John Allison's 2003 Demo shot breakdown

Kingpin shots:
Shot#1 Girl with gun
Bullets fall in slow motion and roll off counter. FX design. 3D bullets in Softimage and Universe. Composited in After Effects, and added shadows and reflections.


Shot#2 Tank
The only good shot of the tank firing had a horrible scratch. Complex tracking of painted elements in After Effects were required on the moving shot and additional digital EFX pyro smoke was needed at the last minute. Commotion and After Effects.


Shot#3 Explosion #1
It was decided to tie in our bad guys to the wide shot of the big explosion. Quickly the actors ran in front of camera. Then they were carefully rotoscoped and shrunk down with shadows, color correction and just the right amount of blur. Commotion and After Effects.


Shot#4 Explosion #2
The shot as planned. The camera in a remote bunker. The guys jump then in another take, the explosion is filmed at high speed. Blue screen didn't work for many reasons so the bad guys are all rotoscoped out of the first shot and composited into the second. This was supposed to tie them close to the explosion but as time went on it became a key moment to be explored. Eventually it went through 16 versions. Explosion, smoke, fire, debris, all are blended in to augment the background and tie in the foreground. This was one of my favorites


Seq#5 One-legged panhandler sequence.
The director wanted to move the camera and shooting unencumbered, even hand held on the guy wearing the green sock. Using Real Viz , Commotion, After Effects, Primatte and Photoshop, the leg was removed.


Shot#6 Pastie removal.
To hide unsightly pasties on the actress, enlarged and defocused the foreground head.


Seq.#7 Guy with knife in his chest.
The practical rig was made out of a block of wood or something because you could see it through his shirt. This is an effects repair. Using Universe, Elastic Reality and After Effects I made a digital shirt and dialed in the repair on these difficult handheld shots.


Shot#8 Dead Dog.
They wanted to get the equivalent of The Godfather's horse head except they didn't want to make a prop. Our hero dog was going to play dead, so maybe it wasn't even going to be an effect, but I better be there just in case. He played dead on the table, but he was twitching and breathing, three takes, all squirmy. Editorial decides the shot is to play long for a big moment. Using Elastic Reality, Commotion, After Effects and Universe 3D camera maps, I made the dog lie still.


Bloodhead Shots:
Shot#10 Mask in mirror.
Made a 3D mask to match the one in the movie and tracked to the actor's face. Softimage, Universe and After Effects.


Shot#11 Kachina lens flare.
Tracked in After Effects.


Shot#12 Ghostly apparition from the fire.
FG roto of 2 guys. Heavily painted background and multiple shadow elements. Became a 40-element shot with all the attendant processes in After Effects.


Shot#13 CU Ghost.
Many levels of CGI-generated glow. Composite in After Effects with Universe elements, painted background.


Shot#14 Wide Ghost.
After Effects and Universe glows. Photoshop painted BG.


Shot#15 Mid shot Ghost +Head.
In After Effects and Universe. Neck painting in Photoshop.


Shot#16 C.U. Head
After Effects and Universe and neck artwork.


Seq.#17 Boy with Amulet #1, #2, #3
After Effects and EFX pyro


Shot#18 Time lapse.
From jerky motion still grabs I repositioned a sequence of frames and time-stretched them in Retimer for a smooth timelapse effect.


Shot#19 Lightning strike.
From a daytime desert still I matted the new sky art in After Effects and added the bolt and sparks and fire for a moody evening.



Shot#20 Bloodhead glows phosphorescently.
Wire removal, roto, added Ice glow elements in After Effects


Shot#21 Ghost in Window.
Full roto of ghost in an After Effects composite.


Shot#22 Ghost2.
Separate pass rotoscoped in After Effects.


Seq#23 Drive in Screens.
Smoky projection beam made in Universe, screen content tracked in; Titles in Universe, composited with Aurorix film plugin.




Shot#24 Bloodhead flying.
Wire removal and roto glow in After Effects.




Shot#24 Bloodhead in Mud Pit.

A fabrication of many disparate shots comped in After Effects with Elastic Reality and EFX pyro elements.


Shot#25 Skull sinking.
Added flame to match and heat shimmer . After Effects and Mirage


Shot#26 Flare up.
Combination of many backgrounds and Softimage Particles composited in After Effects


Seq#27 Brain Freeze for Dumb & Dumberer
Zoom in on production footage to 3D Universe straw and 3D Universe hi-res brain prepared in Amorphium with Softimage Particle snow.


10-8 shots
Shot#28 Man on roof.
Wire removal -- a rig was tethering the man on the edge of the roof.


Shot#29
Man jumps. A practical descender rig set to the precise distance has been removed from the hand tilted shot using Commotion and After Effects.


Shot#30 Muzzle blast. Hand painted and composited in After Effects.