SUBMITTED BY Nicole
November 22, 2002 — LONDON (Reuters) - The ice-sculpted pistol's trigger clicks back, an orange fireball explodes in the barrel and a silver bullet shoots forward, transforming into 007's Aston Martin spinning over an expanse of frozen water. The scene is part of the trailer for the latest James Bond movie "Die Another Day" -- released in Britain and the U.S. this week -- and shows the skill of Britain's digital special effects wizards, now making inroads into U.S. dominance of the field. Producer Framestore CFC boasts a track record that includes work on the new Harry Potter movie, along with "Tomb Raider" and "Blade II."
With a permanent staff of almost 400 based in London's Soho district, Framestore is eager to showcase its talents with a large-scale digital project. "We've grown incredibly fast and are able to put a large team together for a feature-length computer-generated film," joint chief executive William Sargent told Reuters. The effects have become so special that film fans might not even notice them, a result of the painstaking work of a small army of digital animators and super-computers. To create an "ice woman" effect in "Die Another Day," for example, Framestore filmed a model using two different cameras, scanning the image before giving it three-dimensional treatment. Digital animators then added fissures and cracks to the skin, to make the sculpture look lifelike. Click on the link to read more!
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