MV "SOUND & FURY" No.4 / Director Masaru Matsumoto expresses a dystopian world with old staff members

"SOUND & FURY" is the latest work from Grammy-winning Sturgill Simpson. After the release of this work, he ranked first in the BANDSINTOWN+BILLBOARD GLOBAL TOP ARTIST INDEX. A music video for all 10 songs in the album has also been produced and distributed worldwide on Netflix. We will introduce behind the scenes of MV production by various artists in 4 parts. In No.4, we will focus on the MV "Ronin" directed by Masaru Matsumoto.

・MV “SOUND & FURY” No.1 / Director in her 20s and a veteran show off kamikaze video colors ・MV “SOUND & FURY” No.2 / Brings out a wide variety of colors Production System of Kamikaze Douga - MV "SOUND & FURY" No.3 / Director Koji Morimoto's New Challenge Using Live Action, Animation, and 3D Materials

*This article is based on the monthly ``CGWORLD + digital video'' vol. (Second part)” was added.

TEXT_Miyuki Ogata / Miyuki Ogata（CGWORLD）PHOTO_Mitsuru Hirota / Mitsuru Hirota

▲Second trailer for MV "SOUND & FURY" released in August 2019

▲ From left: VFX artist/modeler Anna Demidova (CURO), producer Hidekazu Otake (Grayscale Arts/CURO), modeler Kohei Ouchi (CURO), modeler Seiji Tayama, director/editor/ VFX: Masaru Matsumoto (Grayscale Arts), VFX Artist: Masaya Machida (Stimulus Image), Modeler: Takehiko Hoashi (studio picapixels), VFX Artist/Modeler: Motohiro Tokunaga (CURO), Modeler: Hiroki Goto (CURO), Modeler Tomokazu Nishikata (CURO), VFX artist Yoshihito Hiroshige (AnimationCafe), production manager Yuka Kinjo, rigger Masahiro Oomomo, *animator Hiroshi Takeuchi (AnimationCafe) absent during filming

Established a dedicated studio, Grayscale Arts, to coincide with the start of full-scale production

Mr. CURO). Mr. Simpson said, "I want you to express a dystopian world with the image of 'Appleseed, he's an alpha' (2014)," said Ohtake. Mr. turned around. "I've been wanting to do some kind of project with Director Matsumoto for a long time, so I felt like this was the perfect opportunity. I wanted to set up a dedicated studio and do branding for the director. I established Grayscale Arts and registered the company.I was able to set sail without incident, thanks to the support of an artist who had a connection with the director and was familiar with the look the director was aiming for.” (Mr. Ohtake) In addition to the MV "Ronin", Director Matsumoto also worked on the early stages of the MV "Fastest Horse In Town" (from the middle stage onwards, Kamikaze Douga is in charge), but this article will focus on "Ronin".

Old acquaintances gathered together to express a dystopian world

At the end of 2018, director Matsumoto received a request from Mr. Simpson and Mr. Takeuchi and immediately submitted a storyboard, but after that Time passed without progress. “At the time when I submitted the storyboard, I thought that there was a possibility that it would flow, so I didn’t have high expectations. That kind of thing often happens when it comes to overseas projects (laughs). I received a message saying, ``Since some teams have already finished filming the live-action material, could you proceed with that as well? In order to get the project off to a fast start with a deadline of the end of July, Director Matsumoto and Mr. Ohtake scrambled to recruit staff, and at the same time established Grayscale Arts. “I have worked with Director Matsumoto before, and I mainly approached studios and artists with whom I already had a relationship of trust. Speaking of photorealism like "Starship Troopers", they generally understood it, so the conversation was quick." (Mr. Otake).

Takehiko Hoashi (studio picapixels), who modeled the robots and bombers that appear in this work, said, ``When I went to a meeting about another matter, I was told, 'There is also robot work,' and I was involved in this work. I guess I thought it was just right (laughs),” he said, looking back on the situation at the time.

▲ Part of the robot and bomber design drawings by Shinji Usui. An eerie existence that symbolizes a dystopian world

▲A robot modeled by Mr. Hoashi based on the previous design drawing. “There were several design drawings, and it seemed that the details were left up to me, so I added details based on modern weapons based on the voluminous design drawings. From the back to the four arms. It was a structure that loaded bullets, so I had a hard time connecting the loader to my arm.” (Mr. Hoashi)

▲In-progress shot with a robot

▲A robot storage pod also modeled by Mr. Hoashi. "Since one bomber was supposed to be equipped with nearly 50 pods, we tried to make it as light as possible." (Mr. Hoashi)

▲A similar bomber modeled by Mr. Hoashi. “It was a difficult design to create a sense of scale, so we added truss structures in the gaps to make it look gigantic. Since it was a concept of a large drone bomber, it was set up with a large rotor built into the center. Director Matsumoto asked me to make the front camera as spooky as possible, so I designed it with a sense of emotionlessness. (Mr. Hoashi)

▲A shot of a bomber appearing. Hiroshi Takeuchi (Animation Cafe) is in charge of the animation, and even the subtle shaking of the pod due to vibrations during flight is expressed by hand.

