VFX Artists React to Bad & Great CGi 112 ft. Todd Vaziri from ILM
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- Publicado el 24 sep 2023
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Niko and Wren are joined by visual VFX artist and Supervisor Todd Vaziri from Industrial Light & Magic to break down some of the best visual effects from his legendary career in the Film Industry.
Thanks SO much to Todd for allowing us to pick his brain! You can follow his work here;
► Todd Vaziri - www.tvaziri.com
► Industrial Light & Magic - ILM.com
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Chapters ►
00:00 Intro
00:41 Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)
10:35 Star Trek (2009)
13:40 Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) 
Entretenimiento
The longer I watch it, the more I'm convinced that Todd Vaziri looks like Wren from the not-too-distant future.
Next Sunday A.D.?
Uy lodi! Was not expecting a local celeb here. Subscribed! Haha
Also, you may have a point there.
*I definitely don't see it* 😂
Poor Todd.
Nice to know we watch the same things :)
We need Todd back on the show. He is incredibly humble and not above the crew. Fantastic episode. Love to see the big artists excited to be on the show. Corridor has come so far!
I think they've said (in one of the podcasts I think) that when they bring a guest, they film multiple things in advance over 4-5 hours so they don't bring people back and forth and then they split it between few episodes over time, so there is a good chance there will be at least 1 more episode in the future thay will have him.
I think part of it is that at this point the Corridor team has shown they all *could* be working at these studios if they wanted. There is mutual respect.
7:00 When CGI is good, no one notices. When it's bad, everyone talks about it.
I rewatched Episode 3 last week, my eyes were all on Ani and Obi-Wan.
This CGI still holds up gloriously!
Crazy to think it's like 18 yrs old too. And still looks better than movies today
@Ryan Blue That’s what actual, unfiltered attention to detail and passion can do to a project! Not saying modern artists don’t care, but the executives sure don’t most of the time
I feel like if they were critiquing that scene without the artist, they'd be all over how bright fire is. How in that silhouette shot the blast of lava should be pretty much blown out white, as they always say on explosion/fire shots in other movies. With the lightsabers blown out white, it makes it even more apparent that the lava is dimmed.
@JamMastaJew I don't think they would considering the dimmed fire isn't a mistake or poor CGI, it was a creative decision to make sure the lightsabers stand out more. If anything I think they'd praise it.
@JacobGili yeah it's not really the artists fault most of the time, just people above them giving 0 time and breaks
That Mustafar sequence has aged like fine wine. The lava, the fire, the CGI backdrops, and that burn scene. It all looks phenomenal nearly 20 years later
Unfortunately, that cannot be said from most of the Coruscant Palace / balcony scenes / spaceship corridors. They do show their age. I've never understood why the beautiful scale decor models they used as interiors and the bluescreen / greenscreen live action give that vibe. it's not like they were technically in uncharted territory .
@The Gnomish ArcanumStill better than most modern crap.
@The Gnomish Arcanum I think it's probably easier to get away with some slightly undercooked VFX components in a big, busy and emotional sequence like Mustafar (not to mention I'm sure it had a higher budget). But I'd imagine that in scenes w/ people just chatting in sets (and it can be boring) it can be harder to hide some of the more aged components.
@The Gnomish Arcanum the coruscant stuff looks incredible, just the actual sets look bad. I dont know why they didnt build a physical palpatine office and jedi council room instead of doing g reen screen.
@Barkleyumm, those were real sets tho
The tie fighter sunset scene, when I first saw it, felt like they were helicopters flying over Vietnam. It's such an iconic scene from the movie and hearing the backstory is amazing.
Crazy to think it was almost cut. To me it was one of the most iconic scenes from the trailer that really set the visual style of the movie.
@YourMJK Honestly think it's criminal to cut a shot like that. A 4 second establishing shot from the gods.
Todd's enthusiasm and passion is extremely contagious. This episode flew by so quickly!
Well said. This was one of my favorite episodes and you articulated why!
dude you gotta peep the extended on their website!!
It must be SO bizarre for the Crew to go from hoping to get big names on the couch, to the best in the Biz being excited to get on the show 🤯
Well, Jackie Chan still hasn't sat on the couch... but I'll keep my hopes high. That would really be Christmas in August.
@Mestrini MasterI thought they only got FX ppl on
Todd made a fantastic guest, you can really tell he truly enjoys his work and loves to talk about it. What a great episode!
I love that he also credited whoever worked on whatever shots. The people behind the scenes deserve being mentioned as much as the actors and actresses.
I Love that Todd Vaziri seems to be a fan of his own fandoms. It's always so much better when the artists love thier source material.
Todd was one of the best guests on this show. He brought some phenominal clips
It's crazy how this show went from just the corridor crew guessing how shots were done to the actual experts explaining exactly how the shots were done. I've been watching this show since day 1 and love the whole journey to this point its beyond cool!
