John Adams Visual FX (HBO)

[WrenderFarm]

Jaw dropping

[NotStoopid0228]

I have so much respect for the people who do this. To say the computer does all the work is such a lie.

[ProductiveVFX]

nice compositing work:D

[thefreak12]

Sure this is CGI. It was composited using computers, therefore technically it is 'computer generated imagery'. Sure, Visual Effects is a more appropriate term, but saying it's 'not cgi' is just silly.

[MrLazarfarah]

Sou um produtor é diretor de cinema brasileiro, estou envolvido com um filme sobre a guerra da independência do Brasil na Bahia, vou precisar de usar desta tecnologia para reconstruir cenários que não existem mais, alguém pode me ajudar a saber como posso fazer isto com custo beneficio?

[LifePsyop]

This is how your evening news is created. And no, I'm not joking.

[artfrankmiami]

I've been doing compositing like this with digital stills since 1987 in Bioscan Snapshot and then later in Photoshop when it came out, but it still amazes that it's done so realistically in film with movement.

[DeViLTh0rn]

fucking smart!!

[dbrooks12009]

Is the movie itself called John Adams?

[Usul573]

@dbrooks12009

Miniseries, John Adams.

[dbrooks12009]

@Usul573 Thank you.

[dbrooks12009]

What was the name of this movie they're showing scenes from? This looks like it was an awsome movie.

[nostalgic90skid]

This is amazing. I love the look of the movie.

[yanndick]

Using today technologies, Cecil B.DeMille could remake THE TEN COMMANDMENTS once again but with only a couple of actors filmed in a green room...

Would that be for the best ?

According to some recent movies, i'm not that sure. Though CGI sequences can definitively be amazing.

[Valkonnen]

@yanndick Again...This isn't "CGI"...It's Digital Compositing..

[TheBrewchief]

@iLikeeTuurtles Kind of like the original Clash of the Titans and glorious claymation. Infinitely superior to the CGI'd to the max remake.

[rlyeh]

porn for the eyes!

[jamespadley]

thing is CG is used now just because them places do not exsist and making it in 3D is a lot quicker and less money used then using sculpters

[Valkonnen]

@jamespadley No, It actually takes longer and costs more...I've been an effects artist for over 25 years and do both types of work, so I know....

[H4wN4]

It's feels good to know these things !!

[DrQuest44]

Amazing the layers that are added later, and so realistic. You'd never know it wasn't real.

[egrewing74]

@iLikeeTuurtles Agreed. They had no soul

[TheBrewchief]

@egrewing74 Same way I feel about the Clash of the Titans remake. For all it's CGI jizzing up the screen, it was utter garbage compared to the original and its claymation, perhaps the finest example of claymation that exists.

[Shrillwhip]

I love the music in this video. What's the songs called?

[mikezem]

Vcs acham que eles ainda filmam alguma coisa? Está tudo modelado nas bibliotecas de 3D.

[micbergsma]

wow that's insane!

[TheDaud5221]

i love this video!!!!

[berboma]

song?

[NotStoopid0228]

I showed this to my mother, who really liked the movie, and her first words were: "I feel like I've been cheated."

[NotStoopid0228]

This type of "2d" VFX is my favorite. I hate that full GCI crap like Avatar.

[cscdigitalgraphics]

Great work at explaining how the film was put together.

[koncorde]

@iLikeeTuurtles Would they have been better if they were not reliant on so much CGI?

[lpn3]

They used After Effects? What software did they use?

[ucfpureego]

@lpn3 Probably Nuke.

[johnnyharadrim]

Cool, what's the song used here?

[kastor159]

8 people are blind

[vanrok]

:O impressive, i never thought they used so many VFX on some simple shots

[cc123456789]

anyone know the tracking software used?

[TheTronMedia]

@cc123456789 I belive they used Boujou

[holyshizzlefilms]

What @sanderjames is trying to say is that the best video effects are the ones that are hard to decern from a real scene.

[2TheHandsome]

Simply amazing

[RochesterCycling]

How hard is it for an actor to stay in character when they're surrounded by green screens and gobos?

[turcca]

Best FX are the ones that makes you go: "I am happy to have experienced that".

[monkeyrocketsurgeon]

so what's going on in Egypt.... is it really going on?

just when does this get used by corporate media to mass effect? or has it already been employed (or would the term be "deployed")?

that shit is AMAZING and the average viewer could believe ANYTHING is real, and really not be at fault for being taken.

[JohnyVester]

stunning :o

[frankg3rd]

The technology used in this series is brilliant and made me feel like I was actually looking through a window and seeing 300+ years back in time. I haven't a clue on the cost ...........but I can assure you just one of those ships can really dry up a budget.

