VFX REPORT


POST


FAKE IT TILL YOU MAKE IT


VFX is stepping in to help production in all manner of ways as it grapples with shooting retrictions, but it’s the promise of virtual production that is really fuelling imaginations. Jon Creamer reports


W


ith restrictions on international travel, social distancing keeping numbers down on set and the sheer mind boggling intricacy of


organising a large scale shoot right now, vfx has come more to the fore in production. COVID-19 has led to vfx stepping in far more


to provide what couldn’t be caught in camera and has hastened the uptake of techniques like virtual production that have accelerated to front of mind for productions coping with new shooting restrictions.


THE WORKAROUNDS And while virtual production (much more of that later) is the big news in vfx since COVID arrived, much of the help that vfx is providing is around tried and tested techniques, simply repurposed or extended for the current restrictions. Tom Williams, MD of MPC Episodic, points to


productions that managed to keep producing during lockdown by creating backgrounds in full cg instead of the live action plates they’d planned to shoot. “Small portions were converted to full CG elements, in appropriate places. Maybe where you don’t have lead actors, just creatures or characters, rather than having them shoot a plate for the background, we’ll now just make that background in CG. That’s a really clever way to keep some sort of progress because the content providers are very hungry for content.” Restrictions on international travel, as well as


actors who may need to shield, has led to an increase in comping performances together too. “There’s an element of combining takes in order for people to remain in some sort of protective bubble,” says Vine FX founder, Michael Illingworth. Crowd replication techniques, a vfx staple


for years, are also on the increase to keep extra numbers down and keep them physically apart on set. “We can film multiple passes and put them together. We don’t always have to go for the full CGI crowd scene,” says Illingworth. Bubbles of extras can be filmed several times with costume and prop changes with vfx comping together afterwards. Set extensions are more prevalent too “because of all the people that are required to build the largest set, we are being asked to bid on smaller set builds with more extension,” says Freefolk VFX Producer, Meg Guidon. “We can build it in a CG environment to extend it and minimize that human presence.” Other smaller fixes are needed too. Mike Chapman, Creative Director at The Mill, points to a recent job that needed vfx smoke effects to replace physical atmos “because if the air is heavier, it’s more likely particles the virus could travel on it.” Christian Manz, Creative Director, Film, at


Framestore, says there will be more simple paint outs for removing face-mask lines, boom mikes and


Autumn 2020 televisual.com 47


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148