Avengers 3D + VFX Talk at The Grand Cathay

Grabbed via impawards.com

Today panned out just great. I had the chance to head down to The Grand Cathay together with a handful of my classmates to catch a 3D screening of Marvel's The Avengers, and also a VFX talk given by the good people from ILM. Totally packed, and there were still a few empty seats around in the hall before everything got underway.

Too bad the bags of popcorn weren't also free.

Waiting to get inside the cinema.

A little flyer given by the counter staff.

Le Ticket :)

Real D 3D Glasses!

It really did look green.

The first thing to greet all of us when we went inside the cinema.

And this little neat thing was placed on everyone's seats at the screening. A "game" you could play to see what kind of vfx work fits your personality.

All unfolded out

A small surprise on the back.

Things kicked off first with the VFX Talk by some guys from Industrial Light and Magic, where they walked us though their production pipeline and showed off some concept art, mainly of the Hulk and how they captured actor Mark Ruffalo's facial expressions and body language. They also showed how they did some of the effects which we would later see in the film, like how in the scene where Hawkeye jumps and turns to fire an arrow while falling, was a combination of green screen, background plates and digi matte paintings of the buildings to make the whole thing look really realistic. They also showed some stuff on how they did the famous 360 degree shot where the camera rotates all around the superheroes as they prepare to fight. Pretty awe inspiring stuff. It was great to note that ILM Singapore was also involved in the production pipeline of this movie. Wish I could have taken photos of the talk, but we were strictly warned not to do so. 

The VFX talk alone was about a good half hour, and after that it was time to get to watching the movie itself. If I remember correctly, three movie trailers were shown off (Men In Black 3, Ridley Scott's Alien-prequel Prometheus, and The Amazing Spiderman) Here's to hoping I can catch them all in cinemas when they're out. :)

Well, what can I say? Marvel's The Avengers was a joyride from start to finish, laced with just the right amounts of comedy, wit, and action to prevent you from realising that roughly about 2 hours and 30 mins had passed. All the main characters get a chance at the spotlight, and they all have their own special moments in the film. We get straight to the action from the get-go, and don't stop till the end credits start rolling. As for the 3D, it didn't really make that big of an impact considering the fact that this film was post-converted. You'd still be able to enjoy just as much with watching the 2D version.