The Warner Bros. blockbuster I am Legend has been getting attention for its visual effects depicting New York City after a nasty virus has all but wiped out mankind. Taking another angle on that concept, Hollywood-based Eden FX has completed digital effects and matte paintings for The History Channel’s two-hour special Life After People. Working for client Flight 33 Prods., Eden designed and produced more than 30 digital vfx shots for the program, which will air at 9 p.m. on Jan. 21.
Life After People explores the question of what, if anything, will be left behind should humans cease to exist on this planet. Eden was charged with digitally destroying a number of world-famous landmarks, including the Sears Tower, Seattle’s Space Needle, the Hoover Dam, Buckingham Palace, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Arc de Triomphe, as well as such major metropolises as New York City and Chicago.
John Gross, who co-founded Eden FX with Mark Miller, comments, ‘This was the first time we had to digitally illustrate, in a highly artistic fashion, the destruction and decay of numerous renowned locales. In so doing, we developed a new approach to time-lapse photography, which we utilized for a number of shots, including the aging of a cornfield as it grows, withers and rots away, a car decaying over 80 years, and even the Hoover Dam crumbling and spilling out a massive amount of water. This was a challenging, and certainly different, project for us, which we delivered with a very fast turn-around.’
Eden FX has also completed visual effects work on the upcoming feature film Get Smart, which Warner Bros. will release on June 20. The company is now working on more than 200 vfx shots for Walden Media’s family adventure Nim’s Island, which stars Jodie Foster and Gerard Butler. Based on the book by Wendy Orr and Kerry Millard, the pic will be distributed by 20th Century Fox on April 4.
For more information on Life After People, see the official website at http://www.history.com/minisites/life_after_people.
