In early May 2014, Direct Dimensions was contacted by a film production company about helping to create a music video for the band called Liars. The producers and director had a very clear vision of what they wanted to do in the video (see the Featured Video), which was show the creation and destruction of replicas of the band members heads. With extensive experience 3D scanning actors for film VFX as well as with digital fabrication and 3D printing, we were confident that we could help realize this vision.
After working closely with the producers to help them understand the capabilities and limitations of 3D scanning and digital fabrication, our Art Director Harry Abramson established a process using 3D scanning, digital modeling, and digital fabrication in order to make the duplicate heads.
In late May we gathered some of our 3D scanning equipment and traveled to Brooklyn, New York to a fabrication studio. We used our recently developed system of lights and a single DSLR camera to capture the band members busts using photogrammetry. For redundancy, we also used a handheld 3D scanner from Artec to augment this data.
Back in the office, we assembled the photographs and 3D scan data into high-resolution full color 3D digital models for each bust. We had perfected these techniques over the past decade with our work in the movie industry providing super high-resolution 3D digital models of many famous actors including Ben Stiller, Jamie Foxx, Emma Stone, Natalie Portman, and many more. These digital models are used to make the incredible visual effects we all get to enjoy.
Because the narrative of the video was not just about the destruction of the head duplicates, but also about the process itself, the production thoroughly documented the behind the scenes process of our 3D scanning, filming the entire process from the initial set-up to the scanning and even throughout the digital modeling phase of putting the raw data together.
Seeing this process every day, we often take for granted how incredibly interesting this all can be. But as you will see in the video, 3D scanning can look exciting (and even sexy) when highlighted by this type of genre.
Here is the final music video from Liars on the website Nowness and SPIN.
It is awesome to see 3D scanning featured in mainstream art forms such as music videos. Likely this exposure for 3D scanning will generate a lot of interest and maybe even more demand for how it can be used to create new visualizations, sculptures, and art in general.
Direct Dimensions has amassed an extensive portfolio of 3D scanning for VFX in movies, TV, and even another music video for David Bowie which specifically featured our 3D scanning. Below is a list of the more major films and projects.
David Bowie Music Video, 2013
X-Men: Days of Futures Past, 2014
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, 2014
Birdman, 2014
Amazing Spiderman 2, 2014
Winter’s Tale, 2014
Noah, 2014
Secret Life of Walter Mitty, 2013
Smurfs 2, 2013
Gods Behaving Badly, 2013
Hunger Games, 2012
The Dictator, 2012
Men in Black 3, 2012
Gotham, 2012
Black Swan, 2010