2008:264

B A C H E L O R T H E S I S

Digital Visual Effects Supervisionfor Feature Films

Fredrik Averpil

Luleå University of Technology

Bachelor thesis Computer graphics

Department of Skellefteå CampusDivision of Leisure and Entertainment

2008:264 - ISSN: 1402-1773 - ISRN: LTU-CUPP--08/264--SE

Digital Visual Effects Supervision for Feature Films

Bachelor’s ThesisJune 2008

Fredrik Averpil

Computer Graphics,Luleå University of Technology

ForewordThis study is based on work carried out at Filmgate AB between spring 2006 and summer 2008.

I would like to thank everyone at Filmgate AB as well as my instructor, Håkan Blomdahl, for providing me the possibility to do my Bachelor’s thesis on this subject.

AbstractThe objective of this Bachelor’s thesis was to write a report on my work as the VFX Supervisor throughout feature film projects. Throughout pre-production, filming and post production work methods were to be examined and reflected upon in order to, in the end, be able to achieve optimal quality visual effects.

Several live projects at Filmgate AB were used as a base for this report. The study does not include any details on the actual projects due to legal reasons.

In this study, it was found that if the VFX Supervisor is involved in all stages of a feature film project, start-ing with script writing and ending with the post production, the film project will greatly benefit from this. The visual effects work can then be tailored to the budget and other prerequisite requirements, planned in detail to ensure optimal results.

Summary in SwedishUnder mina två år på Filmgate AB har jag arbetat med diverse film- och TV-projekt med varierande stor-lek. Till examensarbetet föll det sig naturligt att skriva en rapport om arbetet och mina erfarenheter som jag hittills har samlat på mig.

I rapporten har jag skrivit om rollen och arbetet som VFX Supervisor under ett generellt långfilmsprojekt med start redan på manusnivå. Att gå in såpass tidigt i ett projekt, i egenskap av VFX Supervisor, har visat sig leda till en av rapportens viktigaste slutsatser; Ju tidigare effektbolaget involveras i ett filmprojekt, de-sto större är chansen att ramarna för budget bibehålls samt att planering tillåter att det resulterande grafiska arbetet uppnår optimal kvalitet.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

The VFX Supervisor 1

Acronyms, abbreviations and industry terms 1

Pre-production 2

Script breakdown, initial list of shots 2

Bringing together the team and the tools 2

Concept phase 2

Pre-visualization 2

Film format and delivery 3

Location scouting 5

Production meetings 5

VFX meeting 5

What’s it like on set? 6

Hierarchy, time constraints and stress 6

Meet the people you will be working with 7

The Director 7

The Director of Photography 7

The Assistant Directors 7

The Producer 7

The Production Coordinator 7

The Production Designer 8

Special Effects (FX) 8

Prepare yourself 9

Work permits and VISA 9

Read up 9

Cover your back 9

What to bring to set 10

Overall equipment 10

Clothing 10

A good book and your iPod 10

Documentation is key 11

Photos 11

Rushes 11

Chrome ball, HDR imagery 11

Diffuse ball, diffuse reference 11

Data sheets 12

Pay special attention to 13

Dolly/crane and generally moving cameras 13

Shaky, handheld footage 13

Zoom, variable lenses 13

Chroma keying, blue screen or green screen 13

Smoke and mist 13

Element shoots 14

“Fix it in post” 14

Back at the post production facility 15

Receiving the initial cut 15

Establishing a list of shots and assigning them to artists 15

Brief your artists 15

Quality assurance and feedback 15

Test print 15

Delivery 15

Conclusions 16

Planning for optimal quality VFX 16

Talent decides what can be achieved 16

Documentation saves time 16

Delivery formats 16

You are the face of your company on set 16

Prepare for anything 16

Think off your feet 16

References 18

IntroductionThe VFX Supervisor

As a VFX Supervisor you are responsible for achieving the creative aims of the Director and Producers through the use of (digital) visual effects. While it is a creative role, it is important for the VFX Supervisor to possess a strong technical background and to be capable of making decisions on which technique(s) to use to solve a problem.

