IMAGINARY FORCES LARGEST VFX PROJECT
Prologue for Disney’s Tron : Ares
Grant Lau and Timothy Williams were tasked with designing a ride-like prologue that pulls audiences from curiosity to full-throttle immersion, bringing the franchise’s legacy of spectacle into a new era. We set out to fuse analog grit with digital precision, where CRT texture collides with RGB futurism, and build sleek cinematic worlds that feel alive, intelligent, and forward-looking. Grant and Timothy pitched on this project alone. Almost 15 years the two Creative Directors have collaborated.
The duo used every tool available to them to communicate their vision. Reference, editorial samples, POV shots of rollercoasters and FPV drones. Hundreds of AI frames that helped communicate ideas but were quickly replaced upon being awarded the project. An all star team was assembled for what was supposed to be a 45 day sprint.
100 days later the team turned in a 4 min/5k/3D stereo file. The largest render in IF’s history.
None of this would have been possible without the wonderful collaboration build between IF and the films director Joachim Rønning, VFX supervisor David Seager, and VFX Producer Walter Garcia.
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Created at Imaginary Forces
Creative Directors: Grant Lau & Timothy Williams
technical director: izik roitman
cg lead: enes ozenbas
3d designers: ilya tselyutin, leo esteves
3d designers/animators: nick woythaler, brandon savoy,
jacob gilbreath, john magbanua, will salas
editor: josh hamester, pascal leister
flame artist: theodore maniatis
senior producer: keith bryant
coordinator: ariel evans
executive producer: renée robson
CYBERSPACE in full colorama
Initially we wanted to fill the world ‘inside” the TV with color. An explosion of information in between the old grid and the new grid. We initially chose a color palette representing the blue of Tron but balanced with an vivid orange to give depth to our world and help with the natural skin tones on the holograms. Over time this palette was pushed into a fully blue space to contrast the red environment that follows in Shot 02. The building of Ares. All 3 of these frames were designed by the amazing Ilya Tselyutin
BEHIND THE SCENES MAKING OF
Learn more from Directors Grant Lau and Timothy Williams on how they, with a lot of amazing people, made the prologue for Tron: Ares
20 YEARS OF STORY
-- TRON "BLUE" MONOCHROMATIC COLOR TEST --
-- TRON "BLUE" MONOCHROMATIC COLOR TEST --
NINE INCH NAILS
Most of the film is backed by needle drops from Nine Inch Nails, who scored the film, and scored our prologue. The American industrial rock band helmed by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross followed in the footsteps of Daft Punk who scored Tron: Legacy.
Nine Inch Nails created over an hour of new music for the TRON: Ares. Featuring singles "As Alive As You Need Me To Be," "Who Wants to Live Forever," & more. The score and VFX are both shortlisted for Oscars this year and we couldn’t be more proud to be allowed to work with such talented people.
