If there was one team on Gravity who felt the pressure the most it was animation. The technical constraints of the show were great, and Alfonso drove them hard to get exactly what he wanted. We sometimes talk in cavalier terms about pulling an all-nighter at work, but the reality is always less heroic.
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| sent from: London, UK. destination: Marina del Rey, California, USA |
I’ve sometimes felt that modern company operations are ill-suited to the schedule and uncertainty of VFX work. Case in point, I arrived for today (Saturday) to find the door to the floor locked and the alarm going off. Fortunately I coincided with the people who were attending to the alarm so they let me in. Once inside they were trying to figure out what happened.. when a few very tired-looking animators emerged from a dark screening room where, after working into the night the evening before, had gone to crash and catch a few hours’ sleep. The security guard, at the end of his shift, had done a quick sweep but not checked the darkened screening rooms – why would he at 5am or whatever hour it was? So he locked everything up and armed the alarm; when someone stirred they triggered the alarm and there they were, trapped.