[imallfordabulls]

It wouldv'e been awesome to see this shot on location in Philly.

[kratozcesar]

ok para aquellos quer quieran aprender after effects miren hasta donde pueden llegar

[WiseGuy5674]

This is easily the best use of CGI I have ever witnessed.

[ducavzla]

WTF? is so amazing!

[EduMenaT]

OMG! they must spend more than half their budget on post-production!

[TheDigitalExp]

Фак мой мозг , гениальный компоузер ..

[BichoOoMaloOO]

C´mon guys, this is a really nice work... Visual FX don´t make a great movie for themselves, but they may help if you want to shot something that happened 300 years ago and you don´t have a time machine to travel and place your camera there... Is it better if you do the same (same actors, same direction, same story...) but you spent millions building sets and having real explosions, for example? I don´t think so...

[TheBrotherMouzone]

@BichoOoMaloOO Hear, hear. It was so well done that I didn't even know it was visual fx when I saw it. I just realized now that I saw this video on YouTube!

[thed0dgydancer]

Incredible. Absolutely flawless and magnificent. Well done!

[flashportalnet]

Great VFX! :D

Go and check out my visual FX shorts! I mean... People are dying on my channel! haha >:D

[uploader101]

Wow. Fantastic work! I can only wish I was as good as you. +Subscribe, Please Sub back

[jabariabramson]

That is so amazing. It opens so many doors. Sweet.

[djlukasz789]

This is stunning and I officially feel like an FX n000b after watching it!!

[lukassstyyy]

@djlukasz789 You are not the only one... .

[pjfitz]

The amount of work that goes into getting a single shot is astonishing.

[Costeniok]

Amazing.

[prophil]

common! 360p? are you kidding? i want that in HD! 1080p! MINIMUM!

[reebanoomba]

the amount of fake buildings astonishes me - fools me every time!

[Scygeek65]

Beautiful.

And why so much CG hate?

[0gundamx]

that is some crazy planning

[Hulkinost]

does anyone know wich software are they used ?

[muzongooo]

I don't understand why some people are so mad about directors using CGI. This is brilliant work. It takes a lot of planning and vision to produce a movie like that and put it to gether so flawlessly. This is awesome!

[PoetsLight]

@muzongooo So-called movie purists, or as I call them, movie luddites, regard CGI as a "cop out", preferring the craftsmanship of physically constructed visuals and costumes. But if special effects are meant to enhance the movie experience, there has been no greater tool in expanding the limits of this experience than CGI.

[Valkonnen]

@PoetsLight This isn't "CGI"...It's digital compositing...A very different thing than CGI....

[googzeez]

@muzongooo This is how everything is done now. You might not think so, but this is normal.

[Valkonnen]

@muzongooo It's not "CGI"...It's called digital compositing and match moving...CGI is completely different.

[valmcclane]

OUA !!! Magnifique.

[ZeJubjub]

Green Screen - The Aids of film and media

[darketteoh]

killer master

[SeekayFilms]

All I can say is, it's gotta be really depressing to work on an actual movie set and basically just see green everywhere.

[JenkoTV]

Interesting that they use trees as green screens.

It wont be long before they prefer to CGI the leading actors. The financial incentive must be strong. 

[BeesAndMonkeys]

I think it's awesome how much time goes into making a VFX breakdown reel :P

[pixshatterer]

woah!! awesome!

[timcp1]

"The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were. . . . the general principles of Christianity.”—John Adams to Thomas Jefferson on June 28, 1813--John Adams, The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States, Charles Francis Adams, editor (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1856), Vol. X, pp. 45-46

[JoshuaTaylor]

*astonishing*

[RohitAyyagari]

Check my teaser trailer and do comment all of you , SOURCE FILES WILL BE GIVEN ONE BY ONE for u to learn efficiently if enough hits are reached !

[serbianprincess]

amazing!

[TyFord]

So, very little is actually real! Thanks Craig. While it is a stunning visual feat, part of me is a bit sad that the role of the DP (composing great shots) has been so minimized.

[jhenkel67]

Beautiful visual FX!  Plus it was a great miniseries too.

[poipoi93]

wow i like this o.o

[d3thomega]

John Adams is my hero

[yocyberness]

awesome

[popyfresco64]

The best Post production work I´ve ever seen

[kmelalzate]

@popyfresco64 i thought the same

[JuniorX]

This is BEAUTIFUL!

outstanding art work!

[h1a1l1l1o]

Whats the name of the soundtrack?

[bluechao]

@h1a1l1l1o This is the soundtrack to the John Adams mini-series.

