Maybe one does simply walk into Mordor. "The Rings of Power" is back for a second round, with more rings, more power, and more rizz for Sauron. Beyond the flash and bombast, these are all the mysteries that are brewing under the surface in the action-packed trailer for "The Rings of Power" season 2.
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00:00Fallout has a massive, sprawling world packed with unique characters.
00:04The visual effects team put a lot of love into bringing that vision to the screen, and
00:08without CGI, it can be kind of goofy.
00:12Fallout filled out its supporting cast with a number of welcome and instantly recognizable
00:16faces.
00:17And when it came time to cast Overseer Benjamin, the plucky leader of Vault 4, actor and comedian
00:23Chris Parnell was the perfect choice.
00:26These people, am I right?
00:28I grabbed a moldy one."
00:32He was so good and became so central, in fact, that the VFX team began to worry that his
00:36acting work would be entirely a race, after they put CGI all over his face.
00:41As visual effects supervisor Jay Wirth told VFX Voice,
00:45"...you don't want to create the traditional Cyclops that we had seen before.
00:48It needed to feel more real and organic."
00:51In the end, Swedish VFX house Important Looking Pirates made his eye much smaller, and also
00:56gave him two eyebrows, which apparently made the effect look more credible.
01:01Wirth said,
01:02"...it sounds like a subtle thing, but that for me makes it feel like it's a real person
01:06with a real single eye."
01:08Chris Parnell wasn't the only performer who had their work filtered through VFX.
01:12Walton Goggins was transformed into The Ghoul, a memorable character with full facial disfigurement.
01:19Before the base layer of his striking look is accomplished through creature makeup, there
01:23was simply no practical way to achieve the nose, or rather, lack of a nose.
01:28In the end, VFX studio FutureWorks had to step in to remove Goggins' nose in at least
01:33500 shots.
01:34The many hours put into removing Goggins' nose by the VFX artists at FutureWorks is
01:39admirable, but so is the work of special effects makeup artist Jake Garber, who spent hours
01:44getting the actor into his ghoul getup every day.
01:47Goggins said in an Instagram post,
01:49"...he's one of the best effects makeup artists in the world and a long-time friend.
01:53When we started this process, it took five hours.
01:56Jake got it down to 1.45 to 2.15, depending on what movie we were watching."
02:01The pair apparently watched Western films together, as Goggins sat in the makeup chair,
02:05which helped put the actor at ease.
02:07"...looks like chaos.
02:10But there's always somebody behind the wheel."
02:16When the ghoul finds himself suddenly in need of medicine, he resorts to selling a captive
02:21Lucy to organ traffickers operating out of an abandoned super-duper mart.
02:25Inside, Lucy is taken care of by a congenial robot that has been affectionately named Snip-Snip
02:31because it's now used for harvesting organs.
02:33Hilarity voice by Matt Berry.
02:35"...hold still now.
02:36This won't hurt a bit."
02:41The creators of the show decided to build a skeleton for Snip-Snip, which consisted
02:45of only the round body and center eye to give the human actors an eyeline.
02:50Later, during post-production, important-looking pirates added two more eyes, three dangling
02:55arms, and other details that gave Snip-Snip a more lifelike feel.
02:59They also removed the dolly that the skeleton was mounted on to create the illusion that
03:03Snip-Snip was hovering above the ground.
03:06The Fallout universe has no shortage of terrible creatures to terrorize its inhabitants with.
03:11The Wasteland's wildlife is a large part of what makes this world both gross and engrossing.
03:17Season 1 saw many characters come to blows with a gulper, a deadly aquatic creature that
03:21briefly swallows the series' MacGuffin.
03:24The FX house Framestore was responsible for creating a CGI model of the monster, which
03:29is seen in the majority of the gulper's shots.
03:31For certain sequences, however, there was an actual, functioning gulper puppet on set.
03:36Quantum Creation Effects made a gulper puppet that had the ability to swallow and regurgitate
03:40actors.
