Johnny Likens

Hey! Want to see something made by humans? Here’s a glimpse into the intense 2 days on the mocap stage, where the fight team gave it their all. As well as further insight into my keyframe madness, bandana simulations, weight shifts, micro-movements, and conveying Raphael’s attitude in the final animation. It was an insane amount of fun bringing this Raphael proof of concept to life. Fueled by obsession and a life long love for all things TMNT. No shortcuts. No “generate” button. Just artists crafting pixels and performance. Massive thank you to the team: @newmied00d @alan_silvallc @beexiong08 @yeahsureokaymaybe @smileyflipper @actorcapture @echolab @bjhind87 Process Reel Music by @snakesofrussia Trust. The. Process. 🐢🔥⚔️ #TMNT #Raphael #JohnLikens #Animation #C4D

Anger is a Gift. __ This is Raphael Unleashed. The version of the Ninja Turtles I’ve always wanted to see on the big screen. Enter into the darker side of the TMNT universe. A world where brotherhood is tested, violence has consequences, and Raphael’s rage is both his greatest weapon and his greatest flaw. It’s TMNT pushed to its limits: visceral, dramatic, and a hell of a lot of fun to watch. Let’s honor the iconic roots of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles while viewing it through a darker, cinematic lens. A grounded action thriller packed with chaos, conflict, and brutal martial arts, while carrying the emotional depth and high-stakes drama of a prestige series. __ A long standing goal of mine is to create a TMNT film or episodic series. @paramountpics , if you’re listening… Let’s Talk. 🐢⚔️🤘 Watch in 4K on YouTube - link in bio. #tmnt #raphael #paramountpictures #nickelodeon #thelastronin #animation #c4d #Maya #blender

Outnumbered. Never Outmatched. — Get ready for a TMNT journey into madness. — A long standing goal of mine is to create a TMNT film or episodic series. Until that day comes, here’s a little taste test of what that might look like. Created entirely by yours truly. Watch in 4K on my YouTube and stay tuned for more. COWABUNGA DUDES! ⚔️ Leo Combat Performance : @lonehart_stunts — #tmnt #tmntleo #Leonardo #animation #3D #Design #rogerdeakins #artdirection #vfx #johnlikens #teenagemutantninjaturtles #martialarts #fight #sword #mdcommunity #mgcollective #c4d #maxon #octane #otoy #maya #blender #b3d #aftereffects #nuke

A brief collection of my favorite memories from shooting in Tokyo earlier this year. It’s a wondrous thing to witness a film like this one come together. Grateful for every person who helped make it happen. 🙏 . . . #liveaction #film #beauty #behindthescenes #bts #filmmakers #sonyvenice #tokyo #shiseido #vfx

What a gift it was to create this magical brand film for Shiseido. 
Filmed on location in Ginza, Tokyo. I had the best time with an incredibly talented team. It was a truly rewarding experience to bring these awe-inspiring ideas and visuals to life and make a cinematic statement for the iconic beauty brand. — Shiseido: VP Global Executive Creative Director: Jay Ziegelmeyer Creative Operations Director: Becky Weng Producer: Simon Amar Director: John Likens Director of Photography: Oliver Millar Actress / Model: Risa Hosoya Supporting Cast:
Sakura, Mariya, Nisa, Iba and Yukito Hidaka Motorcycle Driver: Kotomi Hirayama Casting Director: Fumi Tsukigi 1st AD: Nagisa Kodama Stylist: Shohei Kashima Production Designer: Rika Nakanishi Steadicam Operator: Takuma Iwata Storyboards: Keith Morange Standard Production: Executive Producer: Chris Gabello Producers: David Simpson, Sidney Kreitzer AOI Pro Global Producers: Jun Yoshikawa, Takayuki Inase, Wataru Ode Production Manager: Miku Iwasaki Method Studios Executive Creative Director: John Likens Managing Director: Jesse Kurnit Executive Producer: Robert Mulligan, Nick Dziekonski Head of Production: Kristin Engdahl Senior Producer: Yvonne Apollonio VFX Supervisor: Ivan Guerrero On Set VFX Sup: Mewa Dwojak-Hara Editor: Ryan Todd FX artists: Tomas Slancik, David Derwin 3D Artist: Brian Di Noto Lighters: Claire Yawen, Irene Kim Design: Keri Moller 2D Lead: Chihcheng Peng Flame Artist: Margolit Steiner Nuke Compositors: Brian Delmonico, Sabrina Chan VFX Assist: Jordan Mikhail Audio: Music and Sound Design: Echolab Composer: Steve Lynch Color: Company 3 | Tim Masick

