They say it takes a village to raise a child — but it takes a whole lot more to bring a talking hedgehog to life. Here's what the Sonic movies look like without all those special effects.
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00They say it takes a village to raise a child, but it takes a whole lot more to bring a talking
00:05hedgehog to life.
00:06Here's what the Sonic movies look like without all those special effects.
00:09It can prove difficult to have a live-action actor like James Marsden play opposite a CGI
00:13character like Sonic.
00:15Luckily, film crews know a few tricks to help the performers along.
00:18Uh…
00:19Meow?
00:20Often, a ball on a stick will stand in for Sonic on set, allowing actors to direct their
00:24eyelines to the intended target.
00:26But the crew on Sonic the Hedgehog also hired a real human to take Sonic's place, local
00:31improv actor Scott Patey.
00:33As Marsden told The Hollywood Reporter,
00:34"...it's so important because you can't just have the script's supervisor reading to you
00:38in a droning voice.
00:39You need someone to have the charisma, charm, and serenity of a 12-year-old kid."
00:43Marsden also pointed out that it's much easier to act when you're not sharing the set with
00:47a tennis ball.
00:49It may surprise fans of the Sonic movies to learn that Ben Schwartz wasn't the first choice
00:53to voice the franchise's titular character.
00:55After inviting Schwartz to do a test reading for director Jeff Fowler to sell the product
00:59to potential studios, however, producers realized he was the perfect fit for the role.
01:03While Schwartz was never physically on set to play Sonic, his vocal performance isn't
01:07the only thing that he contributes to the character.
01:10Before any dialogue was recorded for the first Sonic the Hedgehog movie, Schwartz gave a
01:13motion capture performance so that animators could accurately capture his expressions while
01:17voicing the character.
01:18In an interview with Raiders of the Lost podcast, Schwartz revealed more about the motion capture
01:22process, explaining that they only actually used mocap for the first two films.
01:26We learned how to just put a bunch of GoPros around me and get all aspects of my face without
01:30putting the dots on.
01:32A film like Sonic the Hedgehog involves a lot of chroma-keying, a process in which a
01:35green or blue screen is used to digitally composite an actor into another location.
01:40Many of the largest props aren't quite as computer-generated as they look, however,
01:44such as Dr. Robotnik's flying ship, the Eggpod.
01:46In fact, the crew built a life-size model of the exact ship, which is operated on a
01:50motion base not dissimilar to a mechanical ball.
01:53As set designer Andrew Lee McConnell wrote on his website,
01:56"...I was responsible for 3D modeling the Eggpod, further developing the design, making
02:00portions of the vehicle buildable as a set for shooting, and I designed the mechanics
02:04for the articulated side engines and folding wings."
02:08Lifelike models of Sonic and his friends were used as stand-ins for certain scenes in the
02:11first two Sonic movies.
02:13We'll do a take with that model and then it's pretty much like an orange ball that they
02:17put right there where his eyes would be.
02:20These models helped CGI animators get an impression of what the characters would look
02:24like in the lighting conditions of a given scene.
02:26They even feature movable arms and legs, akin to action figures.
02:30For Sonic the Hedgehog 3, the figures were replaced with crude puppets of the characters,
02:34allowing the actors to improvise around them.
02:36As Jeff Fowler explained to Animation Magazine, we can then do blocking with the puppeteer.
02:40You don't want your CG characters to be standing there dead in the water in one spot the whole
02:44time.
02:45You want them to move around and use the space.
02:48For the opening sequence of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, which finds Jim Carrey's Robotnik standing
02:52on a fungi-infested planet, production designers worked with a blue screen on a soundstage.
02:56As a supplement, giant prop mushrooms were built for Carrey to act alongside, with everything
03:01in the background digitally extended.
03:03The animation studio Denegg was heavily involved in creating the look of the mushroom planet.
03:07VFX supervisor Kanao Gojidastida told Animation World Network that a lot of thought went into
03:13designing the planet, saying,
03:14"...as human beings, we see little mushrooms, so it was difficult to give them depth.
03:18If a mushroom was really 30-foot tall, the problem is the texture detail and having something
03:23that you can relate to such as moss or soil.