▲Similarly, a shot of a bomber. This is set in a world where civilization has collapsed due to World War III, so the crashed bomber is exposed. The main character's car running on the left side of the screen will be explained on the second page of this article

©2019 High Top Mountain Films, LLC / Elektra Records.

Next page: Aiming for the photorealistic image of Mr. Simpson, adding the characteristics of American cars

Aiming for the photorealistic image of Mr. Simpson, the characteristics of American cars have been added

In addition to Mr. Hoashi, modeler Seiji Tayama and VFX artist Masaya Machida. Mr. (Stimulus Image), an old acquaintance of mine, readily agreed, saying, "If Director Matsumoto does it, I'll help!" "I started by modeling the main characters and swords, and after that they said they were short on manpower, so I helped out until the end of July. In the second half, I was in charge of shot work, and I also shot particles." (Mr. Tayama) .

▲One of the design drawings of the car and main character provided by Kamikaze Douga. A gray line was designed in the center of the car body with the intention of "making it shine on the screen", but in response to Mr. Simpson's request to make it closer to the image of "a ninja assimilating into the darkness and running at speed", the gray line was used. line excluded

▲Based on the design drawings provided by Kamikaze Douga, Mr. Tayama created a head model for the main character. Almost no detail is shown in the work, but it is made to a level that can withstand a bust shot

▲The main character's hand, also by Mr. Tayama. Although the details are shown here, there was a condition that the hand should be "unidentifiable by gender", so gloves were worn.

▲A shot in which the main character appears. Outside the vehicle, you can see the previously exposed bomber

▲In-progress shot showing the main character's hand

The car driven by the main character was created by Eiji Kitada and Chris Conception (both from Modeling Cafe) based on the design drawings provided by Kamikaze Douga, and Yoshito Hiroshige (Animation Cafe) added details. I adjusted the texture.

▲A wireframe of a car created by Mr. Kitada and Mr. Conception based on a commercial model. This is a pre-World War III era car, and in the work it switches to a post-war era car

▲Similarly, a car made by Mr. Kitada and Mr. Conception. This is set in the post-war era, and the details are customized

▲Tail lamp detail added by Hiroshige

▲Texture adjustment by Hiroshige. “The car body was set to be painted in matte black, but if it was too matte, the amount of information would be reduced and it wouldn’t look as good on screen, so we set it to have a coating on top of the paint so that the surrounding environment would be reflected. (Mr. Hiroshige)

▲A shot of the car before it was customized. "We added American car features such as putting white letters on the tires and embossing the license plate." (Mr. Hiroshige)

▲Similarly, an in-production shot of the car before customization

▲A shot of the customized car. Compared to before customization, you can see that the headlights have been changed to LEDs. The golden bumper has a stepped mold, and the attention to detail is eye-catching to make it look photorealistic.

Mr. Masahiro Omomo is in charge of all the rigging for this work, and the rigs are carefully set up, not only for the car body but also for the key holder inside the car. I had previously worked with Mr. Takeuchi, an animator, and without asking much, I was able to guess what kind of movement would be done, so I made adjustments such as which attributes to open and which to restrict. was easily performed. “We designed a simple rig that can control a lot of information with a small number of controllers so that animators can work comfortably,” said Mr. Omomo.

▲[Upper] rig around the car tires and [lower] in-production shot. The tires and brake discs rotate while driving, but the brake caliper is rigged so that it does not rotate, reproducing the actual brake structure. "We didn't do anything difficult, but it was a well-made model, so we carefully handled the rig." (Mr. Omomo)

▲The company's key holders are properly rigged

Mr. Hiroshige was in charge of the final scene where the car runs through the tunnel. For the background of this scene, BAREHAND Modeling Studio created a high-end model based on the rough model for pre-visualization created by Mr. Hiroshige. Hiroshige was in charge of scene construction, layout, animation, camera work, lighting, and compositing. “Since the production period was short and the premise was to use motion blur, we built the scene without focusing on the quality of the model, and then proceeded with the work while modifying only the necessary parts. We were shooting with the attached 360-degree camera,” so we adjusted the model and layout while checking the rendering results with the V-Ray fisheye lens.” (Mr. Hiroshige).

