Pirates at World's End: Special Effects Chest. How was Pirates of the Caribbean filmed? Visual effects, actors and roles, interesting facts “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl”

American director Gore Verbinski made his debut in big Hollywood cinema in 1997 with the release of the family film “Mouse Hunt”. A good film about a cute animal that turns the life of two lazy brothers into a nightmare, performed well at the box office and earned flattering reviews in the press.

The worldwide box office of "Mouse Hunt" was $122 million against a production budget of $38 million.

A still from the film “The Mexican,” starring Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts

Pirates of the Caribbean was the third highest-grossing film of 2003 at the North American box office, earning more than $305 million.

Dubbed trailer for The Lone Ranger. This Western was made by the team behind the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy.

"Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl"

The beautiful Elizabeth receives a mysterious gold medallion as a gift, which brings misfortune to her and her friend Will Turner - after all, it is cursed by the pirates of the Caribbean. The disappearance of a medallion from their treasury forces the half-decayed skeletons, led by Captain Barbossa, to storm Port Royal and return the jewel along with the hostage - the daughter of the island's governor, Elizabeth. The brave pirate Captain Jack Sparrow equips a crew to get even with the robbers and regain the ship that Barbossa stole. Will happily joins the team and they go on adventures together.

Still from the film "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl." The role of the Interceptor was played by the decorated ship Lady Washington.

The high seas were only filmed for six days due to production restrictions.

Dead pirates

Barbossa's transformation into a dead man. GIF image taken from vfxworld.com

The scene of the battle between the sailors and the dead pirates in the cave, when in the moonlight they turn into skeletons, was filmed twice. In the first case, all the actors were included in the frame, in the second - only the sailors, “fighting” with an imaginary enemy. Later, the empty space was filled with skeletons. The visual effects in the film “Pirates of the Caribbean” were deservedly awarded an Academy Award nomination.

The demo video included footage of the creation of a computer model of a shrunken Jack Sparrow. Original video taken from the ILM documentary: creating impossible.

"Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest"

Captain Jack Sparrow, Will Turner and his fiancee Elizabeth Swann are forced to embark on a new breathtaking adventure because Jack's life is in danger - ghost pirates led by the legendary Davy Jones are hunting for his head. The thing is that Jack once owed Davey something, or rather his soul.

Still from the film "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest." One of the film's computer characters

The blockbuster earned $135.6 million in its first three days of release, showing the best opening in cinema history at that time.

Trailer for the film "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest"

Kraken

The sample was the wet skin of rhinoceroses and elephants, as well as the appearance of skin with scars and scabs.

Still from the film "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest." Jack Sparrow fights a computer model of the Kraken

ILM studio was awarded a golden statuette 12 years after the triumph of Forrest Gump.

"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End"

Will, Elizabeth and Captain Barbossa go to the ends of the earth to rescue Jack Sparrow from Davy Jones' hiding place. But this is only the beginning of their next dizzying adventure. After all, before Will and Elizabeth take an oath of allegiance to each other, the friends will have to fight Davy Jones and defeat Lord Beckett.
The third film in the pirate film series was released a year after the phenomenal success of the second film. The final part of the film series, directed by Gore Verbinski, features the same characters who were created using the same technology as for the previous film.

Storm

The actors were filmed on a ship in a pavilion against a blue chromakey background. GIF image taken from vfxworld.com

ILM used the Plume system to simulate ocean water, waves, bubbles, splashes and foam. Until now, this scene remains one of the most difficult to implement due to the huge amount of data that the studio’s computers “digested.”

Dubbed trailer for the film "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End"

The battle sequence during the storm took up 103 terabytes of disk space. Every evening, several thousand processors were launched at full power to calculate frames.

The storm scene was done in graphics. GIF image taken from vfxworld.com

Based on materials from: Fxguide, Cinefex and Vfxworld

Everyone is well aware of the series of adventure films about pirates in the Caribbean. The first part was released in 2003, and the fifth part is currently being filmed, which will be called “Dead Men Tell No Tales.” The premiere in the Russian Federation is scheduled for May 25 of this year, 2017. But now I would like to talk about this. And about how “Pirates of the Caribbean” was filmed.

Places

The film delights viewers with landscapes of amazing beauty. That’s why everyone is interested in the question of where the filming took place. “Pirates of the Caribbean” (or rather, their first part) “settled” on the shores of islands called Grenada and Dominica. There are truly magical views there. And yes - both islands are in the Caribbean Sea.

