The Sweet Hereafter - Bus Crash скачать в хорошем качестве

The Sweet Hereafter - Bus Crash

This was a major thrill. The main reason I got into the computer animation field in the first place was my interest in movie special effects. In the winter of 1997, I heard that Topix was bidding on some work for Canadian director Atom Egoyan's new film, and I made it known that I was interested in being involved. I got to animate this shot of a school bus breaking through the surface of a frozen lake and quickly sinking. The sequence is the pivotal event of the film, led to through a series of teasing, non-chronological flashbacks that build anticipation (a fact I would not be aware of until I saw the finished film). Originally, the plan was to shoot it with a real bus and have Topix paint out rigging, cables and the like. However, it quickly became apparent that doing it with a CG bus would be safer, just as economical, and offer greater creative control. The whole sequence of the bus skidding, stopping, pausing, and then sinking could now be done in one continuous shot, and the action perfected without having to haul the bus out of the water after each take. For research, I made the rounds of several video rental stores. I asked Suspect Video's Colin Geddes (who would go on to be the programmer of the Toronto Film Festival's 'Midnight Madness) if he could think of a scene in any film where a vehicle went through ice. The only one he could come up with was in 'The Four Seasons', an unremarkable romantic-comedy starring Alan Alda. And it was clearly just a car being lowered by a hidden platform; nothing like what I had in my mind. I also scanned through several hours of 'Caught on Camera' type videos, and managed to come up with a couple of sequences showing skidding buses, which proved to be useful. Yet, I realized that I was going to be creating something that no one had really seen before. And at the same time, it would have to look right. In the end, I was able to show Atom several different possibilities for the action and have him pick the one he favoured. He was a great sport about it, and very trusting, considering how crude and unrealistic the first tests were, and that this was his first experience working with CGI. In this way, we were able to work towards a gracefulness of movement in keeping with film's sombre tone. The action seems to happen almost in slo-mo, and is seen from a great distance. Many people have remarked how such a low-key approach would probably never be taken in an American movie. Yet, it is these very qualities which make the shot so effective and memorable. Although the bus takes up a small space on the screen, I paid tremendous attention to details. We had never done a film effect before, and weren't sure how much would be necessary to carry off the illusion of reality on the big screen. We decided to err on the side of excess. I even slapped on a texture map of the license plates taken from the real bus used in the movie. The tires have snow wedged between the treads. The metal plates have rivet bump maps. As I did my first render tests, it occurred to me that it was possible to see through the windows, which necessitated the addition of seats. This in turn led me to add kids sitting in the seats. Which led to the realization that I was going to have to animate them as well. So, as the bus crunches through the ice surface, it is just barely possible to see shadowy figures running around in panic inside. One is even a bully, pushing his way up the centre; brushing smaller kids aside. The script called for only two survivors, the driver and one girl near her at the front of the bus. Thus, I decided to have the kids all head for the back door, causing the rear to tip down first and seal their fate. This may not be strictly realistic, in that the weight of the engine would cause the bus to go in nose first, but I think the animation is good enough to sell our version of it.