SUBMITTED BY Fred Hill
June 19, 2001 — Catherine Feeny wrote a little piece for VFXPro
called "The Mummy Returns' with ILM." Now that the movie has been out
for a couple of weeks they look at all the special effects that ILM
did. It is a great feature if you want to know what and how things
were done in the movie.
The opening scene of "The Mummy Returns" is the first beat in a
visual drum roll that quickly builds to a frenzy and continues
pounding until the credits roll. The sequence thrusts the viewer into
the realm of antiquities -- the world of Rick (Brendan Fraser) and
Evelyn O'Connell (Rachel Weisz) -- bugs and all. After shuffling
coolly through a blanket of scarabs the likes of which would have
given even Indiana Jones a cause for hesitation, the
archeology-minded couple discover a mystical Book of the Dead. By
removing it from the tomb in which they find it, they set off a chain
of events that brings the massive temple they are excavating down
around their ears.
Well, technically, Neil Corbould brought the temple down, and
John Berton's team at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) made sure
their ears were in the shot. "That is a huge set," explained Berton,
VFX supervisor on "The Mummy" and "The Mummy Returns." "That was all
shot full scale. The columns are rigged to fall with weight so they
look like they are stones." Artists at ILM composited the O'Connells
and their son Alex (Freddie Boath) into the shot.
The sequence illustrates the cooperative nature of the visual
effects process, orchestrated, in this case, by Berton. Director
Stephen Sommers involved ILM in the project early, entrusting the
effects house with a few of the storyboard designs. "We all know that
filmmaking is a collaborative art form whether you want it to be or
not. Stephen Sommers embraces that, especially with respect to visual
effects," Berton said. Artists at ILM created storyboards for
sequences that were almost entirely VFX, like the epic battle between
the Medjai forces and the Anubis warriors. "Being a writer/director,
Stephen has specific ideas about what he wants to happen in the
movie. The storyboards are a big part of defining that for him and
for everyone else."
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