SUBMITTED BY Fred Hill

May 5, 2001 —

Catherine Feeny over at VFXPro at the special effects at the movie. Here is a little of what she had to say.

Look! Effects created one of the signature effects for "Driven," the new film from Renny Harlin. The effect simulates the intense focus that overtakes a professional driver's vision in the heat of a race. Look! Effects' visual effects team worked directly with Harlin and visual effects supervisor Brian Jennings to develop the look of the 'driver-vision effect.' The point of view in the shot indicates a transition from a normal view to an outlook where the center point of the frame -- the racetrack -- comes into razor sharp clarity, and objects on the periphery slow to a crawl. Look! Effects created driver-vision effects for each of the three main drivers in the film.

"Driver vision is a real phenomena, something that racecar drivers say they experience in moments of extreme concentration while traveling at speeds in excess of 200 miles per hour," explained Look! Effects visual effects supervisor Henrik Fett. "It is an almost hallucinatory state in which time and space are distorted." Look! Effects created more than two dozen test versions of the effect before arriving at a look that best captured the phenomenon. The final effect involves desaturated colors and a radial blur that warps the edges of the frame. Past frames are ghosted in to represent distorted time. For a scene that included rain, the 3D department created a field of 3D raindrops that pelt the windshield and hood of the car in slow motion as it roars forward at high

To read the full story click here.