Good Fences Make Good Neighbors. — I loved every second that I got to work on this title sequence. Not only did I get to direct a live-action shoot with Jon Hamm, but I got to combine that with my love of VFX and Animation. From the beginning, I knew this was going to be a very ambitious and difficult process to execute this sequence at the high level it needed to be done at; but working with a true dream team from the initial storyboards, to the cinematography, and the world class VFX artists, everyone gave it their absolute best. In the end, I’m very proud of the final result and what my team was able to accomplish. Massive Thank You to: Showrunner/Creator: Jonathan Tropper Series Producer: Chris Arruda __ Director, Designer : John Likens Cinematographers: Adam Carboni, William Rexer Production Designer : Patrick Muller Storyboard Artist: Keith Morange Post Production : Method Studios VFX Supervisor : Ivan Guerrero FX Supervisor : Tomas Slancik CG Supervisor : Brian Dinoto Comp Supervisor: Todd Sarsfield Lighting Supervisor : Claire Yawen Chang Editor: Ryan Todd FX Artists : David Derwin, Alejandro Echeverry, Simon Littlejohn Lighters: Irene Kim, Jan Habib Compositors: Alex Gomez, Bob Homami Managing Director : Jesse Kurnit Executive Producer : Robert Mulligan Producer : Fan Yu Coordinator : Tami Benitez Live Action Production : Standard Production Executive Producer : Chris Gabello AD / Executive Producer: Sidney Kreitzer Executive Producer: Dave Simpson Producer: Vinny Di Stefano Steadicam Operator: Michael Thackray Wardrobe Stylist: Xina Giatas Color : Joe Gawler at Harbor Music: Hamilton Leithauser, Dominic Lewis __ #yourfriendsandneighbors #yfan #apple #jonhamm #johnlikens #maintitle #titlesequence #openingcredits #design #vfx #cgi #animation

One thing I never thought I would find myself doing in my career would be learning the dance moves to NSYNC’s Bye Bye Bye to try and sell the idea of a Dancing Deadpool to @vancityreynolds and @slevydirect for their opening title sequence… but here we are. Behold, a never before seen, very rare behind the scenes clip of me in the motion capture suit learning the moves… and the motion test footage that I pitched to the filmmakers to showcase how funny it could be to intercut the idea into the sequence. Director Shawn Levy was later quoted in an interview with @collider saying : “this concept changed the entire DNA of the opening sequence” - “You never know where a great idea is gonna come from.” It’s been WILD to see this little idea come to life and entertain fans on screens all over the world. 🤩 #deadpoolandwolverine #deadpool #dancepool #nsync #byebyebye #mocap #maximumeffort