Several scenes from the 2nd and 3rd parts of the film were also filmed in Dominica. Basically, the process took place in the northern part of the island. This is a wild corner of the earth. If you believe the tourists, it is very difficult to navigate and move around there. But the cameramen and actors showed themselves to be true professionals. It still remains a mystery how they got into the Ti-Tu-Gosh cave, where the characters tried to hide from the cannibals. After all, to get there, you need to climb a steep and narrow serpentine road for a very long time, and then swim through icy fresh water to the entrance. Which is simply unrealistically narrow and deep.

Many scenes were also filmed on the island of Cayo Largo. All the episodes on the snow-white beaches took place there. Jack and Elizabeth's imprisonment takes place in the San Cristobal fortress, located in the city of Fajardo (located in Puerto Rico).

"Curse of the Black Pearl"

This is the name of the first part. And I would like to start with the facts about her. Few people know, but Gore Verbinski and Jerry Bruckheimer (director and producer of the film) initially wanted to film the first part in the pool, which was previously built for the filming of the legendary Titanic. But the creators of the action adventure film “Master of the Seas” were ahead of them. By the way, even before the release of “The Curse of the Black Pearl,” the film crew of “Pirates” knew that a sequel would be released in the future.

There were some incidents. On August 10, 2002, a fire broke out in one of the filming stages. Everyone remained safe and sound, but the damage was estimated at $350,000.

Everyone remembers the charismatic Jack Sparrow, who flashed his gold teeth more than once in the film? Few people know, but this is not makeup, but real implants!

By the way, the scene in which Will Turner pretends to be Jack Sparrow was invented by his performer, Orlando Bloom. Moreover, it was he who insisted that she be included in the film.

When telling how Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed, one cannot fail to note the fact that many film participants and site workers... suffered from seasickness! So there were always motion sickness pills on the set.

And few people know that Jack Sparrow’s appearance, including makeup and clothing, was chosen to hide Johnny Depp’s tattoos. The only one that was on the hand is... not real. It was then that Johnny stuffed it for himself - in honor of his son Jack.

And Keira Knightley was not 100% suitable for the role of Elizabeth - because her hair was too short, not suitable for this character, she had to wear a wig. And, by the way, she, like Johnny, wore contact lenses instead of sunglasses - they protected from the sun.

The captain's signature phrase is worthy of special attention: “Savvy?” (“Do you dare?”). She became winged, but she was not in the script. This is a successful improvisation by Johnny. As well as the final phrase: “Bring me that horizon” (“It will float to the horizon”). And Jack Sparrow's jokes about the eunuch too.

"Dead Man's Chest"

The second part also cannot be ignored if we are talking about how Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed. It was very interesting. At least because the third part was also filmed with her. Everything happened at the same time! And the total budget was $450,000,000.

And again Keira Knightley - to play Domino Harvey in the thriller-drama Domino, she cut her hair bald. And in the second part she no longer wore a wig, but with hair extensions.

Worth mentioning is the bone cage scene. The fact is that Gore Verbinski did not specifically tell the actors what would happen to her when they were inside, because he wanted to see a natural reaction when they start swinging her.

By the way, filming of the second part was also interrupted. But not by fire. And a hurricane called Wilma, which is the most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean. The entire film crew was urgently evacuated to Los Angeles to avoid casualties.

And finally, about the ending of the second part. In it, completely unexpectedly for the audience, Captain Barbossa appeared. However, the actors also looked very convincingly surprised. Only they didn’t play this emotion. The surprise is genuine, because at that moment Anamaria (Zoe Saldana) was coming down the stairs, whose appearance was a surprise for them.

Effects

Many people interested in filming are interested in the ships of the Pirates of the Caribbean. Viewers are used to attributing everything to effects, but in the film everything really looks natural! Well, it was a full-fledged ship. And this is the “Black Pearl”. In the first film, however, it was a steel barge, which was covered with wooden planks - to give it a more realistic look.

But parts 2 and 3 involved a real working ship. It was built in Alabama, based on the HMS Sunset. There was another version that was created in order to film the battle in the whirlpool. By the way, a gimbal suspension was used. In 2010, the “Pearl” was reconstructed into “Queen Anne’s Revenge”, which appeared in the 4th part.

The rest of the Pirates of the Caribbean ships are not real. Even The Flying Dutchman. This ship was a quality mockup.

