LOS ANGELES — LOOK Effects produced the visual effects for “Warm Bodies,” including an army of animated digital characters. The Summit Entertainment film opened on February 1.
Based on the book of the same name written by Isaac Marion, the film was directed and scripted by Jonathan Levine who is best known for 50/50 and stars Nicolas Hoult and Teresa Palmer. Warm Bodies, a zombie movie with the added twist of being a romantic comedy, blends elements of horror, teen angst, humor and the power of love – all with the help of the visual effects done by LOOK Effects.
Over a period of approximately 10 months, LOOK opened their Vancouver facility, built a team of about 45, structured a character animation and visual effects pipeline and produced approximately 350 shots. Their work included extensive character animation on “the Boneys”, an evolved form of zombie that plague humanity, and the creation of a fully-digital city in which the action takes place.
“This was a very exciting project for us,” says visual effects supervisor Dan Schrecker, “We worked extremely closely with Jonathan from the very beginning. He knew what he wanted, but also gave us great latitude to create the look, feel and motion of the Boneys. These are the projects we enjoy the most – getting to be part of the creative team. And the character work we did was a big step forward for LOOK. I was very proud sitting in the audience at the premiere last week. ”
LOOK’s work allowed Levine to believably tell this sometimes gruesome, sometimes funny, but always heart-felt tale, that would not have been possible without visual effects. In doing so, this mid-sized fx facility produced work that formerly has been reserved for the “big guns” and made the viewing experience as believable and immersive as possible, at least for a zom-rom-com.
Photo: Jonathan Wenk © 2011 Summit Entertainment, LLC.