The Energon Pub

[Raymond T.]

Recently several reporters were invited for a tour on the grounds of Industrial Light & Magic. Amoungst them was IGN.com. They have put up an article on their site about the tour they got by visual effects supervisor on the Transformers Movie, Scott Farrar.

Aside from the tour, they also got the chance to ask some questions, like why Optimus Prime was given a mouth and how much Michael Bay was involved with ILM. Go to IGN.com for the complete article and interview

"Michael is always thinking about new and crazy actions. It's a circus and we're going to raise the tight-rope a little higher next time. It'll all be very dramatic. The commitment is not just to chuck out a sequel. It's a deep story; there are lots of layers. They want to really keep these characters rich….It'll be improved".

[First-Aid]

"Michael is always thinking about new and crazy actions. It's a circus and we're going to raise the tight-rope a little higher next time. It'll all be very dramatic. The commitment is not just to chuck out a sequel. It's a deep story; there are lots of layers. They want to really keep these characters rich….It'll be improved".

I can't imagine the FX being improved...they were truly amazing. I can see Spielberg dropping a huge sum on the next one knowing that he will be getting the return on it. If it grossed as high as it did with a relatively mediocre script and fantastic robots, what will a mediocre sequel script and even more fantastic robots and double the budget? If it truly is improved, then Transformers may end up being a force to be reckoned with for years to come.

[Cyber-Kun]

Good read.

[tom brokaw]

awesome stuff.

[Ultra Magnus]

I don't know... The excuses for Prime's lips just keep getting dumber and dumber... They totally spent all kinds of time and money making sure that Bay's Optimus Prime was indeed Bay's Optimus Prime. Oh well. The most hardcore of TransFans will continually denounce this decision as the epitome of lameness. Between that and the Lack of the ubiquitous Transformation Sound effect, I'm really wishing they'd have had someone who had much more of a personal vested interest in the franchise in the driver's seat. Hollywood only cares about dollars. But I guarantee the hardcore TransFans, the ones that kept going to the Theater to see this movie Over and Over and Over again played a major role in generating the Millions and Millions of dollars this movie made. I just hope they treat the Autobots and Decepticons with a little more respect as characters this time around... I nominate Seibertron as the Chief Content Consultant for Transformers 2!

[Bouncy X]

well the transforming sound appears 4 times so thats better than nothing...but also as fast as they do change, they dont change fast enough to use that sound as a complete effect...i mean the first time we hear it is during Blackout's transformation and its the full on original sound at the original speed and the only thing that manages to change are his propellers.

course when the news first hit that a live action movie was indeed coming, i knew they'd use the whole "moving parts" sound...and it only makes sense really.

but prime's mouth didnt make sense, there's a scene in the final battle, i think its right before sam shoves the cube up megatron where prime speaks to him with the faceplate and we see it move like on the cartoon and it worked fine....as used to them as i got, lips did seem pointless..lol

[olokin]

quite informative

[Ultra Magnus]

well the transforming sound appears 4 times so thats better than nothing...but also as fast as they do change, they dont change fast enough to use that sound as a complete effect...i mean the first time we hear it is during Blackout's transformation and its the full on original sound at the original speed and the only thing that manages to change are his propellers.

course when the news first hit that a live action movie was indeed coming, i knew they'd use the whole "moving parts" sound...and it only makes sense really.

but prime's mouth didnt make sense, there's a scene in the final battle, i think its right before sam shoves the cube up megatron where prime speaks to him with the faceplate and we see it move like on the cartoon and it worked fine....as used to them as i got, lips did seem pointless..lol

Pointless- exactly what I was saying. And about the Sound, There's no reason they couldn't have engineered a composite effect using several mechanical sounds and come up with something that resembled the classic transformation sound. The sounds during Barricade's Transformations were pretty much what I'm talking about. I just feel a profound attachment to that sound effect. It seems like it should be a sort of validating quality of anything that wants to call itself "Transformers".

Those were my only two aesthetic gripes. I'm pleased overall with the outcome of the movie.

[Briggs]

While you may think that Primes mouth plate bobbing up and down was sufficient, some of us hardcore fans certainly don't mind him having a mouth sometimes. There is nothing wrong with it, nothing at all.

And if you listen, actually LISTEN, you hear variations of the tranforming sound. Not the old one, but a different variation, more metal clanging on metal in different pitches that give it that, *chook chik chek chook*.

[Kayevcee]

Wall E?

Having now seen the film *cough* a few times, I think the decision to go with an open face for Prime was the right one. Movie Prime strikes me as a very expressive character, and the open face must have made it easier for animators to put that across along with Mr Cullen's excellent VA work. I also appreciated how much effort the ILM guys went to making his face "Prime-like" with the faceplate down, too. It's very different and (I feel) quite improved from the concept renders.

ANYWAY, this was a nice wee interview. The ILM fellas were refreshingly honest and straightforward, and gave us a good insight into the creative process. Also, reading slightly between the lines you get the impression that Mr Bay was leaning over their shoulders a lot, which amuses me for some reason

As much as I enjoyed the graphical effects in the movie, I have to give special props to the guys who were in charge of the sound design. Everything from transformation to movement to footsteps was absolutely spot on, and really sold the whole "holy crap that's actually Optimus Prime" feeling I and most of the folk I've gone to see it with have come away with.

-Nick

[Nightracer GT]

I like how he said they cheated on the transformations. Scaling up and down, etc.

In other words, as far as that goes visually, mass shifting.


Nice.