I always love how humble and kind the guests are, especially with them being such big shots in the industry
I assume working a thankless job like VFX tends to humble people.
Let's forget about Beeple though
@Joe SmithFr
@Joe SmithI totally forgot he was a guest on VFX artist react
The Star Wars sequels made me appreciate the Star Wars prequels. Lucas tried different things instead of copying the old movies storywise and visually.
Episode 3 is so special to me. I saw it in theaters on opening night for my best friends 10th birthday. Was such a great experience, and it has aged so well.
Todd's enthusiasm is SO contagious. You an tell he absolutely loves what he does and he's awesome at sharing all the work that goes into it and does so in a way that makes you feel excited about the projects too.
say what you want about the sequels, ILM performed magnificently. even when they only had a year to make ep 9 it looks epic
The Mustafar scene was indeed very impactful. No one knows this better than I (except for perhaps Anakin).
The most impressive thing in this episode is Todd’s Shining tribute socks! 🎉 Bravo.
18 minutes felt like 5. That was a great episode and deserves a part 2.
Honestly this might be my favorite episode so far. What a great guest!
Way too short! I wonder how long the episode is on the paid app.
@Robert Russo30 minutes!
ikr
It would be cool to see a breakdown of the timelapse shot of the Enterprise A being constructed in beyond
Nothing has ever measured up to the lightsabers in RotS. Unparalleled attention to detail. Mad respect
I really liked the lightsaber “duel” on Starkiller base. I think lightsabers looked best there
@iamyetiman that’s valid. I think there are some moments in the movie that are sublime, but other moments take me out of it. RotS has a consistency that I appreciate.
What a lovely fella Todd is, and his stuff is bloody amazing. How that sun/tie fighter scene was initially dropped is beyond me, it's iconic.
This guy had an unknown huge impact on my childhood. He and his team are GOATs.
Always nice when the big names like Todd turn out to be so likable and fun
In a course my first semester of college, we watched a featurette that showed how much work went into creating a single minute of the Mustafar duel. Mad respect to Todd and the whole team.
The MOST impressive part about this guest, Todd Vaziri, is that he credits so many of his colleagues! This is NOT an army of one career and his prepared knowledge of who worked on what and what they contributed is so epic!
👏👏👏👏👏
Actually a lot of their guests do, these guys are humble geniuses that all seem to all have a lot of love and respect for their teams.
When you work as a family with a talented team, you never deny them recognition.
I couldn't agree more.
Huge respect to Todd. You can see how after years of working in the industry and the way he talks about his work how passionate he is about VFX.
Todd is great, hope he comes back for another episode sometime.
Todd might be one of the coolest guys you’ve have on the couch, get him back for more please
This really was a great episode, one of the best! Todd should have an open seat anytime he wants to come back.
This episode was so good. So much talent! The joy you see in Todd just talking about his work, you can tell how much he loves it.
Love this guests's energy and his expertise. This episode was a delight
One of the best !
It's great to see how excited he gets about these shots
It’s also severely important to feature the labor and craftsmanship involved w/ these effects NOW that unionization is fighting for a sustainable industry that learns how to respect the sacrifices, planning, logistics, and human foundations behind the magic studios use to make product
Aww thanks!
Todd seems like such a cool dude! Great to hear his process.
Todd is such a sweet guy, really passionate but also humble, I hope to see him again !
This guy is wonderful to listen to, he' so excited and proud of his work as he should be. Awesome stuff!
One of the best episodes ever! Todd is so good vibes 🎥
What a great guy. Humble, generous, funny. Hope he comes back for more.
He even brought exclusives for you guys, Todd is a certified class-act.
Not a VFX artist, not really into the world- but I love learning about it through your channel. And Todd was just an absolute delight! I have ADHD, biggest compliment I can give you is; I didn't skip once. Amazing! Hope you come back again, Todd! Educate me more! (Also, exclusives +9001 points.)
i love seeing all of these artists geek out about their work, they truly are passionate about their work
What an amazing guest. Love to see more from Todd, amazing energy
Todd just feels like an older Wren with that excitement and jolliness😭
This was a fantastic episode. Todd has done amazing work!
You can tell just how much Niko and Wren were fanboying about having Todd there. A real meet-your-hero moment.
Better than that, it’s a meet the hero you didn’t know you had moment.
and he didn't disappoint
I love this guy. I've seen so many episodes and he might be my favourite guest. Good stuff Todd!
Been following Todd on twitter for years. This is amazing to see! I hope he comes back for more!
Words can't describe how exciting it is to see more Revenge of the Sith content.
This show is genuinely always so much fun and wholesome to watch, just some amazingly fun and cheerful people talking about what they love. Keep em comin!
