Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is a film that has received widespread critical acclaim, including an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. VFX directors Tim Burke and Christian Manz have implemented many innovative technical visions to create visuals during filming. This paper aims to discuss the new techniques and visual effects which were developed for the films which determined the film’s eventual ultimate success.
Creating the Beasts
It is easy to guess that the most time-consuming part of the work was the creation of images of magical animals, and their habitats in Newt’s closet, which unexpectedly demonstrated the presence of an additional dimension. The creation of characters such as Graphorns, Murtlap, and other beasts required complex effects, including many layers of rendering and the creation of dummy characters for the robotic interaction of the beasts with them. An equally demanding task was to transfer the drawn characters into a three-dimensional digital space. As a result, the creatures showed the audience a new unknown world that fully expressed the original idea of the author of the book, J.K. Rowling. The visual effects company Rodeo X used the Image Engine program to develop the characters.
It is especially important to consider the screen time since the film is quite long and the fact that the creatures participate in the on-screen action throughout the entire picture. The most challenging project was the creation of the Graphorns. To create realistic animals, the artists used images of the biological structures of alligators, lions, hippos, caterpillars, ostriches, elephants and rhinos, since the magical creatures combined their qualities. The study and use of real structures of skeletons and organs of animals made it possible to make their physical embodiment on the screen realistic.
Despite the existence of the animals’ original descriptions, the artists used imagination to balance the elements when creating the images. It is noteworthy that in the scenes of the interaction of the Graphorns with the actors, complex simulations of the work of fictional structures of fascia and muscles were used. To accomplish this, visual effects artists used the anatomy simulator Ziva (“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” 2019). This simulator works with muscles and is most convenient for creating fictional magical creatures with many colorful and important details. Vital Skin is another program that helped artists create characters, as it allowed them to develop deformed fascia and muscles, while Ziva was mostly responsible for the movement of animals in space based on a standard pattern of moving forms. Vital Skin was also applied to the Final HU mesh for the liveliest effects.
Developing the Scenery
The background art was equally challenging, including the backgrounds for Newt’s bestiary. The Image Engine was used to create the environment, recreating the projection of the desert at night, which was reflected on the curtain to create the effect of somewhat flat space. For maximum realism and some two-dimensionality, the artists set themselves the task of creating an image on the borderline between the real world and the stylized one. The projection used footage of night scenes in the Arabian Desert, and eventually achieved the desired effect. It is noteworthy that the bright background picture is a composition from more than 100 graphic layers with effects. Even though the picture appears in the frame for only a few seconds, it leaves a breathtaking impression on the viewer.
Thus, the visual techniques and newly developed effects used for creating the titillating scenery and magical world of the film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them were discussed. The most difficult was the creation of non-existent animals, as the artists had to invent the work of fictional muscles in motion and interaction with third objects. The work on the mesmerizing fantastic landscapes was no less interesting. The artists used various technical tools such as Image Engine, Ziva, Vital Skin, Final HU, and other programs.
Work Cited
“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.” Image Engine, 2019, Web.