GF400, LP093X, MH140, DB220
It's interesting how abstract numbers and letters can mean the world to visual effects artists. Over time, artists can often have a humorous conversation with just letters and numbers.. "Remember LP1420? Man, that sucked. I remember when we had to put that guy in that suit into that mechanical monstrosity." Eventually it becomes, "Remember that one shot from that show we did two years ago? With that colored thing? Make it like that." And somehow, it gets made like that. Even certain elements will become a staple in our vocabulary. sidesplash_14v12, static_flurries_7, schwap_14a. Ya, schwap_14a is totally awesome. You remember that shot that was totally just schwap_14a everywhere? Totally, it was LP093X, I think that's still online, lemme bring it up!
The imagery associated with a specific combination of numbers really shows how discreet we can get about our work. We can associate the names and faces of the people that worked on that shot to a particular mix of numbers and letters as well. After a while, it becomes normal, and a conversation on the street is sure to befuddle passerbys!
For the most part, these shot names are temporary. They only exist in our minds for the duration of the show, and completely thrown out at the end, save for those horrendous or cool shots that need a number to be remembered by. I remember several memorable shots only by their shot number. I couldn't tell you exactly how I completed the shot, but that SK9 was totally awesome and I had fun doing it.
Do you have a particular sequence of numbers and letters that you're especially proud of?
WH_A149_01: I'm still up to my neck in it.
brett
February 21, 2008 12:03 PM
How's the HF stuff fair up now that you've gone buck wild at DD? HF and HA still resonates with me, and of course my first show the st2za storm sequence. Most recently I'd say sw050/sw060 and ms010 from cl. woot.
davids
February 21, 2008 1:38 PM
Hehe.. I still rememeber the st2za sequences, even though I didn't work on any of that. Rolling cotton. Awesome. ;) The HF stuff still seems pretty good. We went pretty overboard, so I think it stands out well now. What would be the challenge is to look at those Constantine sequences in HD now, and see if we remember it like we did when we worked on it!
Aruna
February 21, 2008 1:54 PM
I'll never forget the shot: 102-DP01 for Across the universe. That was the most pain i've had on a shot ever. Other honorable mentions: OB010: For your constant stereo issues and water re-renders. GW-07: For your (at least) 8 or 9 precomps and endless iterations for about 1/2 a year. Right now, MD-024, I'll always rember you for being the shot that was never susposed to have CG, and for the 15+ iterations of animation that have come since :)
isotropy
February 21, 2008 6:18 PM
hey aruna,. nice topic... yeah i still remember the shots that im proud of .. SM02,SM07,SM09 ... the director was very pleased and emailed me personally saying.. "good job zak"
ZAK
February 22, 2008 2:44 AM