Short Film VFX

In addition to Grandpa in my Pocket, I’m also helping VFX supervise a series of short films in the latest round of the It’s My Shout scheme. In particular, one film called Reign of Death is heavily reliant on CG and compositing. It’s a future noir starring Noel Clarke and shot with the RED camera. The shoot took place two weeks ago at The Maltings in Splott and was a really fun day’s work. The footage from the RED camera is superb and it’s going to be a real pleasure to work on it. It’s ironic that five years after making Something Real, I’m still working on short films featuring a digital co-star. Matt Savage, the director, and I have just finished working on the edit and we’ll be handing over to the animators soon.

Grandpa in my Pocket is now in its second week of filming and we’ve spent two days on the greenscreen. It’s been great to have working edits to show on the greenscreen this year and it certainly makes the process a lot smoother. However, the shot count is higher and it makes for some very demanding sessions. James Bolam, as usual, has been a complete trouper and it’s a pleasure to watch him act to just a monitor for reference.

It’s been interesting to compare the Reign of Death and Grandpa shoots, especially their speed and camera use. On Reign, we were working with a RED camera and managed about thirty-five setups over the course of eleven hours. On Grandpa, we’re shooting a 120-setup episode a day, sometimes more, with usually two studios running at once.  Although it would be nice, the budget wouldn’t allow for RED cameras to be used on Grandpa even though the RED is clearly cheaper than the Sony HD cameras we use on set. The 35mm sensor would actually work against us and make it more challenging to keep focus on the actors while they’re moving around. As much as I’d love to see the show with a more filmic look, it would more than likely slow us down. American shows can use 35mm because they have the budget and workforce to let it happen. Friends, for instance, spent four days in rehearsals before shooting for four hours on 35mm, and that’s just one episode. Grandpa has to shoot 26 episodes in almost as many days.

I’m currently watching Generation Kill, the HBO series about the most recent Iraq War. It’s shorter than their normal drama series at seven episodes, but it’s already living up to their remarkably high standards. Can they do no wrong? (That’s rhetorical.)