PRODUCTION TIME BANDITS
then took outside, bathed in sunlight and scanned the captured result into Unreal Engine. “You get that perfect amalgamation of handcrafted and cutting-edge technology,” states Wolters. Besides miniatures, the crew created ‘world bibles’ – “a library of design choices and backgrounds we could use to create digital extensions based on something real,” explains Wolters. “For instance, for the Ice Age, we flew to the South Island – myself, the DOP and a little team – to pre-shoot a lot of the backgrounds and capture as many places as possible.” This ultimately lent credibility to the VP-based sequences, as the LED backdrops generally combined a real location with virtual touch-ups. “VP and the VFX department was all working together and closely interlinked – and that’s exactly how it should be,” describes Wolters. COLD AS ICE Once they had the backdrops in place, the VP, VFX and art departments worked closely, ensuring that any foreground items looked organically integrated. Working out of the K Stage at Stone Street Studios – the largest sound stage, where King Kong was shot – the Time Bandits team travelled to 1900s New York City, medieval England, a desert, an island
THE ICE AGE WAS THE MOST exciting and rewarding challenge ”
and the Ice Age. Wolters noted that the latter was ‘the most exciting and rewarding challenge’. About half of episode 7 was filmed on the LED volume, combining a highly contrasted, unsaturated environment with weather elements such as fake snow. It took ‘days and days’ to find
the right material – not only so it looks natural, but also so it would match the virtual backdrop in colour, consistency and glimmer. More importantly, they needed snow that wouldn’t corrode the LED panels, which are not always all-weather resistant. Although VP’s capabilities are impressive, not everything can be shot in camera. For instance, the characters interact with a woolly mammoth, which was digitally enhanced in post. Between the fake snow, photographed backdrops, CG mammoth and meticulous lighting, the Ice Age episode succeeds visually, allowing the viewer to focus more on the story. That said, the VP team aimed to “get as much in camera as possible,” shares Dinsdale. When watching the finished series, “we can see that many shots are very much what we filmed, which is lovely. The VFX team did a spectacular job on this show as well. It looks beautiful all the way through,” he remarks. Allardice echoes this sentiment, noting the blurring between VP and more traditional VFX. “I looked through some of the first few episodes and thought ‘wait a minute, is that us?’” he recalls. “Of the material we shot virtually, around 70 to 80% was never even touched in post-
JUST DESERTS A combination of real sand and digital work created a convincing arid landscape
42
DEFINITIONMAGAZINE.COM
Powered by FlippingBook