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Quick Facts

• Dæmon deaths incorporate the radiant Dust effect with a gas simulation creating first a flare and then a dissolving of the dæmons
• One of Pantalaimon's forms which didn't make it to the film featured Pan as a baby snow leopard
• Director Chris Weitz was often worried about making Pan look to mean, thus Rhythm & Hues incorporated juvenile traits into the wild cat: overly large paws
• The last scene filmed for The Golden Compass was on October 16th and will feature Pan as a ferret
• The screenplay originally called for Pantalaimon's favored form to be a pine marten. The change to ferret was made because the animal would've been too large on actress Richard's shoulders.
• Nearly 800 effects sequences were produced for The Golden Compass, about 600 of which will make it to the final movie
• A shot of Lyra making mud balls along the Oxford riverbanks was filmed as an additional scene
• Dæmon's eyes match their counterpart humans
• The most difficult VFX sequence, the ending at the North Pole, will not appear in The Golden Compass movie, but is slated for The Subtle Knife if the movie is made
• The deadline for overall VFX production is the second week of November

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Event Report: VFX at Rhythm & Hues

Visual Effects Producer Gary Nolin opened the event with a short summary of dæmons and the work Rhythm & Hues did for The Golden Compass. Visual Effects Supervisor Bill Westenhofer, Co-Visual Effects Supervisor Raymond Chen, Animation Director Erik de Boer, and Art Director Mike Meaker were also on-hand to answer questions. The presentation began with the theatrical trailer to give everyone a quick idea of the world of The Golden Compass.

A reel of finished dæmon work followed, playing out both new and previously available scenes. An originally unplanned for scene of Lyra pressing together mud balls and Pan egging her on: "Let's go get 'em, Lyra!" rolls out first. A shot of Pantalaimon behind the photogram lens sticking his tongue out at Lyra left the audience laughing and cooing. The actress Dakota Blue Richards apparently stuck her tongue out at her dæmon from the other side of the lens. While mischeviously cute, the effect was also very convincing and fun to watch as we later saw the same scene repeated in a making-of sequence. Numerous new effects-laden sequences played out as we were treated to Pantalaimon's multiple form transitions, the handling of weight with reality as Pan jumps on Lyra's bed in Mrs. Coulter's flat, a brief and successful regaining of the alethiometer after the golden monkey steals it, and a new effect which immediately impressed everyone viewing: the dæmon deaths.

Fans of The Golden Compass are familiar with the idea that if a person in Lyra's world dies, so does their dæmon. And, just as in the book, the first dæmon death we see is that of one of Lyra's captors as she is caught in a net running from Mrs. Coulter's flat. The dæmon dusting effect combines the radiant Dust particles (viewable in the theatrical trailer near 00:56) with a simulation to make it act like a gas: flaring quickly into roughly the shape of the dæmon and then dissolving into nothingness with the light force of the surrounding air.

From the dæmon deaths, the reel continued to play out more stunning work from the VFX studio. Kidman's well-acted weight performance as the golden monkey held or lept from her, dæmons interacting with real set objects, actress Dakota Blue Richard's fingers flawlessly gripping Pan's cat fur and masses of a variety of dæmons on-screen as the Gyptian forces arrive at Bolvangar: I was hugely impressed.

The presentation continued as Bill Westenhofer began discussing the initial difficulties of the dæmons to a making-of video playing on screen. Working with Visual Effects Supervisor Mike Fink, Rhythm & Hues communicated particular methods of filming to camera operators to include space for dæmons in each scene. Solutions came up to handle actors working with the CG characters. From a "cat on a fishing pole" to green "football puppets," said Westenhofer, they would make it work. More solutions were created as the dæmons interacted with the physical environment. VFX added footprints as Stelmaria plodded across the northern snow, real envelopes moved under Pantalaimon's weight, a set prop tin picked up by Nicole Kidman is pulled off screen by a string and inked over as it switches to a computer generated image in the hands of The Golden Monkey.

In dealing with dæmon transformations, Rhythm & Hues worked with Mike Fink and Chris Weitz to create a vision of realism that was still distinctly dæmon. An initial idea to create a sparkly effect around transforming dæmons was nixed as Co-VFX Supervisor Ray Chen said for children this was just "part of their daily routine." A scene of Pantalaimon transforming from a ferret into a wild cat (viewable in raw format as early as the sizzle reel near 1:06) repeated while Chen continued to discuss transforming, now in terms of mass. The small ferret's weight changes as Pan takes on the wild cat form, forcing the cat to almost back away from the snarling Stelmaria.

The Golden Compass project was so massive that Rhythm & Hues is one of ten different VFX companies working on the film. Initial film went to Cinesite where backgrounds, set extensions, and water effects were added. The pipeline then came to Rhythm & Hues where dæmons were added. The "how-to" of adding a dæmon began with filming as cameramen include space for dæmons and actors sometimes work with green puppets - most notably Kidman and Richards who had the most physical contact with their dæmons. A scene of Salcilia and Pantalaimon cornering Billy Costa's dæmon Ratter at the feet of their respective children looped, first showing only space, then rough rigs (the raw shape and motions) of the dæmons that would appear, low-resolution fur covering was the next step, then a pass of shadows and fur, any necessary blurring effects, and finally the "dæmon sheen" effect. After the dæmons were in place to an extent, Framestore CFC landed the final slot for creation of the armoured bears.

Comments (5) — Add Yours

This was overall a really great visit to Rhythm & Hues, they’re a very passionate group at all their VFX work and their offices are decorated so nicely! They even bring their dogs to work!

A few more photos will be posted soon.

# Posted by Phit on 19:02, 17 October 2007

It sounds like you guys had an amazing time, I’m jealous! Man, the end scene sounds incredible. I’m dying right now because I know I probably won’t get to see it for another few years. Thanks for the article; it was really fun and exciting to read! The pictures are great as well. It’s good to know that the VFX artists seem so confident and enthusiastic about the potential sequels. I think that’s a really good sign that (hopefully) The Subtle Knife will be getting a green light in the near future.

# Posted by whohash83 on 21:59, 17 October 2007

Really happy for you that you got to go there. Sounds like quite a trip! :)

# Posted by chastity on 10:13, 18 October 2007

Indeed! Sounds like a lot of fun. Thanks for the report. :)

# Posted by daftbrain on 14:25, 18 October 2007

The R&H;sequence supervisor in the photo is named Edwin Rivera.

# Posted by azotic on 17:42, 3 December 2007

 

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