Behind the Magic: Building a Digital New York for “The Avengers”

Speaking with Crave Online recently, Victoria Alonso, Marvel’s long-time Executive Vice President of visual effects, discussed The Avengers Best VFX Oscar nomination and teased forthcoming productions Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, and Guardians of the Galaxy. In addition, Alonso also commented on Thanos and the Mad Titan’s rumoured return in sequel. 

When asked about Thanos, Victoria Alonso said,“Well, Thanos was mainly practical. There was a bit of prosthetic fixing that we had to do so it was not a CG character.” Whether their work on the Mad Titan was laying groundwork for the sequel, Alonso played coy: “I couldn’t tell you because we’re not working on Thanos, but for any character that is an all CG character like the Hulk, it took us, would you say 19 months? 20 months? So it’s almost a two year process from the modelling  The modelling and the rigging took forever.” 

About the James Gunn-directed space epicGuardians of the Galaxy and how Marvel will tackle Rocket Raccoon and Groot, Victoria Alonso continued, “We’re going to do it the best way possible. We are going to hopefully wow [you]. The beautiful thing about it is technology is always on our side, so we’re I would say very deeply into developing the look and hopefully some motion tests are happening so that we can figure out how they move, but I think that we will put all hands on deck to make sure the fans are proud of those two characters.” 

The folks at Crave Online have seen footage fromThe Dark World, considering their next question asked if there are new effects for all the soldiers the God of Thunder was seen fighting. “There are a couple of CG characters there that I couldn’t reveal at the moment but very soon I will,” Alonso teased. “ I’m sure we’re going to see you soon, but there’s a lot of work in Thor because don’t forget, Thor is not of earth. So every time we’re into his world we’re in a completely different environment. [Malekith] is a real actor. He’s not a CG creation.” 

Speaking about Iron Man 3 and whether there were any difficulties having the Armored Avenger in a new snowy surrounding, Alonso suggested, “No. Snow, sand, we’ve done him everywhere. We’ve done him up in the [air], we’ve done him in the ocean, we’ve done him in the sand dunes, we’ve done him in the snow, we’ve done him in the house. He’s a jet setter.” After being asked sharply how they’re doing the Mandarin’s ten rings, Victoria quipped, “Well, May 3rd we will show you.” 

Cast mates Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Samuel L. Jackson, Jeremy Renner and Mark Ruffalo will present together on the Oscar stage, show producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron announced today:

“We are happy to re-unite the Avengers cast to present on our show,” said Craig Zadan and Neil Meron. “Audiences who enjoyed the year’s biggest box office hit will be excited to see these terrific actors back together again.”

 Shame they couldn’t nab Scarlett Johansson and Chris Hemsworth to complete the lineup, but I guess that is an awful lot of mic time to share around! No word on which award the team will present, but here is what we do know thanks to an official press release

EARLY LEVIATHAN DESIGNS

“It was unclear pre-script whether the Jumbo would be a vehicle or a creature or some kind of hybrid, but it was always described as being like a whale or dragon-like shape. My first attempts were on the mechanical side, inspired by various kinds of parasitic worms.” - Phil Saunders 

Alternate Designs For The Quinjet

“The next thing I worked on was the Quinjet. The initial mandate was a craft that could carry the team plus pilots, travel at hypersonic speeds and take off and land vertically on a carrier deck or in the middle of Times Square. It needed to have windows in the roof (to see Thor land on it in flight) and a ramp opening in the back for loading. 

My first ideas never went past the rough sketch form as Jos Whedon considered them too sci-fi:” - Phil Saunders 

CLICK HERE FOR MORE QUINJET DESIGNS & INFO ON THE PROCESS

Alternate Designs For The Chitauri

“I had a brief stint working on the Ch’tauri while in the Visual Development department. I took a couple of passes of refining Justin Sweet’s original designs and attempting to define the look of the armor & weapons and how they might integrate into the creature. Ultimately Ryan Meinerding developed the final look in Z-Brush. “ - Phil Saunders

“I imagined the helmet as being a little deceiving, so that ultimately when the mask was ripped off you would find that the creature had air holes in the place of eyes, which would actually be to either side of the mouth. I also liked the idea of some kind of “light chainsaw” that would wrap around the forearm. Kind of the hedge trimmer of your nightmares. ” - Phil Saunders  

http://www.sketch-card.com/my-little-pony-sketch-card/
My little Pony Avengers! Why? Because Friendship is magic!

