In Spider-Man: Homecoming, Peter Parker balances his life as an ordinary high school student in Queens with his superhero alter-ego, and finds himself on the trail of a new villain prowling the skies of New York City.
Luma worked on 11 sequences, totalling nearly 500 shots between the Los Angeles and Melbourne studios. As big fans of one of Marvel's most loveable superheros, we were thrilled to work on this new and exciting take on Spider-Man.
A rookie Spider-Man goes out and about in the neighbourhood on his first adventure trying to stop petty crime: he’s clumsy, slightly awkward and flies from location to location leaving situations worse off than he found them. Luma created and animated a full CG Spider-Man, keeping in line with the comedic undertone of the film. The lighting team created eight different light rigs to match all the different environments that Spider-Man swings through.
Spider-Man suits up and heads into the city, where he spots four robbers breaking into an ATM using alien tech weapons. It was up to the Luma crew to build upon what was filmed and help editorial drive the sequence for continuity and dramatic effect. The crew did everything from painting out wrinkles on Spider-Man’s suit, to augmenting Spider-Man’s plate performance, to adding fully CG fabricated shots.
A full CG Spider-Man was created for various stunts that couldn’t be practically performed. Animation Supervisor Raphael A. Pimentel was on set for the motion capture shoot with Jon Watts and Janek Sirrs while they directed Tom Holland’s performance. Staying on beat was key for the animation team in order to nail the fast pace and comical tone. Luma also created CG weaponry including the gravity gun, shot gun and Spider-Man’s webbing.
VFX Supervisor Kevin Souls was on set in Atlanta during the filming of the Suburban Chase sequence, where Spider-Man runs through backyards chasing a van carrying alien technology. Luma implemented a day-for-night treatment and added in a full CG Spider-Man.
Spider-Man’s web attaches to the moving van and is dragged through the neighborhood. On set, the crew shot both a stunt double on a mat getting dragged by a van travelling at 30mph and a van travelling at full speed without a stunt double. Luma used the latter portion of shots and added a virtual Spider-Man—giving the crew more control and the ability to increase the dramatic effect. In some shots, Luma also replaced the vehicle with a CG van to tinker with the timing.
The lake scene was shot in a pool in Atlanta with a stuntman in a Spider-Man suit sinking underwater surrounded by a photographic parachute. Luma was tasked with creating a full CG environment for this, including the lake and bridge with cars driving past.
Luma received Digital Domain’s Vulture Mark I asset and rigged it specifically for this sequence. The animation team dealt with the challenge of animating the weighty wing-suit, while also making sure it was dynamic enough to fight with a swift and speedy Spider-Man. “We like to ground our characters in real world physics, so our animators use a variety of tools to track speed, gravity and archs: it’s easier to bend the rules once you understand them”, says Raphael.
The Damage Control sequence was shot at night with two stuntmen. Luma recreated many of the photographic shots in full CG including the Vulture, Spider-Man, truck and environment. The team also created the portal—the alien technology that allows Spider-Man and Vulture to travel through the roof of the truck.
“The most challenging thing was the mix of elements: we had everything from the green screen atop of the truck to the real photography to full virtual versions of the environment, truck and characters. We also had to do full day-to-night conversions to essentially make it look as seamless as possible so that the audience couldn’t notice the difference between the three sets,” says Kevin.
Luma created a full CG Vulture and Vulture platform at the start of the film. The asset team enhanced the model from another vendor with textural refinements and built Vulture’s shader network to work it into the pipeline. From there, the animation crew brought the Vulture to life as he swoops into the lab in a dramatic entrance.
Luma also created the disintegration effect on Bryce's character.