The VFX Supervisor can either be employed directly by the film production company or can work for a VFX company. On bigger projects, there are usually several VFX Supervisors although there could then also be a senior VFX Supervisor directing their efforts.

This document has been written from the perspective of a general VFX Supervisor working for a VFX company and is intended as a skim-on-the-surface guide for anyone who is about to take on the role of the VFX Supervisor for the first time.

Acronyms, abbreviations and industry terms

DPX Digital Picture Exchange

EDL Edit Decision List

FPS Frames per second

LED Light Emitting Diode

VFX Visual Effects

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Pre-productionScript breakdown, initial list of shots

When being approached to work on a project (or when pitching), you will most likely be asked to read the script in order to determine what can be done digitally, sometimes rather than practically in order to save money. Maybe the desired effect is impossible to create “in camera” or using practical means. It could also require both practical elements being shot on camera in combination with digital work. By reading through the script you will quickly get an idea of the scope of the project and you should be able to put forward a suggestion to the client what you believe that the approximate costs would be for your company to achieve the wanted effects.

Not all producers will involve you as early as in the script writing phase. However, if they do you will stand a stronger chance to be able to influence the type of VFX work to be carried out so that you can util-ize your artists individual strengths to the maximum. For example, if your team consists of highly skilled matte painters, you could try and design the VFX shot based on their skills. By doing this, it might also be easier to create great looking VFX and staying within budget on low budget productions. It is very impor-tant to educate producers about this if they are unaware of it.

What happens next depends very much on what your position is like within your company, but you might have to put on the negotiating hat and sit down with the presumable client in order to close the deal. I would recommend that you divide up the roles as much as possible here. Having another person from your studio doing as much negotiating and money talking as possible, leaving you the creative parts. This way, you will be the nice and creative person who will always be positive and responsive to the director’s needs. Remember, you will be the face of your studio on the film set!

Bringing together the team and the tools

Based on the nature of the project, you might find yourself with a team which possesses only part of the knowledge and experience to pull off all of the desired effects work needed. You must then be able to put forward suggestions on how your studio will solve this. Maybe you will need to hire new talent or simply sub-contract another company. This is why it is crucial for a VFX Supervisor to be well-connected with artists outside of the studio as well as potential partnering companies. You may also be responsible for deciding what kind of investment (i.e. software and hardware) needs to be done in order to crank out all effects in time for deadline.

Concept phase

Along the process of going through how the visual effects will be created, it is most of the time crucial that you plan the individual visual effects shots (VFX shots) in detail. Many times a storyboard can be used as an appendix in a project’s contract in order to erase the uncertainties of a resulting VFX shot but it will also communicate to you and your team what needs to be achieved. Concept art and storyboards may be pro-vided to you and your studio but sometimes you will be asked to be part of this phase and you will need to come up with storyboards, concept drawings and maybe even maquettes.

Pre-visualization

For bigger projects or certain complex VFX shots your studio might also have to perform pre-visualization, which is usually draft animations in 3D. This work may sometimes start happening even before filming. In very big projects, whole sequences can be pre-visualized in order to be able to plan the exact camera angles of certain scenes.

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When you are working with a project that involves a lot of animation or maybe entire sequences made completely digitally, you will save time in order to create pre-visualized animations and get those ap-proved before beginning to shade and light anything in 3D.

Film format and delivery

When planning and even budgeting a project, it is important to know what kind of imagery will be delivered to you and your studio. In some cases you will take part in the discussion of what cam-era or film stock should be used in order to make sure you will be able to achieve optimal results during post production. This could mean reading up on the film stock that the Director of Photogra-phy has decided to use for a green screen take.

The imagery could be provided from a film scan-ning lab or directly from a video camera’s tape (or hard drive). For most feature film productions you would want to receive image sequences scanned of a film camera’s negative, encoded in 10-bit logarithmic space, stored in a file format such as DPX (Digital Picture Exchange, which was origi-nally derived from the Cineon1 file format). This ensures whatever values originally scanned off the negative (or positive film) are kept intact.

The Kodak Digital LAD Test Image is a digital image that can be

used as an aid in setting up digital film recorders to produce

properly exposed digital negatives and in obtaining pleasing

prints from those negatives.