03:25You add scratches or colorization until it feels right."
03:28Many of the mushrooms and other plants visible in the background were created using Clarisse,
03:32a VFX software that can procedurally generate trillions of CGI objects for vast landscape
03:38design.
03:39Denegg handled over 180 shots in the sequel.
03:41The bulk of the VFX was helmed by Moving Picture Company, who had also worked on the first
03:45Sonic the Hedgehog.
03:47Sonic the Hedgehog 2 sometimes feels like the Sonic video games come to life, and much
03:51of that is thanks to the movie's many larger-than-life set pieces.
03:54"...Papa's got a brand new stash."
03:59One of these sequences takes place in the Master Emerald Shrine, a vast temple where
04:03Sonic and Tails chase down Dr. Robotnik and Knuckles.
04:06Despite the extensive VFX on display in the scene, on-set photos reveal that parts of
04:10the sequence involved fully-built sets on a soundstage.
04:13While the actors may have had practical sets to work with, the NPC team had to do a lot
04:17of the creative work in fully fleshing out these environments.
04:20VFX supervisor Matt Jacobs told Digital Media World,
04:23"...it was essential to ground the internal elements in reality, including lighting and
04:28material design, and adding the right details, ranging from vegetation to thousand-year-old
04:33ice formations."
04:34Fans of the video games may notice a similarity between the Shrine in the film and the Labyrinth
04:38Zone from the original Sonic the Hedgehog game on Sega Genesis.
04:41Indeed, the finished product definitely feels ripped straight from the games, and it's all
04:45thanks to the close collaboration between on-set production designers and the VFX team.
04:50In Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Robotnik uses the Master Emerald to assemble a massive mech
04:55known as the Death Egg Robot, which had fittingly debuted in the Sonic the Hedgehog 2 video
04:59game from 1992.
05:01You're magnificent!
05:02Thank you!
05:03Sick of it.
05:05Obviously, the exterior of the machine involved the most VFX work, but a number of effects
05:09were also required for the shots inside the mech.
05:12As seen in behind-the-scenes footage, Jim Carrey's costume was attached to wires, allowing
05:16him to safely act while suspended in mid-air.
05:19Rather than place Carrey in front of a green or blue screen, the production set had lights
05:23projected onto screens that show the computer-generated interior of the Death Egg Robot, with multiple
05:28camera angles to catch wide angles and close-ups of Carrey's Quantum Evil performance.
05:32During this section of the movie, Robotnik also shows off some notable vocal effects.
05:36Would you like to see how big a man I can be?
05:42This was the brainchild of Carrey himself, who told Screen Rant,
05:44"...I really had fun thinking about how that could manifest, with his voice, speaking like
05:48a synthesizer just because he thinks it's fun."
05:52In Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Jim Carrey not only reprised his role as Dr. Robotnik, but also
05:56did double duty by playing his grandfather, Gerald.
05:59"...Double your villains, double your fun."
06:01The double-casting was achieved through the old-fashioned Hollywood technique of split-screening.
06:05But Carrey wasn't alone for these scenes.
06:07Jeff Fowler hired a stand-in, British actor Brendan Murphy, to help out.
06:11Fowler later told The Hollywood Reporter,
06:13"...Brendan worked really hard to prep, and he would work with Jim on off days to rehearse
06:17each scene."
06:18Carrey also spent a great deal of time in the makeup chair for the third Sonic movie,
06:21a process he's all too familiar with thanks to movies such as How the Grinch Stole Christmas
06:26and The Mask.
06:27There was one aspect of Carrey's look that didn't involve any prosthetics or special
06:31effects, though — his hair.
06:33Carrey showed up on set having grown out his hair to play a heavier, depressed Robotnik,
06:37and the Mars dupe shaved it all off on camera.
06:39Even this took some prep, though.
06:40A behind-the-scenes featurette shows how the actors choreographed this scene in order to
06:44capture specific angles of Agent Stone, shaving Robotnik's head.
06:49Knuckles might be a spinoff series that streamed on Paramount+, but it didn't take the easy
06:53way out when it came to VFX.
