Planet of the Apes 4: the Brazilian publisher talks about technological advances: “It’s sensational”

If you’ve ever wondered about the visible progress of franchising The Planet of the Apes (just remember what movies were like in the 70s), you’re in the right place. With the debut of The kingdom, fourth sequel in the reboot franchise, which takes place this Thursday (9), the spoke with André Castelao, Senior Motion Editor of the new production, and one of the few Brazilians involved in the blockbuster, about the technological evolution of films.

After all, how is Planet of the Apes made?

When questioned about advances in film production techniques, the expert revealed that the level of technology used today is, of course, much greater and better than even the most recent previous productions – not to mention the 1970 releases that followed these changes, generating both evolutions and more complexity with each chapter.

Nowadays it is advanced. The quality is much better, especially for visual references. My department is motion capture, we call it performance capture, it’s not just body capture, but face capture. Before there were many problems, the data we received to transfer to the digital font was very noisy and editing took time. With new technologies we have managed to automate the process, freeing up more time for refining. Before we wasted a lot of time cleaning the data, today this is more solved.

André Castelao, Senior Motion Editor for Planet of the Apes 4, at Olhar Digital.

Anyone who imagined that, with the boom in artificial intelligence (AI), all the work would be done by the technology of the moment, was wrong. According to Castelao, editing a scene from Planet of the Apes 4 it’s almost artisanal, with AI tools that only support the “artist” – basically, 50% of a “ready” scene will be detailed, manual editing.

There is still a lot of manual work on the part of the artist, who proceeds frame by frame to transfer as much of what was captured in real life to digital as possible. And when you work for films, the level of demand is very high, especially films like Planet of the Apes, Avatar, etc., the level of revision is frame by frame, it takes a long time to make it as perfect as possible.

It doesn’t just depend on the editing team, Castelao explained that much of the quality also comes from the actor’s performance, especially when it comes to playing a monkey. “There are actors who spend months training to see how monkeys walk, how they interact”.

The similar appearance of the monkeys to the actors is not a coincidence or an impression. To further “marry” the digital editions and bring emotion to the computerized character, the edition is based on the real characteristics of the performers.

Part of this, according to Castelao, is due to a combination of an evolution in the film market, not just technology, but progress in the franchise’s plot. “I can’t say much because I might give away spoilers, but yes, they are evolving. When it comes to putting these characters together now, they have more human characteristics, but when it comes to the main ones, we still have a lot of firsts”.

Challenges of the Planet of the Apes 4

And the question for millions of people is: how can you actually add movement to digital monkeys? According to the expert, after capturing all the images, from all angles, for digital reference, collaborative work takes place between two departments: it is necessary to assemble, apply all the animation, simulate the particles and only then add the movement. After all comes the visual effects — and then we return again to the Motion sector, since it is necessary to merge the interactions of the two different editions.

For the publisher, in the case of The kingdom, the most interesting and challenging scenes to work on were those of the interaction with the simulated water: on the screen it seems simple, but viewers can’t even imagine the complexity of the technical part. “There are many Planet of the Apes scenes with interaction with many elements. It is very difficult to work on a digital character with simulated elements. But it was really nice”.

Directed by Wes Ball, from Maze runner, Planet of the Apes: Reign It will take place 300 years after the era of Caesar. The film comes as a sort of prelude to Matt Reeves’ 2011 reboot trilogy (The origin), 2014 (The fight) and 2017 (War).

With its premiere scheduled for Thursday, May 9, the production will begin another chapter in the monkeys’ journey. The sequel will star Kevin Durand as Proximus Caesar, the franchise’s new villain, and Owen Teague as Noa, the good guy responsible for resurrecting Caesar’s ideology and creating another leadership.

Check out the final trailer for Planet of the Apes: Reign below

Separated by departments, the path to building a Caesar, as we know it, is long and full of “minds and hands”. Each team has specific functions to give life and movement to the monkeys: some take care of the muscles, others the clothes, and there are even people who take care of the facial expressions (yes, there is a team for just that).

Plus, transformation support The Planet of the Apes For what it is today, a box office success, it is enormous: some sectors, such as Animation and Composition, bring together more than 300 people working on the editing of the same film.

Hired by Weta, a large company specializing in the field of visual effects, Castelao said he was not the only Brazilian to work in Planet of the Apes: Reign, there are also compatriots in the technical part, in the software sector and in the artistic part. He also gave advice to those who want to push boundaries in sectors such as audiovisual.

Today it is more global. 10 years ago there were no professionals from countries with little experience in this sector of visual effects for big films. In Brazil we have visual effects for television, not for films, especially blockbusters. I got it because I specialized in one instrument. You have to specialize, generally they don’t hire generalist professionals.

The Planet of the Apes franchise

It is worth noting that although the films most remembered by The Planet of the Apesand who revitalized the franchise, be it the 2011 reboots (The origin), 2014 (The fight) and 2017 (War), the originals are much older, having been released from 1968 onwards.

In total, there are nine films: five major feature films, a single 2001 remake, directed by Tim Burton (and it didn’t do well), and the new reboot trilogy that began in 2011. The kingdom (OR Planet of the Apes 4) will act as a prelude, starting, once again, a new era (and with more current themes).

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Source: Olhar Digital

Rose

Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.