The "Tie Fighters at Sunset" shot was gorgeous and grounded, and immediately made me think of WWII films and a flight of Japanese Zeros on their way to attack Pearl Harbor. The peaceful beauty of the sunset with the impending menace of the backlit threat.
Or Apocalypse Now, Robert Duvall's helicopters. Or the intro to China Beach, again with helicopters. Very Vietnam war era iconic shot.
@JayToThaIzzle It's confirmed inspired by Apocalypse Now. The X-Wings over the water too.
Wish this episode lasted an hour. He has incredible experience and fun stories. Great guest!
Episodes like this are the reason I love watching your videos for all these years.
The pure joy and pride of both you and your down-to-earth guests to showcase, discuss and nerd-out about their work... it's so much fun to watch.
This is so amazing! So glad that were peeling back the layers from those most memorable Hollywood shots and finding the person that made it happen
I could watch this guy for hours. This is the most informative episode I’ve seen in a long time (not that I’ve caught every episode).
Wow, of the many Corridor Crew videos I've seen with "VFX Artists React", this is definitely my favorite.
You had one of the titans of the industry describing his process and the phenomenal level of scrutiny that ILM goes through with every shot.
It also showed the Corridor Crews deep knowledge of the techniques that ILM used. "Did you use [thing I've never heard of]" "Yes, we used ...." Amazing
I’ll never forget being a little kid and knowing nothing about Star Wars but being absolutely enthralled when I saw this scene come on the TV, and horrified when I saw what happened to Anakin
Anakin was supposed to destroy the Sith, not join them
@Luis Sierra Bring balance to the Force not leave it in darkness!
@JO CoHe technically balanced the force pretty well.
Went from like 2 Sith and hundreds of Jedi all the to 2 Sith and a handfull of surviving Jedi.
Looks pretty damn balanced to me.
I had to be removed from the theater cause I was crying so hard
I’m surprised they were allowed to go so graphic with it. That shit’s pretty gruesome even for pg13
This was such a great episode! You can tell how much Todd Vaziri loves films. By the way he talks about it. Loves the memes of his work. Gives credit to his co-workers. All the way down to his Kubrick sox!!!
Every episode of this show is great but Todd was an outstanding incredible guest! Thank you to everbody involved. I really enjoyed it! :)
Thank you guys for continuing to make these !!! It's nothing but Informative and happy bubbles for me haha 💕
So this is one of the most heartwarming reaction videos you've made. I LOVE THIS SO MUCH. He truly loves his (frustrating stressful difficult) job and it's great that he didn't want his behind-the-scenes images to be lost forever, to ultimately be shared to the world here.
I regret that I have but one THUMBS UP to give this comment. Thank you so much.
You are welcome! @Todd Vaziri
good luck to the vfx artists who are joining the unions, you deserve it :)
Love this guy. Clearly Todd is massively talented but he also seems like a really nice guy who is still excited by the things he does/gets to do.
100%
To Todd Vaziri, love your work on Revenge Of The Sith. It has some of the best visual effects I have ever seen, even taking into consideration the almost 20 years that have passed.
man i love how awesome he is and how excited he is about his work
“NOT FROM A JEDI” is such a great line!!! Sets so much up
It gives me such joy and pride in the Corridor Crew shining the light on these unsung heroes whose craft has unbeknownst to us, entertained our lives for so long..........finally getting some absolutely deserved due credit❤
You can literally see the joy in their eyes as they explain their work🥹
All the best and love to all such legends and a massive salute to the Corridor crew🫡
This may be one of my favorite episodes you guys have done. It's wonderful! Great job!
I've literally been waiting years for a full-length reaction to Revenge of the Sith, thanks so much guys! Still the best Star Wars movie imo
Not the prequels though 😊
You would be disappointed... I doubt they'd pretend it was good
Revenge of the Sith is the best Star Wars movie. No debate.
I love the Prequels (and sequels too). Never understood why people give them such a bad rap.
This was an awesome episode, so glad even the industry people are fans and excited to visit
Wow I would watch an hour long documentary just on revenge of the sith. This is beautiful and inspiring
This guy was a phenomenal guest, and a genuine pleasure to watch. He seems so honored to be interviewed and have the minute details of his work be noticed by other pros in the field. What a humble, genuine guy. Please have him back on!!!!
vaziri casually dropping those shots and seeing if the couch noticed, what a king.
What a lovely guy, and his work is just stunning.
The Tie Fighter Sunset shot is such a simple but powerful image, with a bunch of power to further a story or add drama. The sequels could have used more of that and less of the complicated plots and contrivances. Simple is sometimes a lot better.
Nothing could've saved the Disney Trilogy. It was a mistake that shouldn't have been made.