When working with traditional digital cameras and video, you could expect to receive the imagery on tape, as a Quicktime file or as an image file sequence. Video is usually encoded as 8-bit or 10-bit and can be stored in both linear space and logarithmic space. It all depends on which camera and what storage method has been used. The important part is that you know what you are expecting to receive and why.

It is very important that you examine this material upon delivery to your studio, as you could find your-self having really big issues later on in the production when you realize you cannot deliver what you have promised (most often specified in the project’s contract) because the delivered material was faulty in some way. For example, the lab scanning the images from a film camera’s negative could have made a mistake and delivered 8-bit files using a destructive compression to you. This could make it very difficult for you and your team to create the desired effects and in worst case make it impossible for you to deliver the files back to the client in the desired color depth. This is a situation where your studio and most likely you in person will be held responsible. Regardless of expecting imagery from a lab or not, stay alert as digital video can of course also be improperly handled before reaching your studio!

Depending on how your studio’s pipeline2 is designed, you may need to be part in revising it in order to make sure you can manage the received material as well as deliver the desired files to the client without unintentionally degrading the imagery at any stage.

1Cineon files are assumed to operate as part of a reproduction chain keeping whatever values are originally scanned from a negative or

positive film. This kind of file format is most commonly used to represent the density of each color channel of a scanned negative in a 10-

bit log format where the gamma of the original camera negative is preserved as taken by a film scanner.2A pipeline is the predetermined workflow where image files will be managed, manipulated, converted and shuffled between different

applications and in the end result in the final imagery to be delivered to client.

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The Red cameras

At the time of writing this paper, the new Red cameras are creating a lot of buzz in the industry. Just recently, their first commercial camera, the Red One, began making appearances on film sets around the world, doing the job that was usually carried out by the traditional film cameras. This camera is recording digital video but precedes all commercial digital video cameras in many ways, such as its recording format, Redcode RAW, and its raw data sensor which allows recording up to 4096x2304 pixels (also referred to as 4K).

The Red One stores its Redcode RAW image files on a hard drive and allows recording white bal-ance, gamma and other image processing parame-ters to be set during post production. Adjusting these settings directly on camera does not impact the raw data that is actually recorded. Such ad-justment only influence live monitoring outputs, but are attached to the recorded data as metadata.

It is not unlikely that these cameras will create a paradigm shift in digital video and will in many cases entirely replace the traditional film camera. In combination with digital cinemas, the Red cam-eras could in theory completely eliminate the need of a lab.

The Red One camera, offering the Mysterium™ Super 35mm

cine sized (24.4×13.7mm) sensor, which provides 4K (up to 30

fps), 3K (up to 60 fps) and 2K (up to 120 fps) capture, with wide

dynamic range and color space in 12 bit native RAW.

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Lens distortion and grid charts

When the choice of cameras and its lenses have been made (most often done by the Director of Photography and the camera crew), it is advisable to perform a camera test. If you know that the project involves a lot of match moving (recording the movement of pixels in such way that you can integrate i.e. 3D rendered objects into live action material), you should have each camera with every lens film a couple of frames of a perfect grid. Together with your notes from the film set, this imagery will help you and your team when per-forming match moving.

Barrel distortion Pincushion distortion

A lens usually distorts the image a bit, especially if it is a fisheye

lens (barrel distortion) or a telephoto lens (pincushion distor-

tion). The grid will show exactly how the lens distorts whatever

is filmed. Using this grid, the match moving artists can correct

this distortion while working and, if desired, apply it back in the

end.

If you are dealing with variable lenses (zoom lenses), the distortion grid will change when performing a zoom and you will enter a whole new domain of horror that is zoom lenses. Having a distortion grid ref-erence might help the match moving artist, but there is in most cases only manual labour that will solve a match move using a zoom lens. Depending on what needs to be done with such filmed material, one ap-proach could be to divide the imagery up into quadrants and perform a match move on each quadrant.

