Don’t grow up
DIRECTOR : Thierry Poiraud
PRODUCTION : Noodles Production
VFX SUPERVISOR : Geoffrey Niquet
VFX PRODUCER : MARGUERITE MOREAU DE LIZOREUX
NUMBER OF SHOTS : 34
Production notes
DON'T GROW UP
Thierry Poiraud
NOODLES PRODUCTION – 2014
Number of VFX shots : 34
VFX supervisor : Geoffrey Niquet
VFX producer : Marguerite Moreau de Lizoreux
Production schedule :
September 2014 to mid-November 2014
Sequences made by BUF
1 – Fire and smoke
The harbor of an island invaded by adults turned into Zombies, who are on fire. The day after, the ruins are still emitting big columns of smoke.
2 – Set extension and integration of blood
Establishing shot of the movie, aerial view of the teenagers' boarding school
Children arrive in a town near a gas station. An adult-Zombie attacks and kills one of them.
3 – Dead bodies
The two heroes are swimming in a lake which is actually full of dead bodies rising to the surface and floating.
4 – Miscellaneous shots, interior and exterior
Children drive away by car, arriving in a deserted house
Children killing adult-Zombies
Flashback of the hero's childhood
Escape of the heroine by boat
Fire and smoke (12 shots)
For these sequences, BUF's work consisted of creating the following effects :
A city on fire by night (large views) : source of fire, smoke, lights of flames …
Columns of smoke above the city (large views) and in the background sky (closer shots)
The main challenge was to create some CG smoke, perfectly realistic and integrated into the live scenery, and corresponding to the director’s vision.
Thierry Poiraud, as director, wanted to have very aesthetic shots and knew exactly what kind of smoke he wished to see in each shot.
Therefore, BUF first worked on references and a 2D mock-up, then on simple objects representing columns of smoke, in order to define their placement and future aspect (dense smoke, light smoke, diffuse smoke etc.)
On the basis of these mock-ups, the work was then focused on the realism of the 3D simulations (animation, scale...), lighting and rendering.
Set extensions (4 shots)
BUF made several set extensions on Don't Grow Up movie :
The first one, was the establishing shot of the movie, the integration of a 3D building (teenagers' boarding school) on a live set, shot in aerial view.
This building was recreated from pictures of the real setting, used for closer shots (building entrance).
Existing buildings were erased, and mist was added.
The second set extension made by BUF consisted in the prolongation of an existing low building by adding some floors, in several shots and different positions.
The building was supposed to be a North-American building, so BUF first did a scout in Montreal in order to propose different types of buildings to the director, and selected with him the good one.
Once the building was chosen, more precise pictures were taken to create the extension.
In those shots several elements were also erased or modified, to not betray the set location : Spanish signs were replaced by English ones, logo and colors of the gas station were changed etc.
Some mist was added as well, to match with the other shots of the sequence, and to reinforce the dramatic atmosphere.
The main work was, once again, focused on the realism and the integration of the added elements on the real set.
Blood Integration (3 shots)
Two sorts of shots required blood integration in this movie :
In these shots, a teenager is attacked and killed by an adult-zombie with a metal bar. We were requested to add blood jets coming from boy's mouth as the impacts happen, as well as blood running on his face.
In the corresponding sequence, lots of blood effects were shot live (blood splashes, make-up...), so the aim for BUF was to match as closely as possible with these live references for the integration of the CG blood elements.
Similarly, the blood simulation work had to remain very realistic, without falling too much into the “gore” effect.
One shot in which one adult-zombie is shot three times by children, we had to add blood splashes spurting from the bullet impact, and also to tear a part of the Zombie's jaw when the last shot reaches his head.
Dead bodies (1 shot)
In this shot, BUF had to place some dead bodies floating in the lake, including some of them rising to the surface from the depths.
The goal here was still the same : make the integration of the CG dead bodies realistic.
Miscellaneous VFX (13 shots)
Muzzle flashes (3 shots)
In several shots from different sequences, BUF added flame and smoke effect on the muzzle of guns when characters were shooting, and the corresponding light effect on the nearby set elements (muzzle, faces, hands, environments...).
Mist and flare (3 shots)
The dramatic atmosphere of the movie is reinforced by the patches of mist floating on the scenery at the end of the day and during the night.
Most of the time, the mist was directly added during the shooting, but BUF was sometimes charged to add some mist when there was not enough of it or not at all in the shot, or adjust the amount of mist (integration or reduction) to match all the shots together in the edit.
In some shots, BUF also recreated and added some anamorphic flares as requested by director.
Spike strip, revolver, mannequin (3 shots)
For this series of shots in which the car driven by the teenagers is stopped by the strike strip of a police check point, different VFX were made by BUF :
Extension and recreation of the spike strip made of foam for the shooting, to make it realistic.
Recreation and animation of the revolver falling from the window of the car, when the car passes on the spike strip. In fact, the action shot live was not suitable because the revolver was not visible enough to understand what was happening.
Cover-up of the mannequin placed on the passenger seat during the shooting, to make the audience believe it is a real person. Reflection and flare added on the windshield.
Integration of mist and flare
Forest matte painting (1 shot)
For this shot, BUF created a 2D matte painting to extend the forest behind the deserted house where the children took refuge, in order to give the impression of a big forest surrounding the house.
Boat : (1 shot)
In the final sequence of the movie, the young girl and a child manage to escape from the invaded island thanks to a fishing boat, as another teenager watches them leave from the coastline.
The shot was shot in two parts :
large view of the sea from the coastline, with the boys standing with their backs to us on the foreground
close up shot with the girl and the child in the boat – the boat being near the coastline in the wavy water and stopped.
BUF had to integrate the boat element in the large view, and give the impression that the boat was moving away from the island to the continent (foam integration around the boat, wake integration behind the motor of the boat).
The coastline of the continent was also added on the horizon.
Island (1 shot)
This shot is in a way the reverse angle of the previous one : the young girl and the child are arriving on the continent and, in the background, we catch sight of the island and the columns of smoke coming from the fires burning on it.
BUF's work was therefore to add this island and the columns of smoke in the background, and also to erase some unwanted elements on the frame (boats, nautical beacons)
Jeep (1 shot)
In this helicopter top-shot, BUF added, animated and integrated a jeep being driven by the teenagers on a road crossing the forest.