“Previz,” or previsualization, is a 3-D digital representation of a sequence of a film using a virtual camera in order to simulate the look of a fully produced, edited sequence. Previz has become a very popular planning tool (like storyboarding) because it allows the director and his or her team to experiment and communicate sequences in the film.

I hate previz. I’ve never used it, and I will never use it. I didn’t use it on The Wolfman, and I won’t use it on Captain America. Hate it. Previz tells the crew this is exactly what you want, and I think it’s much more of a crutch than anything else. It sends a message to the crew that you’ve worked out all of your problems, you’ve had your meetings and you’ve figured out exactly what you want to do, and here’s the movie, take a look. But nothing could be further from the truth. It’s a sequence that was created in a computer, and it has no relation to what it’s going to be when you’re really out there, on location, on a stage, with real actors who are hitting their marks and saying their lines. It’s completely useless. There are visual effects people who will say, “Gee, we’d better previz this so we know exactly what we’re doing,” and I tell them to go ahead and waste money on previz because you need it to understand the elements of the sequence — for instance, identifying at what point you’re going to duplicate the army or create set extensions — but don’t show it to anybody and say this is what the director wants. Never.

I think storyboards are great and do more than previz can do, and they do it in a form that everyone understands. No one assumes it’s exactly what you’re looking for because it’s a piece of paper, a static image. Animatics, while they sometimes stray dangerously close to the evil previz, are more like moving storyboards that can give you a sense of timing and, for people who look at storyboards and can’t imagine what the sequence is, animatics are OK. But previz has an aura about it because it’s so close to what they think you want. It moves, people change and look like they are walking; you’re moving through a virtual set, and it all becomes very misleading. Previz is banned from the Captain America world.

I actually prefer to just work with a shot list on set and not even storyboards, because I think if the crew has previously seen the storyboards, and they’re familiar with the sequence, then they can use the shot list on set to organize their knowledge of what the scene is, the same way I do. It’s a more effective tool for making the day.

There’s no hard Captain America news I can share with you right now. I’m really pleased with the team we’re assembling, though. We’re shooting in the UK, so we’ll be hiring some people over there, and I’ve got Rick Heinrichs as my production designer (he was also my production designer for The Wolfman). Shelly Johnson is shooting the picture, and Rick Whelan (who saved my life many times on The Wolfman) is my first assistant director. We don’t have an editor yet, but we’re pulling the team together. Stay tuned, though; we’re going to be assembling a tremendous cast.

Joe’s going to be blogging for 30 Ninjas on a regular basis. Come back and read more!

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