Lord of the Rings: Special Effects Interview
Cassandra Bell
July 20, 2005
I recently interviewed Frederic Fortin, who was a special effects contributor to "Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King."
Bell: For what company do you work and how long have you worked for them?
Fortin: I'm currently working for Meteor Studios in Montreal. I have been working here a total of 3 years.
Bell: What was your special effects contribution for "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King?"
Fortin: I have been doing the Frodo rig and cloth setup; the great beast rig. I also did the Rohan soldiers' hair setup and finally I did some cloth simulation, including the shot where Frodo is getting webbed by Shelob.
Bell: Any memorable moments?
Fortin: When they told me what I had to do for the Shelob and Frodo sequence, I was stunned. I seriously doubted it was do-able....and I was right...I ended up sculpting Frodo's clothing frame by frame.
Bell: How long have you been involved in special effects?
Fortin: I have been working in visual effects for the last 5 years.
Bell: For what other movies have you contributed your knowledge of special effects?
Fortin: I have been working on Disney's "The Wild," which should come out next year, Fantastic 4, and I am currently working on Final Destination 3. I also worked on almost all of Discovery Channel's dinosaurs specials: "When Dinosaurs roamed America," and others.
Bell: In what other departments in the movie industry have you assisted?
Fortin: I am a Technical Director, usually as a Creature TD, or software engineer.
Bell: What type of equipment/supplies do you utilize for special effects?
Fortin: We mostly use PC's on Linux. I fluently use Alias Maya and SideFX Houdini.
I would like to thank Frederic Fortin for allowing me to interview him.
Bell: For what company do you work and how long have you worked for them?
Fortin: I'm currently working for Meteor Studios in Montreal. I have been working here a total of 3 years.
Bell: What was your special effects contribution for "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King?"
Fortin: I have been doing the Frodo rig and cloth setup; the great beast rig. I also did the Rohan soldiers' hair setup and finally I did some cloth simulation, including the shot where Frodo is getting webbed by Shelob.
Bell: Any memorable moments?
Fortin: When they told me what I had to do for the Shelob and Frodo sequence, I was stunned. I seriously doubted it was do-able....and I was right...I ended up sculpting Frodo's clothing frame by frame.
Bell: How long have you been involved in special effects?
Fortin: I have been working in visual effects for the last 5 years.
Bell: For what other movies have you contributed your knowledge of special effects?
Fortin: I have been working on Disney's "The Wild," which should come out next year, Fantastic 4, and I am currently working on Final Destination 3. I also worked on almost all of Discovery Channel's dinosaurs specials: "When Dinosaurs roamed America," and others.
Bell: In what other departments in the movie industry have you assisted?
Fortin: I am a Technical Director, usually as a Creature TD, or software engineer.
Bell: What type of equipment/supplies do you utilize for special effects?
Fortin: We mostly use PC's on Linux. I fluently use Alias Maya and SideFX Houdini.
I would like to thank Frederic Fortin for allowing me to interview him.
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