Digital Domain: The Curious Face of Benjamin Button March 18, 2009

Mark your calendars SIGGRAPH fans. Fresh from the Academy Awards, our friends from Digital Domain are flying north to show their work on Benjamin Button. The doors will open one hour early for an industry mixer sponsored by the BC Innovation Council. See you there!

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button presented a unique cinematic challenge: one actor playing the lead character over an 85 year span. In order to accomplish this feat, Digital Domain created a 100% 3D CG version of Brad Pitt's head to carry the title character's performance for fifty two minutes of the movie – over 325 shots. In this presentation, character supervisor Steve Preeg details the technology and artistry that led to an Academy Award® for achievement in visual effects. Beginning with the invention of a new process called 'e-motion capture' for transferring a live actor's likeness and performance to a CG model, it also includes everything from on-set data capture and editorial workflow, to facial expression and performance capture, to skin simulations and building a custom rig.

Eric Barba
Visual Effects Supervisor

Like David Fincher, Joseph Kosinski and many of the other top directors he collaborates with, Eric Barba is equally comfortable working in the worlds of film and advertising. His visual effects credits span films including The Fifth Element, Supernova, Zodiac and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button to dozens of high-end commercials for Nike, Heineken, Jaguar, Lexus and many other leading brands.

In 2002, Eric oversaw the effects on a Fincher-directed commercial for Adidas that garnered multiple top awards. Since then, Eric has worked on every one of Fincher's commercial and film projects, including a Nine Inch Nails music video, spots for Nike, Motorola, HP and other advertisers, Zodiac and Button. Eric was involved with the Button project since its inception, developing the team to approach creating a digital human used in the 2004 test that helped sell the project to the studio. Eric also directs commercials himself, including campaigns and spots for American Express, Nike and Honda. Prior to joining Digital Domain in 1996, Eric worked at Steven Spielberg's Amblim Imaging on shows including SeaQuest DSV, Star Trek: The Next Generation, the Emmy award-winning pilot of Star Trek Voyager, and others. He is a graduate of the Art Center College of Design.

Steve Preeg
Character & Animation Supervisor

Steve has been creating digital characters for more than a decade, for movies including The Final Fantasy, The Lord of the Rings films: Return of the King and The Two Towers, King Kong, and I Robot. He recently received an Academy Award® for his work as Character Supervisor on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Steve also created visual effects for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Flags of Our Fathers and other movies. He holds a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

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