[ReinEngel2]

The music during the first minute reminds me of Carnivale.

[kamikatze42]

yea u r right, not like SW episode one for example.... FX for 10 movies, but weak story... luckily the majority of the audience doesnt eat that kind of crap...

[PalmliX]

To me this is a great example of the power of cg. Instead of being all showy and saying 'look at me' you basically don't even notice it and it only serves to immerse you in the story and the world.

[anlusch]

with this postproduction team "a game of thrones" is going to be incredible!!!!

[acrosby11]

google september clues

[asusions]

what is the name of this film?

[monsterfurby]

It's an HBO miniseries called "John Adams"

[DinzioProductions]

ermm but i think its real :S.,

[bigjoet22]

wow nice one... i love it...

[bigapple89]

it must get harder to be an actor with cgi skyrocketing

[tkthorson]

Very impressive...although the potential is a bit scary too

[Dilongparadoxus2]

It's truly amazing what CG can do these days! I love how real this show looks...

[hankwheels]

This was exactly the kind of virtual reality that was used to manipulate the public on 9/11. The "airplane" C.G.I.'s that promoted terrorism and forced people to accept and support their government's war agenda.

[drumcode911]

Came here via Simon's link, too? :)

[koberko]

Yeah... That's really stupid comment! And people who died in WTC are also "virtual" casualties?

[bluechao]

@hankwheels Dude, I was in New York on that day, I know people that worked in buildings next door to the Towers, I saw them burning myself from Brooklyn and my best friend was was a first responder there that day, the company I worked for lost more than 300 people when the first plane hit (it hit our office there, main office in mid-town)...trust me, no CGI was involved in the attacks. There's about 6-8 million people in NYC who saw it in person. Ask any of them.

[smoketweed09]

liar

[justvendetta]

A great series and very cool effects. Thanks for sharing.

[susanarca]

wow, that's very inspiring, it was amazing of them to take the time to share how that was done

[djsteved]

Ed Mendez was one of the compositor's for the series from CafeFX. Had the chance to work with him on a few films.. great guy!

[sub7th]

Great example of top quality compositing!

Wow.

[Kethors]

What's the music on the beginning?

[1stopmotion]

haha it kind of reminds me of michal jackson "they dont really care about us"??!! .."somethin something dont black or white me"etc etc, only at the very begining of this mind!! very slightly !

[kirkeric]

This is absolutely incredible.

[pannamaj]

artysta.

[ProvidenceFX]

Nice use of effects. I particularly like the color grading you made there, it matches perfectly with the CGI content.

[sanderjames]

the best fx are the ones you dont see :D

[djlukasz789]

@sanderjames Exactly!!

[mesofius]

Amazing effects, great movie!

[Dubaifreak]

for a Minute i was choked of the Brilliance the EFFECTS had!!! :P

awesome!

[adso99adso99]

This is the FX reel for Digital Backlot's work on "John Adams". Cafe FX was also a major contributor to the series (check the CafeFx site for their fx reel). Erik Henry was overall VFX sup for the show. No Massive used on the show - at Digital Backlot, all CG Extras were done using 3ds Max. At Cafe FX, CG Extras were done using XSI. Roto at :38 - just standard Roto tools. Took a long time :-)

[Bialekonie]

only those programs?

[TheSchoolWorld]

bravo.

video killed the radio star and CGI is poised to kill just about everything.

[jokei666]

@TheSchoolWorld

CGI is neither good nor bad, look what it does in the hands of Robert Rodriquez. Personally I think it ruined Lord Of The Rings though.

If it allows good movies to be made more cheaply it's a good thing - it just needs to be in the hands of responsible and creative people though, thing is the more it is used and advanced the cheaper it will become.

A movie can have the greatest effects ever and still stink.

Edit to add: I could have lived with CGI for Carnivale.

[koncorde]

@jokei666 "A movie can have the greatest effects ever and still stink." - well said.

For instance who would take any of the prequel Star Wars films over their 70's/80's brethren? Or how about Transformers? There's much to be said for the over reliance on CGI in modern film making to compensate for a complete lack of depth to the films being created.

I too thought the CGI was detrimental for LoTR, particularly after the more visually impressive first film that used trickery to achieve its aims.

[Usul573]

@jokei666

How the #$!%#$%^ do you make LOTR without CGI?

[Valkonnen]

@Usul573 A lot of "Compositing" and "Match Moving" as seen here WAS used in LOTR, but no "CGI' is in any of these shots..

[GisoSpijkerman]

@TheSchoolWorld please :) vfx helps bigtime to sell a story!

