The Pixel Magic team of fx supervisor Ray McIntyre, Jr., fx producer George Macri and CG supervisor Micheal Hardison, and myself were able to design and produce several shots for the film. The exciting Memo's Crash was given to us with only vague descriptions by director Renny Harlin. We were to design a crash sequence that put the viewer in the mindset of the driver--almost an out-of-body experience. We designed the sequence with this in mind, and it turned out to be the most exciting crash of the film.

Using Adobe After Effects and Pinnacle Systems' Commotion on Macintosh G4 computers, my compositing team and I put together complicated sequences that included computer generated cars, smoke, sparks, debris, rain, mist, and more.

This shot is entirely computer generated. The Nextel car, piloted by Memo Moreno, has just crashed into the guardrail, and caught air while on fire. The cars, mist, rain, smoke and racetrack were created by CG supervisor Micheal Hardison and his team in Lightwave 3D. As compositing supervisor, I composited all of the elements together, balancing all the elements to make the sequence as seamless and realistic as possible.

Entering the out-of-body experience in Memo's Crash, courtesy of the Slingshot transition.

Renny Harlin asked us to come up with some dazzling, exciting way to transition from the fast-paced editing of the film to the super-slow-motion experience of Memo's Crash. I designed what we call, the 'Slingshot.' Just as a slingshot tightens as you pull back on the band, the image begins to rumble with a high-frequency shake, then zoom in quickly and out into a new perspective, then finish with the same high-frequency shake. Renny loved the Slingshot for Memo's Crash, and even used it in other parts of the film.

Pixel Magic also created several shots for the Detroit Crash pileup that happens at the end of the film. Only three actual cars were used on the track, and were wired to crash together--the eight other cars were all computer generated.

To read all about all of Pixel Magic's work on the film, be sure to visit the Pixel Magic web site at http://www.pixelmagicfx.com.