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[WARNING: Spoilers ahead for The Amazing Spider-Man 2]
Some of the most complicated visual effects work in Sony’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2 can be seen in the action sequence set in Times Square, according to the film’s VFX supervisor, Sony Pictures Imageworks.’ Jerome Chen. In the images below, provided exclusively to The Hollywood Reporter, Imageworks reveals the steps behind just one shot in this 10-minute scene.
In the sequence, Andrew Garfield‘s Spider-Man has his first confrontation with Electro, played by Jaime Foxx. Making the work particularly challenging was the fact it was shot on a stage and the wide shots of Times Square are all CG.
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“We built a small section of Times Square on a stage surrounded by a wall of greenscreens,” Chen explained. “The only shots that were shot on location is the one when [Electro] stumbles into Times Square and there’s a big wrap around, and then [one shot] when he kneels down … The rest of that 10-minute sequence was shot on stage.”
Here’s one of the plates for a Times Square-set shot, with Electro in the upper right, which was shot on the stage with the greenscreen.
Next, a set extension includeing the McDonald’s storefront and the sidewalk replaced the greenscreen.
Additional atmospheric elements such as the black plume of smoke coming out of the white car in front of the McDonald’s were added to the shot.
CG lightning bolt effects coming out of Electro and aimed at Spider-Man were next added to the image.
The final shot is one of 300 that were created for the Times Square sequence and one of 1,600 in the movie. Imageworks created about 1,000 shots, MPC handled about 300, and the rest were shared by several VFX houses including Blur and Pixel Playground.
E-mail: Carolyn.Giardina@THR.com
Twitter:@CGinLA
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