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Business Upturn
2 days ago
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- Business Upturn
Netflix's One Piece Season 2: Everything we know so far about Chopper's live-action debut
By Aman Shukla Published on June 1, 2025, 17:30 IST Last updated June 1, 2025, 10:46 IST The highly anticipated second season of Netflix's live-action One Piece adaptation is generating buzz, especially around the introduction of Chopper, the Straw Hat Pirates' adorable and skilled doctor. As fans eagerly await updates, here's everything we know so far about Chopper's first look and role in One Piece Season 2. Who is Chopper? Tony Tony Chopper is a beloved character from Eiichiro Oda's One Piece manga and anime. A reindeer who ate the Hito Hito no Mi Devil Fruit, Chopper gained human-like intelligence and the ability to transform between reindeer, hybrid, and human-like forms. As the Straw Hat Pirates' doctor, he brings heart, humor, and medical expertise to Luffy's crew. His debut in Season 2 is expected to cover the Drum Island arc, where Chopper's backstory and recruitment unfold. Chopper's First Look in One Piece Season 2 Netflix unveiled Chopper's first look in One Piece Season 2 during the Tudum 2025 event on May 31, thrilling fans worldwide. The reveal came during a livestream featuring cast members Iñaki Godoy (Luffy), Mackenyu (Zoro), Emily Rudd (Nami), Jacob Romero (Usopp), and Taz Skylar (Sanji), who introduced a short clip showcasing Tony Tony Chopper in his live-action form. Chopper's CGI design, developed by visual-effects company Framestore, stays true to Eiichiro Oda's vision. With his signature blue nose, antlers, and iconic red hat, the adorable reindeer-doctor has already sparked plenty of online discussion. While Mackenyu described him as 'the cutest,' fan reactions have been mixed, with some praising the design's charm and others expressing reservations. Mikaela Hoover, known for roles in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and The Suicide Squad , provides both the voice and facial motion capture for Chopper. She shared her excitement about portraying a character with such a 'huge heart,' emphasizing the emotional depth behind Chopper's soft-spoken nature. Aman Shukla is a post-graduate in mass communication . A media enthusiast who has a strong hold on communication ,content writing and copy writing. Aman is currently working as journalist at
Yahoo
24-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Paddington in Peru' VFX Studio Reveals Secrets of Bringing the Lovable Bear to Life, From Human Stand-Ins to 4K Fur (EXCLUSIVE)
With 'Paddington in Peru' now on its second week of adventures in U.S. cinemas and having hit a global box office of $125 million, VFX powerhouse Framestore has lifted the lid on how it brought the entirely CG bear — and much of his surroundings — to life. In a VFX breakdown video exclusively given to Variety, the company has unveiled the work that went into not just creating Paddington Bear, but the vast array of other animals that feature in film, the exotic Peruvian locations, including the Home for Retired Bears (mostly shot in a U.K. studio), and a scene in which Paddington takes control (badly) of a riverboat careering down a chopping jungle river (again, shot in the U.K.). The video shows Ben Whishaw — who voices Paddington — in the studio, recording the lines and also embodying the bear emotionally so his face can be used as reference for VFX, others (including animation director Pablo Grillo) standing in for the bear for the CG to be added later and also the shoot that took place in the real life Machu Picchu. More from Variety 'Peter Hujar's Day' Releases First Look Following Sundance Sale Ben Whishaw's Banner Year: The 'Black Doves' and 'Peter Hujar's Day' Star on Refusing to Be Pigeonholed and Playing Characters Whose Sexuality Isn't Their 'Defining Characteristic' Box Office: 'Captain America: Brave New World' Inaugurates a $40 Million Opening Day Alongside the video, Framestore has also provided a few facts about making 'Paddington in Peru,' which was produced by StudioCanal and released by Sony in the U.S. In the film, Paddington's fur was multiplied by 4 times as much as on the 'Paddington 2' to make sure the design translated into 4k resolution. Everything Paddington touches is CG, so the VFX team had to build digital versions of any prop he interacts with. The llamas in the film were all CG. In order to create them, the team first had to visit a llama sanctuary to 'cast' their hero llama (a 'fine specimen' named Diesel). Paddington's duffle coat was recreated, to achieve greater movement, drape, and texture, using a new cloth solver called Carbon. For reference, they used stand-ins wearing the coat to see how it would