[ksmrules]

woah!

[paulturcott]

Sweeeeet! Thats some serious level building dude. You Rock!

[Addepat]

Fantastic!!

[vfxvfxvfx1]

Either someone tried to take the limelight at Digital Backlot, or HBO just doesn't seem to get it. Not recognizing the person in charge of VFX and ALL the companies he chose is irresponsible at best. Typical Hollywood.... I shouldn't be surprised

[kkb210]

Erik Henry was the VFX Supervisor on the show. The credits are from one of the companies that he used, Digital Backlot. Cafe FX also did an enormous amount of work for the show.

[SJFStiffler]

What is the name of the film?

Whart is the name of the music?

Nice Video, i can do this to, hire me! ^.^

[ed1nh0]

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[realgray]

If anyone knows how they roto'ed out the trees at :38 I'd be grateful. It's an incredible job.

[scwatman]

not sure what u want to know.  you kind of answer it yourself................they rotoed it. Do u mean what software did they use?

[louiev2000]

Holy WOW!

I thought they were on location at old Mass and had lots of extras. Correct me if Im wrong but I think they used Massive', the same app that multiplied the screen performers in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Gosh, I'm learning something from Youtube LOL

[realgray]

go to the fxguide podcast where they have an interview with the vfx supervisor. Fusion was used to comp the whole thing. The digital people and hot air balloon were created in XSI.

[Uyghur3DCG]

GREAT!!!

[steemsdis]

Great series! We need more of those!

[realgray]

Movies are quickly becoming moving paintings, every detail thought out and a piece of art

[RoyalDog214]

HOLY SHIT!

I need to know the name of the guy who did this! It's a freaking master piece! I didn't know most of the scene was used from CGI.

[dayFilms123]

love it, just amazing.

[canadarox14]

I wish someone would make a series like this about canadian confederation. I would buy it in a second. Americans are awesome at celebrating their history. I wish canadians did that more.

[iakny]

I would watch it. I know nothing about Canadian history. I d love to.

[EimantazzzWM]

So freaking awesome

[TomPreston6]

It's amazing how much work was put into so many shots which, in my opinion, didn't need to be effects shots in the first place. But they help enhance the overall look and feel of the picture and make everything much more unified. Technology has come a long way...

[will4ward]

Amazing.

These guys aren't just Jockeying expensive compositing /3d programs theyre using art and good judgement and lots real "sleight of hand".

The modern extension of "traditional" matte painting on glass.

The trick was-not drawing attention to itself!

[devigne]

this is mind-blowing CG; I did recognize some CG scenes in the later episodes, but, I'd never imagined the early BOSTON scenes were CG as well.

[white000bear]

Neither had I.

[will4ward]

Cafe FX to the rescue!

Inspiring! to us struggling LW and AE noodlers.

[krishotsaucemiller]

I totally agree!!

[Prometevsberg]

Was sent her by the "Winter is coming" blog, as how HBO could do Westeros in the pilot for FRRMartins "Game of thrones..." I can sleep easier now.

[barrovirtual]

Impressive, amazing!

[dsmovie]

amazing!!!

[PartyPooperX]

freaking amazing

[progtheartist]

Saw this yesterday at a presentation from Adobe here at the Savannah Film festival. Pretty amazing stuff even to a visual effects major who sees this kind of thing and does it all the time. Great stuff!

[pinknbeautiful]

is this downloadable from ANYWHERE?

[willemsenj]

I was there too and I concur with Johnnymadrid.

You all get fooled with 2,5D!

[Johnnymadrid]

Today i went to the VFX convention in Amsterdam and they showed this incredible clip too. You know what's the best thing of all? A lot of the set extensions aren't CGI at all. Most of it are photographs. Due to the high cost of CGI and a limited budget the producers had to turn to the VFX team that did the Aviator. They only wanted to do it if they could use After Effects and do it their way. They call it 2,5D. They've used minimal cgi in this production. The end result is amazing.

[jmghrr]

lol by the song i mean the theme song

[jmghrr]

is the song a remiz of the original song if it is wats the name of the  song

[mizmazed]

paul giamati caught my attention in The Illusionist as well as Lady In The Water. He is stunning in John Adams who happens to be one of the best American men who've ever lived.

[sparks444]

Wow, that was CGI? Great show

[Randythree19]

Remarkable. This should be a great movie.

[Joshwalsh2009]

John Adams has to be the most visiually stunning show I've ever seen. You wouldn't even believe some of the places where CGI is shown if you hadn't seen them in the features of the show. I commend HBO for beautifully recreating the Revolutionary period of American History. All CGI should look like this.