"On the edge of the world"

This is the third part of the film. The beginning of the film "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" was filmed together with "Dead Man's Chest", this has already been mentioned above. This was done to save time and money, because the action took place on the islands, and not in a Hollywood studio.

A fun fact from the set: to make the scene with the trembling monkey look natural, the animal was not forced to freeze, but was simply placed on a vibrating box.

Few people know yet, but on the eve of filming in the salt desert, a sudden downpour suddenly poured in, after which the area began to look like the sea.

Does everyone remember the Bay of Lost Ships? In order to provide atmospheric lighting there, the film crew had to place 3,500 candles. And the pouring rain in the frame? It looks impressive, but to create it, 100,000 liters of water were poured onto the ships per minute.

Scene with crabs

It is impossible not to mention her when talking about how “Pirates of the Caribbean” was filmed. Countless small crabs fell onto the deck of the Black Pearl, destroying everything that was in their path! So, this effect was painted on the basis of blue plastic balls, of which there were 175 thousand. It was with them that they threw the deck during filming. By the way, at that moment everyone had to take a break for about an hour. Because the actors and all members of the crew began to grab balls and throw them at each other.

By the way, when the filming of the film “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” was completed, Johnny Depa, in honor of his departure, was given a farewell gift by the entire cast with a giant cake with countless marzipan boats. It read: “Dear Captain Jack, may your compass always lead you to us. Thank you!" This touched the actor so much that he shed tears.

"On Stranger Tides"

A few words should be said about the film “Pirates of the Caribbean 4”. How was the film made? Not without interesting nuances. For example, Penelope Cruz, who played Blackbeard's daughter, was pregnant during filming. And in some scenes in which the belly could be visible, her younger sister Monica replaced her.

And to film this part, the actors of the film “Pirates of the Caribbean” went to the islands of the Hawaiian archipelago, which are called Oahu and Kauai. And some episodes were organized in London. It is worth noting that this part is the first film shot on RED cameras in digital 3D.

By the way, the actors of the film “Pirates of the Caribbean” worked in very unpleasant conditions. The weather left much to be desired. And so Johnny Depp decided to buy special water-repellent vests for all 500 members of the film crew. They really made the conditions more comfortable. Johnny Depp spent approximately $64,200 on this.

"Pirates of the Caribbean" is an interesting film in all respects. Probably few people know that all the weapons used are real. But Jack Sparrow's pistol and sword are worthy of special attention. These “devices” come from the 18th century.

Interesting facts

After the fourth film, many people were attracted to the French-Spanish actress who played the mermaid in Pirates of the Caribbean. This is Astrid Bergès-Frisbey, and there is an interesting “filming” story connected with her. As mentioned above, the action took place in Hawaii. And no one missed the opportunity to enjoy the beach and swimming in the ocean. And Astrid too. But the stylists did not leave her one step, constantly rubbing her with sunscreen and trying to cover her with a robe. After all, according to the plot, she was a mermaid Siren with pale, literally transparent skin. A tan was an unaffordable luxury for the actress.

You can tell a lot of interesting things about the filming of these series of films. And soon, after the release of the new part, another long list of facts will be added. But finally, I would like to point out that Johnny Depp was not the only candidate for the role of Jack Sparrow. Christopher Walken and Michael Keaton also became interested in Pirates of the Caribbean. And even Jim Carrey! But Johnny Depp really wanted this role and agreed to it even before the script was written. And, I must admit, he made a great Jack Sparrow.

For At World's End, John Knoll and his team created 3,000 special effects shots. The technology for creating the image of pirate captain Davy Jones with a beard made of moving tentacles has been improved: the ILM studio has come up with a new technology for motion capture. The system, called Imocap, made it possible to record data from a special suit without a specially equipped studio and using only two video cameras. In "The End of the Earth", Davy Jones' crew received new additions; the new characters are just as reminiscent of a variety of sea life forms as the old ones

New members of Captain Jones' crew

The idea of ​​the blue balls, which turned into crabs after the intervention of computer graphics, belonged to Gore Verbinski. They were blue for the same reason as blue screens: the computer transforms the evenly lit background of the scenery into water, a hurricane or something else.

