SUBMITTED BY Fred Hill
April 8, 2002 — VFXPro talked
with James E. Price, visual effects supervisor, about the 380 VFX
shots used in The Time Machine.
The story of "The Time Machine" must capture the imagination of
a species intent on controlling its surroundings, for it has been
adapted to film twice and to television at least as many times.
Written by H.G. Wells in 1895, the novel is most recently brought to
the screen by Simon Wells, the author's grandson. The story remains
the same; a man, haunted by the accidental death of his fiancee,
travels through time, first to try to undo her death, and then, to
figure out why he cannot. Wells, whose previous directing experience
lies in the realm of animation, uses cutting edge technology to tell
a story written in the 19th century about the future. He called on
visual effects supervisor James E. Price to insure that the new
film's effects were as avant-garde as the Academy Award-winning
effects in the 1960 version. "Bicentennial Man"-veteran Price took
the time to talk with VFXPro about working with Wells and the rigors
of time travel.
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Time Travel Sequence 2
How many shots did you do in the film?
The total number was about 380. It went up and down.
How did you get involved with the project?
I was hired in January shortly before the production began.
They had already hired Kim Nelson, the visual effects producer -- I'd
worked with her before. Originally, they were taking all of the work
to Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). But as the film grew and ILM's
schedule shrank, ILM decided that they weren't going to be able to do
all of the film. At that point the production decided that they could
save money by hiring an outside supervisor and farming the work
out....
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here for the full story and see the pictures. |
