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For the soon to be released New York, I Love You, a collection of a dozen short films on the theme of encountering love within New York City’s five boroughs, Bair designed and hand animated elaborate main titles.
A snapshot of life in the City in extreme fast motion, the sequence is basically a time lapse of the Union Square market and cityscapes, all of which he stylized and colored to create a mood, and then added a huge, hand written, hand animated piece of text that writes on screen the film’s title.
In addition, GFX’s Bair, Connolly and Compositor Scott Winston, executed a majority of the films visual effects shots, 40 in all, from the straight forward to a projected art show on the side of buildings.
“We treated that footage to make it look like an artist had interpreted the shots and then digitally composited them onto the sides of buildings, onto window sills, and other surfaces, creating an art show that was never there."
"It involved designing the look of that footage, placing it in the shots and making it all look seamless. It was really exciting effects-wise,” explained John Bair.
From the producers of Paris, Je T’aime, New York, I Love You stars an ensemble cast including Rachel Bilson, Orlando Bloom, Natalie Portman, Christina Ricci, Hayden Christensen, Andre Benjamin, Shia LaBeouf, Sonny Sandoval, Raphael Saadiq, Irrfan Khan and Kevin Bacon.
The Messenger, directed by Oren Moverman, premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and stars Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster as officers responsible for informing families of deaths of their loved ones in Iraq.
Bair and Connolly created the main title sequence and, with the help of Lead Compositor Scott Winston, all the films visual effects. “The title sequence is simple and elegant.
Ben Foster’s character, Will, has returned from Iraq with an eye injury that makes focusing difficult.
The film opens with Will getting an eye exam and there is a wonderful point of view shot that tracks down the hallway as he absentmindedly looks in that direction.
People walk through the hall, the image becomes very contrast-y, and eventually he focuses on the light at the far end of the hall which blurs out of focus,” related John Bair, who designed the titles.
“We took that shot and stabilized it to make it smooth and one continuous movement and in that lightness the words ‘The Messenger’ float out to reveal the film’s title.”
The GFX team also completed the film’s 35 visual effects shots as well.
GFX executed one main VFX sequence with Meryl Streep and Viola Davis in which Bair and Connolly created a computer generated “Wrath of God” leaf storm that was used in combination with practical blown leaves to give the effect of a wind storm.
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