As the old saying goes, nothing is harder than working with animals (and children) in movies. Add Jim Carrey’s manic energy to the mix and you can see the challenge faced by director Mark Waters’ latest film, “Mr. Popper’s Penguins.”
Although many scenes in the film featured real Gentoo penguins causing havoc in Mr. Popper’s New York apartment, shots requiring them to dance, swim or even play soccer required digital versions — a task that fell to visual effects studio Rhythm & Hues.
During filming, Carrey and his human co-stars would either pretend to interact with the digital penguins that would be added later, or in several key scenes, hold stuffed props that would be replaced later.
Back at Rhythm & Hues, visual effects artists meticulously tracked the live-action photography in the computer so the digital penguins could be seamlessly placed next to the real actors — sometimes in complicated action scenes and other times casually lying in bed or watching television.
Visual effects supervisor Richard Hollander used a technique similar to that in the “Matrix” movies to capture detailed information about the way real penguins reflect and absorb light, move their muscles and express emotion. A live Gentoo penguin was placed on a soapbox and photographed from 18 different angles. The data from these photographs created a 360-degree digital reference that animators used to create hyperrealistic computer generated penguins.
The CG birds were modeled and animated in Rhythm & Hues’ proprietary software based on the photographic references shot by Hollander, with added details like muscle movement, wing flapping and even fat jiggle.
Finally, Rhythm also created digital ice and water for shots such as the penguins swimming in a bathtub or even sliding down the spiral ramp at the Guggenheim Museum.
Imagining complex scenes like that was just all in a day’s work for Jim Carrey and the other actors.
“Jim did an amazing job of actually imagining all these guys were there,” Hollander said. “It’s almost kind of inhuman how he does it.”
Although many scenes in the film featured real Gentoo penguins causing havoc in Mr. Popper’s New York apartment, shots requiring them to dance, swim or even play soccer required digital versions — a task that fell to visual effects studio Rhythm & Hues.
During filming, Carrey and his human co-stars would either pretend to interact with the digital penguins that would be added later, or in several key scenes, hold stuffed props that would be replaced later.
Back at Rhythm & Hues, visual effects artists meticulously tracked the live-action photography in the computer so the digital penguins could be seamlessly placed next to the real actors — sometimes in complicated action scenes and other times casually lying in bed or watching television.
Visual effects supervisor Richard Hollander used a technique similar to that in the “Matrix” movies to capture detailed information about the way real penguins reflect and absorb light, move their muscles and express emotion. A live Gentoo penguin was placed on a soapbox and photographed from 18 different angles. The data from these photographs created a 360-degree digital reference that animators used to create hyperrealistic computer generated penguins.
The CG birds were modeled and animated in Rhythm & Hues’ proprietary software based on the photographic references shot by Hollander, with added details like muscle movement, wing flapping and even fat jiggle.
Finally, Rhythm also created digital ice and water for shots such as the penguins swimming in a bathtub or even sliding down the spiral ramp at the Guggenheim Museum.
Imagining complex scenes like that was just all in a day’s work for Jim Carrey and the other actors.
“Jim did an amazing job of actually imagining all these guys were there,” Hollander said. “It’s almost kind of inhuman how he does it.”
