Chapter 567: Digitized Armor

During filming, the crew borrowed some of Duke's personal items, such as his black Rolls-Royce and private jet. Marvel Pictures had originally proposed using Duke Manor as Tony Stark's Malibu mansion, but Duke rejected the idea, arguing it lacked a futuristic, sci-fi feel.

The production could use his personal items as much as they wanted without Duke charging a single dollar, but using his home as a filming location was out of the question.

Even though the rapid flow of information made it increasingly difficult to protect a celebrity's privacy, Duke had no intention of putting his home in a movie for the public to scrutinize.

The interior of Tony Stark's mansion could easily be shot in a rented seaside villa, while the wide exterior shots could be achieved with a scaled-down model.

As time passed and the dialogue-heavy scenes wrapped up, the blue screen sets at Warner Studios were finally completed. Duke scheduled Tony Stark's motion capture scenes next.

"Andy, Rob, how are the preparations coming along?"

After checking on the other departments, Duke walked over to the blue screen.

Andy Serkis turned to him. "Don't worry, Duke. With me here, Rob will definitely be at his best."

After answering Duke, he looked back at Robert Downey Jr. Downey wore an Iron Battle Suit helmet with the faceplate removed and a motion capture suit specially designed by Weta Studio. Dozens of sensors dotted the fabric. Paired with the production's specialized cameras, every single nuance of Downey's movements would be recorded flawlessly.

As filming was about to begin, Andy Serkis gave his final instructions to Robert Downey Jr.

"Rob, forget the sensors on your body and the green screen behind you. Just treat this like a real performance! Remember, keep it real! Act exactly the way you normally would. Don't worry about the motion capture—the entire system is here to accommodate you."

Of course, this didn't mean Robert Downey Jr. could just move however he pleased. Although the Mark II suit was supposedly tailored entirely to Tony Stark's body shape and habits, wearing a metal suit would inevitably affect a person's movements.

This was exactly why Duke had brought Andy Serkis on board. He ran Robert Downey Jr. through simulation training to slightly alter his natural walking gait for the motion capture. The change couldn't be overly dramatic, but it still had to be noticeable on camera.

Otherwise, the film would contradict its own established design for the Mark II.

For the motion capture scenes, Duke merely oversaw the big picture. The specific technology, scene setup, and computer generation were all handed over to the technicians from Weta Studio. However, the initial shoots didn't go smoothly. Robert Downey Jr. was, after all, a novice at motion capture. Even with Andy Serkis's help, he couldn't transform into a master overnight.

Everyone's talents lay in different areas. When it came to live-action acting, Robert Downey Jr. could probably leave Andy Serkis in the dust, but with motion capture, he made mistake after mistake.

Duke had anticipated this, however. He had plenty of patience and had carved out more than enough time in the schedule.

Then there was Weta Studio. Unlike when Duke filmed The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Weta Studio had completely updated its motion capture technology. The old equipment Duke had used back then had already been phased out.

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy had made Weta Studio world-famous. Along with their rising fame came a massive influx of special effects orders, including Disney Pictures' Pirates of the Caribbean series. While filming Pirates of the Caribbean, the environment for the motion capture was far harsher than when Duke shot The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. The massive artificial lake set in Rosarito, originally excavated by James Cameron, was incredibly humid and sweltering, placing extreme demands on the equipment.

Weta Studio used that opportunity to upgrade their gear. Integrating various technologies, they built a motion capture system called iMoCap, and the version used for filming Iron Man was the system's second generation.

Unlike previous motion capture systems, iMoCap was not based on optics, magnetic fields, mechanics, or ultrasound. Instead, it directly recognized character movements from the video footage shot by the cameras. This massive innovation meant iMoCap was practically unconstrained by the environment; as long as the camera captured recognizable images, motion capture could be performed.

In other words, the system didn't have to be restricted to a blue screen. If needed, it could easily be used in real-world environments.

In fact, the way Duke saw it, no motion capture system was a flawless, hundred-percent solution; it was merely a basis for CGI production.

Based on Duke's philosophy as a director, the upgraded iMoCap system Weta Studio brought along didn't particularly focus on extreme precision. Its true advantages lay in being lightweight, easy to use, and highly mobile.

Furthermore, Duke had always wanted motion capture equipment to be highly versatile, meaning it should impose as few restrictions on the set and the actors as possible.

