Tenet (2020)
A VFX case study by Manuel Fahmy, Hannes Seebeck &
Tanh Dat Nguyen
What we’ll talk about
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Background information
VFX types and examples
About the VFX Oscar
Takeaways for your own films
Background information
About Tenet (2020)
- Directed by Christopher Nolan
- VFX by DNEG
- Very ambitious
- Battle between present and future humans
- Future humans have found a way to invert time of objects/humans
- They want to reverse all time using an assortment of special materials to
annihilate present humans and take their place
- Organization ‘TENET’ fights for present humans, wants to prevent future
humans from knowing the locations of said materials
VFX by DNEG
- British VFX studio since 1998
- 7 Academy Awards for VFX
- Nolans’ go-to studio
Notable films
-
Inception
Interstellar
Blade Runner 2049
Tenet
Dune
Harry Potter*
James Bond*
Fast & Furious*
Mission: Impossible*
*Only helped out
Nolan’s approach to VFX
-
Goal: Do everything in-camera
Reality: Not everything possible
Enhance practical effects with VFX
<300 VFX shots total <- not a lot
Mostly clean up
“Usual VFX” in big shot films
- Lots of CGI
- Using actors as reference only
- Same VFX Studio DNEG
Actress completely replaced with CGI
VFX in Tenet
- Give “weight” back to stunts
- VFX mainly for clean up &
enhancing stunts
- Also for useful marketing
- “Invisible VFX” trend
SFX example
Examples of VFX usage
Compositing / basic effects
- “Invisible cut”
- Example: Blow up building “twice”
How-to
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Build 2 identical buildings
Blow one up at the bottom
& one at the top
Reverse on shot and cut to
the other
Use a Bolt to match
camera movements
Add VFX to sell the effect
Compositing / basic effects
- Change timing of SFX with VFX
- Add CGI audience below explosion
- -> VFX enable to pull off difficult SFX
Compositing / basic effects
- Change timing of SFX with
VFX
- Add CGI audience below
explosion
- -> VFX enable to pull off
difficult SFX
Clean up
- Remove wires, set workers &
equipment
- Some CGI for replacing (e.g)
reflections & trees
Example
- Wire removal
- Replaced trees -> CGI wind effects
- Enhanced reflections
Clean up
Clean up: Wire removal example
Spins inverted
Clean up: Wire removal example
Clean up: Removing set equipment
- Similar in principle to wire removal
How to
1. Track the set equipment &
background in Mocha
2. Either generate a clean
plate or use Photoshop
3. Use the CP in Mocha to
remove the objects
Classic CGI
- Used for impossible things -> Reverse explosions
- CGI soldiers/vehicles
- CGI gravel to sell effects (coming up)
CGI
Before
After
CGI gravel
-
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Soldiers are
travelling
backwards in time
Use VFX to
“invert entropy”
How to
1.
2.
3.
4.
Track the shot
Simulate and render
the gravel/explosion
in Houdini
Composite in
Nuke/AE
Reverse CGI layers
CGI: Gravel
Before
After
CGI
Before
After
CGI helicopters
- Save money on equipment
- Save time on logistics etc.
Using CGI to help production
- Complicated scenes
- CG animation as previsualization
- Determine exact timing
About the Oscar
Why Tenet was NOMINATED for a VFX Oscar
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Seamless merging of real explosions, vehicles, backgrounds with VFX
“Invisible VFX”
-> Make it feel real
Make “inverted” shots possible
Not one huge effect or new technology
Many small VFX bringing everything together
The Weak Competition in 2021
- Mulan
- Great VFX, but all the same (lots of greenscreen, lots of CGI)
- Love and Monsters
- Crab doesn’t look like “Best VFX Oscar”
- The Midnight Sky
- “Interstellar 2”
- The One and Only Ivan
- We’ve seen great CGI animals before
The crab (Love and Monsters)
Why Tenet WON the Oscar
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Wouldn’t have won without weak competition
Because it’s Nolan and DNEG
Seamless combination of SFX, stunts and VFX
Complex time manipulation VFX never seen before
Some takeaways
Use VFX to tell a
story, not just to
show off
Combine SFX
with VFX for
incredible results
That’s it
Sources
youtube.com/watch?v=hmC2YfkPlgc BBC VFX Breakdown
youtube.com/watch?v=u0hCSxqnjT0 BTS
youtube.com/watch?v=z6xKNTmVfGQ Podcast
youtube.com/watch?v=L8TsMp9to08 DVD extras
youtube.com/watch?v=o2CrLSDGNlE Corridor review
beforesandafters.com/2020/10/23/heres-how-the-effects-teams-on-tenet-pulled-off-those-crazy-time-bending-scenes/
Interview
hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/tenet-third-vfx-oscar-winner-from-christopher-nolan-oeuvre-4166325 Oscar win
dneg.com DNEG
youtube.com/watch?v=dStj-7Trn2Y Love and Monsters VFX breakdown