No arthropods were harmed

By the number of places in the world where filming took place, the film “Pirates of the Caribbean. At the End of the World" overtook "Dead Man's Chest". In addition to the picturesque island of St. Vincent in the West Indies, the beaches of the Dominican Republic, the islands of Exumas and Grand Bahama, which we have already seen on screen before, filming took place in various parts of Southern and Central California and Hawaii; The iceberg fields for the film were filmed in Greenland, and the water extravaganzas were filmed at Niagara Falls. “I want to take the viewer to places they haven’t been before,” says the film’s director, Gore Verbinski.

In banana-lemon Singapore

However, not all places new to spectators and merry pirates were filmed on location. By the will of the scriptwriters, the heroes are brought to Singapore, where they meet the pirate captain Xiao Fen (Chow Yun-Fat). The Singapore plot, which began as an abstract remark occupying just one line in the script, grew to gigantic proportions - into a complex episode in a very difficult scenery.

All of the early 18th century Singapore sets were built on the Universal Studios pavilion. “There is almost no documentation of life in Singapore before the 19th century,” explains production designer Rick Heinrichs. “That’s why we had to build on the images of other Chinese cities. Letting our imagination run wild, we created something in the Chinese-Malaysian style; this is our vision of Singapore then.”

The set was erected on top of a water tank measuring approximately 25 m by 40 m and consisted of forty separate buildings. The set included a harbor lined with thatched huts and houses on stilts, and a fragment of a town with a market, an adjacent street and a large bathhouse where local pirates gather. “The bath is an example of the monstrous hygiene of those times, ridiculing the current fashion for mud baths and health spas,” explains Heinrichs. His colleague, set designer Cheryl Karasik, worked to fill the Singapore Pavilion with real life - baskets, food, Chinese lanterns, painted scrolls, hanging laundry. It was all made from rattan, bamboo, wood and palm leaves, just like in South Asia. “There were also many secluded corners, pharmacy shops and pottery workshops. All the interiors had to be ready, because no one knew in advance where our director might think of filming,” says Karasik. But the hot and humid Singaporean climate did not even have to be imitated: the water in the tank, combined with the heat from the huge lighting fixtures, perfectly created the desired effect - there was even a light fog over the water.

Bathroom fight

The meeting of the heroes with the Chinese pirates in the bathhouse ends in a grandiose fight, in which more than two hundred people participate - pirates, soldiers and city residents. The fight spills out into the streets, and from there onto the wooden walkways leading to the harbor. To prepare this scene, stunt director George Marshall Rudge recruited masters of oriental martial arts into his stunt team.

The difficulty of the bathhouse scene was that the stunt choreography was tied to a limited space filled with people and objects. “There was literally no room for error; there were bullets and blades flying everywhere,” recalls Rudge. In addition, the pavilion was very slippery and steam rose from all the cracks, hiding the fighters. When the action moved to the streets of Singapore, another problem arose: the fighters had to balance on narrow wooden walkways. The stuntmen had to fall into the water from a height of 2-4 m, and the depth of the water in this place was only about a meter - and then there was a cement floor.

Not only people, but also animals took part in the battle. The star among them, of course, was Jack the monkey, whose role, as in previous films, was played in turns by tailed actors Pablo and Chiquita. In one of the episodes of the battle, Jack had to dress up in a Chinese costume, steal a “Roman candle” and launch it into the air. “How we suffered with this scene! - recalls trainer Mark Harden. “It took as many as 66 takes.”

Subtleties of shipbuilding

By the third "Pirates" the famous "Black Pearl" of Captain Jack Sparrow had become much prettier. “We made her into a beauty,” says Rick Heinrichs. The new Pearl is built on top of a 35-metre diesel boat, flanked by panels that give it the graceful shape of an 18th-century ship. An additional engine was installed on the bow, thanks to which the ship could turn sharply and quickly maneuver on the open sea. During filming, the Black Pearl was finally able to go to sea for real and passed the test with honor, reaching under its own power from the Bahamas to Los Angeles.

In addition to the Black Pearl, several more ships were built for the film. Not only decorative artists, but also engineers worked on them. The most unusual of the entire fleet were the Chinese junks Empress and Hi-Pen. The Empress is the flagship of Xiao Fen's fleet, and the filmmakers compare the ship to a peacock: its captain obviously values ​​pomp and wealth. True, actor Chow Yun-Fat was unable to fully enjoy the beauty of his temporary abode. “I grew up in a peasant family and never sailed on a ship,” he says. “So on board the Empress I immediately became seasick.”

Another flagship, the East India Trading Company's ship Endeavor, was only partially built in the Bahamas, with missing pieces added later using computer graphics.

