VFX SHOT BREAKDOWNS
Project: Halo Season 1 Studio: PIXOMONDORole: Sr. CompositorSummary: TV show for Paramount Plus based on the critically-acclaimed first person shooter video game franchise. Scope of work included integration of full CG environments (reach city, fleetcom and hangar bay), Cortana's hologram, vehicles and Spartan digi doubles.
Scope of work: start to final.
Integration of full CG city environment, drone, mountain/sky DMP & 2d elements integration.
• Shot required a drastic amount of grading the AOV’s and DMP for it to work.
• Some areas of the city were too flat and were relit with a normals pass in comp.
• Subsurface water break up in comp with noise and caustic patterns, projections for building/window grunge, and some of the reflections as well as general break up of flat surfaces on buildings.
• 2D steam elements use on drone propellers to have subtle air flow and BG distortion. They were placed on cards and locked to the drone’s alembic cache via an axis and transform geo. Camera shake added to shot as camera passes over drone propeller to feel propeller vibrations more.
• Iris focusing snap on drone lens was done by warping the image with an iTransform and crypto matte. Red recording light on drone made in comp.
• Lighting renders were very buzzy, reprojecting parts of city or stabilizing/frameblending were used heavily to remove buzzing noise on this shot.
• Used cryptomattes and noise patterns to isolate random buildings and grade intensity/hue to give variation to city scape and feel less uniform.
• DMP on backside of shot was done in comp. (Clouds and ocean, 2d elements and water footage projected)
Scope of work: start to final. Had help from another compositor with some tech notes (buzzing lighting renders) due to tight deadline.
Integration of CG hangar environment/exterior Reach City, DMP, Spartan digi doubles, Phantom space ship, 2D elements and matte extraction and projected roto.
• This shot also required a drastic amount of grading to the AOV’s
• Lots of break up to flat lighting sources in render to give variation, as well as slight difference in intensity/hue.
• Projected concrete building textures to flat surfaces and multiplied against albedo diffuse pass.
• Master chief (man not in suit) and some of the ground were plate. The rest of the environment was CG. It was tedious to blend the two. Some areas the CG ground and plate ground were multiplied together. Front side of the shot had some different warmer hues from practical lighting on the ground, graded some lights on the hangar ceiling lighting render a similar hue to better connect together. On the back side of the shot there is a very hard light on the ground floor that was not present in the lighting render. Had to create this in comp by relighting with normals pass/constants with a p_matte. DMP bright sun in sky with lens flare and clouds were made in comp.
• Master chief’s lower half is over bluescreen and ground. But torso up was off. Had to frame by frame paint the edges in tech check land.
• The other two characters running are digi doubles. Animated different lights in AOV’s as they run through different pools of light in the hangar bay. Their shadows and contact points with the ground were very tedious. Communicated closely with lighters to get proper shadow angle as they move through different light sources. Some shadow contact points had to be treated differently frame by frame because of perspective changing and heavy motion blur. Blurring/diffusion of shadows added in comp.
• Project 2D elements on backside of shot as the Phantom space takes off. Some slower drifting dust elements inside and 2 faster ones outside as the spaceship increases in speed.
• As the phantom spaceship increases in speed, the thrusters were animated on and used a noise pattern to drive heat distortion (all in comp).
• A subtle animated change in exposure was added overall to the shot as the focus of the shot changes from interior to exterior to mimic how a cinematographer might adjust exposure mid shot to better exposure subjects in varying lighting conditions.
Scope of work: composited 7 Cortana hologram shots
• Lighting provided us with a multi pass CG render of Cortana, flesh tones.
• Our first pass we would match her to plate with mo cap talent. Then in comp we created the look of the hologram by manipulating color, transparency, and glows.
• P_mattes we used to create moving lines and dots on her body. Moving dots in hair we create with an animated noise pattern and attached with smart vectors. Special treatment for eyes, “husky eyes”.
• The look of the hologram was in a crazy amount of fluctuation for most of the project. Was very challenging but insanely rewarding once 343 signed off on the look of Cortana.
• The overall goal was to make her feel more human than the video game, still have elements of cool blue tones, finding ways to make her feel slightly transparent (ex. if her arm was on the other side of her body, making sure that was less transparent than the rest of her), have an emissive quality of light from chest and face area but at the same time still trying to have her feel like she is being lit by her environment and sit in the plate. The balance of having her work per shot but still needing her to fit with continuity was also very challenging. A team of about a dozen compositors did a few hundred Cortana shots and many environment sequences.
Scope of work: start to creative final. Had help with tech check notes (edges) because of tight deadline and needed to focus on the bigger interior hangar shot.
• Matte extraction and integration of CG fleetcom and reach city environments.
• Images 1 & 3: fleetcome is behind them.
• Image 2: master chief is looking over reach city destruction.
