The Magic of Merlin played by Colin Morgan in a scene with The Mill’s Dragon.
Interview Inga Yandell
MillThe MERLIN Creating the Legend
Visual effects specialists at The Mill are rising to the formidable task of breathing life into a legend as fantastic in setting and storyline as BBC’s Merlin. With its mythological creatures and magical setting Merlin enchants audiences in over 180 countries with a following 600 million strong. The charm and chemistry of the characters, coupled with spectacular special effects and credible set designs, costumes and props all add to the appeal of the show—now in its fourth season.
Realism and authenticity is enhanced by both the majestic location of castle Château de Pierrefonds in France and the forests of Wales where Merlin is filmed along with an added depth of visual delight created by CGI artists from The Mill. Charged with liberating our imagination and conceptualizing writer/producer Johnny Capps vision of a young Merlin in a magical world, these talented artists lend their skill to a vast array of production aspects. From minute details like the flags atop Camelot’s Castle to the mammoth creation of the series largest cast member The Great Dragon ‘Kilgharrah’ voiced by John Hurt.
On a quest to unearth The Mill’s Magic, we asked these technical artisans to share their secrets in creating the legend ‘Merlin’…
Barney Curnow ~ VFX Supervisor
www.themill.com
How do you approach a creative task the scale of a Dragon? It can be quite a long process. It is obviously very collaborative, both with the client and within the team that will create it. We always like to start with high quality concept art. It can then go through many changes quickly before you get into modeling and texturing in 3D. Once a design is settled on then it can be worked up in 3D with modeling, texturing and rigging. It is important to know the character of the creature, what it will do and what kind of environment it will be in as this can influence how you approach it technically.
What are the most challenging features of the dragon’s animation? Capturing and augmenting John Hurt’s performance. We use facial motion capture which gets us part of the way there but the animators also work hard to add animation that conveys the emotion of the dialogue.
How long does it take to adapt footage and integrate the effects for each episode? This can vary according to the quantity and type of effects. Some creatures will take a couple of months, but we have been known to turn it around in a couple of weeks!
What are the various skills/techniques leveraged by your team in production of this series? This is quite a broad question! We have a very similar structure to that of a big feature film, but scaled down, with tighter deadlines. So we have on the 3D side, modelers, texture artists, riggers, animators, 3D effects artists, camera trackers, lighting and rendering specialists, as well as specialists in certain packages such as crowd simulation or physics and dynamics simulation. On the 2D side we have compositors, matte painters, concept artists and rotoscopers.
Aside from a talking dragon which creatures have proved the most difficult and elaborate to create? We had a small goblin and a Manticore last year which were both challenging. They were both talking characters.
Has this series inspired new methods for generating visual effects at The Mill? We have certainly done more talking creatures on this show than others which has meant we have developed our own systems for streamlining this.
The series has won your team several awards, but which scene are you most proud of? Winning the BAFTA this year for our work on ‘The Tears of Uther Pendragon part 2’ episode from series 3 was a pretty good feeling. It’s a big award and there’s always stiff competition.
How would you sum up the philosophy which governs the work ethic and objectives at The Mill? It’s a collaborative environment, and we try and keep it fun. We always try and produce the best work possible. That might sound obvious, but you need to structure things right to get the most out of budgets and deadlines.
Finally, do you have any advise for those aspiring to break into the industry? Learn to draw and learn photography. They are skills that will always see you right. And… “Don’t be afraid to start at the bottom, there’s a lot to learn!”
B E
KNOWLEDGE
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