Framestore CFC Gives The 'Bear Necessities' To 'The Golden Compass'

'The Golden Compass' which opened on the 5 December 2007 in the UK is the big winter blockbuster of 2007/08. In the tradition of the Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter series, the film brings to the screen a favourite multi-volume best-seller featuring young protagonists, magical creatures and perilous quests. Framestore CFC provided the film with one of its heroes, the massive armoured polar bear, Iorek Byrnison, voiced by Ian McKellen.
Based on Northern Lights, the first book of Philip Pullman's award-winning trilogy, The Golden Compass takes place in a parallel universe. Like our own in many ways, this world is one in which magic is a fact of life and people wear their souls on their sleeves in the form of daemons - animal companions that travel inseparably as part of every person. The story opens on our young heroine, Lyra Belacqua (Dakota Blue Richards), a girl on the cusp of adolescence, curious and determined, who embarks on an extraordinary journey from the academic cloisters of Oxford to the magical heart of the frozen roof of the world. She must deal with many strange and ambiguous characters en route, including her uncle, Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig), the sinister Marisa Coulter (Nicole Kidman), and assorted travellers, adventurers and witches.
Iorek Byrnison is her companion and helpmate through the latter part of her journey. Lyra first encounters him in the port of Trollesund, where he has become a drunken has-been, deprived of honour and his precious armour. With Lyra's encouragement, Iorek pulls himself together and joins her on her quest. Later, when they reach the kingdom of the bears from which he's been exiled, Iorek has a dramatic and deadly showdown with the wicked usurper, Ragnar (voiced by Ian McShane and also created by Framestore CFC), an epic battle which elicited audience cheers and applause at the film's London premiere.
The team began their work with models based on real anatomy and physical structure, informed by a huge library of accumulated reference material - photos, videos, specially shot live-footage, even a talk by an experienced wildlife cameraman. Once the 'real' polar bear model, rig and fur groom were established, the anatomical fictions required by the action (such as opposable thumbs) were interpolated into the work in progress. In addition, models were created which helped define the different physical traits of Iorek and Ragnar. It was decided early on that Iorek's eye height when he was on all fours would match that of Lyra, making conversation between the two easier and more companionable. Proportionately, this meant that when rearing up, Iorek was about 11 feet tall.
Iorek's beautiful armour is as much a part of him as the humans' daemon companions. It presented the Framestore CFC team with several unique challenges, as it meant fitting one CG element on top of another in such a way that it would still move naturally and interact with the bear's shaggy coat convincingly. There is, as they discovered, a big difference between armour that looks good in a still picture or model, and armour that will function well in motion or in a fight.
The armour is described as being made of 'sky iron'. The look of it evolved into simple, organic plate shapes and complex surface colour and qualities. The basic armour material looked similar to freshly smelted pig iron, with an uneven, pitted surface, weathered and battle-worn. Its magical look derived from a complex and unexpected blend of colours, as well as specularities, reflection and iridescence in the highlights and worn areas where plates rubbed against each other.
The exteriors for the ride sequences, as well as the outside environment during the climactic bear fight, were another purely CG element that the Framestore CFC were responsible for. Early in pre-production Martin Macrae, Digital Environment Supervisor, pored over hours of Genesis HD material and thousands of high res digital stills that Fink had shot on the real island of Svalbard at the North Pole. Along with concept designs provided by the production Art Department, this material enabled the team to create the necessary snowbound environments.
The biggest challenge posed by the interior of Ragnar's Palace, described in the book as a cold, dark, decaying environment filled with dense smoke from seal blubber lamps and an assortment of architectural styles, was lighting and compositing the sequence. The Framestore CFC team had to bring together Lyra's greenscreen elements (often requiring heavy grades to balance the sequence), 2D plate elements of flaming flambeau's, many layers of 3D for Ragnar, the armoured guard bears, 3D digital environment and FX passes for smoke and God rays. Taken together, it required a masterly touch to bring it off.
Another layer of animation realism was brought to the table by CG Supervisors Laurent Hugueniot and Andy Kind.
Audiences and reviewers alike are singling out Iorek and the bears as a favourite element in The Golden Compass.
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