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Australia
> About
Directed by Baz Luhrmann
Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation & Bazmark Film
Iloura was delighted to contribute over 180 VFX shots to Baz Lurhmann’s sweeping epic Australia.
Iloura involvement was wide ranging; a number of scenes were straight forward but required fairly complex compositing work and an equal number of shots required the recreation of the bombing of Darwin during WWII and its aftermath: signature elements such as the destroyed wharf, a massive burning ship called the Barossa and the sloop journey past the wharf and all its debris. Following are some of the technical details of the work the team undertook to complete these shots.
One of the ‘Bombing of Darwin’ shots featured the character King George, an Aboriginal elder, as he witnesses the bombs fall around him in Darwin. The original plate was shot in Bowen with an almost 360 degree sweep around the street. There was nowhere to hide in this sweeping shot so the crew, trucks, vans, roadcases and even the director appeared in shot blended with the lens flare.
King George required a 100% roto, a difficult task given his curly hair and the lens flares when the camera pans past the sun. Using a 3D camera track both practical and 3D pyro elements were added along with bluescreen sprites of soldiers, 3D set extensions and simulated explosions. 3D zero planes were added flying overhead. All elements had to be integrated with existing atmosphere in the shot and then blended with King George in the foreground.
The final moments of this sequence culminates in a wide shot of Darwin being bombed and sequential explosions. Realised in ‘previs’ the final shot had to try to match the previs moment for moment. A field was rigged with explosions and then choreographed and timed to match the previs explosions. These explosions were then isolated from the plate in a painstaking rotoscoping operation, and comped over a wide 3d matte painting and integrated. Individual elements of destroyed town were added, as were sprites, automobiles and CG planes augmented with CG enhancements throughout.
The scene in the film the day after the attack plays out on the wharf and shows Darwin shrouded in drifting smoke with remnant fires burning and soldiers trying to restore order. Plates were shot again in Bowen on a partial set that was dressed in the foreground with props and actors. The Bowen wharf was replaced with a 3D wharf modeled on Darwin’s wartime structure with 3D ships, vehicles and debris. Fires and smoke were a mix of 3D particle simulations and real pyro elements. 3D smoke was a volumetric render that was designed to be too dense to see through at the cameras low point but then reveal action on the wharf as the camera craned up. A multitude of layers of smoke and fire build up from the back of the scene to the front to create that density. Practical sprite elements of soliders on the wharf and 3D props were keyed and roto’d in amongst the smoke. Foreground and midground props and actors were also roto’d to allow smoke layers to pass around them. The story points of these shots required us to choreograph the smoke in the composite to either hide or reveal the sloop that is sailing along the front of the wharf.
When Lady Sarah approaches Nullah to comfort him after the death of his mother, it is almost dusk. This is a rare maternal moment for her and the director wanted the scene to have a warm and special mood. Extensive grading was required and many regions of the plate and background elements were reworked and re-lit to suit. The studio bluescreen required a complex keying solution to retain both sharp and very defocussed detail from a fairly grainy plate. Backgrounds were a combination of matte painted stills, moving trees and windmills extracted from other shots.
The team at iloura thank VFX Supervisors Chris Godfrey and Jamie Price and VFX Producer Di Giorgiutti, not to mention director Baz Lurhmann and 20th Century Fox for the opportunity to be part of the VFX team who worked on this epic tale and of Australian cinematic history.
Directed by Baz Luhrmann
Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation & Bazmark Film
Iloura was delighted to contribute over 180 VFX shots to Baz Lurhmann’s sweeping epic Australia.
Iloura involvement was wide ranging; a number of scenes were straight forward but required fairly complex compositing work and an equal number of shots required the recreation of the bombing of Darwin during WWII and its aftermath: signature elements such as the destroyed wharf, a massive burning ship called the Barossa and the sloop journey past the wharf and all its debris. Following are some of the technical details of the work the team undertook to complete these shots.
One of the ‘Bombing of Darwin’ shots featured the character King George, an Aboriginal elder, as he witnesses the bombs fall around him in Darwin. The original plate was shot in Bowen with an almost 360 degree sweep around the street. There was nowhere to hide in this sweeping shot so the crew, trucks, vans, roadcases and even the director appeared in shot blended with the lens flare.
King George required a 100% roto, a difficult task given his curly hair and the lens flares when the camera pans past the sun. Using a 3D camera track both practical and 3D pyro elements were added along with bluescreen sprites of soldiers, 3D set extensions and simulated explosions. 3D zero planes were added flying overhead. All elements had to be integrated with existing atmosphere in the shot and then blended with King George in the foreground.
The final moments of this sequence culminates in a wide shot of Darwin being bombed and sequential explosions. Realised in ‘previs’ the final shot had to try to match the previs moment for moment. A field was rigged with explosions and then choreographed and timed to match the previs explosions. These explosions were then isolated from the plate in a painstaking rotoscoping operation, and comped over a wide 3d matte painting and integrated. Individual elements of destroyed town were added, as were sprites, automobiles and CG planes augmented with CG enhancements throughout.
The scene in the film the day after the attack plays out on the wharf and shows Darwin shrouded in drifting smoke with remnant fires burning and soldiers trying to restore order. Plates were shot again in Bowen on a partial set that was dressed in the foreground with props and actors. The Bowen wharf was replaced with a 3D wharf modeled on Darwin’s wartime structure with 3D ships, vehicles and debris. Fires and smoke were a mix of 3D particle simulations and real pyro elements. 3D smoke was a volumetric render that was designed to be too dense to see through at the cameras low point but then reveal action on the wharf as the camera craned up. A multitude of layers of smoke and fire build up from the back of the scene to the front to create that density. Practical sprite elements of soliders on the wharf and 3D props were keyed and roto’d in amongst the smoke. Foreground and midground props and actors were also roto’d to allow smoke layers to pass around them. The story points of these shots required us to choreograph the smoke in the composite to either hide or reveal the sloop that is sailing along the front of the wharf.
When Lady Sarah approaches Nullah to comfort him after the death of his mother, it is almost dusk. This is a rare maternal moment for her and the director wanted the scene to have a warm and special mood. Extensive grading was required and many regions of the plate and background elements were reworked and re-lit to suit. The studio bluescreen required a complex keying solution to retain both sharp and very defocussed detail from a fairly grainy plate. Backgrounds were a combination of matte painted stills, moving trees and windmills extracted from other shots.
The team at iloura thank VFX Supervisors Chris Godfrey and Jamie Price and VFX Producer Di Giorgiutti, not to mention director Baz Lurhmann and 20th Century Fox for the opportunity to be part of the VFX team who worked on this epic tale and of Australian cinematic history.
