Exclusive Interview - GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE's Jenny Fulle, Visual Effects Producer

I had the pleasure of speaking recently with Jenny Fulle, Visual Effects Producer on GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE and Founder of The Creative Cartel. We have spoken in the past (PRIEST) and I thoroughly enjoy the info she has to offer in these interviews!

For some background, Jenny started her own visual effects company called The Creative-Cartel that I think has found an ideal niche in Hollywood - an outsourced visual effects department. Here is what makes her company stand out: They will contract with a production to work with the director and examine each shot in the movie to determine the best possible visual effects shop to tackle it. Each shop has their own areas of expertise. Sometimes a shot may require an ILM or WETA, but other times it can be a small boutique shop. The Creative-Cartel then manages it all. They have their own infrastructure in place that is carried through from project to project.

But here's the rub: The Creative-Cartel (TCC) also does this for S3D conversion needs! They will shop around for the best conversion companies to do particular shots and then will oversee the piecing together of these components into one cohesive movie that is seamless to the viewer. Brilliant.

The Creative-Cartel not only oversaw all of the 800 visual effects shots that were completed by five different visual effects houses and the Stereo conversion of the entire film, but also developed a groundbreaking hybrid pipeline that allowed the primary visual effects company (Iloura) and the 3D Conversion Companies (Gener8 and Legend3D) to share shots in a way that optimized quality and maximized the budget. This groundbreaking pipeline initiated by The Creative-Cartel enabled shots to go back and forth between the companies, allowing the sharing of elements (and eliminating the need for duplicative work) and for the VFX to be rendered in native stereo. All of this resulted in SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE having the same richness and dimensionality as he would have if the film had be shot using with 3D cameras.

So how will her expertise add pop to GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE? Have a listen!



0:40 - On directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor
1:20 - On what Jenny and The Creative Cartel offers for visual effects services
3:20 - On the suspension of disbelief efforts for SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE
3:45 - On the challenge of CG fire being converted to 3D
4:18 - On the "Hybrid Pipeline": About 500 shots are actually native 3D CG mixed with converted 3D
5:25 - On Gener8 and Legend3D work converting to 3D
5:39 - On doing 800+ visual effects shots using 5 different visual effects vendors
7:55 - On new proprietary technology for 3D conversion lowering the cost of work
8:26 - On one scene that she is particularly proud of in the movie
9:50 - On how Mark and Brian are making an authentic version of the original comic book vs. the first movie
11:37 - On whether the 3D in SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE rivals native 3D
12:55 - On the need for hybrid (native + conversion) 3D solutions in most cases
13:15 - On singling out one person / company that deserves extra credit for their work on the movie
14:03 - On whether Nicholas Cage has a sign off on visual effects for the movie
14:28 - On Jenny's current project M. Night Shyamalan's AFTER EARTH (not 3D btw)
15:00 - On wrapping up TED (Seth MacFarlane's feature debut), a 'R' rated comedy with a degenerate CG teddy bear

Thank you Columbia Pictures and Rachel Falikoff for setting this thing up! I think Jenny is one of the most forward thinking creative persons in Hollywood today.

GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE burns out into theaters TODAY! Check it out!! I will let you know what I think about the movie and how well a fast edited movie will convert to 3D as soon as I see it myself!

LISTEN: Exclusive Interview With PRIEST Visual Effects Producer Jenny Fulle!

If you have been following my coverage of PRIEST from the beginning, then I think you know that I am looking forward to its release a great deal. I have to say that the visual effects professionals working on this production are some of the best in the industry, and top of mind here is Visual Effects Producer Jenny Fulle. More on PRIEST in a moment.

Jenny has started her own visual effects company called The Creative-Cartel that I think has found an ideal niche in Hollywood - an outsourced visual effects department. Here is what makes her company stand out: They will contract with a production to work with the director and examine each shot in the movie to determine the best possible visual effects shop to tackle it. Each shop has their own areas of expertise. Sometimes a shot may require an ILM or WETA, but other times it can be a small boutique shop. The Creative-Cartel then manages it all. They have their own infrastructure in place that is carried through from project to project.

But here's the rub: The Creative-Cartel (TCC) also does this for S3D conversion needs! They will shop around for the best conversion companies to do particular shots and then will oversee the piecing together of these components into one cohesive movie that is seamless to the viewer. Brilliant.

The end result is that the studio will achieve 2 or 3 times more special effects for their money with TCC than if they had to hire, build, produce, tear down and release for each production. Make sense? It sure does.

Which leads us to PRIEST. Sony Screen Gems doesn't normally do effects laden films and yet they felt that they could tackle this genre with the assistance of TCC and to me it looks like a slam dunk.

I am really liking the world they have created for the priest warriors and vampires, and they are not your standard vampires! Actually I can see hints of past work from both Jenny and Scott in the trailers: The vampires have minute similarities to the creatures in I AM LEGEND (She did FX for that movie too) and the atmosphere of PRIEST reminds me a small bit of LEGION (Stewart directed). The feelings are subtle but adds to the air of the production for me as I simply was floored by I AM LEGEND. One of my favorites (in fact I just watched it again last night!).

I will say that I have not seen any absolutely finished 3D from the movie yet, and the fact that there was no stereographer on set to assist with setting scenes and shooting (yes, even in 2D) concerns me. But that concern is greatly mitigated by the fact that Jenny Fulle is looking after all of that. My fingers are crossed for a great conversion!

Jenny talks about her company and of course her work on PRIEST in the interview - I invite you to listen to the whole conversation...
Here's a breakdown of what we covered:

1:20 - On working with director Scott Stewart for PRIEST

5:00 - How she accomplished "suspension of disbelief" on such a complex film

5:45 - Jenny talks about her new company and what they offer the industry

9:00 - Very cool story on how she got her start in Hollywood - at 18, she was hired as a janitor for Lucasfilm!

10:20 - Tips to anyone wanting a career doing what she does in visual effects

11:30 - What's next for her? She is finishing up effects and 3D conversion for GHOST RIDER 2 and also has work on TED





Hope you enjoyed it! PRIEST opens on May 13. Here's the official website.

Stay tuned for more PRIEST coverage!!