Seeing our opening title sequence for Deadpool & Wolverine, especially these dancing shots, go viral the last few days has been so rewarding to watch. Back in January I had the unique privilege of pitching concepts and ideas to the one and only @vancityreynolds and @slevydirect for the opening sequence of their film. My favorite aspect of the Deadpool character is his ability to break the fourth wall and become ultra aware that he’s in the middle of an action scene in a Marvel movie. I felt strongly that if Deadpool consciously knows that he is in this fight scene that is being cut to Bye Bye Bye, he might just feel inclined to bust out some of the iconic N’Sync dance moves while killing off the bad guys. To try and sell this idea to the filmmakers, I taught myself how to do the Bye Bye Bye choreography via YouTube videos, and proceeded to record the moves while I was wearing a motion capture suit. After I retargeted the mocap data to our previs Deadpool character rig, I animated handheld camera moves to make it feel like shots out of a music video. There was a lot of creative exploration about what kind of environment the dancing moments would happen in, but the stylized hyper-real forest scene was everyone’s favorite. Ryan and Shawn thought it was hilarious, cracking up on the pitch call, and knew immediately it was going to work. Shawn told me, “It’s a one in a million idea and you nailed it!” Shortly after, they hired on Choreographer @nickfpauley to do the dance properly in the Deadpool suit and shoot it on blue screen. From there we brought the live action dance into the stylized 3D environment comps and animated custom camera moves in post. There’s SO MUCH fun process and breakdown material to share when the time comes, including our work on the dynamic typography from ultra talented folks like @wesleyebelhar @keelmo and @seijigram to name a few. and just maybe I’ll even show footage of me in the suit doing the mocap! __ Massive thank you to @method_studios @vancityreynolds and @slevydirect for the amazing collaboration. Best. Project. Ever. __ #deadpoolandwolverine #marvel #titlesequence #openingcredits #nsync #byebyebye #deadpool

MAKING THE MADNESS - 3 of 3 - Thrilled to have directed the Cinematic Launch Trailers for Meta’s Asgard’s Wrath 2 as 2023 came to a close! 🎬🎮 It was exciting to be a part of this journey with @bbdo and @method_studios to launch the biggest VR game ever made!” It’s not every day you get the opportunity to work on a project that encompasses all the things you’re truly passionate about. These films checked a lot of boxes for me. I got to direct the live-action, VFX, and animation teams and bring them together to make these stunning films. Big shout out to the stunts and performance crew for going all in! 💪🏻 __ Agency | @bbdo Director | @johnnylikens DP | @byronkopman Prod Co | @standardproduction Production Designer | @patrickwmuller VFX + Edit | @method_studios Managing Director | Jesse Kurnit Executive Producers | @hayleywallach + @jpask Realtime Executive Producer | Karina Partington Senior Producer | Aiste Akelaityte Senior VFX Producer | Christopher Lewis VFX Producers | Kyle Fader + Joseph Hobaica Realtime Producer | Fan Yu VFX Supervisors | Ivan Guerrero Senior CG Supervisor | Brian Dinoto CG Supervisor | @christinafaraj FX Supervisor | @tomas.slancik Art Director / FX Artist | @myshli Technical Supervisor | Michael Ferraro Lighting Supervisor | Claire Chang Flame Leads | @chihchengpeng + @wolehole Comp Supervisor | Theodore Wirtz Senior Unreal Generalist | Eugene Floramata Lead Unreal Animator | Greg Bekken Lead Unreal Artist | Mateus Kurzhals Unreal Technical Director | Warren Wang Senior Editor | Ryan Todd Editor | Marcus McSherry Senior Designer | David Weinstock Color grading | @company_3 Color | @sofie_borup Producer | @shannentroup SFX | Source Sound | Charles Deenen BTS Music | @aephmusic 🤘😈🤘 #animation #houdini #fx #redshift #octane #C4D #nuke #maya #unrealengine5 #UE5 #realtime #VFX #cinematography #chaos #johnlikens #vfxbymethod #colorbyco3 #company3 #meta #metaquest #advertising #tech #postproduction #visualeffects

