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fxNewswire
Down the Rabbit Hole with “What the Bleep” VFX “WHAT THE #$*! DO WE KNOW?!” has become something of an indie phenomenon, playing for months at theaters as word of mouth spreads. The film explores the nature of reality according to quantum mechanics using a unique structure - part documentary, part drama, and part elaborate visual effects and animation. The protagonist, Amanda, played by Academy Award winning actress Marlee Matlin, finds herself in a fantastic Alice in Wonderland experience when her daily, uninspired life literally begins to unravel, revealing the uncertain world of the quantum field hidden behind what we consider to be our normal, waking reality. All the while, interviews with leading scientists act as a Greek chorus of sorts.  The independently financed film posed some unique visual effects challenges for its filmmakers, William Arntz, Mark Vicente and Betsy Chasse. Over three hundred visual effects shots in the film tackle such heady concepts as quantum superposition, cellular addiction to emotional peptides, and reconstructing neural networks in the brain to name but a few. It was visually rich territory, to be sure, but it also posed a real challenge for visual effects supervisor, Evan Jacobs. “When I first read the script I was struck by the ambitious nature of the project,” recalls visual effects supervisor, Evan Jacobs. “There was a line in the script that went something like ‘we are hovering over the surface of the matrix of the void’ and I thought well here we go!” Initially, Jacobs put together a small team to undertake a phase of look development and pre-visualization. The team met regularly with the filmmakers to explore the visual metaphors that would capture the essence of the necessary scientific concepts while still being visually exciting.  When Jacobs began work on the project, the film was basically a clean slate from a visual design standpoint. “We had the script and that was about it. So we picked up a bunch of quantum physics books,” recalls Jacobs, “and found that most of the ideas we were dealing with were typically represented as mathematical equations. The filmmakers fostered an incredibly collaborative environment, though. They gave us a lot of latitude to find creative ways to present the concepts.” As designs for the visual effects began to take shape, the film went into production on location in Portland, Oregon. Jacobs was on hand to supervise the plate photography. Motion control was used for several scenes in the film that required Amanda, (Marlee Matlin) to be in several places at once. The use of motion control had been planned early on, but during production director Mark Vicente decided one of the sequences needed more punch. He reconceived the sequence, changing it from several straightforward cutaways of Marlee in different outfits to a bold new master shot tracking down a street as Amanda makes eye contact with five different versions of herself. Vicente recalls, “The moco crew was flying in the next morning and we had to plan this new shot. Overnight, Evan threw together some pre-vis on his laptop to choreograph the shot. It had to be carefully planned to assure that Amanda #1 didn’t walk through Amanda #4 or #5.” Another sequence requiring plate work was Amanda’s dream sequence on the island. “Our schedule just didn’t permit us going to a beach somewhere. So we shot Marlee and the Shaman against green screen in a parking lot,” Jacobs said. Actress Marlee Matlin had her work cut out for her however, because Jacobs was tapped for a cameo in the film the day of the shoot. “Here I was dressed in a full priest frock, we’re standing in a parking lot in Portland and I’m telling Marlee ‘imagine a beautiful ocean…over there by those trucks!’”  Once principal photography was complete, Jacobs and his VFX team worked with editor, Jonathan Shaw, to provide temp effects for nearly every visual effects shot in the film. “Everything about this project was unconventional. The unique structure of the film, being part documentary and part narrative drama, required a lot of exploration to find what worked best,” said Jacobs, “I didn’t want the visual effects to hinder that process, so we tried to stay very flexible and provide lots of temps.” Once the cut was locked, visual effects production started in earnest. The film had a hefty shot count for an independent, privately financed film. Jacobs and the producers scoured the globe for creative partners that could execute the visual effects that they had sketched out in temp form. Ultimately, the effects were an international effort with the work being split between Toronto, Ontario based Mr. X, Lost Boys Studios in Vancouver, BC and Atomic Visual Effects in Cape Town, South Africa. Mr. X took on the character animation work. The script called for human cells to come to life, both inside and outside the body, and join the party at a wedding reception near the climax of the film.  The concept, explained in the film by Candice Pert, PhD, is that our brain creates chemicals called peptides when we experience emotions such as grief or anger. Over time our cells become addicted to these emotional peptides, which ultimately creates a chemical craving for these emotional stimuli in our bodies. We will then seek out situations in life to fulfill our emotional addictions. The introduction of the cells marks a sudden shift in tone in the film, which up to that point has been somewhat introspective and serious. “From the start, Will, Betsy and I knew what we wanted for the cells – wild, over the top, zany comedy,” recalls filmmaker Mark Vicente. “We wanted to jolt the audience. Just when you think you know where this movie is going, it takes a right turn. Mr. X nailed what we were going for.”  Meanwhile, Atomic Visual Effects was responsible for shots exploring the brain interior. “Getting the right look for the ‘nerve forest’, as we referred to it, was a real challenge,“ said Jacobs. “We were always balancing the density of nerves and vastness of the forest. The hypothalamus was another tricky design to nail down. In reality, the hypothalamus is not a very interesting looking organ. We took dramatic license to get this sort of organic machine, pumping peptides into the bloodstream.” Atomic VFX also handled shots involving Amanda’s dream sequence as well as the multiple Amandas theater sequence.  Meanwhile, Lost Boys Studios took on the quantum basketball sequence, and what became known as the ‘blue grid of infinite dimensions and potentials.’ As Dr. Stuart Hameroff, associate director for the Center of Consciousness Studies at the University of Arizona, explains in the film, quantum theory predicts that particles occupy all their potential positions in space until they are observed. This complicated concept is represented as many basketballs bouncing on the ‘quantum court’. Post-Production Supervisor, Straw Weisman and consultant David Bloom worked with all three companies to shepherd the film through its completion. All of the interview footage was shot in 1080P HD, while 35mm was chosen to shoot the narrative scenes. “We had considered shooting the dramatic footage in HighDef as well, but there was so much slow motion photography called for in the script that it didn’t really make sense,” said Jacobs. Given the mixed formats as well as the creative options it afforded, the filmmakers decided to use the digital intermediate process to finish the film. “This is the sort of project that only comes along once in a long while. It’s got a much higher purpose than your average summer blockbuster fare. Everyone involved was so passionate about getting it done despite the challenges,” said Jacobs. “And it looks like all our hard work paid off.” After debuting in one theater in Portland, Oregon in the spring of 2004, "What the Bleep" expanded to play at theaters in Arizona, Washington and Los Angeles. The film has since been picked up for a nationwide release by distributors Samuel Goldwyn Films and Roadside Attractions. The domestic box office tally has already topped $4 million and shows no signs of slowing down.   |
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