How the Electric State team created an unlikely robot world

The new Netflix film, “The Electric State,” depicts a world full of robots, but as we know it, it’s not a robot.

It was directed by the Anthony and Joe Russo brothers (previously two Avengers blockbusters, Infinity War and Endgame). Reported $320 million budget“The Electric State” takes place in an alternative version from the 1990s. It found them rebelling against their human masters, losing war and being exiled to the southwest regions. This is the area where the film’s heroes (played by Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt) have to sneak in.

Importantly, in the case of Matthew E. Butler, the supervisor of visual effects, these robots are, designably, “deliberately antithesis” of the robots that exist today.

“Most of us have seen modern robots…and we’re used to these designs,” Butler told me. “When you look at Boston’s dynamics robots, it becomes even bigger and bigger when you concentrate the mass of the robot in the center of the robot and come out into the limbs because it’s just a defensive design.”

In contrast, the film’s robot cosmos have a “huge head around a small neck,” and Butler is described as “the worst design for a robot.”

Like the film itself, its design is based on an illustrated novel by Simon Stallenhag of the same name. Butler explained that Cosmos and other quirky robots often portrayed from real pop culture have an explanation in the movie. They are made to be “unthreatened.”

It all had to start with designs that were essentially unrealistic, but ultimately they had to create something that felt “physically trusted and real.” He said in order to do that, they decided to celebrate the Cosmo designs with “silhouette fashion.”

“You squint your eyes and move him away from the (camera) camera and he looks like a Cosmo. “But if you go up close and scrutinize your shoulders, you’ll see that there’s a push rod there. You can see the motor, and you can see the same circuit on your ankles and feet.”

The goal is to convince the audience that “thing can really work.” Once they are certain, they embrace the design of the Cosmo and other robots without looking at all the details.

And yes, there are many other robots. Butler said his team must realize “hundreds of unique robots.” Not because all the robots in this alternative world are unique, but because “in films, we usually just introduce individuals.”

Unfortunately, there were no shortcuts.

“We scratched our heads many times. “How are you doing this?” “If you have 100 different robots and they’re all moving, they have to be able to move. That means you have to be able to rig them, so someone has to design them, someone has to draw them, someone has to animate them.”

To make these robots come true, Butler said the team used traditional optical combinations Motion capture A new system using an accelerometer-based suit. This allowed a troupe of seven motion capture performers to work with live-action actors on location and set, providing the basis for animated robots in which their performances are animated.

Butler emphasized that this process is much more complicated than simply transpose the actor’s movements into the robot body.

“Use the little Herman as an example,” he said. “You have a (motion capture) performer. He’s adding his talent, his performance, and that’s who Chris Pratt can act now. Then you say, “Well, OK, but the actual robot can’t do a lot of things this guy can do.” So you have to change it based on the limitations of the robot itself’s design. ”

And it’s not finished yet: “And then you talk to the director, and you now have a certain change in traits that you need to respect, so you change it, and you have your great voice actor to change it, and now it’s like “Well, if the character needs to change, it’s like a character (hears)”

Butler said the robots that will eventually be seen on screen were created by works in which all the artists and performers come together.