GODS AND MONSTERS - 2 of 3 - Thrilled to have directed the Cinematic Launch Trailers for Meta’s Asgard’s Wrath 2 as 2023 came to a close! 🎬🎮 It was exciting to be a part of this journey with @bbdo and @method_studios to launch the biggest VR game ever made!” It’s not every day you get the opportunity to work on a project that encompasses all the things you’re truly passionate about. These films checked a lot of boxes for me. I got to direct the live-action, VFX, and animation teams and bring them together to make these stunning films. Big shout out to @byronkopman for being a master on the lenses. 🙏 __ Agency | @bbdo Director | @johnnylikens DP | @byronkopman Prod Co | @standardproduction Talent | @jessedevlin VFX + Edit | @method_studios Managing Director | Jesse Kurnit Executive Producers | @hayleywallach + @jpask Realtime Executive Producer | Karina Partington Senior Producer | Aiste Akelaityte Senior VFX Producer | Christopher Lewis VFX Producers | Kyle Fader + Joseph Hobaica Realtime Producer | Fan Yu VFX Supervisors | Ivan Guerrero Senior CG Supervisor | Brian Dinoto CG Supervisor | @christinafaraj FX Supervisor | @tomas.slancik Art Director / FX Artist | @myshli Technical Supervisor | Michael Ferraro Lighting Supervisor | Claire Chang Flame Leads | @chihchengpeng + @wolehole Comp Supervisor | Theodore Wirtz Senior Unreal Generalist | Eugene Floramata Lead Unreal Animator | Greg Bekken Lead Unreal Artist | Mateus Kurzhals Unreal Technical Director | Warren Wang Senior Editor | Ryan Todd Editor | Marcus McSherry Senior Designer | David Weinstock Storyboards | @keith_morange Color grading | @company_3 Color | @sofie_borup Producer | @shannentroup SFX | Source Sound | Charles Deenen #animation #houdini #fx #redshift #octane #C4D #nuke #maya #unrealengine5 #UE5 #realtime #VFX #cinematography #chaos #johnlikens #vfxbymethod #colorbyco3 #company3 #meta #metaquest #advertising #tech #postproduction #visualeffects

ENTER CHAOS - 1 of 3 - Thrilled to have directed the Cinematic Launch Trailers for Meta’s Asgard’s Wrath 2 as 2023 came to a close! ⚔️🎬🎮 It was exciting to be a part of this journey with @bbdo and @method_studios to launch the biggest VR game ever made! It’s not every day you get the opportunity to work on a project that encompasses all the things you’re truly passionate about. These films checked a lot of boxes for me. I got to direct the live-action, VFX, and animation teams and bring them together to make these stunning films. Big shout out to @rickybowry and @joewfox for trusting me to handle the Chaos. __ Agency | @bbdo Director | @johnnylikens DP | @byronkopman Prod Co | @standardproduction Talent | @mars.moreira VFX + Edit | @method_studios Managing Director | Jesse Kurnit Executive Producers | @hayleywallach + @jpask Realtime Executive Producer | Karina Partington Senior Producer | Aiste Akelaityte Senior VFX Producer | Christopher Lewis VFX Producers | Kyle Fader + Joseph Hobaica Realtime Producer | Fan Yu VFX Supervisors | Ivan Guerrero Senior CG Supervisor | Brian Dinoto CG Supervisor | @christinafaraj FX Supervisor | @tomas.slancik Art Director / FX Artist | @myshli Technical Supervisor | Michael Ferraro Lighting Supervisor | Claire Chang Flame Leads | @chihchengpeng + @wolehole Comp Supervisor | Theodore Wirtz Senior Unreal Generalist | Eugene Floramata Lead Unreal Animator | Greg Bekken Lead Unreal Artist | Mateus Kurzhals Unreal Technical Director | Warren Wang Senior Editor | Ryan Todd Editor | Marcus McSherry Senior Designer | David Weinstock Storyboards: @keith_morange Color grading | @company_3 Color | @sofie_borup Producer | @shannentroup SFX | Source Sound | Charles Deenen #animation #houdini #fx #redshift #octane #C4D #nuke #maya #unrealengine5 #UE5 #realtime #VFX #cinematography #chaos #johnlikens #vfxbymethod #colorbyco3 #company3 #meta #metaquest #advertising #tech #postproduction #visualeffects

Trust the Process. 🐢⚔️🔥 — #tmnt #leonardo #animation #johnlikens #c4d