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Besides comic, movies, video games, cosplay, or animation, the SDCCM was also about visual effects and composition, and that is why we wanted to catch up with one of the most renown studios: El Ranchito. Here we discuss what went into creating some of the spectacular sequences in Stranger Things or Game of Thrones, but also how AI is going to change everything in the field.
"Hi, Gamereactor friends. We are at the San Diego Comic-Con in Málaga, and this is not just about comics.
Of course, it's also about video games, it's also about animation, and it's also about visual effects.
And that's why I'm here joined by Alex Rivas, thank you so much for joining us, who is an expert in visual effects from El Ranchito."
"And you guys had a panel already that was all about El Ranchito. It is a studio we know and love.
We had your CEO a couple of years ago at Gamelab, and you've been discussing the different generations of visual artists that have been working in the studio, right?
So, which would you say was the main takeaway from the panel, as we sadly couldn't attend?
Well, basically, we talked in the panel about our different go through the visual effects in the industry."
"So, I will take just a phrase that is, the past was developing the industry, developing the technology.
And now we are in, not the peak, but we are getting, reaching the peak, but now there is another thing else that is coming, the AI.
So, we have to face the AI, but not to fear it, but to use it as a tool for us as artists.
We are to keep developing our job, our daily job, and let's keep moving the visual effects, because this industry is developing very quickly, and we have to update ourselves in this."
"Alright, we can talk techniques a little bit later, and technology, but for now, let's talk a little bit about your portfolio.
Of course, Stranger Things is still big, it's about to come to an end, you took part in part of the seasons, and Natalia Dyer is going to be here as one of the stars at the San Diego Comic Con in Malaga.
So, what can you tell me was your specific work with Stranger Things, and some crazy or very challenging thing that you guys did with the show?
Well, I'm talking about my friends in the studio, because what I did, it was a very tiny part, but they did a very amazing job."
"When Eleven was in this kind of bunker, I don't remember the place exactly, but she was there and destroyed the whole bunker, pulled off all the doors, and that's the sequence that we had at the Ranchito.
Also, we had a few little sequences about Beckner's attack, with no Beckner in the frame, but there was when he destroys the village.
It was incredible to see that on the screen, because we all love Stranger Things, and we think the look is so cool."
"When you have it on the screen, and you're working with all of that stuff, it's kind of amazing for us, it's a dream.
So, it was a challenge for us, because we are working with the Duffer Brothers, and for us that's kind of, we have to do it the best we can, and we try to do it, and they like what they did.
Are you guys working, I don't know if you can tell me, if you guys are working on the final seasons?
I can't disclose that, no."
"But of course you did nice with other shows as well, you took part in Game of Thrones, Halo, the live-action series.
Is there a memory that you would like to share about working with this specific, one is sci-fi, the other one is dark fantasy, the setting is completely different, it's not the same showrunner, so something special that you would like to share about those shows?
About Game of Thrones, it was one of the first shows I worked at."
"So, I specifically remember with all my heart, because I was about 20, 21 years old, when I started in the industry, and I was working at Game of Thrones, for me it was like a dream come true, because you start working in the industry, and that's one of the first shows you have the opportunity to work at.
And for me, like a kid, kind of kid, we can say, it was like, I was so scared."
"Not because of the winter is coming?
No, no, not about that.
Night King?
Night King, or the White Walkers, or even the dragons, that for me, I had no fear of that."
"But for the supervisor, for all the technical artists and team behind the cameras, and the crew, the Game of Thrones crew, which actually were very, very meticulous with every detail in the pixel.
And yes, that's what I learned about that.
You have to learn from these shows to continue developing your career, because they were very, very fine people talking about this work."
"And two years ago, when we were talking with your boss, with Manuel, he told us about the volumetric capture as probably the next big thing.
Also about universal assets as sort of the Rosetta Stone, but mostly about volumetric capture as the next big thing after stagecraft, and all the things that we've seen in the recent times."
"What do you say about this?
In these two years, do you think, of course you mentioned AI, but which would you say have been making more of a breakthrough in terms of technology and technique in visual effects?
Nowadays, I can admit that AI is going to be the future."
"So that's something we cannot discuss, that's it.
But about the volumetric screens and those kinds of volumetric sets, we have stopped a little bit of using them, because it was the mainstream thing at the time, but it didn't work as well as we thought at the beginning."
"So still using that technology in series like Mandalorian, we all know that they use the volume.
But for specific things, that's it.
Nowadays, we have to face the AI and how to use it to continue in the visual effects industry, because it's going to be the future."
"A lot of content is going to be done with AI.
Let's see what else can the AI give us in the near future.
Have you experimented with AI already?
Sure, I'm still testing a little bit with a few tools to see what are the capabilities that we can take from them."
"It's very interesting, I have to say.
But we are in the Comic Con.
There are a lot of artists here.
And as an artist I am as well, I have to say, AI is not going to replace artists."
"It's just a tool that will help artists to develop their job.
But that's it.
Humans are here to stay, of course, and to express themselves, because that's a subjective expression of their vision."
"It's going to be there, and it has to be there.
AI is just a tool that helps to develop that vision of the artist.
It's very interesting what you say, because John Gaeta, who of course won an Oscar for creating the bullet time system for The Matrix, the latest things he's been into are all about AI."
"And we're going to ask him about this very same thing.
So, closing one, anything, any project, any work that you guys have are cooking right now that you could mention, disclose, you can tell us something that we can expect to see in the near future coming from El Ranchito?
You mean using AI?
No, in general."
"In general. Unfortunately, I cannot disclose anything.
Until they are done.
Until the trailer is out, we cannot say anything, because our contracts are this way."
"Well, after Halo and Stranger Things, and Jurassic World as well, a little bit, and what other would mention?
Game of Thrones.
Game of Thrones, Society of Snow."
"I didn't work at Society of Snow.
I'm in the studio.
So after all that, we only can expect spectacular and beautiful things from you guys, so thank you so much for your time, Alex."
"Enjoy the Comic Con.
Thanks so much, enjoy you too.
Thank you."
