Who is going to watch Category 7 on CBS tonight?
The makers of CBS' upcoming disaster miniseries Category 7: The End of the World made use of the same visual-effects software developed for the Lord of the Rings trilogy of films, visual effects supervisor Craig Weiss told SCI FI Wire.
The program is called Massive and can create believable hordes of digital people. "We are using Massive to digitize the extras, like Lord of the Rings," Weiss said. "People can be running or walking in a crowd scene and be randomized so they each won't have to be programmed in separately. What used to cost $100,000 you can now get off the shelf for about $3,000."
For Category 7, about a killer worldwide storm, the digital visual-effects team is not only filling skies with lightning and clouds, it is also destroying landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower, Mount Rushmore and the Pyramids. In one sequence, the arm of the Statue of Liberty is ripped off by a tornado, an effect accomplished with a 14-foot model on the Price Is Right stage at CBS Studios in Hollywood, Calif.