The hobbit Crossover Avengers

http://www.sketch-card.com/the-hobbit-sketch-card/

Another Hulk Featurette From The Avengers

The Avengers Concept Art Featuring Tony Stark’s Mark VII Iron Man Armour 

Conceptual artist, Rodney Fuentebella, has uploaded three more fantastic images that he created for the film

you-were-made-to-be-fangirls:

Vote the crap out of Thor 2 and Iron Man 3 here: 

http://www.mtv.com/movies/movie_brawl/

they are so close and there are only a few hours left !!

VOTE!

Update: Iron Man 3 is winning so far but only by a few votes. Thor 2 is getting really close. Keep voting for them

Hulk Special Effects Highlighted In Exclusive New Video

Attending the Director’s Guild of America for a screening of his  The Avengers, Joss Whedon shared things that didn’t make the cut, subtly hinting at a future villain..

“There was a little bit of time where we thought we might not actually get Scarlett [Johansson]. There was a very Waspy draft that I wrote. But it was way too Waspy. I was like, ‘She’s adorable! I’m just going to watch her!’” As Slash Film notes, Janet Van Dyne wasn’t the only character that Whedon wanted to use. “I’m not going to tell you [who it is] because that [villain] might crop up another time. But I definitely felt like, ‘I’ve got Earth’s mightiest heroes. I’ve got four of the biggest, baddest, toughest guys out there and I’ve got one effete British character actor.’ They believed very strongly that they didn’t want to add any more mythology, I think was the thing. But it took me a long time to accept that because I was like, ‘they need someone to hit,’” 

Of course, Joss Whedon, instead, got a Chituari army in addition to a glimpse of Mad Titan Thanos. And he was very much satisfied with the ending result. However, “the ace in the hole is Tom Hiddleston because he’s so compelling and commanding and gracious about it that it became, ‘Oh it’s about how he gets in their heads – it’s going to be fine. But it took me a long time to accept that because they need someone to hit!” 

Other tidbits worth mentioning, via Collider, are listed below. Check HERE for the full list. 

Whedon wrote a 15-page final battle arc that incorporated a prologue and five acts. Whedon talked about an early draft being too heavy in “dry wit,” and later realized the fact that Hawkeye’s character would need to be compromised and that Agent Coulson would have a man-crush on Captain America.

 Whedon’s favourite scene was the one between Loki and Natasha/Black Widow. 

When asked about The Avengers box office success, Tom Hiddleston recently told the Huffington Post, “You never count your chickens. When you’re inside it, you’re just thinking, ‘I hope I haven’t screwed this up.’ You don’t want to be the weakest link in the chain.”

On his third forthcoming outing as the God of Mischief in Thor 2 Hiddleston dotted on what director Alan Taylor brings to the table following the original flick’s helmer Kenneth Branagh. “Ken established the tone, so we’ve taken the baton and kept running. Alan Taylor is fantastic, one of the men responsible for ‘Game of Thrones’ which is so of that world, a very grounded, gritty, earthy world where warriors and swords and monsters and magic all meet, so his experience of that has given him a fantastic take on the whole world of Thor.” He continued, “I went to a summer screening of a Marvel short film. Ken came and so did Alan, it was very clear how much mutual respect between them and I thought, ‘ok, it’s going to be fine.’ 

Although we likely won’t see a third Thor movie, at least until 2016, that didn’t stop the Huffington Post from asking Hiddleston about the possibility, to which he replied, “These kind of films, not to get too heavy about it, all depend on the financial success of the one before, so we’ll have to see.”