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where the fans are coming from and what we
want to do with the movie. So the decision
to go photorealistic took us back to figuring
out what we were going to do – for instance,
about their eyes, mouths and noses, as that’s
where an important part of their performance
comes from, and we had to tell a story with
that. But we also realised that half of those
performances were going to be gone because
of the fact that they wear masks, which
meant we had to get their talking gestures
right, and for that we were going to need the
science and bring the artistry into the process
to actually make it all look real.”
Helman’s closest ally on this uncharted
technological challenge to set the highest
benchmark for photorealistic CGI to date
was director Jonathan Liebesman. “The
great thing about Jonathan is that he was
completely open to all that kind of stuff,”
Helman states. “He knew from the beginning
that he was committed to technology and
that if he couldn’t get the performance that
we needed, he would have to stop in the
middle of the shoot. And he did! That’s kind
of unheard of… I’ve never gone up to a
director before and told him that he needed
to cut a scene; but I did with Jonathan, and
it was fine. So he was very collaborative and
easy to work with because he just gets it! He
understood that if we didn’t get the turtles
right, we quite simply didn’t
have a movie.”
3D added an even
greater scope,
realism and
depth to it all,
bringing the
audience even
more into the action and
the story. “While we were
shooting we were already
thinking about designing
things in 3D,” Helman says. “And
I believe that in some cases it can really bring
you into the action if it is designed the right
way. Trust me, I’m not into using 3D
unless it makes sense, but in this
movie it does. There is a scene
where Splinter brings a slice
of pizza to Mikey, and I can
tell you that it’s right there in
front of you!”
If we didn’t get the
Turtles right, we
simply didn’t have a
movie.
•
Teenage Mutant
Ninja Turtles
is out on Dec 10
COWABUNGA!
continued