Project: Siren Studio: MARZ VFXRole: Digital CompositorSummary: TV show for hulu network about mermaids. Scope of work included full CG underwater environments with creature work. Heavy amount of comp work done to create the moody underwater feel.
Scope of work: start to final
Extraction of actress’ face and hair from plate and integrated CG mermaid, full CG underwater environment, and underwater debris/moats and 2D elements. Bubbles were created with Nuke Particles. Heavy grading and manipulating of the AOVs was required to create a moody and dark environment as the mermaid swims from murky water into a pool of light.
Scope of work: start to final
Integration of sunken plane environment, (3) CG mermaids, school of fish, volume light passes, and 2D underwater debris. Bubbles were created with Nuke Particles.
Scope of work: start to final
Look dev and integration of full CG underwater environment, full CG mermaid, FX water particulate coming off of the mermaids tale, 2D debris/moats projected on cards, and bubbles created with Nuke Particles.
This shot required a drastic amount of grading the AOVs to give it the feeling its very deep in the ocean.
Scope of work: start to final
Integration of full CG mermaid, BG, and 2D elements.
Project: Nightflyers Studio: SPIN VFX Role: Digital Compositor/Sequence LeadSummary: Science fiction show for Netflix based on George R.R. Martin’s novella "Nightflyers". Composited over 10 full CG spaceship shots, half a dozen blue screen shots, several CG creatures, and led a high volume sequence providing artists with feedback and tech notes. This was a high volume show with quick turnarounds and tight deadlines. 
Scope of work: start to final
Integration of full CG spaceship and CG digi doubles. Starfield created with noise pattern projected onto a sphere.
Scope of work: start to final
Integration of full CG spaceship, CG trees, and camera projection of people standing in window and starfield.
Scope of work: start to final
Integration of full CG spaceship, thruster burning out (heavy relighting with normals pass), DMP planet, and starfield.
Scope of work: start to final
Integration of CG Environment Volcryn cave and CG screen panels with rgb distortion. Heavy grarding of AOVs in comp.
Scope of work: start to final
Look dev and integration of CG Volcryn and CG spaceship.
Scope of work: start to final
Look dev and integration. Full CG shot.
Scope of work: start to final
Integration of CG creature.
This CG creature was nominated for a VES award.
Project: Goliath Season 4 Studio: PIXOMODNORole: SR. CompositorSummary: For Amazon Prime. Composited a few dozen green screen shots. One really complexed shot. Quick tv timelines but we still hit a good QC level. Scope of work included: ∙ One really complex shot. Integrating a CG trolley with plate trolley during a drastic camera move, DMP, CG cars, and FX smoke passes that interacted with characters and cars. ∙ Keying, roto and some complex paint work.∙ Integrating a CG chinatown with rain and steam in plates that needed extracting.Project: WandaVision Season 1 Studio: MARZ VFXRole: Digital CompositorSummary: Composited 42 head replacement shots of Vision. Scope of work included: ∙ Painting out practical Vision head.∙ Rotoscoping upper body, eyes, nose and mouth to bring back parts of the plate over the CG head.∙ Integration of CG Vision head with plate.∙ Face marker removal and extensive beauty work to smooth skin of talent and blend with CG.The visual effects on WandaVision were nominated for an Emmy.
Scope of work: start to final
Integration of CG Vision head, rotoscoping, marker/practical head removal, and extensive beauty work to remove wrinkles on hands and face.
Same scope of work as above but also integration of “phasing effect” as well. FX department provided comp with passes that had interesting edge detect like pattern around Vision’s panels. Comp used animated p_mattes and frame by frame painting to drive glows along the edge of his panels to create the phasing effect.
Same scope of work as the first.
Please note that this breakdown video wasn’t my shot but from sequences that I composited on. It shows the process for all Vision shots.
Project: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them Studio: MPCRole: Digital CompositorSummary: Compositing set extensions and creatures on the Occamy attic sequence in David Yates' Harry Potter prelude. 
Scope of work: start to final
Integration of CG creature, set extension, CG box, 2D elements, and green screen extraction.
Scope of work: start to final
Integration of CG creatures (had help on the SL) and 2D elements.
Scope of work: start to final
These last 3 shots were all back to back. Integration of CG creature going into teapot and 2D elements.
Project: The Mummy Studio: MPCRole: Digital CompositorSummary: Compositing set extensions, blue screen removal, and integration of dead mummy face replacements in Tom Cruise's Mummy reboot.
Scope of work: start to final
Integration of set extension, CG mummy face and hand replacements, 2x4 in Tom Cruise’s hand, CG Tom Cruise’s arm, and matte extraction.
Project: The Expanse Season 3 Studio: SPIN VFXRole: Digital CompositorSummary: Another science fiction show that was bought by Amazon Prime, based on the books written by James S. A. Corey. Composited a variety of shots from full CG environments inside spaceships to creature work. 
Scope of work: start to final
Integration of full CG environment, multiplate matte extraction of talent, and marker/wire removal.
