Visual Effects: Initial meetings
Had a great meeting today with a special effects supervisor (who I knew previously from the commercial industry) and a visual effects company who are interested in doing the visual effects for the film.
There were the usual introductions - vis effect super, flame artist, miniature effects director, and a producer or two, but the conversation jumped quickly to the script. I was shocked to learn that most everyone in the room, aside from the producers (of course) had read the script, liked it, and had made written notes. Woah!
The effects supervisor asked if we could go through the script and talk about specific scenes. Sure. I thought this first meeting might be more of a meet and greet, chit-chat LA-style meeting. Oh, no. This is NY. No foreplay.
It was great fun! For the first time since this film started to be a real project, I was actually talking specifically about how to bring some of these special visual effects to life -scenes that I have been thinking about for several years now. They asked questions, we talked about the style of effects, and we questioned the idea of miniatures versus CG versus practical effects. (I won’t say much, but I will say this: I want to do as much as possible in camera.)
They quizzed me. They quizzed me good, but I was pleased (and comforted) to know that I knew the answers - or at least most of the answers - to their questions. It was also really refreshing to see that they had a lot to bring to the table, including some really great ideas on our “Big Open” and our “Big Finale”. It was really great feeling to be in a room full of people who were excited about making this film.
