Ancestry / Blacksmith’s Boy
Directed by: cell-division | Production: cell-division | Agency: VCCP
Realise: VFX Supervision, 3-D, compositing, grading
To reinforce the connection between the present and past the directors had filmed a simple sequence using actors playing two soldiers making camp during the First World War. Shot on location in a field near London, with minimal props, we used Flame to extend the plates, growing the camp, adding rows of tents and other details into the scene.
This was a simple enough exercise but made more interesting for us because of the decision to use a new camera, the excellent Canon C300. The camera has a new colour coding system so we worked closely with Canon technicians to ensure the colour accuracy of all rushes.
In post-production the decision to be colour accurate paid dividends, giving us more latitude when adding the ageing effects required by the directors to ensure the footage looked genuinely old. We added filters, distortions, camera weave, scratches, and flickering lights and a full grade to complete the ageing effect.
For the opening and closing branded scenes where the look had been defined in the previous work, we used a reprojection technique in 3-D, allowing us to retain the same elements but with completely new moves and angles, without a reshoot. A technique we expect to be using a great deal more.