SUBMITTED BY Scooby
September 26, 2002 — When you think about SFX movies, you probably think of Spider-Man or Star Wars. But even romantic comedies like Sweet Home Alabama utilize visual effects, according to The Hollywood Reporter:
In "Alabama's" case, the skies are so blue, brooding and stormy
because of the work of Entity FX, a Santa Monica-based visual effects shop that created
elaborate sky-replacement sequences.
For an opening beach scene, integral to the movie's story line, director Andy
Tennant wanted Entity to create a magical, moody, threatening storm
that the
protagonists run into, VFX producer Cindy Jones says.
The kids were shot on a "somewhat sunny" day on a beach in Florida
in front
of a bluescreen with vacationers in the distance. The shot was filmed
during
"the tiniest of windows" _ at golden hour _ just as the sun dipped
below the
horizon. The golden tint of the highlights on the kids and the sand provided
some of the magic that Tennant was looking for, Jones says.
"Because we created the entire opening sequence, we had a lot of
flexibility
to set a look and match color and continuity throughout the scene,"
she says.
"Our biggest challenge was getting the kids, who were brightly lit
and running
on white-hot sand, to look realistic within a landscape darkened by a
looming
storm. The creation of the stormy sky matte painting for the
background had to
take this into account and interact with the kids to minimize the
highlights on
their hair and skin."
She adds: "For many of the effects we do, if we do our job, you
don't even
know we've even been there. That was the challenge here. For the
opening scene,
all of the stormy skies and background trees, most of the ocean and
sand were
added digitally. We also added lightning (and) steam and created a
close-up of a
realistic pool of molten sand after a lightning strike hits the sand
right in
front of the kids." Jones says Entity's lead Inferno artist, Joey
Brattesani,
also added storm clouds at key spots throughout the movie.
(Thanks to 'Squirk') |