Location scouting

The film crew usually travels out onto locations in order to plan how to set up cameras and other equip-ment. Depending on the VFX shot, it is a very good idea to join the crew on these field trips. You will get a feel of shooting conditions and also hear what the Director of Photography is planning on doing as they might very well go away from the storyboard since the location may not allow shooting as planned.

Production meetings

When actual shooting of the film is closing in, you will need to go onto production meeting(s). On these meetings you will have a chance to talk to stunt men, prosthetics makers, the Producer(s), the Director of Photography, Assisting Director’s, the Director himself and others. Most of the time, you will here receive the shooting schedule with dates and locations of each day throughout the filming phase. Since these meetings usually involves a high number of participants, it will be very briefly and quickly done. I have found that if you have any questions during this briefing it’s most efficient to just highlight the fact that you have questions or thoughts and then write them down and talk to the affected people afterwards, un-less you have found a very important issue that needs to be brought up with all of the people in the room. It is important to remember that there is usually a great hierarchy on a film set and that also applies to the production meetings.

VFX meeting

Depending on the project and depending on the experience of the camera crew, it could be a good idea to schedule a VFX meeting together with the Director, the Director of Photography, the 1st Assistant Director and the producer. Here you can go through how your shots needs to be filmed and what limitations there might be in terms of equipment, time and money. This way you will make everyone aware of what needs to be done and if there are any issues that needs to be solved, such as the need of a crane but there won’t be one on set that day.

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What’s it like on set?Hierarchy, time constraints and stressOn a film set there is a very apparent hierarchy. Since so many people are usually involved it would be difficult to get anything done in time unless everything is tightly organized. Depending on the production, it is important that you understand where your position is in this hierarchy. If the production is VFX heavy, you will obviously be a key person, working very close with the Director of Photography and the Director throughout the whole project. If you are just supervising a few simple retouch shots, you may not find yourself in the same position, hierarchy-wise.

Sooner or later, you will find yourself standing by just waiting and suddenly realizing that there is an issue with how one of your shots was originally planned and that you will need it do be carried out in a differ-ent way. You will then need the ability to read the situation and make the decision of whom you will need to talk to in order to solve the issue and how to solve it, without disturbing i.e. the Director when he is in the middle of trying to nailing down a scene where the acting is key.

When it is time for you to actually perform the supervision of a shot, it is a good idea to be well under-stood with what the schedule is like what timeframe you have got before the crew needs to move on. If you feel that your VFX shoot is rushed through because of the time constraints, you might need to ap-proach the Producer and tell them that the resulting work done by you and your artists could be compro-mised because of this.

Unfortunately, this kind of working environment tends to lead to that people are covering their own backs. The environment can at times become a little hostile and there seems to always be a time throughout a production where you will be a little disliked because you are making things complicated or uncomfort-able for the film crew. You will most likely also experience general quarrel from the people behind the camera from time to time. I believe this can be more apparent when working on low budget productions. The limited budget and the expectations on the result does not often match up. It is important to keep your head up and try and always be positive. It will make the working experience for everyone so much more enjoyable.

Although the stressful environment, you are doing a very important job to minimize the damage for your team of artists back at the studio. All this effort put down into making sure that the result of your work will make the resulting VFX match or exceed the client’s expectations and make your name appear promi-nently in the credits.

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Meet the people you will be working withThe Director

Your job is to visualize the Director’s ideas and make them look great on the silver screen. That is why you will need to pay very special attention to everything that the Director says and try to really understand what his/her vision is. I believe that, regardless of the hierarchy on the set, you will need the possibility to be able to speak directly to the Director. In most cases, you will be asked to go through an Assisting Direc-tor in order to get your ideas through to the Director but you will have to be the judge of if that is an effec-tive way of being able to discuss ideas or prevent possible issues.

The Director of Photography

The Director will rely heavily on the Director of Photography to be able to visualize what feel the Director wants to capture and communicate. They will work very tightly and it is generally a good idea to stay close to them and just listen to what they are planning. It is also a good idea to approach the Director of Photography if you feel that a VFX shot needs to filmed in a different way for your studio to be able to stay within budget, rather than approaching the Director directly. This way you might be able to reach a conclusion that you both think that the Director would approve with.

