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VFX FOR TV SERIES Encore helps Magic City with its 1960's Miami look. break in visual effects for television with the work in took on for NBC's revamp of Knight Rider. Master Key's work ranged from K.I.T.T.'s talking screen and heads-up displays, to complete vehicle transformations. "It was the largest we've ever been," recalls Dassani, noting the studio had 35 artists working on the show, helping to deliver an average of 225 shots per episode. The gig helped build the studio's infrastructure in LA, and a year ago, Master Key launched a Toronto location, where it could help productions in the area realize tax incentives while providing services locally. The studio is currently providing visual effects for FX's Justified, ABC's Scandal, and USA Network's Covert Affairs and Suits. The new Toronto location, with its 10 artists and four support staffers, handle most of the shows' visual effects. Scandal stars Kerry Washington as Olivia Pope, a crisis management expert based in Washington, DC. The show is shot in Los Angeles, using an Arri Alexa, and much of the effects have to do with creating the look of the nation's capital. "We shoot their plates and aerials, and when they need a custom background plate, as opposed to using stock," notes Dassani. Stock footage, he says, is usually not the right angle they need, so the team will go to Washington and shoot live-action plates of locations such as the Jefferson Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial and The White House, with the exact time-of-day lighting the scene requires. Master Key has been working on the show since the pilot episode. "The way the DC stuff works, we try to tell them to get as much real environment as they can," he explains. "So for The White House, they shoot in a park with a railing, and with as much foliage as they can get. Then we have to put in The White House back there. The geography isn't exactly accurate, but the audience doesn't care because it blends. They buy it." For a sequence in a recent episode, characters were sitting on the steps of the Jefferson Memorial. "They built a piece of floor, one step and two pillars.The rest is our plate. And because there is enough real [imagery] there, you can't tell where one ends and the other begins, which is the whole idea. We try to use as much live action as we can because you get much better lighting. The most important thing to me is, if I am looking at a plate and it feels too static, I don't buy it." The White House scenes are shot in a park near USC, which has a fountain, giving it the right look. For a Lincoln Memorial shot, the shoot took place at City Hall. "You have the right steps, but if you look at the pillars, they are one-quarter the size on the Lincoln Memorial's," he notes. "They are not even close." In this case, a greenscreen was hung in the background, covering the building's architec- tbcconsoles.com 1.888.console T B C ' s S m a r t Tr a c c o n s o l e s a r e absolutely AMAZING! Functional, sleek, and well-designed. Just a great p r o d u c t a MUST HAVE for any p o s t p r o d u c t i o n f a c i l i t y ". -Tony Ushino, SENSE TV ® T h e n e w l y r e d e s i g n e d S m a r t Tr a c v 2 g i v e s y o u t h e Post0413_028-30, 32-33-VFXMLV3ALMOST FINA.indd 32 to how you want. 3/27/13 4:16 PM