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!!

Director Scott Stewart Talks PRIEST and MORTAL INSTRUMENTS

My good friend Steve over at Collider had the chance to speak with the director of PRIEST Scott Stewart (3D conversion) who just so happens to be also directing MORTAL INSTRUMENTS - this time in native 3D!

Here is what was covered:
:07 Talks about showing finished footage in 3D for the first time to an audience. Showed a sizzle reel and a full scene.
:53 How did his previous experience in visual effects affect or augment his work on Priest? Very helpful in the pre-vis phase of the film. Helped when directing actors interacting with CGI characters that weren’t onset. Talks about their approach to filming when taking into account CGI vampires.
4:15 Talks about the release date shifts for the film. How he convinced the studio to give him at least 6 months to post-convert the film to 3D.
6:39 Talks about being attached to direct Mortal Instruments. “We’re hoping to get ready to shoot late-summer early-fall. [We’re] working on the script right now and casting. We have Lily Collins attached to play Claire Fray, which we’re really excited about. We’re in the midst of doing a bunch of designs for the vehicles and the weapons and the creatures and the world, and we’re trying to figure out exactly where we’re gonna shoot and all the good fun stuff.
7:19 How does Mortal Instruments compare to Priest with regards to scale? Is it bigger?
“It’s actually a little bigger, but it’s a very different kind of movie. I mean it’s a “set in New York” movie it’s not a “takes place in an entirely new world.” You know Priest is an entirely alternate world, and everything in the movie is designed. New York is a big character in the movie, I grew up loving those “New York at night” movies like After Hours, where the sun goes down and strange things happen and adventure is there, so that’s an influence. Movies like The Lost Boys is an influence, that sort of sun goes down movie. And there’s a kind of sexuality and sensuality and excitement. And so that’s something that we really wanna try to make a part of it, it’s kind of a very different thing stylistically. It’s also a really music influenced movie, and so that’s something that’s gonna be really fun, a chance to integrate a lot of contemporary music into the movie.”

3D or not 3D? “We’re actually shooting in 3D.”

Here's the clip!



Be sure to check out the full story over at Collider!