The Mill Does VFX Magic for Merlin
While viewers are just getting acquainted with NBC's import of season one of Merlin,
the Mill of London is hard at work on vfx for season two, which airs
Sept. 4 on BBC One. Loosely based on the Arthurian legends of the
mythical wizard Merlin and his relationship with Prince Arthur, the
series is highly influenced by Smallville
and is an origin story before the golden age of Camelot where magic is
banned and Merlin is a young servant to Arthur who has to hide his
abilities.
From magical tornados that enable witches to make their getaway in
the very first episode to magical mists that rot fruit, Merlin's eye
magic, the fire that the dragon breathes to create Excalibur, daggers
that fly through the air in slow motion that are almost impossible to
shoot with differing film speeds for the live action that help to tell
the story of "Merlin time" character transformations, there is a
marvelous mix of requirements from the stories, according to The Mill.
 |
These clips from Merlin show off dragons and magic.
|
"We believe that
the best thing for any production, wherever possible, is to shoot real
practical elements, which can then be composited with the live action
and revert to 3D when this is not possible," explains Rebecca Johnson,
The Mill's visual effects producer. "Even then, it is great to have real
elements so wherever possible we work in tandem with other departments
to create shots: the fireballs in episode 13 are a good example.
Practical elements for real fireballs prepared by Colin Gory were shot
against black from the correct angles and were composited with the live
action after the edit back at The Mill."
Adds Will Cohen, the visual effects supervisor, "Within the context
of several episodes we have had to create matte painted backgrounds
using photographs and real elements, where possible, to create mountains
and snowy peaks where there aren't any to help set the scene and tell
the stories through enhancing the geography, such as mountains [in an
upcoming episode of season two.
"We have also helped enhance views of Camelot, building a town next
to the battlements of Pierrfond (the French medieval castle that is the
real location for Camelot) and adding flags to the battlements, in both
the daytime and at night. We built some 3D geometry for the environment
that helps us line up the correct camera angle with the geometry and
paint on top of that. It also enables us to track Camelot set extensions
to simple camera moves as the paintings become 2.5D rather than merely
2D lock offs."
Other set extensions in the course of the series have included
tournaments in the Camelot grounds where the production team has built a
partial set, such as one stadium block for the crowd and The Mill has
painted in the rest. And, of course, the dragon's cave is mainly a set
of matte paintings. Colin Morgan, who plays Merlin, is shot on a small
piece of cave set against greenscreen using mix and overlay to line up
the camera with pre-existing angles for the environment and The Mill
paint in the rest of the frame.
Tiada ulasan:
Catat Ulasan