move, react and interact. For Paddington's roar, they needed to create specific facial shapes and pay closer attention to the inside of his mouth. On set, leaf blowers generated 'wind' to interact with the roar, to make it more realistic. Machu Picchu was not closed off for filming, so the original background plates contain other visitors and tourists that had to be removed using digital matte painting. The rig for the riverboat was suspended 10-12 feet from the ground, in order to be able to simulate the movement on the rough water. Capturing the background plates for the riverboat scene required a 5 camera array, all shooting in 4k. The total render time for 'Paddington in Peru' reached an incredible 88,884,749 hours (or 10,146 years), across Framestore's studios in London, Montreal, and Mumbai. See Framestore's VFX breakdown video below Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week Grammy Predictions, From Beyoncé to Kendrick Lamar: Who Will Win? Who Should Win? What's Coming to Netflix in February 2025
Yahoo
24-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Paddington in Peru's use of previz turned a London studio into a jungle
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Paddington in Peru's visual effects are beautifully real, often vert subtle, and occasionally bamboozling – you'll rewatch Paddington's perilous adventure to find Aunt Lucy and wonder, 'how was that done?'. Well, I caught up with Sylvain Degrotte, VFX Supervisor at Framestore London to uncover how some of the best shots were made, but importantly how previz and techviz made recreating jungles in London. Sylvain has also shed light on how how the team animated Paddington in a previous feature, and VFX colleague Mark Curtis, a VFX Supervisor from Framestore Montreal, shared how the ruined Citadel was created for the film's finale. Here Sylvain lets us in on how previz and techviz connected London's studio team to that in the beaches and jungles of Columbia. If you're inspired, read Framestore's career advice, and our guide to the best 3D modelling software, but read on to discover how Framestore created the visuals for Paddington in Peru. Sylvain begins by telling me the Framestore team had limited input into the creative choices when it came to previz and techviz, because a lot of the work was done at the storyboard stage by Pablo, Alexis (Wajsbrot, Production VFX Supervisor), but says "our involvement was limited to the cherries on top", meaning Framestore got to work on the key shots and sequences. Key to making things work for Paddington in Peru was the dynamic between location filming, work on-set in London and compositing elements. Sylvain explains that, 'On this movie previz was essential: we were shooting plates in Colombia and plates in London. So the previz and the techviz, in particular, were very important for planning the shoot and for planning work in both locations". Highlighting the set-build on the beach sequence Sylvain says the team first visited Colombia to get lidar scans. This information was given to techviz, which then goes to the prop builder who analyse it and creates the physical build. Then the beach can be inserted digitally into the Colombian plate. "Previz also helps when you have limited time in a hard-to-access location," says Sylvain who explains: "We did previz for the river rapid sequence that was shot in Columbia, because it helps you lock down your sequence, identify the necessary cameras, the speed of the boat and so on." Using previz for the project, Sylvain tells me the previz informed how the team would be shooting elements in Colombia and London in a cohesive way. "To start with, our previz team built their 3D environment based on real-world data," begins Sylvain, who then adds: "FPS then converted their previz into techviz that gave useful information for the on-set supervision team regarding the focal length, position and speed of the boat, cameras and actors. All of this contributed to the planning and efficiency of the shoot, which benefited the VFX team immensely." He adds: "Additionally, FPS helped in a novel way to replicate drone motion for the last shot of the Browns on the beach going in the forest. It was shot with a drone in Colombia, and we needed to shoot the same camera movement in London with the actors. "We worked closely with our on-set supervisor Rob Duncan and the drone company (Helicopter Girls) to send them some useful data so that they could position and reproduce the same camera motion that was done weeks before in a completely different part of the world. The two pieces of footage that we received tracked really well with each other so we were able to assemble a first version of the shot quite quickly.' Have you seen Paddington in Peru? What did you think of the film's visual effects?
