With animation incorporated into a counter culture that involves its self with setting the balance between good and evil; Marvel Comics, ‘Ghost Rider’ has offered its contribution as to why the Digital Media animation wave is an exciting ride into port.

   A hell-driven vigilante known as Johnny Blaze ( played by Nicolas Cage) lives a life not bound by what society tells him to do. Expressing himself in leather, motorcycles, tattoos, and the rugged attitude that such a character of preference demands, Johnny Blaze encounters a feeling of loss that convicts him to make a decision that alters the rest of his life as he knows it.

   Altering the life of Johnny Blaze called for the Director and Writer to change him in such a way that a modern audience could relate to the alter ego that he would assume. The Director used animation to transmit the affliction of Johnny Blaze and carry on the tradition that he (the Director) grew up with collecting the comic. The Director made the movie more interesting for him by using animation to combine altered images of the main characters to give them and the story a greater sense of reality; without losing the essence of the tale.

   A sum total of 600 shots that had all went thru sophisticated fire simulations, challenging tracking, and composite animation helped set the tone of the environment. This effect process was also used for turning a ‘sunny sky of hope’ to ‘darkness casting its self in a demonic tone.’ Animation also helped with the stunts and special effects especially needed for the alter ego of Johnny Blaze, ‘Ghost Rider’ and his motorcycle to perform jumps, landings, crashes, and racing that would appear even more authentic.

   To show how painful the transformation of Johnny Blaze into the alter ego ‘Ghost Rider,’ animation was incorporated to express the curse and deal with the devil to seem even more realistic with the violent body changes Blaze went thru

   Animation also set the stage for the villains in the movie. Just like Ghost Riders composition, multiple plates of frames to create 1D, 2D, and 3D effects, image works, motion control, digital effects, cameras, electronics specialists, green screens, lighting and Flash imagery, make-up, visual effects, water dynamics, photography and more were all condensed and integrated to create realistic frames, shots and images of the characters wanted to capture the audience.

   The enthusiasm and collaboration of everyone who worked on this film is what reinvented the tale and created an excitement that pushed the crew at Sony Pictures Imageworks to use new techniques and see how far they could go with them.

   { Resource: Cinefex #109 April 2007 }