Exclusive Interview: DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES Art Director Steffen Reichstadt Talks About "Fresh Approach"


Check out Dawn of the Planet of the Apes concept art by the Aaron Sims Company!

One of the premiere design firms is the Aaron Sims Company and they worked with Weta Digital to create the CGI apes for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Gino Acevedo, Creative Art Director at New Zealand effects house Weta Digital said he had to give a lot of credit to "a very good friend, a very talented artist Aaron Sims." Aaron's team helped to bring the digital apes to life and he told Under the Radar, "There’s still a lot of heartache because digital is sadly putting a lot of the practical stuff away, but at the same time there’s still a lot of the physical stuff that we still need to do. Aaron and his company actually sculpted some busts of Caesar, so we had those as practical things to look at and scan for reference."

Recently I had the chance to talk with one of the art directors from the Aaron Sims Company and he told me a little about how the team tackles these kind of blockbuster films. Steffen Reichstadt is a professional concept artist and art director for the Aaron Sims Company who's worked on Hollywood blockbusters like Sucker Punch (2011), X-Men: First Class (2011) and Edge of Tomorrow (2014). 

He shared illustrations from various artists that worked for the Aaron Sims Company (ASC) on this project.

Click on the images to enlarge.

Maurice Mitchell: What did the Aaron Sims Company work on for Dawn of the Planet of the 
Apes?
Steffen Reichstadt: ASC originally designed all the apes for the first film (Rise) and for Dawn we developed the face paints and tribal elements that the apes wear. We also developed key scenes to figure out the basic look of the apes in their environment with the new tribal elements.







MM: James Chinlund said they spent a lot of time studying primate culture. What's the most surprising way this influenced your designs?  If at all?
SR: What was interesting about Rise vs. Dawn was that for Rise we really studied the way that apes move and how they emote. Trying to show as much personality as possible in each character. With Dawn we did a lot more research on tribal culture and ceremony and tried to bridge the gap of simian and human.





MM: Was there a favorite design for the film?
SR: I think Caesar and Koba were the favorites for the whole shop. Both characters have such a powerful presence and it was fun coming up with ways to change the mood through the alteration costume and putting them in scenes.



MM: How much was your team influenced by the original Planet of the Apes films?
SR: Of course we like to keep the original in mind and we're all huge fans of the original. But for this series we focused on a fresh approach and our main focus was maintaining the intensity of the characters and helping facilitate the great story that's there.

MM: What's next for the Aaron Sims Company?
SR: ASC has a lot of super exciting projects coming out this year including but not limited to Hercules, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Jupiter Ascending and the next Sin City.

Here's a little more about the project from the Aaron Sims Company.

We worked closely with Weta to create the final looks seen in both Apes films. ASC designed all of the main and ancillary ape characters from the ground up for the first film, 2011's Rise of the Planet of the Apes. We sculpted a bust for Caesar as well, to ensure a hyper-realistic feel. In Dawn, ASC worked on aging the apes and creating the apes' ceremonial look, which includes face paint and other ornamentation taken from nature.

In addition to Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, ASC was involved early on in the design process and came up with the mech suits and alien concepts for the June 6 release of Doug Liman's Edge of Tomorrow, and the character designs for the forest creatures in Disney's Maleficent.

Aaron Sims, the owner of ASC, is also beginning to produce more original content through his production company, Apollo Pictures, after the critical success of his 2012 short "Archetype."

We're looking forward to some of the upcoming releases that we designed for—Hercules, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Jupiter Ascending, and also proud of how our work turned out in some of the other 2014 releases: 300: Rise of an Empire, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and Noah. Please take a look at our reel and more of our work at ASC's website: http://www.asc-vfx.com.

See more of  Steffen Reichstadt's brilliant portfolio at http://www.steffenart.com/

Click on the links if you want to see more artwork by Steffen Reichstadt, Aaron Sims Company or Dawn of the Planet of the Apes artwork on my blog.

What do you think of the concept art? If you've seen Dawn of the Planet of the Apes what do you think of the ?

Official Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Summary
"A growing nation of genetically evolved apes led by Caesar is threatened by a band of human survivors of the devastating virus unleashed a decade earlier.  They reach a fragile peace, but it proves short-lived, as both sides are brought to the brink of a war that will determine who will emerge as Earth’s dominant species."
Directed by Matt Reeves
Cinematography by Michael Seresin
Production Design by James Chinlund
Starring: Gary Oldman, Keri Russell, Andy Serkis, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Jason Clarke
Release Dates: June 28, 2014 (MIFF), July 11, 2014 (US)
Official Site: http://www.dawnofapes.com and http://www.dawnoftheplanetoftheapes-movie.com
© Copyright 2014 Chernin Entertainment, Dune Entertainment, 20th Century Fox. All rights reserved

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