We’re squeezing things out slowly and things are moving forward. I have been working on some matte paintings, for the opening scenes. A matte painting is a static or animated image which has been painted or constructed from photographic elements and parts of the frame, to replaces a backdrop. These have always been part of special effects through the ages.

Here is a sample from one of the early scenes in Casimir Effect, the first image is the original plate from the footage and the second is the final matte painting composited together.

As you can see the sky has been replaced with something that is more dynamic and interesting. Also the log and signpost have been replaced in favour for the wall of the SPATZ facility.  The image has been graded to add more dynamic range. This has been done with two plates one light and one dark to make sure all the detail has been retained. Then some final tweaks for effect.

The wall was a challenge as it had to be constructed from still photographs of the Coal Exchange in Cardiff. I went down and took a lot of images of the walls and concrete in the area. Then constructed this wall and graded it to match the rest of the image. Once this was complete a door needed to be added, and as this is a military facility on a small island it needed to reflect that. So I dug out an old rusted bulkhead door frame and added that in.

I toyed with the idea of adding something in the background behind the wall but nothing seemed to work, so I abandoned that idea.  Also to make things harder this needed to be built at 4.5k to match the film footage and with many photographic layers it takes its toll on my computer. I suspect I may need to upgrade soon.

I have a few more matte paintings which I will upload over the next few weeks.

Other News

Just a quick snippet, well more than a teaser. I have been negotiating something interesting over the last weeks. Hopefully I can soon make an announcement, so keep your eyes peeled.