Written by Kianna Best on Jul 25, 2024. Posted in General Interest

Behind the Spiderverse

Sony Pictures FX and look of picture supervisor Pawel (Pav) Grochola gave us exclusive insights into how they crafted the animated world of Spiderman: Across the Spiderverse, including the complexities of creating Miles Morales and his web wielding friends, and experimenting with new tech tools.

At the beginning of his 20 year career in the VFX industry, Pav Grochola could not have anticipated where he would be taken. Starting out as a fine arts major, the world of computer graphics had barely opened around him. But he did his research into the new creative medium, which took him from working in Melbourne on commercials to the film world in London and now residing in LA overseeing major studio projects, including Best Animated Feature nominee Spiderman: Across the Spiderverse.

"Just being able to change up the visual style as you're entering all these different environments was a challenge."

Grochola explains to makers how they pushed boundaries of two dimension art during the creation of the latest animated Spiderman film.

DIFFERENT STYLES

“We had to create different styles for each world in the film,” Grochola explains ahead of his presentation at the Rendr Festival in Belfast, “so just being able to change up the visual style as you're entering all these different environments was a challenge. The R&D alone was a challenge but that’s what made it exciting for me and the crew, doing something that hasn’t been achieved yet. No matter what style we're in, we're always trying to achieve a 2D look. Each book has its own comic book style, but essentially there's still a flat element so there are certain visual qualities that medium shares.”

“He’s a non-conformist by default. Different parts of his body are offset in animation at different times."

A linework generation tool developed inhouse at called Kismet allowed the animation and FX team to recreate ink lines in different styles, creating a sense of cohesiveness while giving a different look and style to characters and locations. The film moves across timelines too and into different ‘spiderverses’ which range from an India-themed Manhattan to Queens 2099. The essence of the original comic book styling is maintained, facilitated by the consistent use of this line art.

To help achieve this look, the team enlisted the creative team at Slovakian studio Escape Motions which has developed a hyper-realistic painting application called Rebelle. Developing a water colour solver in this software and new brush stroking systems Escape Motions were able to emulate a wet-on-wet watercolour world. The idea was that it changes in every shot like a mood ring keyed to Gwen’s emotional state.

Sony’s animators built 3D visualisation tool FlixiVerse, allowing them to explore the diverse worlds as if they were real life film sets. This software enabled them to determine the best angles to capture each shot from, as well as the focal length in minutes. Traditionally, when done drawn by hand, this process could take two days. Using a video game controller, the film’s directors Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers and Justin Thompson could use FlixiVerse to block scenes even when those scenes dive between dimensions of the spiderverse.

SPIDER-PUNKED

Another demonstration of the leap forward from the first film is the introduction of new character Spider-Punk. The character is unlike any other that has been featured in the film or animated by the team. He explodes on screen, soundtracked by a shrieking guitar riff as a rock-star-slash-runway-model and animation designed to resemble a poster for a punk rock concert. With a different texture and frame rate of movement to all the others, Spider-Punk, also known as Hobie (voiced in a very recognisable London accent by Daniel Kaluuya), pushes the limits.

"Different parts of his body are offset in animation at different times. So, when he is in his jacket, he might be on threes (fps), but his guitars will be on twos, along with his body moving at different rates."

Frame rate is a significant element shared throughout both movies. Most animated movies, 24 frames per second (fps) is standard. Typically, animators will change poses and details every second frame – or “on the 2s.” But in the case of Hobie, his body pose changed every third frame, making his movement more staccato than the characters around him. But with the introduction of Hobie, the frame rates are played with significantly as the animators experiment with having separate elements – his vest, his outline, his guitar – move on separate frames.

“He’s a non-conformist by default,” says Grochola. “Different parts of his body are offset in animation at different times. So, when he is in his jacket, he might be on threes (fps), but his guitars will be on twos, along with his body moving at different rates. That all adds to his non conformity as he doesn’t just fit one style. The way that character evolved was such a difficult technical challenge because there are so many little elements to him.”

With a perpetual paper cut out around him, Hobie is forced to maneuver differently to the characters around him. Grochola described this as “copy and pasting” throughout the scene with every step he takes. This created a “knock on effect through the pipeline” of production since the character had to be monitored throughout every stage of his animation process.

"There are so many artists drawing by hand on the frame and that's part of the aesthetic that makes our films look more imagined, active and creative."

From Hobie’s gritty and slightly staccato movements to the water colour world of heroine Gwen inspired by the comic book art of Jason Latour, the creative choices did not come without risk. Grochola and the rest of the team often questioned how the final product would translate on screen but relished the risk this entailed.

“There are so many artists drawing by hand on the frame and that's part of the aesthetic that makes our films look more imagined, active and creative. It's really, really hard to fake that creative intensity and genuine creative spirit.”

IMPACT OF AI

Spiderman: Across the Spiderverse is an exemplar of the creative use of technology to service story and the deliver something new. The development AI tools (such as DALL-E 2, ImageFX and DreamStudio) could make high-end animation cheaper and more accessible than ever, but also call into question the future of the artform. Right now, Grochola remains unphased at the technology potentially overtaking the capabilities of the artist.

“As an artist who has used AI, I find it very unsatisfying. When you're creating artwork, you're going on a journey. It's like climbing a mountain. You pack your bags, you make your plan and then at every step, you look back and think, where have I been and where am I going? What does this look like? You're constantly making decisions at each step and learning about yourself along the way. All those choices are then baked into the final outcome of the work. It's so different with AI technology – that process doesn't exist. You’re teleported straight to an ending. It's deeply unsatisfying because there is no room for personal or artistic growth in that process.”

He continues, “Anyone that thinks that AI would be able to generate something like Spiderman: Across the Spiderverse has never been to a review session with a director. There are so many specific minor details that are being constantly combed over and questioned, adjusted and fixed. All these little decisions that you make create a whole greater than the sum of its parts.

“It’s like the old saying: ‘A good painting is a thousand small decisions.'’ I think AI will never replace artists, because artists create in order to understand themselves, and their place in the world. Audiences sense that authenticity. AI simply can't create that kind of work.”