GOAL OF THE DEAD – EPISODE 1

Benjamin Rocher
CAPTURE THE FLAG / NOODLES PRODUCTION - 2013
Number of VFX shots: 39
Supervisor : Geoffrey Niquet
Producer : Marguerite Moreau de Lizoreux


Production schedule : mid-November 2013 to mid-December 2013

SEQUENCES MADE BY BUF

1 – Soccer match
The match between Caplongue and Paris begins. The stadium is full of Caplongue's supporters. Everyone is against Sam Lorit : Caplongue's players, the public, the referee and even Idriss. Suddenly, the soccer field is swamped with smoke.
Jeannot comes in but becomes an « enraged » and starts contaminating football players who are also turned into the « enraged » and spread the contamination to the public.

2 – Various outside sequences
Introduction sequences : « Paris Olympics » bus is driving in the direction of the Caplongue through the countryside.
Jeannot's transformation : Jeannot becomes an « enraged » because of the product that his father injected him.
« Enraged » attack the bar where Sam, Chloe and a journalist are hiding themselves.

PUBLIC FOOTBALL MATCH (21 shots)

For all these shots, Buf's work consisted in adding a crowd of the supporters on stadium's stands which were only filled with some extras shot in the foreground. The supporters needed to act differently in accordance with the intensity or specific moment of the match.

BUF set up various animations of the supporters based on different takes of extras, which were shot individually on green screen in the studio, in order to integrate them in each shot according to :
Installation and set up of different crowd animations
Integration into the shots, lighting, compositing
Camera flashlight effect added on the crowd

During the shooting, 20 extras were shot one by one on green screen. Each extra performed 5 different attitudes related to a specific moment of the match. These actions were shot from two angles. This allowed us to create 200 different sequences to fill in the stands.
The sitting stands which were modelised from photos were created to provide a support for the crowd. For each seat, a virtual supporter was attributed. The lighting was also matched with the one on set in order to intregrate the supporters into the shots.

A crowd « motor » was specifically developed for this project in order to trigger different sequences which were previously shot on green screen according to the action. This « motor » also enables to trigger randomly camera flashlights.

For each VFX shot, a virtual camera was created to superpose the modelised sitting stands on those which were shot live. This way the crowd was correctly placed.
Compositing needed to adapt to the particular athmosphere of each shot (flare, smoke…).
Almost every shot needed to be rotoscoped in order to preserve the foreground.

SMOKE (4 shots)

At one point in the movie, Caplongue supporters start throwing smoke grenades on the soccer field filling it with smoke. Some of these shots were shot with live smoke on set, but on some others, the director Benjamin Rocher preferred to enhance the smoke in post-production in order to show that the smoke was going to cover the field completely.

BUF created and animated the smoke based on live references in order to integrate them in the shots. The red lighting coming from the smoke grenades at this moment of the movie was also recreated in post-production.

The smoke simulation varied according to its different purposes, such as a smoke grenade thrown from the stands and landing on the field, or a diffuse smoke already established on the soccer field. The lightings attached to the smoke grenades enabled re-lighting virtual supporters as they were thrown.

TRANSFORMATIONS (2 shots)

In the movie, characters are being violently turned into the « enraged » : their skin is torn up and they're bleeding, their eyes become white and they're having spasms.
This effect is particularly strong on two characters : Jeannot (the first one who's contaminated) and Manu (the goalkeeper).
Lots of makeup was used during the shooting. Buf intervened to make these two transformations have more « gore » and more impressive according to the director's guidelines.
1 – Transformation of Jeannot

Creation and animation of an opening on Jeannot's cheek
Integration of blood dripping out of his cheek
Addition of blurry effect to the eyes

Jeannot was rotoscoped due to a CGI clone modelised from the photos of extras. This rotoscopy allowed us to create an animated 3D make-up which matched with actor's movement.
The wound was partly animated manually (keyframe animation for the opening of the flesh) and partly by simulation (dripping blood)
The eyes were blurred in compositing with an animated grading through a 3D cache coming from our rotoscopy.

2 – Transformation of Manu

For this transformation, we shot two passes: one with the character without the « enraged » make-up and another with the final make-up after the transformation was complete (with wound/cracks etc...)

BUF used those two takes to create the desired transformation effect : tearing of skin, appearance of bloody wounds, blurred eyes etc …

A rotoscopy of these two takes (Manu with and without make-up) was created using a CGI clone built from actor's photos. These rotoscopies allowed us to bring more information on Manu before his transformation. Animation of the wound opening was done manually. Manu's face without make-up was torn apart and creased to reveal the « enraged » Manu. The eyes were blurred in compositing with an animated grading through a 3D cache coming from our rotoscopy.

VARIOUS « GORE EFFECTS » (2 shots)

BUF also intervened to add 3D blood splashes on two shots, in order to enhance the desired « gore » effect :
Integration of blood splashes, simulation, rendering and compositing

VARIOUS EFFECTS (2 shots)

Finally, BUF also created the following effects :

Bar attack (2 shots)
Integration of the 3D « enraged » in the foreground
The 3D enraged we had created for episode 2, were re-used for these 2 shots.