Therefore, following Weta Studio's improvements, the iMoCap system could use any model of camera. It didn't require any special treatment of the set, nor did it demand any other complicated equipment. It was ready to capture at a moment's notice.

Additionally, even if occasional obstructions or skips occurred during capture, and even if some data ended up incomplete, it wouldn't affect the overall production. Duke's philosophy was to simplify the requirements for live-action capture and leave the relatively complex processing to the post-production crew.

This resulted in a significantly lower difficulty level for the actors performing the motion capture, making Robert Downey Jr. the biggest beneficiary of Duke's approach.

This benefited Robert Downey Jr. immensely. After wrapping up a few motion capture scenes, he practically begged Duke to reduce the number of times he had to wear the physical Iron Battle Suit prop, asking to use motion capture instead.

"Saunders and his guys told me that those beautiful suits were specially tailored to my body shape, and that they'd be snug and comfortable to wear."

Just like the fictional Tony Stark, Robert Downey Jr. stood next to Duke's director's chair, rambling on and on.

"But the truth is, that armor is incredibly uncomfortable. It severely limits my mobility. It's so hard to hit the poses you want or move the way the script asks me to."

Duke didn't say a word in response to Robert Downey Jr.'s endless chatter. Instead, he felt an inexplicable sensation that Tony Stark had somehow leaped out into the real world.

"Duke, my dear Director Rosenberg," Robert Downey Jr. said, not stopping but rather crouching down to lean against the armrest of the director's chair as he pleaded earnestly. "Could you consider digitizing the armor from now on? Just looking at that thing gives me a headache. I really don't like it."

Duke turned his head and looked at Robert Downey Jr. After considering it for a moment under Downey's infinitely hopeful gaze, he finally spoke.

"If we do that, we'll need to create a lot more visual effects shots than expected."

"Well..." Robert Downey Jr. scratched his head.

Just as Downey dropped his head and turned to leave, Duke spoke up again.

"Rob, everything the crew does is to help the actors perform better without hindrance. So, I can agree to your request, but you have to deliver an even better performance than before."

"I will!" Robert Downey Jr. was practically ready to raise his hand and swear an oath.

"Really?" Duke flashed a mysterious smile. "There are some shots that originally required a stunt double wearing the physical suit. Having you generate those through motion capture wouldn't be a bad idea either. Tell you what, this afternoon we'll shoot Tony Stark's flying scenes."

Although he sensed that Duke's smile held a hidden meaning, Robert Downey Jr. didn't hesitate.

"No problem. I'll go get ready right now."

However, when it came time to shoot, Robert Downey Jr. discovered that filming Iron Man's flight scenes using motion capture was just as agonizing. Even though he was suspended beneath a crane and only needed to hold the flying poses specifically designed by the stunt team without actually moving, holding them for any length of time made him feel like his entire body was falling apart.

Duke swore he absolutely wasn't taking revenge on Robert Downey Jr. And even if he was, just a little bit, he certainly wouldn't tell anyone.

For this shoot, Robert Downey Jr. only needed to hold his poses; he didn't have to do much else. When Iron Man was flying, the footage captured by the camera was crafted to look like one continuous long take covering the entire action.

Duke aimed to make the footage feel as though it were shot with a panning and tilting camera on a tripod, or filmed using a slider or a crane. He did his best to avoid the sensation of a magical camera floating impossibly through space.

"We need to process the movements where necessary, but it's best not to impede the actor's motions, or else the overall action will end up looking like some goofy comic book stunt."

Those were Duke's words to Anna Printz beside him. Just like in the past, Anna Printz would lead a second unit to shoot some of the scenes.

Everyone preferred to think in the ways they liked best, and filmmakers were no different.

Even when working with a long-time collaborator who was deeply influenced by his style, Duke never forgot to give the necessary instructions when the situation called for it.

Once the flying scene wrapped, Robert Downey Jr. was lowered from the crane. Even though the whole thing had only taken a few minutes, he swayed unsteadily as he walked toward Duke, looking as though he might collapse at any moment.

However, Duke ignored him, because someone had come to the set specifically to see him.

"You're getting engaged, Wallace?"

Duke was somewhat surprised to hear Wallace Lee's invitation.

"Who is the bride?" he asked.

Wallace Lee offered an embarrassed smile.

"You know her. Her name is Kate Beckinsale."

Duke wasn't too surprised by the answer. He thought for a moment before replying.

"I'll be there on time."