Hasta La Motion!

One of the toughest things about covering visual effects can be getting great VFX imagery to display with a story. There’s often a lengthy approvals process, and sometimes film and TV distributors just want to keep certain things under wraps. That can make it hard to produce interesting stories; in visual effects, behind the scenes images and videos tell so much of the process.

But lately, I’ve started noticing that many actors, directors and filmmakers have been posting a bunch of fun on-set and often VFX-related pics and clips to their social media accounts. We’re talking actors on greenscreens, in mocap suits, being scanned, or otherwise interacting with the teams behind the visual effects shots they’ve been working on.

What I love about these postings, too, is occasionally they’ll hint at the VFX work to come, often months down the track. It’s fun to compare the original posting with what made it into the movie. So, come with me as I explore some behind the scenes frivolity on several upcoming and recently released films and shows.

Deadpool 2 is still a year away, launching in June 2018, but actor Josh Brolin has been teasing his Cable make-up in Instagram postings.

The Untitled Han Solo film may have lost its original directors, but Ron Howard quickly stepped in. He’s active on Twitter and has already posted pics from the set, including this look at an on-set hyperspace projection. That also appears to be ILM VFX supe Rob Bredow on the far left.

Avengers: Infinity War is probably shaping up to be one of the most anticipated films of 2018 (look out for it in May). The Russo Brothers have a fun Instagram account, and one posting features them on a mocap stage with the caption ‘Rehearsal’. There was some speculation that the suited performer is Josh Brolin (who plays Thanos), but I’m really not sure. In any case, Brolin was back at it again, posting his own image showing the actor wearing a facial capture dots mask and referencing the ‘purple guy’.

Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson regularly calls out the visual effects crew working on his movies. In this post, he has a behind the scenes shot of Jason Liles in mocap gear playing an Albino silverback in Rampage, with VFX to come from Weta Digital. The film comes out April, 2018.

Peter Rabbit comes out in February 2018. Director Will Gluck posted a few behind the scenes images showing rabbit stand-ins and a bluescreen performer from the shoot in Australia. Animal Logic will be adding in the central characters in CG.

Dwayne Johnson also pays homage to the VFX team on Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle during a greenscreen shoot for the film, releasing Christmas this year.

We don’t have to wait too long for Justice League, which is out November this year. Henry Cavill posted a behind the scenes video of him entering a mulit-camera array for scanning, presumably as part of his transformation into a CG Superman. And Zack Snyder posted a behind the scenes clip on Twitter of Aquaman at work (note the reference to Scanline VFX in the video).

If you’re following Thor: Ragnorak director Taika Waititi on Instagram, you know how subversive he can be. He also posts fun VFX pics, too. The film is heading our way in November. And the Hulk himself, Mark Ruffalo, has some mocap suit action from the set of Ragnorak.

No stranger to disaster flicks, Dean Devlin is directing the October release, Geostorm, and here he shows some of the facial capture work being done for the film.

Excitingly, Seth MacFarlane’s The Orville (coming September) is relying on motion control miniatures and CG, which he highlights in this posting.

While making Valerian, director Luc Besson frequently posted images from the set, including looks at the blueescreen shoot and motion capture performers. Here’s some early posts from production showcasing his visit to Weta Digital for motion capture and in LA for Light Stage scans.

War for the Planet of the Apes director Matt Reeves is a big fan of Weta Digital, and why wouldn’t he be – they have knocked it out of the park on the Apes films so far. Here’s a few fun mocap-related Twitter posts from Reeves during production.

Spider-Man: Homecoming has just hit screens, and its lead Tom Holland has been busy with several behind the scenes on-set posts, including this one of him breakdancing in a mocap world. Plus director Jon Watts shared some facial capture frivolity.

Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver is full of intensive stunt driving, and visual effects from Double Negative. Here the director gives a shout out to VFX supe Stuart Lashley.

Gal Gadot posted these behind the scenes of her fighting a stand-in performer for the ‘Zod monster’ from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and during a multi-camera array scan (possibly for Wonder Woman)

As each episode of American Gods aired, various people involved in the show posted some killer behind the scenes content on social media. This is included showrunner Bryan Fuller and producer Loretta Ramos, who occasionally gave an inside look at the ‘Sladar’ photogrammetry process, which was used by BUF to create the Godflesh effects.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales co-director Joachim Rønning thanked his ‘VFX dream team’ on the film. Recently, he’s also posted a behind the scenes clip from shooting.

Director James Gunn has a ton of great behind the scenes VFX-related postings on his Instagram account for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2.

Early on in production on Kong: Skull Island, director Jordan Vogt-Roberts had Terry Notary explore movement via motion capture. And the director posted a couple of other cool VFX pics, too.

Jane Levy played Meredith in Monster Trucks – here she is covered in phosphorescent paint presumably as part of a facial capture session for her digi-double in the film.

Director Scott Derrickson has some neat postings on Instagram showing behind the scenes on Doctor Strange.

The Shallows had an incredibly diverse amount of visual effects, from photoreal sharks to environment work and face replacements for surfing scenes. Here, actress Blake Lively posted a pic of herself in Lola’s scanning setup for the face replacement shots.

Tarzan featured some impressive CG animals, from apes to lions and more. Ace Ruele donned a tracking suit to help deliver the performances.

Bryan Singer hinted at some of the intense visual effects work in X-Men: Apocalypse, especially for Quicksilver, in his social media postings during production.

Jon Favreau kept things under wraps during production on The Jungle Book, but later posted a bunch of great behind the scenes VFX pics, including this one.

Actress Cara Delevingne posted these two images on Instagram back in 2015. They show her dressed in a motion capture suite, and possibly also covered in phosphorescent face paint (used in some facial capture methods). It’s not clear whether these are from her time on Suicide Squad, or for the upcoming Valerian, or something else, but they’re certainly nice behind the scenes images.

Ron Howard might not be able to post much during his time on the Untitled Han Solo movie (although, see above), but previously he’s been a key social media poster, including for In the Heart of the Sea, where clearly the director had a lot of fun.

OK, it’s from a little while ago (2014 in fact) but Michelle Rodriguez is here showing off some painted dots on her face presumably for some facial capture work – could this be on one of the Fast and Furious films?

Have you come across any images or videos like these on social media? Let me know, and I’ll add them here on vfxblog.