Percy Jackson and The Olympians creatives reveal what they are most excited for fans of the books to see, and more, in this exclusive interview.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians Creatives Talk New Series
With the latest adaptation of Percy Jackson, Percy Jackson and The Olympians, coming to Disney+ on December 20th, we sat down with members of the creative team to talk to them about the direction they wanted to take the show and the creative process behind their vision, as well as what they are most excited for fans of the book series to see.
In speaking with VFX Supervisor Erik Henry and ILM VFX Supervisor Jeff White, they touched on how they implemented new technology into the series. When asked about the use of volume technology on the series they talked about how challenging it was due to the places they are recreating to be in our real world. People can me more picky with something they already know about. They further spoke about how great the technology was with lighting and just further explored the possibilities of the volume in terms of the entire creative process, not just on set.
When asked about the fairly new technology used on set Erik had a lot to say about the implantation of the volume. “Yeah, I think one thing that can be a misunderstanding about the volume is that it’s mostly a digital tool. It’s actually much more about what Dan Hanna builds” said Erik.
The show has a scene where they are in the Met but since they could not film in the actual took a scan of the Met and combined it with practical effects. “What’s so amazing about that scene is that there are some of the white columns in the room that are real, and then right next to it is a digital one in the volume,” explained Erik. He talked about walking the line between practical and digital, using the real column next to the digital ones brings a level of realism that allows for more connection to the technology that simulates the environment.
While explaining the process of how the scans, Jeff White said, “We sent a team out there with the central stills cameras… They [Met] gave us a day when they were closed to come in and give us the room and we just spent the whole day capturing there”.
With time set aside for the VFX team to do their work in the Met they of course got the best possible scan. Jeff mentioned that they have the absolute best data set captured of the room. An agreement was also made between ILM and the Met that they would be allowed to get the scan data after Percy Jackson and The Olympians, stating that “Part of the agreement was that we gave them the data after we finished it, so it’s sort of a benefit for their scanning team that wants to do”.
The guiding elements seem to be primarily focused on the immersion of the world and as stated previously, since a lot of the world expressed on the volume is real to our world, it has to be perfect. A lot of times on other projects using the volume such as The Mandalorian, the world being expressed is space. When looking at a project like The Batman it feels more similar to what the world of Percy Jackson is like, in regards to the use of the volume but even then The Batman was building a fictional city out of many real cities.
The VFX Supervisors mentioned how they have the highest resolution scan of the Met in the world and again, that is because they need to make it as realistic as possible. James Bobin, director of the first two episodes of the series, he revealed specific sequences he is really excited for fans of the book to see translated into the series.
He said that the capture the flag sequence is pretty great and it really sets the tone for Percy’s story, saying, “I like that sequence because I like the idea that this show is very much from Percy’s perspective.” Percy’s perspective is so important to the series because as the director he wanted everything to be from Percy’s POV. He knew this from the beginning when he said the script and “it said Percy Jackson brackets 12, you go. Ok, great because that’s how it should be.”
The world is so rich and James added how heavy of an experience the story is for Percy but that is also what draws the audience in, his personality and growth. When speaking more on the story points of view for the series, director James Tobin made a technical comparison to E.T.
Saying that just as E.T was shot with the camera very low, in the perspective of E.T, so is this series in the sense that we are at Percy’s “height”, truly following him in this story. In addition to that he mentioned how E.T was an alien in a human world and Percy is a human in a god world, and the comparisons they drew from the film.
Jon Steinberg and Dan Shot who are the executive producers and show runners of the series also added more in terms of revealing how the story process went for translating the books into a series. Of course there was also a film adaptation of Percy Jackson, but with eight forty-minute long episodes there is so much more time.
Both showrunners did add that there was some small details and stories that they just couldn’t fit in, or do justice to, so they didn’t include it. They didn’t want to compromise any of the sets just for the fans to see it on screen. They wanted to put all of their effort into the sets and stories that mattered.
“I think you wanna get everything in such that nothing feels so short changed that it’s compromised”, said Jon Steinbery while explaining the selection of stories. He added that a lot of times if there was an interesting concept that couldn’t be its entirely own story, testing to see if it could weld into another story, trying to plug in two ideas but still have the same impact of the book. Jon said that luckily there was not much he really targeted to add that didn’t get added saying, “I’m struggling to think of anything where I felt like I really wish “that was there”.”
Earlier they were asked about how far deep into the first book the first season goes and the show runners revealed that there were obviously storylines and arcs from the Lightning Thief that they couldn’t fit in.
The showrunners said that the goal was never to just squeeze everything from the novel into the series but rather to fit the primary stories into the series. Dan Shot specified that this is an adaptation of the novel not a one-for-one creation into live action, so much of the stories are extend or tightened because of importance and time.
Tish Monaghan mentioned the very long and tedious process to get the color orange right for the Camp Half-Blood shirts. She said it took them way longer than it should have and since they had already spent so long on it she had to just stop going back with notes at a certain point. Another big challenge was the asphodelus in the underworld saying that they had about 10 actors that had to appear like lifeless cultures, standing on elevated boxes for hours.
With that so many questions arose in terms of the practicality of the costumes, “First of all, how do you enshroud them? And then they had roots growing out of their bases. How are these people going to get into these costumes? What are we going to do?”
They came up with the solution by creating something made of set deck fabric and the actors could eventually stand comfortably and zip open flaps in different spots to quickly get out of the costume. Aside from the costumes in the underworld the set of the underworld itself was very colorless said Dan Hennah, the production designer. “The concept was these villains was enshrouded by spirits- as you walk through the forest, that you pass around it and then all of a sudden, sudden movements with their eyes.”
A lot of the set design was intricate because of many of the practical elements, another difficult one both he production and costume designer mentioned was the Love Tunnel sequence at the amusement park. Dan Hennah revealed that they did not use the volume but instead the tunnel had moving lights and the boat was very slightly moving. For the waterfall at the end of the tunnel there was no volume used, instead employing a 4 to 5 foot deep tank of water for the underwater scenes.
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About Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Based on the best-selling book series by award-winning author Rick Riordan, “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” tells the fantastical story of a 12-year-old modern demigod, Percy Jackson, who’s just coming to terms with his newfound divine powers. When the sky god, Zeus, accuses him of stealing his master lightning bolt, Percy sets off on an adventure of a lifetime with his friends, Grover and Annabeth, to find it and restore order to Olympus. “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” will debut with a two-episode premiere on December 20 on Disney+. (from Disney Branded Television and 20th Television).
Aryan is an aspiring content creator and journalist who loves all genres of movies. He is passionate about discussing and having conversations about anything and everything pop culture related.