The most complicated characters and VFX sequences from Angel Battle

Turning sequences, especially large-scale action scenes, with these characters against real-life sets and motion-capturing actors can make these scenes particularly complex to bring to life. We asked the Weta Digital team leaders how they approached these moments and which ones were the most difficult.

Yes, the Motorball sequence, right? He has all these crazy characters, that many are drawn directly from the manga. And some of them look really cool in the manga. But once you try to move them, they simply do not work. It's always a challenge to take this design and put it into an animation and emotions with which you can actually work, and to get a cool design or poses. So you can feel the same thing but make it work.

And we went into a lot of details with a lot of our characters. Dimensions of the wheels, move them, allowing them to have a head movement. Because we actually captured all the bikers on stage, on the starting line. And all these places, doing all their movements. Some did things that they could not do. As if Stinger scratched his nose, but his arms were giant blades with chainsaws. So, if we put this scene in it, it tears its face. We can not do things like that. But getting the little extra movement you get from all these characters on CG characters just helps to bring all of these characters to life.

Well, different sizes are an important consideration. Because for the actors – we work with as many actors as possible. Because you want to have the drama. But eyeline is the critical thing. And when there are different sizes, it is always difficult to have the right line of sight. So, if we had scenes between Rosa and Jackie, it would be like – he would look at the floor and she would look at a stick above him. But we would also do a little bit where they could just play each other's scenes. So, understand what the drama is. And then you take all these pieces and bademble them. And you try to design the performance from all these aspects that work. Because you can get something different when they play against each other, as opposed to the little that they do each one alone. And you have to understand, is it in the way the dialogue is delivered? Or is it the inclination of the head that reacts to a certain beating? And these are the things you need to synthesize when you create the character so that the performance is tailored to what you see on the screen.

Yes of course. So, there are many good characters in this movie, including some great cyborg characters with a lot of weight. And for example, Jackie plays Grewishka, a 10-foot mech, and Jackie is closer to 5-feet. So when we take that performance, we have to make sure that we give that character physics and weight. So a performance like this needs to be increased in order to give it weight. You can take a performance, just slow it down, but it's not so that the weight works in something like that. You have to adjust all the returns of the swinging arms and make sure everything is physically correct. And it would only be for the drama. When you enter action scenes, we also end up producing keyframes. And by pulling cool action lines and strong poses and silhouettes in the characters. And just improve everything so that everything is even more beautiful.

From visionary filmmakers James Cameron (AVATAR) and Robert Rodriguez (SIN CITY), here is ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL, an epic adventure of hope and empowerment. When Alita (Rosa Salazar) wakes up without remembering what she's in a world to come that she does not recognize, she is supported by Ido (Christoph Waltz), a compbadionate doctor who realizes that somewhere in this abandoned cyborg shell lies the heart and soul of a young woman with an extraordinary past. While Alita learns to navigate her new life and the insidious streets of Iron City, Ido tries to protect her from her mysterious story, while her new, stylish friend, Hugo (Keean Johnson) proposes instead to Help him remember his memories. But it's only when the murderous and corrupt forces that run the city, after Alita, that she discovers a clue about her past – she has exceptional fighting abilities that those in power will not shrink from before control. If she can stay out of their reach, she could be the key to saving her friends, family and the world she has become in love with.

Key release dates

• Alita Battle Angel (2019) release date: Feb 14, 2019