03:41Jay Wirth told VFX Voice,
03:42"...we had this real object for our actors to interact with, for water to interact with,
03:47and it was even rigged so someone could get swallowed.
03:50Whenever it's interacting with somebody, it's really interacting with them."
04:01In addition to enhancing the performance environment for the actors on set, having the puppet also
04:06allowed the camera to capture accurate light and shadow movement for the otherworldly-looking
04:10monster.
04:11"...What is this place?"
04:13"...You're in the best place in the world."
04:18Of all the faithful recreations made by Amazon's Fallout, none are quite as immersive as the
04:22Vault.
04:23These high-tech Fallout shelters have been a staple of the franchise since the very first
04:28game, designed by the nefarious megacorp Vault-Tec to protect the privileged survivors of nuclear
04:34war.
04:35The TV series spends a large amount of time in Vault 33, the home vault of protagonist
04:40Lucy McClain.
04:41Tons of physical Vault environments were created, but they're not exactly how they appear on
04:45screen.
04:46The challenge was not physically recreating an environment from the game, but communicating
04:49the key aspect that unifies all Vaults — their enormous size.
04:53To accomplish this, the VFX team used green screens on the physical sets behind open doorways
04:58and portals, or where hallways were meant to be.
05:01This created the illusion that actors were standing in a seemingly endless underground
05:05bunker even when filming on sets not much larger than a studio apartment.
05:10The Vaults aren't the only iconic locale that needed to be recreated for the Fallout series.
05:14Once players make it out of the Vaults, they are thrust into the Wasteland, the chaotic
05:19ruins of the United States.
05:20While vast desert areas might seem like easy places for location scouts to find, they're
05:25often impractical to film in, especially for productions as technically complex as Fallout.
05:30So how did they do it?
05:32Developers used something called an LED volume with realistic environments rendered in real
05:36time by Epic Games and Real Engine.
05:39These environments could then move and react in order to mimic camera movement.
05:43It may sound a bit complicated, but practices such as pre-visualization, which had been
05:47used by CGI-heavy projects since before the volume method was adopted, mean precise shots
05:52can be choreographed well ahead of time.
05:54This also gave the team information with which to schedule shoots and block scenes, increasing
05:59production efficiency during principal photography.
06:02Of course, not every part of the Wasteland was created digitally.
06:06Some scenes were shot in the Namib Desert in Africa.
06:08They also filmed in and around an abandoned mining town.
06:12Producer Jonathan Nolan said,
06:13"...I've never shot somewhere so remote, where literally the only things there are hyenas.
06:18It's an incredibly beautiful and strange place."
06:22A key component of the Fallout mythos is the influence of the Atomic Age.
06:25This is largely why most of the tech seen in Fallout video games and in the Amazon series
06:30has a retro-futuristic look to it, with the vibe of the 1950s somehow bleeding deep into
06:35the 2070s.
06:37One example of this tech can be seen in Vault 33.
06:40The centerpiece of the vault is a large patch of corn, synthetically extended with the help
06:44of an advanced film projector.
06:46Just a few decades ago, this effect likely would have been accomplished with a green
06:50or blue screen, but with the same LED volume used to create the Wasteland.
06:54This idyllic landscape could be created and displayed in real time, providing more realistic
06:59lighting and a more immersive environment for the actors to perform in.
07:03That also gave the VFX team the opportunity to play the bright, billowing blaze of burning
07:07celluloid that takes over when the projector catches fire during the fight against the
07:11Raiders in Episode 1.
07:13It's one of the most striking visuals in the episode, and it was able to be created right
07:17there on set.
07:19With such an impressive blend of VFX techniques converging to bring the vault to life, it's
07:24almost more exciting to see what technical feats were accomplished practically.
07:28One such feat comes at the end of the first episode, when Lucy takes her first step out
07:31into the Wasteland.
