Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1469382
24 cgw a p r i l • m ay • j u n e 2 0 2 2 former blimp hangar, but even that massive space was not enough, so Weta was tasked with extending both ends of the set and adding large windows, helping to give it the look of New York City's Grand Central Station. Cream-colored screens were used rather than blue or green screens, and gobos were used for lighting. "The logic behind using cream screens is because it is roughly similar to the color of the stone that City Hall is made from," notes Langlands. "Ultimately, if you put green screens up around every- thing, then you get spill. Everything turns green." Weta compositing supervisor Beck Veitch says the cream color involved a lot more rotoscoping than if the production had shot with blue or green screens. "You need a really good roto team because there's no way you can pull a key from a cream screen," says Veitch. "However, our team has had a lot of experience in what we phrased as 'adventur- ous edge blending,' so we actually got some really good results." The Chase Sequence Weta's most demanding work can be seen in the chase sequence, in which Batman, in the Batmobile, is chasing a sedan driven by Penguin through the city's rainy streets, and finally onto a highway, where they deal with traffic and numerous big rigs. A fiery multi-ve- hicle crash leaves Penguin thinking he's gotten away from the caped crusader — but don't count Batman out just yet. "There's quite a lot of stuff there," says Langlands, who estimates that as many as 200 VFX shots make up the sequence. "They pre- vis'd that sequence pretty heavily before they went and shot it, and they ended up shooting a version of pretty much every shot." While many of the production elements may not have made it into the final sequence, they served as a solid foundation for their digital replacements. "Ultimately, you know what the actual vehicles and lighting look like in the scene," says Langlands, noting that the sequence was broken into two sections: one being the chase through the city's back roads, and the other starting once they get on the highway. The highway elements were shot on an airstrip in the UK that was dressed with street lights and a center divider. "It was largely practical before they're on the highway, but in pretty much all of those shots, we were adding CG rain — the rain effects, like falling raindrops, spray from the wheels and rain im- pacting the ground," Langlands recalls. "Once we're on the highway, it becomes more and more digital, until we get to the end, where Penguin sets off this big chain reaction. By the time we get there, a lot of that ended up being fully-CG, or at least heavily-CG." Langlands says director Matt Reeves wanted the camera to always be in the action, as opposed to viewing it via wide shots. "A lot of what we were doing was trying to help sort of tell the story, going from one bit to the next," he says of the sequence. On set, there were several practical Batmobiles, each with differ- ent rims and tires, depending on what the vehicle needed to per- form. Weta replaced several wheels digitally for continuity purposes. The studio also created an entirely-CG version the Batmobile, along with additional cars and trucks. During production, a van was used for the practical explosion. That van was then replaced by Weta with a digital fuel tanker that better represented the magnitude of the explosion. They also