Rising Salvation

Rising Sun's contribution to the fourth Terminator movie involved a swath of CG stormy oceans, complete with osprey helicopter, rain and atmospherics and the underwater implosion of the Resistances’ head quarters – a CG nuclear submarine. In addition to this, Rising Sun completed stormy night shots with a CG Hunter Killer, the Aerostat chase sequence, Marcus’s terminator hand replacement and a complicated day for night sequence requiring sky replacement, selective colour treatments, enhancements to the environments, heads up displays, miniature explosions and a CG Hunter Killer.

The Creative Process

Rising Sun worked closely with VFX Supervisor Charlie Gibson & Director McG to develop shots that would capture the look and feel of a post-apocalyptic world. Finaled shots from other vendors provided a benchmark to ensure the team would create sequences that would positively contribute to the aesthetic of the film.

For the Aerostat sequence, Rising Sun were given a very basic avid preview of the action – which was then taken through the process of blocking/post vis in order to ascertain the desired action. Once the overall composition was approved it could then proceed on to more refined animation tweaks.

For the Hunter Killer/Submarine Destruction sequence, a rough animatic was provided by Production, which was built from animated 2D artwork and video clips edited against the film's dialogue shots. This gave us the tone for the sequence. We then created low polygon Hunter Killer & Submarine models and started animating variations in a simple but evocative CG environment. These options would be sent through to production and reviewed in cineSync. It took a few rounds of feedback to establish the best ideas and most effective storytelling before the team progressed to polish and refine the ideas into the final shots.