The Assistant Directors

Since everyone on set is often very busy, you will most likely be interrupting them if you go up and talk directly to them. That is why you should talk to one of the also very busy Assistant Directors first about your concern. In most cases they will know wether to talk directly to i.e. the Director or someone else in order to solve an issue. A film production usually have several Assistant Directors and they are numbered such as; 1st Assistant Director, 2nd Assistant Director, 3rd Assistant Director and so on. Make sure which Assistant Director you should report to; it usually depends on what your inquiry is about.

The Producer

To put it simple, the Producer on set is representing the people financing the film. Their job is to get as much as possible done with the budget they have on their hands. A really good Producer will strike you with being very familiar with shooting for VFX. This is the person to go talk to if you feel that you are not being listened to on the film set and if you feel that a particular VFX shot will become more expensive to pull of in order to make it look good -- or if a really difficult and unplanned VFX shot just appeared that has not been discussed earlier. A popular example of this would be when the Director or the Director of Photography wants to go away from a pre-visualized VFX shot and create something different and possi-bly much more expensive in terms of time and personnel for your studio.

There is usually more than one producer involved in a film project, but you might not get to meet all of them. Always remember that the Producer will try and get as much done as possible for the money they spend. Do not make too many promises!

The Production Coordinator

The Production Coordinator makes sure your flight and accommodation is booked as well as makes sure you get the call sheets1 before hand any shoot. They are usually not on set but instead at the production office. Always keep their phone number close in case you find yourself lost!

1A call sheet holds the schedule of the given day along with contact numbers and any additional info such as driving directions to the set.

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The Production Designer

The Production Designer will most often be able to provide you with sketches and references based on in-depth research or concept development for the VFX you are going to create. They might have created miniature models or the actual sets where shooting will take place and would be a good resource if you have any inquires regarding the look of i.e. structures, vehicles, interiors etc.

Special Effects (FX)

The Special Effects team is responsible for any practical effects, such as fire, explosions, smoke, rain, hy-draulic contraptions and substances such as fake blood or slime. You will most likely work closely with them during element shoots (discussed later in the “Pay special attention to” chapter).

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Prepare yourselfWork permits and VISA

If you are traveling abroad to perform any supervision, make sure that you will have the time and possi-bility to arrange a proper work permit or a VISA. If you get caught working without a permit, you may be denied to return to this country and you will most likely be fined. Since this will affect you on a personal level, it is really up to you to make sure that you have your papers in order before departing.

Read up

Make sure to read up on everything that is possible to read up on. The script, the people you will be work-ing with and any techniques you may have to know more about during supervising a VFX shoot. It’s gen-erally a good idea to make notes or a check list to go through prior to each new project.

Cover your back

Prepare yourself to be placed in situations where everyone looks to you to answer their questions. The whole production team will rely on your decisions and it is very important to communicate your fear of issues that may affect your work in a negative way. If you do not do this, you will sooner or later find yourself in a tight spot where you will be blamed. This will be used against you in order for your studio to take responsibility and make it good again, which could have a negative effect on the budget. Document any unexpected changes and revisions to the original plan so that you are clear of what the situation was like at the time of shooting. It will sometimes be difficult to keep track of this several months later when issues arise during post production.

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What to bring to setOverall equipment

It is good to always bring a standard set of equipment:

• C o l o r e d t a p e a n d s c i s s o r s o r k n i f e

• L a s e r / L E D l i g h t s

• C o l o r e d g o l f b a l l s , t e n n i s b a l l s o r p i n g p o n g b a l l s

• C h r o m e b a l l

• D i f f u s e b a l l

• C a m e r a a n d p o s s i b i l i t y t o d u m p i m a g e s o n t o e x t e r n a l s t o r a g e o r l a p t o p

• Tr i p o d

The three first points’ primary function is to be acting as tracker markers. These you can place in different colors, onto different kind of surfaces and depending of the distance to camera, the size of the tracker marker might need to be either really small or big in order to be visible. LED lights are good for interior or night shoots, when tape will not be visible enough because of dim lighting. Laser lights are really good when you quickly need to place a tracker marker high up where you can not reach.

