"The Amazing Spider-Man 2" debuted in movie theaters this past weekend. As with most films in the comic book genre, the latest installment in the franchise featured a number of fascinating visual effects ranging from its action sequences to its major villains. Latin Post recently interviewed Argentine visual effects compositor Pablo Holcer about the process of working on the project.

Holcer noted that his department was one of many that worked on the project and noted that collaboration was key to putting together the blockbuster.

"You should see how many people were involved. I don't know the number exactly. But there were a lot of departments," he stated. "[The departments included] modeling, texturing, animation, effects, lighting and compositing, technical animation. It is quite amazing to see the talent in this company joined to make this kind of product and movie."

He noted that one of the biggest challenges in making the film revolved around the main antagonist Electro, played by Jaime Fox.

"He has an electric charge and he has so many layers that are truly complex," said Holcer. "Some are from the interior of his body. You can see through his skin. He has a lot of depth and different speeds and currents of electricity flowing though his body. That was a nice and interesting challenge.

Part of the challenging was not only creating the electricity in Electro but also making sure that the visual effects focused on developing the character and expressing his emotions.

"It has to go with his moods also. The color palette and skin of those arcs and bolts was changing throughout the movie depending on how he was evolving," explained Holcer. "That was quite a challenge. In every part of his skin or subsurface, the eyes, the veins, it has so many layers. It is quite complex the amount of layers we combined to get the final result of Electro."

Another major sequence that Holcer found challenging was first confrontation between Spider-Man and Electro in Times Square halfway through the movie.

"You have to have the geometry for all the building. You have al the textures and you have to be completely accurate. You have to get al the details for all the jumbotrons and video walls," he stated regarding the technical difficulties of the sequence. "It came out great visual and dramatically it is one of the high moments in the movie. So I think that came out quite amazing. You have the whole NYC. You have Times Square. You have Spider-man. You have the villain. It was really nice to be part of such an amazing team with the supervisors and director. I am so happy."

Holcer was born in Buenos Aires and has a background in Fine Arts. He has also worked as compositor on films such as "Superman Returns," "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe," "The Golden Compass" and "Happy Feet." He also worked as a digital lighter on "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2" at Sony Pictures Animation. He noted that every single project has given him a diverse challenge.

"Every project is a new challenge. We are managing so many shots and complex environments. Every project has its own gem," he noted. "I am proud of being part of the industry and every time I have a new movie I enjoy the challenges that the project involves and I am enjoying the moment because it is so good putting together visually astonishing images. The technology that we use is great and the artists involved are also great and really encouraging and motivational."

He noted that working on visual effects is about reaching a new level each time and find better ways to develop the technology.

"The biggest challenge of the job is you have to make better and more challenging shots. It's great because it forces you to push the boundaries and make better quality work every time," he added. "We try to work toward efficiency so you make your time count."

He noted that having a fine arts background has given him some advantages over some of the other more technologically oriented colleagues he has worked with.

"In fine arts, you have been through a lot of training regarding your eye and when you are painting you talk about color temperature and balancing and shadows and lighting and textures and all that facilitates things," he noted.

How did Holcer go from fine arts to working on movies?

"I always liked the combo between technology and art. Pushing the boundaries and making things look great and realistic and that is probably what motivated me," he said. "Being a kid and watching the first visual effects movies. That was probably also an inspiration. I always loved color and shape and form and perspective. So combining technology with the possibilities that the technology offers today and how to push the boundaries. That is something nice to be part of."