From being the world’s most advanced compositing software for graphic designers, 3D animators, and visual effects artists to being a wickedly-fast visual effects software that includes a massive toolset and an impressive portfolio of special features for creatives to explore and embrace, it’s no surprise then that Blackmagic Design’s Fusion Studio has been integral to the successful seamless editing and trendsetting visual effects done on countless major films, including: The Hunger Games franchise.
A film editor's second skin
Highly-skilled at scene crafting, film editor extraordinaire Alan Edward Bell first used the Fusion Studio while working on the Spider-Man movie. During a recent interview Bell shared that he fell in love with Fusion’s Dimension tools that enabled him to fix some shots in the film that he initially believed were beyond repair. By using Dimension as a morphing tool and for slow motion (instead of the way it was originally designed to be used: as a stereo tool), Bell was able to subtly and seamlessly blend two completely separate scenes into one. With the Fusion Studio being at the forefront of his editing arsenal for all of his films and referring to the Fusion Studio as his "second skin", it’s just natural that Bell incorporated the software’s compositing process as a fundamental part of his groundbreaking editing work on The Hunger Games: Mockingjay.
An example of how Fusion was used in Mockingjay
Using the famous rescue scene from Mockingjay as an example, here’s how Bell used some of the special effects and features of the Fusion Studio to bring The Hunger Games: Mockingjay story to the screen in a way that exceeded everyone’s expectations.
The images on the wall of the command center and at the window of the hovercraft during the rescue scene in Mockingjay were all blue screen. Thanks to being able to work wickedly fast in Fusion, Bell was able to send shots to Fusion via the Connection plugin, work on the compositing, blend elements together, create edit updates in Avid, and do the effects in Fusion. Further, in just 20 minutes, Bell was able to confidently cut the shot where the director panned down to a radar scene flying toward the gun and then quickly create a motion graphic of topography. In addition, during the part where Katniss is in the command center and looking at the screen, Bell was quickly and seamlessly able to add lots of elements via the Fusion Studio. Finally, during the scene when the actors are flying through the city in the hovercraft, Bell animated and rendered a shimmering city view in 3D by taking the wire frame into Fusion.
By being super fast, versatile, and user-friendly, the Fusion Studio enables both seasoned and new editors to expand, embrace, and launch their creative ideas without compromising their craft, the use of their time, or the integrity of a scene.