The chrome ball and the diffuse ball will be explained in the next chapter “Documentation is key” (page 11).

Clothing

If you know you are shooting outdoors, always bring appropriate clothing, prepare for rain and nothing less than a pair of hiking boots. I tend to wear hiking boots even when shooting in a studio because you never know what kind of structures you will need to climb. Do not expect to be able to go inside during the whole day. A really frighting location is on board a ship during a sunny day -- do not forget the sun lotion!

A good book and your iPod

In many cases you will go to set in the early morning and will be standing by until late evening even if you only have a total of 10 minutes of work to do that day. That is why it is a good idea to bring something to make the time fly.

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Documentation is keyPhotos

You can never take too many photos from a shoot. Try to get time during or after each VFX shoot to docu-ment what is important as the crew most likely will be eager to pack things up in order to move onto the next scene. The photos may be used as textures or as reference later on when creating the digital visual effects.

Rushes

After each day, the film rolls are sent to the lab and are then scanned, usually using a telecine. The telecine allows for a quick (and dirty) process of getting what was filmed out onto a DVD. The quality you will get from scanning the film rolls using a telecine is far inferior from when you are using a film scanner such as the ARRISCAN film scanner or the Northlight film scanner. However, these rushes are good enough to review after each shoot to make sure you got what you needed. Onto these you can also apply temporary, early draft-like VFX in order to communicate what is intended to be done to the shot. I have found them especially good for matte painting development.

Chrome ball, HDR imagery

If you know you are to integrate 3D into a live action plate, you might need to create so called Hight Dy-namic Range (HDR) images back at your facility. With this HDR image and the right tools you can re-create the lighting conditions of the environment without having to spend too much time setting it up manually. To be able to create this HDR image, you can use an extremely wide lens on your system camera and with this you shoot multiple exposures. This way you can capture details in the shadows but also cap-ture the light sources and determine how bright they actually are. You can also bring a chrome ball, which you shoot with multiple exposures, instead of using such an extreme wide angle lens, which are usually very expensive in comparison to the chrome ball.

Diffuse ball, diffuse reference

To be able to match the diffuse lighting of the environment, you can also have the camera operator shoot a couple of frames of a diffuse ball in frame using the film camera. This ball should have the color of some-where about 50% gray (it does not matter that much, what matters is that you know exactly what color it is). When you then lighting your object in 3D back at your facility, you can use this reference frame to match the diffuse lighting. Since you know which color the diffuse ball has, you can easily just create a 3D sphere at the same location and set its color to match the diffuse ball’s color.

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Data sheets

The data sheet is simply a template onto which you will scribble down all important information about each VFX shot. Roll, scene and slate are im-portant info, should you have to request the plates from the editor. You should always fill these out. The focal length is then probably one of the most important pieces of data to gather. When you are to perform any kind of 3D tracking on the mate-rial, you could get a lot of help if you know what focal length has been used. Also, when creating a matte painting for a VFX shot, knowing what focal length was used will help the matte painter to create a rough 3D sketch with the correct perspec-tive quickly. In that particular case, the inclination angle and possibly distance from camera lens to ground is also interesting data so that the matte painter can place the 3D camera the same way the real film camera was placed.

Most often, it is advisable to make measurements of anything that will be either extended or needs to be re-created digitally.

Slate

Camera Information

Notes:

Roll:

Date (yyyy-mm-dd):

Notes by:

Setup:

Scene: Slate: Take:

Lens (mm): Speed: (fps) Height/Inclination:

What is in the frame (16:9 )

A VFX data sheet, simple template.

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Pay special attention toDolly/crane and generally moving cameras

When performing a so called “nodal pan”, the camera is mounted on a tripod and the gear head pivotal point is located exactly where the lens inside the camera resides. This means that we do not get any paral-lax shift in the frame, when moving the camera, and it should be easy to track the camera movement. However, if the camera is being moved around the set (performing a “dolly”) you will get a parallax shift and you will in many cases need to 3D track the camera move. Since you will then need many more track-able features in frame in order to be able to do this, you must be aware of that they exists or you will cause yourself a lot of manual labour, having to track the camera move manually, which is very time consuming and tedious.

