"Gothika," a contemporary ghost story that opens today, marks the debut of digital fire effects created by effects house CafeFX, a ComputerCafe company. Fire is a central motif in the motion picture, and CafeFX was challenged to develop custom software for fire shading and motion in key sequences.
CafeFX completed nearly 60 VFX shots for "Gothika," which stars Halle Berry, Robert Downey, Jr. and Penelope Cruz. "We haven't seen extensive use of digital fire before," said Jeff Goldman, CafeFX's digital-effects supervisor. "It's usually 2D fire composited onto a moving stunt man. But with that method you can't adjust what you get; the performance is fixed. 'Gothika' director Mathieu Kassovitz wanted the fire to have a specific look and to use it in close-ups." CafeFX created an approach that provided an underlying structure that they could control and enhance with live-action elements.
The most extensive, and dramatic, use of digital fire came in the climax where the killer is revealed. While shooting at his pursuer, the murderer hits a computer monitor that explodes in a shower of CG glass and sparks, which were created with Lightwave 3D. Another shot ruptures a gas line, spraying liquid propane into the room in a practical mist effect to which CafeFX added animated noise patterns and real smoke to drive distortion tools in eyeon's Digital Fusion compositing program. Finally, the killer shoots out a TV screen, which sparks and ignites the room in a fireball, setting him ablaze in the process.
"Our digital fire had to track to the actor as he moved and the flames envelop him," Ebner says. "Although burn make-up was applied to the actor, it couldn't grow with the progression of the burn. Eyetronics scanned the actor and provided a model and textures, which we modified and created maps of skin burning and changing color as it charred." The maps were applied to the CG model and match-moved to the actor's performance so audiences could see the burn's horrifying progress.
"One of the hardest things to do was match-move the fire to the actor," recalls Ebner. "We had to track rigid parts of the body as well as soft tissue. We had to be really accurate because the fine details of the flesh burning and blistering couldn't slide around on his skin."
The movie's visual-effects supervisor Erik Henry had worked with CafeFX on "Battlefield Earth" and "Dracula 2000." The company developed the fire shaders in just three months. "We got the initial idea in June and by August we were putting it into practice," Henry said.
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