Hollywood blockbusters are becoming more and more complex, and studios often spend tens of millions of dollars on filming and post-production visual effects in an effort to create scenes that appeal to audiences. "TheThirdFloor" is a well-known visual effects company in Hollywood today, and has been involved in the special effects production of many top Hollywood blockbusters, including the recently released Marvel blockbuster "Avengers 2: Age of Ultron". Gerard Ramirez, director of "TheThirdFloor," recently reviewed the company's efforts in handling the Marvel superhero blockbuster with AWN editor Dan Satow.

Dan Sato: When did you get involved in making this film? How to make zuò? What is the initial scope of the work and the goals of the project?

Gerard Ramirez: The company has been involved in the production of many of Marvel's blockbuster films, including scenes from The Avengers, Thor: The Dark World, Iron Man 3, Thor, and Guardians of the Galaxy.

The team that worked on the previs and post-production zuò was established at the Shepparton studio in the UK, working alongside the company's Los Angeles studio and the Marvel production zuò team. The post-production zuò team is in Santa Monica. I served as Superintendent, with Shannon Justison and Patri Haschu as Deputy Superintendents.

The main purpose of the film preview is to provide technical support for the shooting design of the main shots of the film, as well as to provide technical breakdown services during the filming process. Casey was responsible for making extensive use of TheThirdFloor's virtual cameras to shoot background shots in South Africa and Italy, as well as to discuss technical challenges and technical needs.

Dan Satow: Can you share some of the main scenarios that you worked on?

Gerard Ramirez: There were a couple of key preview shots, one of which was to combine live action footage with CG footage to create the final image. Specifically, different cameras are used to capture the movements of each character in the scene, the main action rhythm, and then the real footage is stitched together with the virtual scene through guòtechvis technology.

There's a fight scene where Ultron MK1 takes control of Tony's team in the Avengers Tower, using them to fight the Avengers, using pre-preview and post-processing techniques. Casey's team also set up the camera to capture James Spader's movements and dialogue from different angles at the same time, and then used computer technology to extract the characters' movements and put them into the right background.

Iron Man used his Hulkhead armor against the Hulk using CG technology in advance, and the two characters were designed in the computer and embedded in the South African background. It was created by the preview team in collaboration with director Joss and second team director John Mahaffie.

Another main scene is a fight on the bottom of a cargo ship tanker. We pre-designed the required shots, storyboards, and characters on the computer using CG technology. Casey and the second camera team set up cameras at different angles on the scene according to the pre-design, and filmed the fight scenes and stunt shots.

The truck chase scenes and train scenes of Captain America, Hawkeye and the widow, filmed in South Korea, were also a big challenge. With detailed planning for the shots and effects to be shot, Casey's team used motion-controlled robotic arms, camera rails, and fixed cameras to select the best angles to shoot around the actors to all the shots they wanted, following a pre-designed trajectory. Of course, a virtual camera is also used. The biggest challenge was to create the actors' fight scenes and fight actions in advance, which required a lot of imagination and rich experience in on-site shooting, as well as communication with the director and actors.

In post-production, we tracked and previewed the characters' movements and dialogue, as well as other elements that were filmed on set, covering almost every aspect of the scene, including open-ended combat, group fights, cargo ships, Hulk and Hulktop, Korean chase scenes, the birth of Vision visuals, and the final fight scenes. Combined with the preview design, select the appropriate lenses, and delete the unwanted lenses. Our TechVis artists use the company's custom tools and templates to create diagrams, color, light, and add or remove backgrounds to the shots as needed for the characters' stories.

Dan Satow: What were the main challenges you faced on this project?

Gerard Ramirez: "Matching" lenses is very challenging, but it's also worth shooting this way. Actors have open fights on set, and it is most difficult to "match" the shots. The challenge was to design an exciting, continuous shot that would end up in the film (camera track design needed to be thought through). We worked closely with the second camera team to design the positions of the motion control robotic arm, fixed-point camera, and long-lens camera. We needed to design the story shots months in advance. The post-production of the scene was also challenging, as sewing long shots, snapshot shots, shots shot from different angles, and shots with different action speeds into one that looked very natural and smooth, the same as the pre-designed preview version, required a very specialized technique.

Group battles are also an interesting scene, and we've pre-engineered a lot of fast action, focusing on filming performances and dialogue. On set, the actors' performances are tracked and filmed in real time, filled with CG computer technology to design movements. After the show, the producer has the flexibility to fill the desired cinematic footage with footage from the virtual camera installed on the set.

Dan Satow: Did you use any new tools or innovations on this project?

Gerard Ramirez: We used the Morven system to track the actors' movements. The motion capture points set up at The Imaginarium studio in Shepparton allowed us to efficiently record the movements designed by the stunt team for pre-preview design and post-processing.

Casey used a virtual camera system that the producers could use to design preview the animation and choose the right angle on set.

Dan Sato: What valuable lessons did you learn from the production of this film that will help you make your next film?

Gerard Ramirez: The only way to make a production of this scale is to work together and everyone, and all departments are involved in this film. The preview team worked together with the Art Department, Visual Effects Department, Special Effects Department, Unit 2 Shooting Team, Special Effects Department, and Editing Department. By working with the stunt team, the preview team was able to quickly design the preview martial arts moves, and the stunt team was able to simulate them with CG models.

Dan Sato: What do you and your team like most about making this film?

Gerard Ramirez: One of the great joys of making this film is that it is always possible to do a creative zào realization. Directors, producers, and VFX directors are all supportive of any innovative ideas for shots, movements, design, and effects. They think that if you have a great idea, it should have a chance to be used in the movie. There have been a lot of innovative ideas that have been applied to this film.