▲Scene without fisheye distortion

▲Scene rendered with a V-Ray fisheye lens. “The light source was only ambient light from the sun, and all the lighting in the tunnel was turned off, so I adjusted the model and layout while checking the balance between the size and silhouette of the hole in the outer wall and the light coming in through it. (Mr. Hiroshige)

▲[Top] before compositing, [bottom] after compositing. The tail lamps, for which Mr. Hiroshige elaborated on the details, shine effectively.

©2019 High Top Mountain Films, LLC / Elektra Records.

Next page: For independent shots, experienced staff and director Matsumoto are in charge of the entire process

Independent shots are handled entirely by experienced staff and director Matsumoto

The rocket launch shots handled by Mr. Machida have shared assets with other shots. Since it was an independent shot, I was entrusted with the entire process, from asset design and modeling to shot work. "I used 3ds Max, which I'm familiar with, to finish it within a limited schedule while ensuring quality. I mainly used FumeFX for effects production, but I also use tyFlow for learning and testing." (Mr. Machida).

▲The work screen of 3ds Max when creating effects

▲Working screen of After Effects

▲Completed image. Mr. Machida, who quickly received the OK from Director Matsumoto, was also in charge of producing additional shots.

Director Matsumoto himself was in charge of the shot in which multiple missiles were fired from the ground. “Several independent shots were produced mostly by myself. Thanks to the GPU renderer OctaneRender and four PCs with two GPUs, I was able to reduce the production time per shot to 0.5-2 days. (Director Matsumoto). In this shot, the terrain is created with a displacement map, the effects created by Mr. Machida are placed with OpenVDB, and one rendering is performed with the missile light source. For the effect processing in post production, I used the output in a separate pass using OctaneRender.

▲Fusion work screen

▲Working screen of DaVinci Resolve. Near-final shots rendered in multi-pass, tweaked in Fusion, edited and graded in DaVinci Resolve

▲Completed image

▲Similarly, a close-up shot of an in-car radio produced by Matsumoto himself. As mentioned above, shots with cars appear are divided among multiple staff members, but such independent shots are difficult to incorporate into the workflow, so director Matsumoto took over.

A model of a collapsed city that continued to add information until just before the deadline

Yuka Kinjo, who joined the production manager at the end of May, said, ``Immediately after joining, the staff assignments couldn't keep up. , I asked various people for additional work and helped me.The last aerial shot of the collapsed city needed to be packed with information, so the modeling was not finished even in July. ', he said of the dire situation at the time. Even so, Director Matsumoto seems to have tried to give a detailed explanation, and Motohiro Tokunaga (CURO), who worked side by side with the desks, said, "It was my first time doing shot work, so I learned a lot."

▲Working screen in Maya showing a model of a collapsed city. In this scene, the main character's car was driving on the roads of the collapsed city, and it was required to follow the situation with aerial photography. Therefore, it was necessary to thoroughly model the entire city, and work continued until just before the deadline.

▲[Above] Model of the collapsed city in progress /[Below] Completed image. When creating this scene, Matsumoto first created the layout model, and Mr. Tokunaga and other CURO modelers increased the amount of information. To save time, I also use a script that can generate buildings procedurally (Maya Structures) and commercial models from Evermotion

▲Similarly, [top] the model in progress and [bottom] the finished image. “Once the layout was fixed to some extent, we created references for each modeler, such as the close-up view of the building, the distant view of the building, and the main road, and assigned them to each modeler. I think it did.” (Mr. Tokunaga)

▲Similarly, [top] the model in progress and [bottom] the finished image. VRayProxy is actively used for parts with a large number of polygons and textures, such as cars, debris, and grass, to reduce the memory load during rendering. "We couldn't get the 'collapsed feeling' requested by director Matsumoto until the end, and in the end, with the director's cooperation, we made it look like a stranded tanker, a barricade placed on the main road, and a crashed cargo ship. We added models such as parts.” (Mr. Tokunaga)

Mr. Simpson was so satisfied with the finished film that he did not issue any retakes. Mr. Otake smiled, saying that everyone's efforts had led to good results, and that he was truly happy.

・MV “SOUND & FURY” No.1／A contest between a director in his 20s and a veteran who releases kamikaze video colors ・MV “SOUND & FURY” No.2／Brings out a wide variety of colors Production System of Kamikaze Douga - MV "SOUND & FURY" No.3 / Director Koji Morimoto's New Challenge Using Live Action, Animation, and 3D Materials

©2019 High Top Mountain Films, LLC / Elektra Records.

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