Compositing Reel 2017

Full cg with dmp and stock footage additions. The canyon was a
complex and flexible Houdini setup with a gazillion layers and AOVs that would
allow us to define the final look completely in the comp. Muzzle flashes were
also a comp setup, as were the hits of the shots in the ice.

Full cg with a dmp background and good old optical flares, on a very tight schedule.

Bluescreen footage, cg reflections, with rain drops, bg and lightning done in comp.

Roto and cgfx water spray on a live action plate. (Shared shot. Some early versions and rough roto were done by another artist.)

Plate from a soundstage, some roto and paint work to remove the physical set. DMP background. CG set extension and environment, plane and crowd

Live action plate on a green screen stage. Added cg reflections and snow, some paint work. The drops, haze and stickers on the windows were done in comp. The background was a reprojection of some semi-panoramic footage with lots of removals and replacements of modern signs etc, also done in comp. The road was a projected dmp element.

Live action plate with (a wobbly and shaky) practical cockpit on a green screen stage. CG environment and windows, stock footage additions for atmosphere and lens flare. Full stereo comp.

Aerial footage of modern-day Miami. Projected dmp-paintover to get rid of all modern buildings and replace some of the background ones with their historical predecessors. CG buildings, jetty and cars in the foreground. Some mocap people textured and added in comp. Flocks of seagulls and chimney smoke elements also done in comp. The lens flare was in the original footage and had to be faithfully recreated in order to seamlessly integrate cgi, dmp and plate.

Live action plate in the foreground, cg ground, truck and rubble in the midground, projected dmp elements in the background. (Shared shot. First pass roto and early dmp passes were done by another artist.)

Live action plate shot on a green screen stage. A few CG tents and lots of 2.5D tents on a DMP background. Stacks of people taken from this and other shots to fill in the background. The overseer's tent on the far SR background was extracted from a different shot, as well. Some stock footage additions for blowing sand and atmosphere.

Live action plate wth a cg set extension for the center tower and SR wing of the white building. Projected dmp elements for the bg buildings. Stock elements for added smoke and transition between plate and cg. Paint-out of a large-scale poster on one of the walls. Some roto was provided by the roto/paint department, additional roto was done by me.

Live action plate, dmp set extension, cg drone, cgfx dust. The look of the lasers was created in comp from different cg elements. I'm a bit proud that I handed in the animation for the lenses when the lasers turn on, thinking that probably someone would kill it and replace it with something fancy, but it just got a little "cool" note and made it right into the final cut. :-)

Live action plate from a sound stage, cg set extensions, dmp environment. (I had some last-minute roto and paint support on this one.)

Digital makeup. The talent needed to appear a lot skinnier than she actually is, and the director didn't like her makeup, asking us to add dirt to her face and neck, shadows around her eyes, cracked lips, yellow eyes and teeth. Done entirely in comp.

Aerial plate, 2.5d "hydro rigs", cgfx water cones and some stock footage additions. (Shared shot. I only composited the environment. The fg ship was added at another facility.)

Digital double, tons of stock footage additions for muzzle flashes, smoke, haze, blood and debris. Some cgfx smoke and debris. Spreading blood stains on the digi-double were created in comp. Additional paint work. (Original paint work was done by another artist. The plates were actually shot with a stuntman being lowered down the stairwell on wires.)

Wide shots: full cg environment, ship and digital doubles. CGFX waterfalls, snow spray, debris and laser trails. Stock footage for muzzle flashes, additional snow spray and debris. Projected elements where the canyon walls didn't work up close.
Closeup: blue screen plate shot on a gimbal. CG ship, glass and environment. Muzzle flashes added in comp.

Aerial plate and dmp sky for the environment, badly matching footage of the boy shot on a dolly against green screen. CGFX smoke trail. Roto, repo and relighting, 2.5d whispy clouds, plate treatment.

Live action plate (with green screen for the close-up), cg snake, cgfx water, stock footage additions, added puddles.

FG ship was a bluescreen plate. Bombs were turned on from the beginning, there were no windows and the fg frame was pristine. CG ship frame and reflections, projected grunge maps for window dirt done in comp. I turned off the bombs, created the console insert and animated the light and shadows on the cockpit to simulate slight movement and rotation. Actors were in a separate plate on a sound stage against blue screen. Additional roto and paint work to remove the physical set. CG set extension.

Greenscreen plate, cg environment, stock footage for sky and smoke. Full stereo comp.

CLOAKED SHIP ONLY. I did the look dev and comp setup for the cloaked ship, and applied it to most of the shots where it was involved. The look was created entirely in comp, with a few AOVs rendered by cgfx (several grids, points, and some reflections and tiling passes for the decloaking). (Shared shot. I only did the ship. The rest of the comp was done by another artist.)

CG snake on a live action plate.

Greenscreen plate. CG windows. Projected background plate.

Live action plate, stock footage and shot soap bubble footage for the transition. Camera move tracked and enhanced in comp. Big Bang also animated in comp from several layers of astro-photography, soap bubble particle systems, fancy colors and lots of glow.