Tower heist7/18/2023 Final shot.įor one particular hero shot, the camera follows the would-be thieves as they confront Shaw in a long tracking move out of an elevator and around the corner of the apartment to reveal the vistas outside the windows and Shaw sitting on a couch. It also allowed us to put live reflections that would move appropriately.” Original plate. Others we put on cards or rough CG objects and you could sense the parallax. The Time Warner buildings are twin buildings just down the block from the Trump Tower. So we did put some buildings on their own special geometry. Says Liegey: “The camera moves were large enough that you would see parallax between the buildings. Artists also had an accurate CG model of Shaw’s apartment created from blueprints and the LIDAR scan. Using Nuke, Method adopted a two and a half D approach to the composites, relying on a CG version of New York inside the software for placement reference. We saw that as opportunity to add some life to the backgrounds.” “In a couple of shots you could perceive in the distance some traffic, and then also on the Hudson River. “We also went up to the Trump International in May and shot some moving footage because after we did all the temps there were some shots where you wouldn’t see movement in the backgrounds and we needed to,” says Liegey. wp-content/uploads/2011/11/towerheist_greenscreen.mp4Watch behind the scenes on the set of ‘Tower Heist’.įor the New York skyline backgrounds that would be composited into the windows, production filmed a set of HDR tiles to match the view from the 52nd floor of Trump International Towers, and relied on a translite for some sequences. This added a fudge factor that allowed the world to change shape, which of course can’t really happen.” “He would analyze the plate and then use the data he had analyzed to scale the camera back in ways that matched the footage that we were seeing. “Andy Jones at Method NY did develop a half-way between a software solve and a method of creating a plate,” says Liegey. Method used a combination of tracking tools, but predominantly 3D Equalizer, to solve the fluid camera moves, with some in-house tricks for the most complicated set-ups. ![]() In terms of on the film, they are actually slide around which means everything was changing shape as we track.” “That meant the background objects were shifting in focus, and with anamorphic, that means they were actually moving in space. “They would also rack focus while they were walking,” adds Liegey. “The tracking is more difficult because of the distortion but they were going for a more 70s gritty style.”ĭoP Dante Spinotti relied on a Steadicam for the majority of interior apartment shots, a further tracking challenge for the visual effects artists. “It was an anamorphic show so they were using scope lenses, which made depth of field tight,” notes Method visual effects supervisor Greg Liegey. Greenscreen was positioned behind the windows with tracking markers both in and outside the set. In the film, Shaw’s penthouse apartment is located on the 52nd floor of The Tower, matching the location of the Trump International Towers – used as a location for filming – but interior scenes were shot on a soundstage in Brooklyn. Method also carried out some additional gold prop enhancements, while sister facility Company 3 completed the DI color grade. Method Studios NY took on 138 shots for the film, the majority being apartment composites to place Shaw’s home in New York. Final shot.Įach vendor on the film completed effects shots filling out views of the Manhattan skyline, either from Shaw’s apartment, on top of The Tower or while the heist was in full operation. Method’s methodology on creating a New York skyline Original plate. We speak to the effects supervisors from three of the film’s vendors – Method Studios, Phosphene and Gravity. Shooting in an around New York and on greenscreen sound stages, overall VFX supervisor Mark Russell relied on a combination of visual effects techniques to feature Shaw’s hi-rise apartment in ‘The Tower’ and show the workers concocting an elaborate heist involving a red Ferrari. Tower Heist tells the story of a staff of blue-collared workers taking on greedy Wall Street heavyweight Arthur Shaw, played by Alan Alda, who has swindled the group out of their retirement monies.
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