FutureWorks has worked on the entire post production of this action thriller directed by Jehangir Surti including DI, VFX and editing amongst others. With a team of 25 artists working under the VFX supervision of Abhishek De, the studio has delivered approx 150 VFX shots for the project. And one particular sequence also makes use of the milo motion control rig to portray some really quick and smooth environment and character transitions, a pure VFX delight!!!
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Title Sequence
The entire title sequence gives the audience a feel that some kind of a formation is happening. One can see lines and contours in motion and different visual elements moving in dynamic angles revealing a Hasselblad camera in the end along with the Director and Producer’s name.
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It’s a one camera movement where you are moving through close ups of the different parts of the camera. The color scheme of the sequence comprised of a steel backdrop against red supers. Red to signify red rooms where photos are developed as the movie revolves around a camera and steel to depict motion and pace of the film.
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Camera was selected as the theme of the title sequence so that it could give the mood of the film to audience in the very beginning itself.
Time Travel milo Sequence
This sequence is towards the end of the film were the protagonist Neil discovers a clock through which he can travel through time. This sequence has Neil in an air plane with a clock in his hand and as he moves the hands of the clock he travels to a different space. |
The scene first dissolves to a shot were Neil is standing on top of a building and as he moves the hands of the clock again he is transported to desert, then to an underground tunnel and then back to the air plane, and each time in a different costume.
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Pre-visualization
For this sequence the team did a pre-visualization to understand the requirements of the sequence before commencing the shoot. Initially the complete shot was designed against a green screen environment in CG, to understand the lens and estimate the duration of the shot. Everything from character placement to CG elements to camera placement and its movement were all planned before hand. The planning was so detailed that even the focal length of the camera was planned in this stage of production.
Live Action Shoot
Neil was shot thrice on a parapet in a green screen set especially created for the scene using a milo motion control rig, in different costumes doing the exact same actions. The milo made it possible to replicate the exact same camera movement for all the shots.
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The milo sequence was first planned to be shot as a single 360 degree shot. Due to technical constraints at the shoot, the sequence was finalized with two cuts. The camera had been rigged and its movement was tracked and recorded. A number of tracking points were placed over the green matte as reference to track the camera movement.
The green screen set was also shot without Neil with the same camera path with milo to generate 3D track. This track information was then taken into the CG space for creating the same kind of movement for the CG elements.
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CG Elements
All the CG elements such as the clouds, shadows, truck, lights were animated according to the camera movement. Since all these elements follow the track information of the camera as the original shot, they seem to be static or moving in a straight path giving the feel only the camera is turning around the character.
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The different environments namely the cityscape, desert environment by the day and by the night and underground tunnel were required throughout the sequence were CG.
The underground tunnel part of the sequence also has a CG truck speeding towards Neil and even though the scene did not have much light ahd the shot was structured so that the truck is not much visible in the sequence, it was modeled with a great amount of detailing.
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Compositing
About 70 to 80 layers were used in this sequence. The main challenge was to composite each of the different layers in such a way that the sequence looks real. Great care had been to taken while compositing since even a slight mismatch of layers could kill the visual.
Along with VFX Supervisor Abhishek De, a team of 8 artists worked on this sequence including 3D Supervisor Mike Laxman and Matte Painter Bimal Poddar.
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Clock Design
The clock which facilitates time travel in the climax was a very important element of the final sequence and it was completely designed in 3D. The Director Jehangir Surti was not very sure about the look of clock hence the team at FutureWorks 8-10 options for the same.
Other Sequences
Swimming Pool & Well
This sequence has Neil jumping into a well. The sequence was actually shot in a swimming pool and the underwater footage was tweaked to make it look like a well. A matte was created for the same and the location was made to like a well with a combination of matte painting and compositing. The sequence was designed to give perspective of a well when seen from top.
Digital Intermediate
The DI for the movie was completed in about ten days. Some of the shots that required detailed DI work included a sequence shot in a café with Neil and Bipasha and some flash back shots. Due to the cloudy weather condition, some of the shots had a dull or gloomy look and these were worked upon to give the right feel of the environment as the scene required.
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For instance the café shot had a dull look in the background where it was supposed to be bright and sunny. This was corrected in DI by working upon layers of the sky, clouds and plants separately. In this stage some of the song sequences were also enhanced and Bipasha and Niel’s color tones and highlights were worked upon to maintain the balance between the characters.
Chroma
This sequence has Neil and Bipasha talking in a moving car. The actors were shot in a stationary car against green screen and later the moving footage was composited to it. |
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Wire Removals
As the film had a lot action sequences, there was abundance of wire removal shots.
Camera Point of View
The entire film has many scenes where Neil is seeing things through his camera lens. These shots were to be depicted in way as they are being seen from the camera point of view. The camera in this case was not a normal digital camera but an old Hassleblad camera with some unique features. |
So the challenge was to create something that would not look like a normal camera view but still make you feel like you are looking through a camera. A lot of elements of a digital camera were blended with elements of the old camera view. |
Director’s Cut
Director Jehangir Surti shares his experience of working with the team at FutureWorks
“Firstly on the time travel sequence I made their (team at FutureWorks) lives very difficult by telling them the sequence I had written and what I had in mind on the sequence. I made it even more difficult for them by saying it should look real. The final thing that I told them was that it should be simple.
I felt like family here and all of them at Future Works moved along well. I am very casual and soft spoken in my approach towards work. I am clear on what I want and I had no problems since I was honest and upfront with them and so was the team. I see the sequence has an emotional movement in the film and when VFX is involved in an emotional sequence it is very tricky and am happy they pulled it off well. |
I had written the sequence with a free mind without even knowing it would be a VFX shot. I wanted to create a buzzing element at the end. Being a first time director I wasn’t even aware of few of the technical equipments.
The planning was so clear and even the tiniest detail was looked into during the initial stages of production itself. I consulted Abhishek on the costumes of Neil too so that the there isn’t any hiccup during the post production with the color, the texture and amount flow the costume would have due to the wind. Gaurav Gupta, CEO of FutureWorks took personal interest weaving VFX and DI which was great help to me. I realized the Boss was spending as many nights as his team and he was doing as much of work as well. He motivated the rest of the team and even my team.
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Contributed by
Abhishek De
Imagineer, Future Works Studios
Content Team
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