Transformers VFX: 150 Setups in 3 Days
43sReveals the insane production speed required for VFX-heavy movies.
▶ Play ClipAI Summary
The Transformers movies are renowned for their groundbreaking visual effects (VFX) and CGI, often requiring entire teams of VFX experts to create single sequences. This video breaks down several iconic scenes from the franchise, revealing the immense detail, scale, and complexity involved in bringing these giant robots and explosive action to life.
Chapters
[00:16]
VFX Wizardry for 16 Years
The Transformers movies have been a marvel of VFX wizardry for 16 years.
[00:30]
Michael Bay's Fast Pacing
Director Michael Bay films 150 setups in three days, pushing the VFX team to work quickly after filming.
[00:43]
Devastator's Render Time
Devastator's destruction of the pyramid took 72 hours per frame to render.
[00:57]
Green Screen Reaction Shots
Michael Bay and the driver acted out reactions on a green screen and were composited into an exploding truck.
[01:14]
Scale and Scope Integration
VFX teams had to fit creatures of various sizes into scenes, like the huge ship contrasting with a smaller transformer in Age of Extinction.
[01:43]
Full Environment Creation
Nearly everything in many shots, including environments and transformers, was created by the VFX team.
[01:58]
Chase Sequence in Dark of the Moon
A real truck smashing into cars was used first, then replaced by CG transformers to create a realistic chase and destruction sequence.
[02:26]
Devastator's Multi-Vehicle Construction
Devastator was made from 6-8 separate Earth-moving vehicles; his model had to be doubled in complexity after Michael Bay's feedback.
[03:15]
Memory and Space Usage
Revenge of the Fallen used more memory and computer space than any previous ILM film due to massive assets.
[03:31]
Dedicated VFX Teams for Sequences
The aircraft carrier sequence in Revenge of the Fallen had a dedicated squad of VFX experts who only worked on that scene, generating thousands of people and detailed ship components.
[04:01]
Green Screen Acting
Actors often performed in front of green screens, as shown in the bridge sequence of Dark of the Moon, where the actor is flung, caught, and placed back into the car.
[04:30]
Explosive Detail
The films pay attention to each shard of glass and piece of building when transformers destroy environments, as seen in the office building sequence in Dark of the Moon.
The Transformers movies rely heavily on meticulous VFX and CGI, requiring immense detail, time, and dedicated teams to create their spectacular action sequences.
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90% Legit"The title accurately promises a behind-the-scenes look at Transformers VFX and CGI, and the video delivers exactly that with detailed breakdowns of multiple scenes."
💡 Key Takeaways
📊
Devastator's Render Time
Reveals the staggering computational cost (72 hours per frame) for a single character's destruction sequence.
00:43
🔧
Scale Integration in Age of Extinction
Demonstrates the VFX challenge of realistically combining assets of vastly different sizes within a single shot.
01:14
🔧
Real Truck Replacement in Dark of the Moon
Illustrates a key VFX technique where practical effects are replaced by CG to enhance reality.
01:58
🔧
Devastator's Complexity Increase
Shows the iterative process of increasing model detail to meet director's expectations.
02:26
📊
Dedicated VFX Teams for Single Sequences
Highlights the extreme specialization and resource allocation required for major action sequences.
03:31Full Transcript
[00:00] Did you know that the Transformers movies are at the point where they're hiring entire teams of VFX experts just to create single sequences and that for some shots they had to create entire environments down to the smallest detail just so they can blow them up in the movie?
[00:16] They've been a marvel of VFX wizardry for going on 16 years. So let's take a look at some of these movies with and without the amazing VFX. Okay, so director Michael Bay moves fast and that's a huge understatement.
[00:30] We got 150 setups in three days. He's known for being an intense dude and pushing the actors and the crew to their limits but part of that could be because Bay knows how long the VFX is gonna take.
