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Hi, I'm Mike Seymour, from fxguide.com for WIRED,

reporting on the tech behind

The Amazing Spider-Man 2: Rise of Electro.

In the film, mild-mannered engineer, Max Dillon,

turns from Spider-Man's greatest fan

into an electrically charged, plasma-based supervillain,

after he falls into a tank of genetically engineered eels.

And it was down to Sony Pictures Imageworks

to transform the actor,

the Academy Award-winning Jamie Foxx,

into the glowing, transparent,

and lightning-charged Electro.

Well of course the filmmakers looked

at real lightning as reference.

But, they also looked at neurological networks,

deep space nebulas, and in particular,

the way that lightning kind of lights up inside cloud banks.

This drove the idea that Electro

was actually flowing with energy,

and it's firing and acting a bit like a storm

inside his body.

On set, the actor wore elaborate special effects makeup,

which was the base for the visual effects

that would be added to later.

Also, I guess it served as tracking bunkers,

as opposed to having to put dots all over Jamie Foxx's face.

As the visual effects would be combined

with this real makeup,

which was actually hooded on-set,

he was actually lit up with a set of remote-controlled LEDs.

This would avoid his face from going very dark

under that hood,

when of course, in reality, in the final version,

his face would actually be emitting light.

From the base makeup design by KNB EFX Group,

the digital elements were then added on top.

As his mood changes,

the storm under his skin also changes color.

And, this is particularly important,

because as he was transparent,

the team had to model his bones,

his veins, and his organs,

as well as provide blood for this energy to,

well effectively light up.

The CG was then composited

with the original live action play

and then the final lightning attacks pattern.

Now, these attacks were animated,

not unlike Spider-Man's webs,

but unlike those sort of single threads,

these were actually multiple layers

and different stages,

from an initial pre-bolt arc and plasma

to eight layers of complex texture

which when added with a bunch of

on-set complex contact lightning,

completed the sequence.

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Well, don't forget to subscribe

for more behind the scenes action.

I'm Mike Seymour, for WIRED.

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