Pixomondo Head of Visualization Tefft Smith explains how PXO used Previz to create realistic battle sequences for Roland Emmerich’s 2019 film, Midway.
Midway is a 2019 American war film based on the Attack on Pearl Harbor and the subsequent Battle of Midway during World War II.
Produced by: Roland Emmerich; Harald Kloser Distributed by Lionsgate
VFX Done By PIXOMONDO
VFX Supervisor: Derek Spears Visual Effects Producer Phi Van Le Animation Supervisor: Sebastian Butenberg CG Supervisor: Dan Smiczek Previsualization Supervisor: Tefft Smith II
VFX Divisional Supervisors Adam Figielski, Harry Lam, Max Riess, Phil Jones, Philip Nussbaumer, Sven Martin
VFX Divisional Producers Iva Modrah, Jenne Guerra, Mona Mohr, Paul King, Sebastian Meszmann
Midway VFX Breakdown PIXOMONDO
“Midway is a historical drama that presented many challenges on both a technical and artistic level,” the VFX supervisor reveals. “Roland wanted to portray an accurate representation of the events of the battle while creating a cinematic experience that would engage and thrill the audience. We started by researching the appropriate ships present in both the America and Japanese fleets, as well as configurations and markings for aircraft. That research included where escorts ships would sail information around their individual careers. The Enterprise was built from the actual plans and configured as it would have been during the battle.”
According to Pixomondo, The Enterprise model was made up of 136,360 separate pieces and 45.2 million polygons. Using Maya crowd simulation, Spears’s team was able to create 200 crew members exercising on the Enterprise’s deck with 11 different classes of Digi-doubles. Simulations of the bow wake used over a billion particles.
