“Knights of the Zodiac” is set to premiere in North America on May 12. A joint project between the US, Japan, and Hungary, “Knights of the Zodiac” previously made headlines when it announced some of the world’s best VFX studios, including Dexter Studios from Korea, will be working on the overall visual production.
Dexter Studios (206560), a company specializing in VFX and content production, announced on May 11 that the movie “Knights of the Zodiac,” for which it participated in the production of VFX technology, will be released in North America the following day. Last November, the Korean VFX producer shared news on its new VFX contract worth KRW 5.5 billion from the film’s Hungarian production partner.
“Knights of the Zodiac” is based on the Japanese anime sensation “Saint Seiya,” and it has a massive fan base around the world. It is a hero-driven action fantasy film that centers on Seiya, a young man who plays an active role in protecting Sienna, the reincarnation of Athena, the goddess of wisdom. Seiya eventually goes on to discover his hidden powers to save the world.
Toei Animation, a subsidiary of the famous Japanese production company Toei, took charge of production, while UK’s DNEG and Spain’s Orca Studio,
which had worked on the VFX of several Hollywood hits such as Inception, Interstellar, The Dark Knight, Avengers Endgame, and Dune, took care of the VFX side of the film. Dexter Studios joined the project as the main VFX studio from Korea, stepping up its game to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with these global giants.
Supervisor Park Byeong-ju, who oversaw the VFX work for “Knights of the Zodiac” at Dexter Studios, said, “When our client first commissioned this project to us at Dexter Studios, they didn’t have a specific design or pre-vis ready aside from the live-action characters. We had to re-produce what had been created in the pre-production process after filming.” He added, “Because this was a joint project, we had to go through a really complicated process, sharing assets and effects and matching the overall look and feel of the film.”
Park explained, “Dexter’s concept team created new full-CG character designs and live-action character effects. Meanwhile, our animators worked on perfecting each scene by adding dynamic movements. I was in charge of several shots, and there were many scenes involving various situations. Naturally, the difficulty level of FX effects involving smoke, fire, and explosions was extremely high.”
Dexter Studios’ CEO Kang Jong-ik also said, “Given the nature of the project, the most important thing to focus on was its animated effects. We had to make sure the effects fit the genre rather than create something that just mimicked reality. And fortunately, we were able to achieve what we had set out to do thanks to some brilliant work between Director Bainski, Toei, and Dexter Studios.” He added, “It was a satisfying experience in that we played an important role and a leading role in such a global project. Our goal is to use our skillset, which we believe is on par with other leading studios around the world, and continue to work on various overseas references going forward.”