@RichardHunslet1963this was the cringiest comment I’ve seen in a hoooooot minute
The sequels are bad because pf terrible writing, not because of a lack of simple shots. The sequel movies are still extremely good looking and yet they suck because of the bad writing
@El Poo Dooexactly. Bad writing and lack of a plan from beginning to end. No cohesive story just made it a mess.
Agreed. It seems they have forgotten to let people use their imaginations to build the story. Much better than splashing it all over the screen.
Things seem too busy and easily forgotten, IMHO.
This was great. Todd is also an amazing follow on social media.
This episode was very heartwarming. A great guest for something so icon in film but also in memes
I had to smile so often during this Episode. Wonderful guest! Great Show!
What a great guest! I loved this episode! Please have him back if possible!
I really like how this guy's shots have a great sense of framing and art to them. It's obvious why his work keeps getting used in trailers, you could frame each of them.
Would be cool if you reacted to the opening scene in Revenge Of The Sith aswell, the CGI is really impressive for its time and the opening shot is long as well
Ong
Impressive for its time? No, it's impressive, period.
It's a CG shot, there's nothing cool about it being long, it's just really pointless because it doesn't tell any story, it's just ILM showing off.
@Nukleonwow what a bad take
@NukleonMr Plinkett parrots are always amusing to see
Watched this entirely with a smile on my face. Bring back Todd!
Insane that they were the first to see exclusive shots. This channel is really popping off!
I still remember the time when corridor digital was just a small passionate crew doing independent works, you guys are always my #1 inspirations when i learn on doing VFX and film making back in the days, i'm glad you guys have grown so much to be able to invite industry professionals :D
At this point, one of the coolest channels on youtube! Doing amazing things for your industry, and all of us viewers.
UNREAL guest, you’ve had some great ones but these are some iconic moments in cinema and to get to review the masters work with the RIGHT NEXT TO YOU, bravo 👏
10:44 Man this is why this movie is so important even if you don’t like the Kelvin timeline, new fans getting into Star Trek. So hard to have a bad time watching Star Trek 2009.
Paramount figured out that the existing Trek fans would always show up, but there weren't enough of them. They chose to make Trek movies for all the other people who don't like Trek.
It’s just unfortunate that they started sacrificing canon and internal logic, which then tends to put off established Trek fans. For example, building the Enterprise on the surface of the Earth does not make sense, it’s not meant to exist in such a gravity environment. There’s a reason that previously (including in TNG) shipyards were shown in orbit.
@Martin Winter as much as you are objectively correct about ships being built in space being only logical, I’d also argue that technology like artificial gravity and tractor beams kind of make building on the surface of a planet feel moot imo. But still, fair enough! There was definitely liberties taken for style
Not gonna lie, that Anakin/Obi fight scene still crushes my heart to this day. I remember even being super upset as a child watching it in theaters. Still one of the greatest sequences of conclusive storytelling in cinema imo.
Loving that vibe. When you are good at something and getting respect of people who see the effort and knowledge of your work that you have done.
This episode is amazing!! The TIE Fighter shot story is incredible.
Such a great talent and creator. I love that this series have gotten these amazing artist into the limelight after decades of hard work and dedication.
Some of these people are the Rembrandts and Picassos of the 21th century-
Todd Vaziri was one of the best guests. Have him back. I love his personality and perspective of the shots.
As someone who's watched you guys from my bedroom while dreaming of working in the industry, to now having been in the industry for a few years, it is just so wild to have watched you guys go from almost being ridiculed by some industry professionals for "not knowing what you're talking about", to now featuring some of the biggest names in our field and being praised by studios around the world.
Seriously, huge kudos for keeping it up. I always look forward to another episode of VFX Artists React! And you just know there's some more good stuff lined up now after SIGGRAPH in LA ;)
I can listen to this guy talk all day. Such passion and ability is always admirable.
Todd was an AMAZING guest!
Definitely need him and his team BACK on the couch!
So much passion and love for the VFX craftmanship in this episode, this was awesome to see especially that episode 3 behind the scenes footage, amasing stuff!
Todd was amazing. Great video guys thank you!
This is incredible. Look how far you've come since episode one.
Loved seeing Jordan make an unplanned cameo on the stairs. Waiting for her debut on the couch
Casting couch?
@Kit Gusto get your mind outta the gutter
Well, it's mosty the VFX guys on the couch, I doubt she will show up unless its for a stunt react
Such an awesome episode, and such a dope guest! Always a pleasure to see a passionate individual who loves their work oh so much. 😮
What an episode!
Great content, fantastic guest, epic Wren-jawdrop.
This had it all
Todd Vaziri is such a lovely person. Must be a dream to work with people like him at ILM! Corridor Crew for life! ❤
I agree!
Please bring this man back! Great guest. So much wisdom.