In a whirlpool

The film crew dubbed the grand battle between the pirate armada and the East India Company flotilla “Mahlström” - as the fighting takes place inside a hurricane of incredible force. This scene was filmed in a giant hangar outside Los Angeles. Models of the Black Pearl and the Flying Dutchman were placed on complex moving platforms. “We did something in this movie that had never been done before,” says John Fraser, who worked on the special effects for the scene. “We raised the ships 4.5 meters above the ground and placed each of them on two supports, at the bow and at the stern.” Manipulating the props helped rock the ships up and down—which Fraser believes perfectly mimics the actual movements of a ship on the ocean. The management of platforms and supports was computerized.

An extensive system of pipes was installed on the ceiling of the hangar, which at appropriate moments would bring down torrential rain on the ships and the heads of the actors, stuntmen and crew. The fans blew wind that reached speeds of more than 160 km/h. The size of the raindrops was carefully selected - John Fraser spent several weeks testing rain nozzles on pipes, selecting the width of the holes from which the water flowed. “Then we had to change the size again because in the scenes where the actors are filmed in close-up, you don’t want giant droplets falling on people,” says Fraser. As a result, the attachments varied depending on the scene being filmed.

"Rain" water came from tanks outside the hangar, where it was heated and purified. Having fallen on the set, the water spilled into special catch basins under the floor and was sent back to the tanks - and everything was repeated all over again. Every minute, tens of thousands of cubic meters of water poured onto the ships. Director Gore Verbinski and his crew wore waterproof raincoats. Actors and stuntmen were not so lucky. Costume designer Penny Rose says the tall pirate boots filled with water so quickly that they had to cut holes in the soles and give the actors special scuba diving shoes to wear under their boots. “You dress up, and then you put on a wetsuit under your dress, which makes going to the toilet very difficult,” Keira Knightley described what happened on the set. - After that, the rain starts, and within ten seconds you are wet to the skin! The rain is so heavy that sometimes you can literally see nothing around. In the heat of battle, ships list heavily, which means you're running up there, wielding your sword in a tropical downpour, and all this accompanied by a whole crowd of cameramen." “I would call it not acting, but a struggle for survival,” echoes Orlando Bloom.

Blue balls

The crews of the Black Pearl and the Flying Dutchman fought surrounded by giant blue screens - the missing elements of the raging elements were added later on the computer. “It would have been impossible to film all of this on location,” says John Knoll of Industrial Light & Magic, who worked on the special effects for the entire “pirate” trilogy. The giant whirlpool, foamy breakers and crashing waves were ultimately completed in 400 shots with special effects.

The most curious effect in this scene, however, has nothing to do with water. Looking at the screen, viewers see hundreds of thousands of crabs falling onto the deck of the Black Pearl like an avalanche. During the filming of this scene, as you might guess, there were no crabs on set. Nets filled with... light blue plastic balls were suspended from the ceiling. At the right moment, the balls fell onto the deck to the delight of the crew members, who immediately broke out of their roles and began throwing them at each other. The balls had to turn into smart, timid crabs created on a computer.

"Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales."
(Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales).
MPC, Special effects work.
The first video shows the workflow of the Moving Picture Company, which created more than 1,200 elaborate special effects scenes for the latest film in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.

The Moving Picture Company, or MPC, has worked on films such as Blade Runner 2049, Wonder Woman, Alien: Covenant, Ghost in the Shell, The Jungle Book, The Martian and dozens of others. wonderful tapes. The studio's workforce includes hundreds of specialists in a variety of fields. More than 700 people worked simultaneously on the special effects for the film “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales”, working in studio branches in several countries.

Surprisingly, the 1,200 scenes with special effects that the MPC studio worked on are only a small part of what the viewer saw on the big screen. After all, in total, as many as 14 different studios involved in effects and CG graphics were involved in working on the film. I think that many of you believe that one day computer actors will still be able to replace real people on the screen. And there are certain prerequisites for this today.

We once told you about how artists bring dead Hollywood stars back to life. All that remains for artists and animators is to defeat the “uncanny valley” effect* and then enormous opportunities will open up for them. By the way, in the same “Blade Runner 2049” this effect was almost invisible, which is very important for the evolution of computer graphics.

*The “uncanny valley” effect is a hypothesis according to which a robot or other object that looks or acts approximately like a person (but not exactly like a real one) causes hostility and disgust in human observers.