Cloverfield

2008

Posthouse: Double Negative
Director: Matt Reeves
Producer: J. J. Abrams
Movie Studio: Paramount Pictures

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Producer J.J. Abrams creates with director Matt Reeves an apocalyptic picture of a monster (created by Tippett Studio) attacking New York.

As lead 3D artist I worked on several shots throughout the show. I did effects work for the electronic shop where I created cg glass and let the windows burst into pieces.

When the head of the statue of liberty fell down onto the street and slides along it it scratches and destroys some of the parking cars. So did a rig and animation on the cars rocking and bursting of windows.

The main work I did on the show was for the Brooklyn-Bridge sequence where we had to destroy the bridge bit by bit. The monster hits the bridge with his tail and a big pieces of tarmac, wood and metal fall into the river. Due to the heavy impact the bridge starts swaying and the hole in the bridge starts to expand while the people on the bridge desperatly try to save their lives.
I was responsible for the modelling and layout of the hole and all the dynamics in the foreground. So I created different layers of rigid body simulations for wooden planks flying through the air, tarmac and girders falling down.
Some parts had to be animated by hand like some of the cars sliding down the bridge, hero girders coming close to camera, the lamppost and some smaller pieces close at camera.
For additional effects I used particle instancing for wood splinters and particles for sparks where metal slides along metal.

This was a real fun project and allthough the schedule was very tough we were able to create really stunning effects thanks to all the people I worked with who are really outstanding artists.

Software used:

Maya, Dynamite (Inhouse rigid body system), REX (Inhouse Maya to Renderman interface), Shake