How Framestore uses visual effects to build Blade Runner 2049's dystopian world

Learn how Framestore created the beautiful dystopian world of Blade Runner 2049 using modern VFX tools.

Autodesk Video

January 23, 2018

 

It is no easy task to create the sequel for a cult classic such as Blade Runner. But global visual-effects (VFX) outfit Framestore was up to the task. Here, visual-effects supervisor Richard Hoover explains how his team embraced the capabilities of modern effects tools for Blade Runner 2049, bringing director Denis Villeneuve’s vision of a dystopian future to life while staying true to the original film.

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Richard Hoover, Visual Effects Supervisor, Framestore: It was really a wonderful experience to be able to work on the first film, to some degree, and then work on this one. Looks really great on my resume.

Denis's approach was to immerse the actors as much as possible in this world we were making and not have them try to imagine at all. We really wanted the world to be there as much as possible.

Denis was very respectful of Ridley's initial film and wanted to maintain that look of film and that culture of what people expected, what the audience expected.

I think this film although we had to make a lot was really more about Denis’s taste and subtlety. And I think the design from the beginning of using miniatures and CG and live action to meld all those together so that the shots are reality based that they have textually. They're not just entirely CG. All those factors built to the look of the film and having a patina or a texture to it that's, I think, different from your typical visual effects movie.

The pattern is always if the film is really hard to do. It's usually good, and this film was really hard to do.

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