If you are working with a low budget film, it could be a good idea to try and perform nodal pans instead of dollys, because they are simply less time consuming and generally easier to complete, hence cheaper.

Shaky, handheld footage

Shaky footage can be much harder to track and are therefore usually more time consuming. In combina-tion with a dolly, you really need to watch out so that you will have a lot of time on your hands to be able to track the footage manually if needed.

Zoom, variable lenses

As being discussed in the pre-production section of this document (page 6), a zoom using a lens with heavy distortion can be very difficult to track.

Chroma keying, blue screen or green screen

There are many things to consider before shooting on blue screen or green screen. First you need to figure out what color is best for you. In most cases this is based on what the foreground object’s colors are like and you would like to use the color not present in the foreground object. It could also be a good idea to have a look at which film stock will be used when shooting for chroma keying. For bigger productions, you should perform a test with the film stock chosen where you actually perform a chroma key on the filmed material in order to make sure that you will be able to achieve optimal results.

If you are shooting a background plate and later on will shoot a foreground object on blue screen which you will place into the plate, make sure you scribble down the camera setup so that you can rig the camera the same way when shooting the blue screen take.

Smoke and mist

Most often, smoke is spread throughout the set in order to make the lighting more dynamic. In some cases this could make it more difficult to add in i.e. an extension of a building behind the smoke. Carefully de-cide wether there should be practical smoke in the shot or if you will add that in digitally. The best solu-tion is to shoot one take with smoke and one without. This way you can choose which one works best and you will have a great reference, should you have to create digital smoke.

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Element shoots

For some VFX shots, you will need so called ele-ments shot separately. For example, you might need to shoot an explosion, snow, rain, dust etc in a studio, later to be put into an action scene digi-tally. Make sure to keep a list throughout the film shoot onto which you scribble down all elements you would like to have done. The element shoots are usually placed at the end of the filming sched-ule as actors are not needed for this.

Back lit dust shot as an VFX element, to be composited into a live

action plate.

“Fix it in post”

Very often, unforeseen issues arise on set and you might get the task to clean it up during post production. For example, the Director might have been very happy with one take but the microphone was visible in frame and he wants you to “fix it in post” so that they can move on. It could be a good idea to have a strat-egy on how to deal with these situations already stated in the contract, before going onto set. Maybe these additional shots should be treated as new shots, outside of the budget or maybe it is something you feel is easy to fix and you would like to show some good will in order to fix it for free. However, make sure that this does not happen too frequently without having discussed this before hand with the Producer. The term “let’s fix it in post” should alert you to watch out for extra work that was not originally planned. It is in most cases much better to plan a shot carefully in advance and try to not be too creative on set in order to stick to the original post production schedule and its budget.

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Back at the post production facilityReceiving the initial cut

Depending on the project, you could be sent the initial cut of the film or at least the portion of the film in which you are to apply the VFX. In some cases, you might receive the EDL1 from the editor and based on your pipeline you can keep the cut in your studio and easily update it with a new EDL file, always staying up to date with the latest cut of the film. Then when you slot your VFX shots into the cut, you can easily see if it matches up in the sequence or if you will need to change anything related to timing, placement etc.

Establishing a list of shots and assigning them to artists

By the end of filming, you have a clear idea of all possible shots you might be having bringing into your VFX pipeline but it is not until you receive the cut that you know what got cut out or if anything extra needs to be done. When you have received the cut you can create a list of shots, assemble your team and assign the shots to either teams of artists or to individual artists. It is crucial to keep track of what the status of the shots are so that nobody is waiting for a shot that has already been prepared and could be started right away. There are several tools, such as Filemaker Pro, that you can use to keep track of shot progress and version updates. However, most studios have custom-built pipelines and the best thing could be to have a custom-built system for this as well.

Brief your artists

It is important to brief your artists with what you know from being on set. Perhaps the Director has a cer-tain vision that should be communicated with your artists. Also, make sure that your artists understand in what kind of context the shot will appear.

