Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire
Columbia Pictures / Ghost Corps
“The Spengler family returns to the iconic New York City firehouse where the original Ghostbusters have taken ghost-busting to the next level. When the discovery of an ancient artifact unleashes an evil force, Ghostbusters new and old must unite to protect their home and save the world from a second ice age.”
Who ya gonna call?
Ghostbusters 1984 is one of those rare films that seems to permeate society. Everyone knows what a Ghostbuster is, and most have fond memories of dressing up as one for Halloween, at one time or another.
So naturally when I heard the call for compositors on a new film set in New York, I had to answer.
The Sewer Dragon
My first major tasks on this project was helping lookdev, and template the overall treatment for the Hells Kitchen Sewer Dragon. This giant blue, transparent, undead, half fish, half monster, proved to be quite a challenge to bring together…
There was a strong focus on the transparency of the creature, and how visible the internal skeleton was over the plates. In the beginning I was finding it difficult to get the read we were looking for, so I worked with the lighting, and lookdev departments to provide the comp team with a method of adjusting the skeleton density, and motion blur values per shot, to help get a better read, no matter what was behind the dragon.
Overall it turned out pretty spooky, and fun to work with
Pukey
Another cool new ghost I got to work on was the loveably gross Pukey. The possessed potato creature that makes two brief appearances in the film, and manages to spew forth green ectoplasm both times, was an immediate favorite of mine.
For Pukey I worked with my comp supervisor, the lighting supe/leads, and the VFX supe to nail down how he would look in the two environments he existed in. As you can probably imagine, there was a great deal of time spent making the puke look as gross as possible, and many discussions were had about the appropriate color, translucency, and viscosities to do so
Another typical day in New York City
Watching a new Ghostbusters movie in the theater, that I was fortunate enough to be a part of was quite a surreal experience. Something about this franchise always seems to bring a smile to my face, and I hope this movie does the same for you!
