Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/4585
P HILADELPHIA — Three-year- old Dive (www.the-dive.net), the visual effects and film finish- ing division of Shooters Post & Transfer, handled VFX for the upcoming Dimen- sion Films feature The Road, starring Viggo Mor tensen, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Charlize Theron. Directed by John Hillcoat and shot on film, the feature is based on the novel by Cormac McCar thy and follows the tale of a father and son who are fighting to survive in a decimated, post- apocalyptic landscape. Dive's Mark O. Forker ser ved as vi- sual effects super visor, going on-set to location shoots in Pennsylvania, New Orleans, Portland and Washington state. Forker says the initial bid was to provide 50 effects for the film, but that number quickly grew to 250, causing Dive to scale up with freelance talent. "We knew it would never stay at 50," he recalls. The film has a gray landscape, stripped of life, so much of Dive's work involved downplaying sunny locations and green plants that appeared during location shoots. "Conceptually," says Forker, "it was not supposed to look war-torn. Some event had occurred many years before that, and the dust had settled down a little bit." The studio's VFX work included set tensions and matte paintings involving bridges, buildings, vistas, gas stations and complete streets. Almost all of the film was shot on location, he notes, with only a scenes captured on a stage in Oregon. Hillcoat and his editorial team set shop at Dive, spending 12 weeks on director's edit, working on an Avid, and closely collaborating with the studio visual effects progressed. Once production had wrapped, Forker's role evolved into a bridge tween the ar tists, outside contributors and the director. Dive used Autodesk Maya and NewTek LightWave for modeling, and The Foundry's Nuke as its primary com- positing application. The studio also used Adobe Photoshop. After three months, the director and his team moved to Los Angeles for final posting in rented space. Forker says team used CineSync and FTP for review and approval. The Road's DI was per- formed at Efilm. Dive is currently working on an inde- pendent film starring Jennifer Love Hewitt. — By Marc Loftus Dive handles 250 VFX for The Road Post's Daniel Restuccio (center) hosted "The Real Deal: Red Post" panel during REDucation's Community Day at LA Center Studios in October. Participants, flanking Restuccio, were (L-R) LaserPacific's David Register, LightIron Digital's Michael Cioni, FotoKem NextLab's Mike Broderson and Tunnel's Jeff Brue. Maya, LightWave, Photoshop and Nuke helped Dive enhance the film's desolation.