07:33The vaults of the Fallout world can only be opened by a large, complicated unlocking mechanism,
07:37which sees a massive gear slowly roll out of the way to reveal the outside world.
07:42Getting this shot right was crucial, as it's how Fallout players start their own journeys
07:46in games like Fallout 4.
07:48As Lucy stands in front of the Vault 33 door, there's a real gear rolling to the side.
07:53At least, something shaped like a real gear.
07:55It's much more plain than the one seen in the show, made from a bland material that
07:59likely weighs significantly less than a real metal gear.
08:03While this surely heightened the moment for Ella Purnell as a performer, the use of a
08:06practical gear probably had more to do with getting the lighting right.
08:10After all, recreating the shadows of a giant, moving gear is likely more of a headache than
08:15just making one and casting real shadows.
08:18Once the scene was shot, VFX artists came in and added the iconic Vault-Tec designs,
08:23as well as finer details to make the gear look metal.
08:27Though most of the many unfortunate souls thrust into the wasteland are either stranded
08:31in one desolate locale or forced to trudge around on foot, there are still some more
08:36sophisticated modes of transportation available to certain lucky individuals.
08:41Most common among them are Vertibirds, a class of pre-war aircraft that are somewhat similar
08:46to helicopters, even though Vertibirds are some of the more realistic things seen in
08:50the Fallout world.
08:51That series' VFX team often had to create them from scratch, using computer-generated
08:56graphics.
08:57For example, when Aspirant Maximus watches with awe as Vertibirds land at the compound
09:01for the first time in the series, the actors are actually staring up at a blank sky.
09:06In at least one sequence, a real helicopter on set was replaced by a CGI Vertibird, likely
09:11to capture the realistic dust from the rotors.
09:14The CG shots for the Vertibirds were handled by the German special effects company RiseFX,
09:23who also worked on the acclaimed HBO adaptation of The Last of Us.
09:27For shots in which characters were inside the craft, production designer Howard Cummings
09:31sorted the construction of a Vertibird interior.
09:34I'm bored, and I want to shoot something.
09:37Scenes on this practical set would then be filmed in front of a huge LED volume wall,
09:41to create the illusion that the actors were actually flying in the craft.
09:46Power Armor has been a mainstay of the Fallout universe ever since its inception, with one
09:50model or another being featured on the box art for almost every game in the franchise.
09:55In the TV series, Maximus steals a suit of T-60 Power Armor, the latest model developed
10:00by West Tech before the fall of civilization.
10:03Producers wanted a real, wearable suit, so they went to a practical effects studio responsible
10:08for some of the most iconic practical props of the last decade, LegacyFX.
10:13Legacy built the full-size, wearable version of the armor not for actor Aaron Moten, but
10:18for stunt performer Adam Shippey.
10:20While Moten might have been disappointed that he didn't get to don such an iconic costume,
10:24a stuntperson was required to perform the wire work that allowed cameras to capture
10:28the Power Armor's movements for real.
10:30Several different suits were made for Shippey, each weighing over 150 pounds.
10:34I've seen these in old engineering manuals, but never in real life."
10:39According to Rolling Stone, Shippey soon got used to the suits, and he was so at ease in
10:42them by the end that he claims he could actually breakdance.
10:46The Pip-Boy is one of those video game items that fans desperately wish existed in real
10:51life.
10:52The Fallout TV series brought these wearable computers one step closer to reality by featuring
10:57semi-functional Pip-Boys.
10:59Though the screen is seemingly animated in post-production for more unique moments, the
11:03Pip-Boys seen on the show are capable of running standard Fallout animations, and would capture
11:07doing so for certain scenes.
11:09For example, the recognizable Vital screen is generated by the real device, while the
11:14tracking interface Lucy uses was likely specially animated during the post-production process.
11:20Designs based on the show's prop Pip-Boys are actually being produced for sale by Bethesda,
11:24so you can always check out this particular element of the show on your own if you want,
11:28though it'll cost you, because they aren't cheap.