⚡ Thor: Love and Thunder

Thor: Love and Thunder is a superhero and science fiction (SF) movie released in 2022 and produced by Marvel Studios.

The goal of this project was to create a continuous / looped audiovisual production from the movie poster. Thus, to produce a composition in vertical format with animations, visual effects and a 3D effect.

In order to realize this project, I went through several well-defined stages.

Realization of the scenarios (3D, VFX, Animations, Editing) in order to clarify the direction of the project and to know all the elements to be produced.

Cutout of all the elements of the poster through After Effects in order to constitute the plans of the 3D part. Deletion of elements, additional adjustments and retouching were necessary to perfect the plans, using Photoshop.

Creation and configuration of the composition within After Effects: dimensions of the production (1080x1920 px), choice of the number of frames per second (60 FPS), approximate duration (30 sec.), addition of the plans previously cut and insertion in 3D space, and configuration of the camera.

Creation of the various animations.

Creation of the visual effects (VFX) using plugins.

Editing of the production: camera path, Intro & Outro.

Assembly of the production on Premiere Pro: Insertion of the composition, research, addition and editing of the soundtrack.

Production export (H.264): 1 video file (.Mp4); 2 vertical cover pictures (JPG & PNG), 2 horizontal cover pictures (JPG & PNG).

Dimensions: 1080x1920 px.

Frames per second: 60 Fps.

Duration: 28 seconds.

Editing: 3D editing with a shot by 2-nodes camera.

The poster being in vertical format, I choose to size the composition in this sense in 1080x1920 px and thus to readjust the poster to this dimension. In doing so, this process left black bands at the top and bottom of the production. I could have left them but for a concern of design, I wanted to innovate and create “blurred” bands from an extension of the poster’s dimensions.

The number of FPS (60) determined here made it possible to obtain a fluid result. The duration of the composition as for it does not really matter since the video is looped / continuous, it’s mostly about being able to appreciate a few loops. Finally, the 3D part can be observed thanks to the installation of a 2-nodes camera.

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Deletion of the Flash of lightning, Title and Logo, Birds, Mjolnir Hammer, and Light rays (with 4 branches)

Deletion of some Aurora

Reconstruction of certain parts hidden by elements as part of the realization of the various plans for the completion of the 3D rendering

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A heavy retouching work must have been necessary for the production of the various plans related to the 3D part: removal of visual effects, reconstruction of characters and various elements, rectification of certain colors, extension of certain plan outlines… Since each plan mustn’t have interference with elements belonging to other plans on the one hand, then for the creation of the various effects related to the production on the other hand.

1. Title and logo (out of 3D)

2. Jane Foster (Nathalie Portman) and the mountain on which she rests

3. Thor (Chris Hemsworth)

4. Korg

5. Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) and his horse

6. The birds at the back right

7. The goats and the boat, with the trails

8.1. Mountain with waterfall on the left

8.2. Mountain with waterfall on the right

9. The birds at the back left

10. The mountains at the background

11. The head of Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale)

12. The whole of the background (sky, clouds, planets)

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The 3D effect here was achieved by locating and isolating each element from the foreground to the background, placed in order along the Z axis.

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​All the elements and effects were made in After Effects by hand and using plugins like RedGiant.

Camera

Appearance of the MARVEL STUDIOS logo

Jane Foster's hammer

Jane Foster's hair

The birds

Korg's breathing

The horse's mane

Trails emitted by the goats and the boat

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All the animations were made by hand.

The animation that required the most work is the one related to the hammer. It required many well-placed cutouts, each possessing a custom animation accompanied with its own VFX, and whose the whole had to be properly coordinated so that the “overall animation” seems fluid and realistic.

Another set of animations that also requires a lot a work was the one with the birds. It was necessary to animate each bird as well as its trajectory at first. Then to make sure that each animation is different from others in a second step, so that each bird has a different behavior from the others.

"The ballad of Love and Thunder" - Album "Thor: Love and Thunder (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)", from Michael Giacchino.

This project is one of the most ambitious that have been able to achieve since it required a significant work on a lot of details and asked me to be meticulous in the completion of certain operations in order to obtain the expected results.

The realization of each part of the production will have asked me almost as much working time:retouching, cutting, configuration of the 3D part, creation of the visual effects and animations. On the other hand, I was able to perfect my skills, particularly in the animation and retouching, where I had to deepen the exploitation of the tools that were at my disposal.

Finally, this project allowed me to elaborate a new style of cover in horizontal format from production in vertical format. Indeed, you have surely noticed that the cover image doesn’t contain black bands on the sides of the production: there are blurred bands from the poster. And the production, placed in the center, is highlighted by a centered drop shadow effect.