestore Visual Effects Supervisor Ryan Tudhope and his team were nominated for the Best Visual Effects Oscar for Top Gun: Maverick.

Commenting on the nomination, Whitlam said, "We appreciate all of the visual artists around the world who have helped create the adrenaline-pumping experience that comes with being completely immersed in this film."

Whitlam said the studio "did everything possible to capture as much dogfight action as possible" to give the atmosphere an authentic feel.

Currently, the production company is working on the visual effects of several highly anticipated films such as "Barbie", "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" and "The Little Mermaid".

Here's what Whitlam had to say about bringing The Little Mermaid to life.

“We take nothing away from this film. Shut up !

So I guess we'll have to wait and see what kind of cinematic magic they have under the sea.

Our meteorologists immerse themselves in climate science and analyze real-time weather data and information. For more information on weather and climate, see our Weather Blogs section.

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