mike fink constantine

Two years ago we had the chance to speak about the amazing visual effects of 'X-Men 2' with Mike Fink, a true pioneer in the worl of the visual effects. Between the projects in which he has worked, we found films like 'War Games', 'Braveheart', 'Mars Attacks' or the two 'X-Men' films.

The last project of Mike has been 'Constantine', in which he has been involved as Visual Effects Supervisor, creating terrific effects and environments and supervising the work of such important studios as Tippett Studio, ESC or Hydraulx.

We have spoken with Mike on his work in this film, the appearance of the effects, the making process of the different demons, the Gabriel's wings or the shots in Hell.

El Portal del 3D y la Animación - 'Constantine’, based on ‘Hellblazer’, unlike other adaptations from comic books, this one is not a film of usual superheroes, with their nice suits and their powers. How is transferred to the screen a comic book closest to 'The Exorcist’ than to the 'X-Men'? Were you inspired by some film or some artist in special?

Mike Fink - Francis Lawrence wanted to create a world that the audience would feel was real. Rather than comic books (or even music videos), Francis took his inspiration from the real city of Los Angeles (where he grew up), and flavored that with influences from past films like “The Exorcist”, where very unreal things happen to very real people.

I don’t remember Francis and I ever trying to evoke a particular film or artist. Our references spanned from Renaissance art to contemporary artists like Francis Bacon.

3DA - John Constantine is a solitary, ill man, who lives on an austere form How has influenced that austerity, that crudity, in the conception and design of the visual effects?

Mike - The visual effects had to have an immediacy.For instance, In order to feel that this was a real place, we purposely put familiar objects into Hell, keeping with the notion that Hell is a parallel universe. This makes the scenes that are not at all in a real place feel real, and it keeps them accessible to the audience. We felt that Hell in particular had to be so completely hostile that no one would ever want to go there or be left there, and it would feel more hostile if it were slightly real.

3DA - In the film there is great amount of visual effects. What houses have worked in the visual effects of 'Constantine’ and what effects made each one of them?

Mike - Tippett Studio did the Exorcism, Hell, the Hell Demons, the Seplavites (flying demons), some of the Vermin Man, Mammon (Satan’s Son).

ESC did the “Car Crash”, some of Vermin Man, Angela pulled out of the building, the “Time Slows” sequence where Satan walks through suspended glass, Gabriel’s wings, the “Sprinkler” sequence, Balthazar at the mirror and being hit by holy water, and more.

CIS did Hennessey drinking himself to death, Balthazar breaking into bits as he talked, Balthazar’s face enhancement during the fight with Constantine, Angela’s coin flip, all the steam shots, the cancer extraction, the “Tile Drag” sequence, and many more.

Hatch did the heaven shots.

Hydraulx did the flies on Beeman, the “Electric Chair” sequence, and the “Light Command” sequence where Constantine brings forth Gabriel.

FuriousFX did some of the Satan water and heat effect, some veins, Hennessey’s eyes rolling back in his head, and others.

3DA - At the beginning of the film, we can see the protagonist making an exorcism, with the help of a mirror, in which he catches a demon. What can you explain to us on those shots?

Mike - We shot with a practical mirror, on an apartment set. Out the window was a green screen.The view out the window is tiled from plates I shot on location.When the mirror reflects the exterior, we had to put that into the mirror, too.

The demon was animated by Tippett. The idea is that demons can be trapped in mirrors as if they are a real space, so we have the mind-bending shot in which the demon crawls past the reflection of the girl and Constantine to find himself trapped in the mirror.

If you look closely when the demon breaks through the glass, you’ll see the hell sky through the hole in the glass. The entire environment in the mirror had to be treated as a 3D environment so that we could properly place the demon in the mirror.

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