r/westworld • u/jaythevfxguy Jay Worth • May 07 '18
It’s Westworld VFX Supervisor Jay Worth, Ask Me Anything!
Bring yourselves back online, Reddit! It’s Westworld’s VFX Supervisor Jay Worth. Even though I’m busy cranking away in the laboratory creating more hosts, go ahead, AMA!
Proof: https://twitter.com/WestworldHBO/status/992529131404513281
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u/markh110 May 07 '18
What's the shot you're most proud of that we wouldn't even know you poured hours of effort into?
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u/jaythevfxguy May 07 '18
Wow... yeah - a lot of those "simple" shots - last season it was the people mover pulling into the arrivals terminal... man that one was a pain for some reason - to the right subtle movement, the perspective - all of it. We shot in the LA Convention Center and while the space was awesome - it was tricky to get right
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u/nan_adams May 07 '18
What effect would we be surprised to learn was practical as opposed to CGI?
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u/jaythevfxguy May 07 '18 edited May 07 '18
The bird in season 1! It was amazing - they trained a bird to lay on its back and then pop up. We did a composite of it to make it glitch and fly around the room - but that bird is all real.
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u/Tokyono May 07 '18
What's your favourite bit of VFX you've done for the show?
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u/jaythevfxguy May 07 '18
So I would have to say it was 2 - Dolores' full robot body in the finale last season and Young Ford - both of those were an incredible challenge and we were super happy with the results. A company in Sweden - Important Looking Pirates (ILP) did those for us... they are incredible
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u/jahkut May 07 '18
Back in the very first episode, where Ford is drinking with an old-timey host, was his movements altered in post in any way or was it all practical? His robotic movements seemed way too good to be just an actor mimicking the robot.
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u/jaythevfxguy May 07 '18
Yeah - creating the Old Bill look was a lot of fun... we did a lot of composite work to alter his performance and give him that more mechanical vibe. The artists at COSA VFX did a great job to make it subtle and unique...
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u/bbravfx May 07 '18
Who is your favorite on-set supervisor? :)
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u/jaythevfxguy May 07 '18
this guy named Joe is awesome:).
Actually - we can't do any of what we do without our entire team. Especially you Bruce...
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u/Kishara May 07 '18
How did the hand get made for Armistice?
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u/jaythevfxguy May 07 '18
For Armistice new robot hand - we designed it with our make-up effects team on the show - Justin Raleigh and his team - so we actually had a very cool robotic glove for wide shots - but we took a lot of inspiration from what we created with the boys face and dolores body - and wanted to give is a vibe like it had been re-purposed a number of times - so all the scuff marks and detail work I think really added to the realism and cool factor.
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May 07 '18
Hi Jay. CGI from HBO shows are always awesome. Thanks for this amazing job.
How long takes to render a heavy cgi episode, in average?
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u/jaythevfxguy May 07 '18
really depends... for something like the tiger - single frames take hours rendering on a massive render farm - but other things render locally on a machine in a matter of minutes... But yeah - for something like the tiger with all the layers and passes - one change and we were in for a full weekend render on that one.
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u/mrsimpellizzeri May 07 '18
I have no questions... just MUCH LOVE because you guys do an AWESOME job!
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u/AreYouMyMummy May 07 '18
Which departments work on a scene like the one where Dolores has her head and neck but the rest of her body is the robotic skeleton?
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May 07 '18
First of all, thanks so much for doing this! To me the visual effects of Westworld are so far beyond any other show on TV right now, and that visual style is one of the main things that drew me into the show initially. You can really see how much love has gone into the show, and the environments are so incredibly immersive.
My question for you is, what effect have you most enjoyed creating during your time working on the show? Or, on the flipside, is there one particular effect that proved much more tricky to achieve than you initially thought?
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u/plzsnitskyreturn May 07 '18
How happy were you when you read the script and the tiger was only in that one scene?
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May 07 '18
The snow in the final scene of last nights episode was so beautiful and ethereal. How was that effect created?
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u/majoritics May 07 '18
Today it seems like nothing is impossible for VFX, but have you run into a situation that was nearly impossible to pull off?
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u/majoritics May 07 '18
What's the collaboration process like with the director, producers and other VFX artists?
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u/BillOakley May 07 '18
Are the drone hosts an all CGI effect, or is there some practical work involved in there too?
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May 07 '18
What are the simplest things on screen which are actually vfx - but we never know it? Do you think vfx is more effective than practical effects in some cases?
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u/jaythevfxguy May 07 '18
Hate to do it... but gotta get back to delivering more of these episodes. Thanks for all the great questions...