Yahoo
23-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Making Paddington in Peru 'just made us smile', says VFX Supervisor
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Paddington in Peru continues to surprise as we dig into how it's visual effects were created. The film has a breathtakingly chaotic, near slapstick finale as the beloved marmalade-loving bear is chased around 'The Citadel', an ancient city ruin high in the Andes that acts as the gateway to El Dorado, Paddington's home. So how was it made? After discovering why Paddington feels so real in our interview with Framestore London's VFX Supervisor Sylvain Degrotte, who explained how the animation behind the movie was made. Below we turn to Mark Curtis, VFX Supervisor, at Framestore Montreal, to discover how The Citidel was made. In some visual effects films it's all about the explosions, the action and the crazy camera movements, but this is really fun in a different way. Overseeing the creation of Framestore's work for the film, Mark begins by noting that, 'There are a couple of very nuanced sequences within The Citadel" that makes the whole sequence and use of the CG environment very unique. In the film Paddington finally arrives at The Citadel and is very disappointed – his search for Aunt Lucy means there are moments where he gets very excited because he thinks he is on the right track and there are other moments where he is really disheartened. And at The Citadel there's a moment when Paddington has a conversation with us, the audience, about his sadness of maybe not finding Aunt Lucy. "That's one of the magical parts of the Paddington movies," says Mark. "In some visual effects films it's all about the explosions, the action and the crazy camera movements, but this is really fun in a different way." In terms of the complexity of the digital build of the Citadel, Mark recalls, 'There were technical and creative challenges". The Framestore artists were trying to base the build of this citadel on two realities. Marl explains, "there was plate photography from the real Machu Picchu and there was the on-set build inspired by the site but that took some creative licence. We had to make it work in both settings." Creating The Citadel was a challenge because it's a surprisingly large city, with a huge amount of building and vegetation to create, as well as many individual sequences that needed to pull those buildings in to create the sense of one cohesive environment. "But, we didn't build a huge city," reflects Mark. "We had so many little bespoke, one-off sequences, that we ended up crafting mini sections of The Citadel around each little set-build. Therefore, when we had specific camera angles and specific directions, we could really art direct saying, 'Okay, we want a little building here, we want to see a silhouette of 'X' here'." He continues: "Then the other thing we have to factor in is, 'Okay, how overgrown is this?' It isn't Machu Picchu. This is another Citadel that's been discovered by Paddington and Hunter." Nowadays Machu Picchu is very clean but the Framestore team wanted to introduce the idea that this is a new discovery. This meant re-adding a huge amount of vegetation in order to connect the real-world Machu Picchu photography, which was clean and tidy, with the on-set build, which was more overgrown, natural and unspoilt. Just in terms of the scope of the build, it was one of the most complicated we had to do. "We ended up mapping out this semi-logical idea of the lower portion of the city being more exposed, more dry, less overgrown so that we could connect with the real photography and then a central section that was less overgrown and that could connect with the on-set build," says Mark. "And then when you go into the area where it's fully digital, that's when we were really able to get the overgrowth and jungle feel that Dougal Wilson [the director] was after." Mark continues, "So, just in terms of the scope of the build, it was one of the most complicated we had to do. There were layers and layers of technical and creative challenges. Even before we started building the Citadel, we took a modular approach. When we realised that one sort of coherent city build wasn't going to work, we were then able to break down the modular elements and create individual sections." Within these smaller sections, previz was still useful. Mark tells me how previz was used redefine the chaotic chase sequence through and around The Citadel, saying previz was used "as inspiration rather than a concrete case of 'reproduce this'". Mark reflects: "The fun part, and the tricky part, is navigating an environment that's recognisably Peruvian while, at the same time, very much not actually equalling Machu Picchu – anything that veered too much in that direction had to go." In visualising and realising The Citadel, the team applied photogrammetry to the process and Mark notes that, "We had scans of certain sections of Machu Picchu and scans of certain sections of the set build, and that helped us build up a language of what these places looked like". He explains how the VFX team created a kit of buildings and building sections, based either on the scans of the set or the scans of the location. This was then used to craft new areas and buildings from the kit of parts; taking an element from one building and a wall section from another to create new individual buildings that look different from each other. "You can procedurally scatter out a city across the terraces and then get in and art direct how you want a building today," says Mark. "We had a whole team that was dedicated to set dressing: whether that was positioning individual buildings or positioning individual plants. It was an intricate process." Mark brings our conversation to a conclusion by emphasising that, 'One of the best things about the project was how the spirit of collaboration spread across all of the postproduction and it was really a wonderful experience working with Dougal and Rosie Alison (Producer) and Pablo Grillo (Animation Director) and Alexis Wajsbrot (Production VFX Supervisor). "Everyone was very open. It was a hugely positive experience. It was all about bringing this bear to life who embodies kindness and tolerance and positivity, and I think that's reflected in the making of this film," observes Mark. You're going in every day and seeing stuff that makes you smile and that's a reward in itself. Everyone has Paddington in their hearts." Paddington in Peru was Mark's first Paddington film and he says it comes with a huge amount of responsibility. The lovable bear has become an iconic, much-loved character, particularly in the UK but also globally. "For me, it's very exciting to be involved and take that legacy and expand it," notes Mark who elaborates: "Before, we've been very used to seeing Paddington in London and experiencing what it is to be British and so it was really exciting to take him out of his comfort zone and expand his universe. He continues: "And I don't just mean creating a jungle, or creating a city, but also expanding his universe in terms of his family. In this film we introduced the retired bears and the El Dorado bears and his whole tribe, and it was fun to expand it. More than anything the best part of working on a Paddington film is going into dailies and seeing the humour and enjoying what you're seeing. "Sometimes our work can be quite abstract ('make this tiger run up a staircase') whereas with Paddington, you're going in every day and seeing stuff that makes you smile and that's a reward in itself. Everyone has Paddington in their hearts." Did you watch Paddington in Peru, and what did you think of Framestore's VFX work? Has it made you boot up one of the best 3D modelling apps and get creating? Let us know in the Comments below.