Quality assurance and feedback

Before showing any final VFX work to the client, it is important that you review the work together with your artists in order to make sure that quality is maintained. Sometimes this could also involve talking to the Director and The Director of Photography about the shots. If you are working from a remote site, there are good tools for reviewing Quicktime clips remotely together over the Internet. Most often a VFX shot will be approved from being seen on a Quicktime clip. However, it is very important to understand that the shot will have to go through grading and also be printed onto film before you will actually see what it will look like on the silver screen.

Test print

When a film has been scanned, edited together and at least partly color graded, you usually perform a test print to film in order to make sure that nothing has gone wrong at any stage. You need to make sure to get your VFX shots printed to film as well, to make sure nothing has gone wrong on your side. During really big productions, nearly all VFX shots are printed to film, but on lower budget films it is advisable to at least test print a few shots from different lighting conditions in order to make sure your work sits tightly in the frame and does not pop out.

Delivery

After having all VFX shots approved by the client, you need to deliver all frames back to client with the VFX work applied to them. This could be done during FTP transfer or most often simply sending hard drives with the material.

1 An Edit Decision List or EDL is a way of representing a film or video edit. It contains an ordered list of reel and timecode data repre-

senting where each video clip can be obtained in order to conform the final cut.

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ConclusionsPlanning for optimal quality VFX

The probably most apparent discovery of having worked on several feature film projects is that the earlier the VFX Supervisor is involved in a feature film project, the better the planning and execution of the VFX work will be, making the VFX accompany the storytelling optimally and enhance the film watching expe-rience.

Talent decides what can be achieved

Most often, the film project’s budget in combination with the individual talents of your studio determines which technique is the most effective and efficient to employ to solve the problem at hand. That is also why it is, as a VFX Supervisor, very important to keep yourself well connected with freelancers and artists that you can bring in, either long term or for certain projects.

Documentation saves time

Having one piece of data from a VFX shoot can save one artist hours of trial and error when creating VFX. That is why it is so important to always make notes and ensure all documentation of a film project is or-ganized, kept in a safe place up and until the actual post production phase and that this information reaches the artists involved in creating the VFX.

Delivery formats

Being clear on what you are expecting in terms of delivery formats is very important. Equally important is verifying that everything delivered to your studio is in the kind of quality and format you need. If you, as the VFX Supervisor, fails to do so, the resulting VFX may suffer from this and you might not be able to deliver optimal quality VFX.

You are the face of your company on set

Being on set, you will be the main person representing your company. The film industry is a turbulent working environment made up of a constellation of freelancers who scatters all around other projects at the end of a film production. Making a good impression along with delivery outstanding VFX work is key to get recommended to work on another production.

Prepare for anything

Being on set, time will run out, things will get rescheduled. In fact, you might be required to reschedule your own holiday. Prepare to be able to set everything aside when taking on the VFX supervision of a fea-ture film production and have people on standby to cover for you in case you will not be able to go your-self. A feature film production is rarely affected by bank holidays or bigger national holidays.

Think off your feet

One of the most important abilities a VFX Supervisor will have to learn and develop through time is to come up with brilliant ideas and alternative solutions to how to make the VFX shot happen and look so good it will expect anyone’s expectations. Trying to interpret the script and read the Director in terms of what they want to achieve and come up with simpler and more time effective solutions often results in a better looking result as you can decide what the VFX shot would be like, taking the know-how of your studio into consideration.

However, throughout a feature film production, there almost always comes a time where you are going to be unsure how to solve the problem at hand in the most efficient and effective way. Do not be afraid to communicate your uncertainties. It is always better to let the Director or the Director of Photography

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know you need to do some research or check with your artists in your studio. You may think this will look unprofessional, but in my opinion I believe it is much more unprofessional to try and hide the fact that you are uncertain by making promises you do not know you can keep. This ties into the importance of planning and being involved early on in a feature film project.

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References1. “Matchmoving: The invisible Art of Camera Tracking” by Tim Dobbert, Sybex; Pap/Cdr edition (Febru-

ary 11, 2005)

2. Red Digital Cinema, http://www.red.com (24 May 2008)

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