In telling the tale of a heroic general who is ousted by an evil emperor and returns to glory as a slave forced to engage in deadly hand-to-hand combat, Gladiator "rebuilds" ancient Rome, fills the Colosseum with toga-clad throngs, and features battles fought with the ancient era’s low-tech weaponry.In short, it’s not your typical digital-effects movie. But this doesn’t mean that Gladiator doesn’t incorporate digital effects of the "seamless" variety - 100 of them, in fact. Rather than calling attention to themselves, the effects help viewers suspend their disbelief about entering a historical time and place. The Mill and its sister company, Mill Film which, together, comprise one of London’s leading digital film- and commercial-effects facilities created digital matte paintings of Rome, duplicated human figures for crowd scenes, and helped create battle sequences that were too dangerous to shoot practically (including scenes featuring firebombs flung from catapults).
In addition to reinventing the "sword-and-sandal" genre, Gladiator is also notable for utilizing Wam!Net’s compressed video-delivery service to transfer visual-effects files back and forth from The Mill in London to its Los Angeles sister facility and, ultimately, the film’s Los Angeles-based edit bay. The digital delivery system enabled effects artists in London to "overnight" temp comps and shots for a morning arrival at the Los Angeles edit suite, cutting at least one or two days off the standard overnight air service - days that would have added up substantially over the course of the production.
The Mill and Mill Film already had experience with digital file transfers as participants in SoHoNet, a digital network enabling the London neighborhood’s advertising agencies, production companies and postproduction/visual-effects facilities to transfer files easily. Although the idea of a digital delivery system isn’t new, the expense and logistics of sending large files "across the pond" have limited the successful adoption of transcontinental versions. "File sizes, cost and quality standards have been prohibitive when it comes to transatlantic transactions," remarks Roy Trosh, longtime technical director at The Mill and Mill Film. "Wam!Net provides one almighty step further for us."
Trosh was intrigued by the potential of the Minnesota-based Wam!Net’s compressed video-delivery service, particularly because the Mill and Mill Film are working on an increasing number of U.S. commercials and feature films. The prospect of sending shots (which often involve very large files) over the ocean quickly and cost-effectively was very appealing. After discussions, The Mill became the sole European member of a 10-member development group that included U.S. film studios, postproduction houses and ad agencies.
When director Scott brought Gladiator’s effects work to the Mill (where he’s a part owner), Trosh thought it would be the perfect project with which to debut Wam!Net’s digital transfer service. Mill Film visual effects film editor Nick Atkinson notes that the facility was already familiar with the use of digital delivery systems for a feature film; on Babe 2: Pig in the City, Mill Film had used ISDN lines to transfer files to production offices in Australia and Los Angeles. "We did rough video temps using Avid," recounts Atkinson. "It was enough information for them to take the images apart and send them back to us, but it took all night to send those files using the conventional means of transfer. It was a full-time job for someone who had to sit there all night."
Wam!Net promised to speed up the transfer, as well as improve the quality by enabling very large files to be transferred within a reasonable time frame. According to Atkinson, Wam!Net delivered on all accounts throughout the production of Gladiator. "We used it on a daily basis," says Atkinson, who adds that the production also transmitted JPEG still images of production sketches and digital matte paintings. "We usually set things up in the evening, bundled up a package and sent it so that the L.A. office would have it in the morning. The editor there would compile amendments and transmit them back, so we’d have fresh mail every morning."
Once production was in full swing, the production office in Los Angeles would request specific shots. The Mill Film visual-effects artist would finish the temporary composite and put it on the facility’s main server as an OMF file. The editor would then pull the OMF file from the main server, load it into the Avid to check it, and turn it into an Avid clip or sequence on the desktop. "Once we knew it was okay, we’d open up Wam!Net," says Atkinson. "Using the graphical user interface, it was a simple drag-and-drop."
Atkinson notes that from the beginning, Mill Film’s artists wanted to work in the highest resolution possible. That meant creating and compositing the shots on a Discreet Flame station. "The files were quite big coming off the Flame, [and they had] lots of information," Atkinson relates. "One that was 48 megabytes took seven minutes to transmit. Before that, we had one that was 86 megabytes that took 20 minutes to transmit. Even if there was a technical delay, they got it a hell of a lot faster than they did on Babe 2."