06:55According to showrunner Toby Asher, who co-created the series with John Whittington, the quality
06:59of animation for Knuckles is on par with the feature films.
07:02He tells GamesRadar+,
07:03"...it's actually bigger than Sonic 1 from a VFX standpoint.
07:06We have 300 more VFX shots in Knuckles than Sonic 1.
07:10It's a TV show but feels and plays out like a big extra movie."
07:13Looking at VFX breakdowns of scenes from Knuckles, you can see just how much VFX goes into even
07:18simple shots.
07:19In one scene, Adam Paddy's Wade Whipple exits onto the streets of Reno to find Knuckles
07:23battling the series' villain.
07:25But all that was done on a set.
07:26"...your power is mine, Echidna."
07:29Several layers of backgrounds are then used to add a computer-generated building behind
07:33him, the Nevada skyline, and even visual effects like smoke and lights.
07:38Aside from a few exterior shots that were filmed on location, most of Reno was made
07:42with VFX for the series.
07:43To create these digitized environments, the production team members visited the city's
07:47downtown so they could later recreate it on a soundstage.
07:51For Knuckles, Adam Paddy worked much more closely with VFX teams than he had on the
07:55Sonic movies.
07:56As he told ScreenRant,
07:57"...there was a real-life Knuckles there for me to do scenes with that could emote and
08:00improvise and could change stuff."
08:02The show utilized both the lifelike models from previous Sonic films, as well as puppets.
08:06Some scenes would have been more difficult to shoot if Paddy had to rely on life-size
08:10puppets, however.
08:11A VFX breakdown from Australian animation studio Fin Design shows how certain sequences
08:15were put together without having any kind of real Knuckles on set.
08:19For one action scene, a stunt double jumps off a ledge while holding a blue egg-shaped
08:23dummy, and a camera cut allows Paddy to swap in for the shot when they hit the ground.
08:27Another fight sequence features a moment in which Knuckles opens a fridge to slam it in
08:31the face of an armed assailant.
08:32On set, there was simply a crew member wearing a blue spandex suit, standing in place of
08:36Knuckles, who was then digitally composed onto the shot.
08:39VFX was also used to patch together several separate shots to make the sequence look seamless.
08:45Storyboarding is an essential part of any production, but especially one that involves
08:49a lot of digital animation.
08:51Much can change between the storyboard and the final product, of course, but the process
08:54lays the groundwork for all the VFX to come.
08:572D artist Tanikyo Pantua shared his process for working on Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on his
09:01YouTube channel.
09:02He is first assigned a section of the script and obtains reference photos.
09:06These images can include shots from other movies or work created by concept artists.
09:10He then draws thumbnail sketches for each shot in a given sequence.
09:13After these have been approved by the director, the storyboard artist develops these rough
09:17drawings into a more detailed animatic.
09:19Is that all you've got?
09:21No, but thank you for asking.
09:23Pre-visualization is a process that comprises storyboards, shot lists, and animatics to
09:28roughly depict how a given scene will look, providing the director and other departments
09:32a better vision of the intended final product.
09:34For a film like Sonic the Hedgehog, which features extensive use of CGI for its main
09:39character, pre-vis is an integral part of pre-production.
09:42For visual effects artist Ellery Ortiz, these computer-generated storyboards are essential
09:47to laying the groundwork for a film's final animations.
09:50Ortiz's pre-vis reel is available to watch on Vimeo, giving an idea of just how intricate
09:54these prepared sequences can be.
09:56Among the several scenes animated by Ortiz for Sonic the Hedgehog is one in which Sonic
10:00and Tom escape from Dr. Robotnik's drones, as well as a handful of moments in the film's
10:05climax.
10:06Watching these pre-vis sequences, it's clear that a number of changes are made before the
10:10sequence makes it to the big screen.
10:12Nevertheless, these initial animations are of vital importance to the cast and crew.
10:16Ben Schwartz, for example, tells Den of Geek,
10:18"...when I'm doing my performance, most of the time it's very pre-vis.
10:21Some of them look like old-school Sega Saturn-type graphics."