Universal recently announced that Ted - Seth MacFarlane's feature directorial debut - had crossed $500 million at the worldwide box office. The talking bear movie will be released on DVD and DVD/Blu-ray combo pack on December 11.

Entertainment Affair got the chance to attend a panel with MacFarlane and the group responsible for overseeing the visual effects for Ted.  Bringing Ted to life was not an easy task. Production service company, The Creative Cartel, put two amazing teams of artists to work on such task - Tippett Studio and Iloura VFX and animation company. These were able to create a computer-generated [CG] teddy bear which allowed Seth MacFarlane to embody a character that fit perfectly in the world he had envisioned.

Every great film starts with a strong vision from its director, and MacFarlane had his vision over ten years ago. He first thought of Ted as a TV project, possibly an animated series. During the last decade he has created quite an empire on television through his animated series like Family Guy. It was not until five years ago, that after some interest from film producers, Ted was considered as a full length feature. Technology is now in a place that allowed MacFarlane and his creative team to bring the character to life as real as possible.

A key aspect of Ted’s success is how real he looks. From the moment he is introduced, you believe he is a real teddy bear that has come to life. You never think he is a CG character. This was the result of hard work from the visual effects team and an unconventional filming process. During shooting, Mark Wahlberg, who shares most of the scenes with CG Ted, would be acting with just a stuffed animal in front of him. MacFarlane would be acting out the scenes behind the camera while directing the film. This allowed for very real and ‘in the moment’ scene interactions between Wahlberg and MacFarlane. It also led to some very funny improv dialogue. During such process, MacFarlane wore the Xsens suit, not quite the funny unitard we've seen actors wear in movies such as the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, but quite similar and still hilarious. The Xsens is a more comfortable motion capture suit, which allowed MacFarlane to perform and direct without any restrictions. While the film was shot with the magnificent Genesis camera; a Sony EX3 was used to shoot MacFarlane behind the camera and capture his mannerisms. These were later implanted into the CG Ted, giving him the looks and funny spirit of Seth MacFarlane.

From the scene where one of the effects guys got to hit Wahlberg in the butt with an antenna (standing by as Ted), to the most emotional scenes in which we only wanted Ted and John (Wahlberg) to be friends forever, it is clear that Ted was a fun and challenging experience for its creators. Ted was a success in the visual effects department, but for it to succeed as a whole, is mostly due to MacFarlane's motion capture performance. Just like Andy Serkis carried Rise of the Planet of the Apes, MacFarlane carries Ted. Through his voice and mannerisms he creates a character that not only is naughty, raunchy and vulgar; but funny, caring, charming, charismatic and lovable. That is quite an effect.

Photo: Seth McFarlane on the set of "Ted," courtesy Funny or Die

Take TED home on December 11!