A very in-depth exclusive conversation with Weta VFX Supervisor MATT AITKEN talking Marvel’s ETERNALS and the award-worthy visual mastery that he and his team bring to the fore to not only showcase director Chloe Zhao’s storytelling style but also to bring to life all things Eternals and Deviants.
Always a joy to speak with anyone at Weta, MATT AITKEN is hands down one of my favorite VFX Supervisors. We last spoke for Avengers: Endgame and discussed Weta’s work on the film, most particularly with the third act climactic battle scene (you know the one!). On wrapping Endgame, Matt and his team went right to work on ETERNALS, a project that took him on location to the Canary Islands during production where, once again, Weta focused on that all-important third act as well as other key VFX components of the film. I’ve joked with Matt that Weta is like Marvel’s designated hitter to craft jaw-dropping VFX for climactic third acts.
Digging in, Matt goes into great detail explaining how Weta created and developed, among others:
- a VFX visual language that embraced director Chloe Zhao’s storytelling style of wide-angle panoramic vistas and deep focus
- the most challenging VFX – cosmic energy
- working with bathymetric maps of undersea current to create incoming and outgoing tides, most noticeable during the third act climactic battle on the beach
- the rising of Tiamut from within the earth and up through the sea and developing its proportionate large scale
- matte background techniques for the third act battle and volcanic visuals
- the Deviant Kro and his various transformations
- Thena’s gold weapons and their attachment to her body, honing in on a specific 24kt gold color, capturing and reflecting/deflecting the glint of the sun at the correct angles, intricacy of the filigree design
- full digi-doubles and the complexity of the final beach battle
- working with Animation Supervisor Sidney Kombo-Kintombo for previs
- and more!
TAKE A LISTEN. . .
by debbie elias, exclusive interview November 25, 2021