[00:43] Devastator, the guy that tears the pyramid apart, took 72 hours of frame to render. So he's got to make sure the actual filming part moves hella fast so the VFX team can get to work. Of course that doesn't mean Michael Bay can have a little fun too.
[00:57] Check out this shot of him in the passenger seat of a truck as it gets run through by a transformer. We can see him and the driver act out their reaction on a green screen and then get added into the exploding truck. Speaking of how long VFX takes, another time consuming aspect of the process
[01:14] is getting the scale and the scope of these creatures to fit into the reality of the movie. Here's a great sequence showing how the VFX team from Age of Extinction put together assets of various sizes into a shot so that the huge ship would contrast with the smaller, though
[01:29] still pretty frickin big, transformer. And here's a sequence showing the way they put together in Age of Extinction scene, basically creating a huge room out of nothing. And of course they also added transformers into the environment, meaning almost everything
[01:43] you see in the shot was created by the VFX team. And while that was a more static shot, there are plenty of incredible sequences with tons of movement. Here's a breakdown that shows a chase between two transformers in Dark of the Moon, where they not only fight each other,
[01:58] but also as per usual, wreak havoc on the environment around them. In this case, it's cool to see how the VFX team and the producers first used a real truck smashing into cars on the freeway. Then once the aliens were rendered, they replaced the trucks so it looks like the
[02:14] CG creatures were the ones smashing the cars aside. It's also pretty fun to see the vibrant colors they used during the VFX process to distinguish between each CG element. Now sometimes they actually
[02:26] didn't want us to see individual characters, as in the case of the Mega Transformer Devastator. It was made up of six to eight separate Earth moving vehicles, so they needed to be able to create those individual transformers and then seamlessly integrate them into one huge creature.
[02:42] First we needed to build all the vehicles he was constructed out of, and then from all those parts we started to assemble this massive robot Devastator. Interestingly enough, Michael Bay wasn't happy with the lack of details at first when the VFX team presented it. We had to go back and almost double
[02:58] the model in terms of complexity. It wasn't just the characters like Devastator who were larger than life. The assets and the memory it took to create them were huge in the real world. They used more memory and computer space for revenge of the fallen than any other film ILM had ever made.
[03:15] They were so big we used up more memory in space than any other film in the history of the company. Speaking of sheer magnitude of VFX sequences, starting with the revenge of the fallen, they had to hire entire teams just for certain scenes. This was the case with the aircraft carrier
[03:31] sequence. They hired a squad of VFX experts who only worked on that sequence, and on screen, there were thousands of little people put into the aircraft carrier demolition sequence, and the VFX team created them from scratch. They also had to think about everything that would be
[03:47] on the ship and create those just so they could be blown up. So you have to replicate everything that would be in the real world just so you can tear all the pieces. Of course, the people in the movies weren't strictly ones created with CG. The movies are full of actors who have to first act
[04:01] in front of a green screen so that the VFX teams can integrate them into shots in post. Here's a great look at the bridge sequence in dark of the moon, where you get to see the entire sequence take shape. First, we see how the bridge was composited from scratch, and then how they
[04:16] started to fill in the background and the characters. It's a really awesome breakdown of each moment, as the actor is flung from inside the car as it transforms and then caught by the transformer and placed back into the passenger seat when it transforms back into a car.
[04:30] And of course, blowing things up or smashing them to smithereens is a big part of these movies. But when you start to pay attention to the sheer amount of detail they show in each frame, it's pretty mind-blowing. Like this sequence from dark of the moon, where you see both outside and
[04:45] inside the office building as it gets basically anaconda to pieces. You can see they were paying attention to each shard of glass and piece of the building, as well as the various parts of the transformer ripping the building to shreds. Okay, I'm going to go drive my car around and see
[05:00] if there are any buttons that secretly turn it into a speaking alien slash robot. You never know, maybe they hide that button. Have any thoughts about the VFX for transformers? Pop them in the comments.