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www.postmagazine.com 30 POST JAN/FEB 2023 most intuitive tools for all kinds of panning and movements, and simply the positioning equivalent to motorized faders." VISUAL EFFECTS According to VFX supervisor Frank Petzold, the film's visuals needed to be "absolutely photoreal, so as not to distract the audience from its literary and cinematic legacy. VFX had to support the act- ing, set a perfect stage, be historically correct and be as invisible as possible." To achieve this look, the visual effects team emphasized using as many photographic elements as possible. "Our overall VFX approach was to 'go back to the roots' and use CG simulations rather as secondary elements, and let photographic footage be our primary material for compositing," Petzold explains. "We chose to add extra compositing time and use CG-models and simulations only where it was absolutely needed. Photorealism was key." Most CG-generated explosions, fire and smoke effects wouldn't hold up to their requirements, although the thick fog that appears during battle scenes was achieved with camera-matched CG fog. They were able to carefully layer thickness and control the detail, making the battlefield seem both endless and claustrophobic at the same time. "During principle photography, extra time was carved out to do multiple passes per set- up, setting up VFX element stages next to our primary locations to quickly react and collect missing bits for the shot," he explains. "It's was a more time-consuming approach, but visually, a very rewarding technique. All locations and props were 3D scanned and modeled to support the placement of the photographic elements with CG shadows and reflections." Additionally, the VFX stage was used on-location for duplicating attacking soldiers, shooting weeks worth of stuntmen on greenscreen treadmills, gun-effects and smoke bombs. The appearance of the first machines of war were handled in 3D animation, as they wanted the machines to come across as gigantic creatures. "As some of the close-up tanks were separately shot with SFX support, 3D animation was used to control the timing of the tank fleet as they break through the fog," Petzold explains. "To react to changes in contrast during the grade, a lot of shots were rendered in multiple versions to be able to do 'live' mixing during the final color grade." Visual effects also contributed to historically-ac- curate sets, as well as helped set the mood via environmental additions, such as snow, weath- er, heavy smoke clouds and cold breath. Eerie matte-paintings were also used for establishing shots. "UPP, Prague was chosen to work on most of the heavy lifting — complex and long shots for the bat- tles," he recalls. "UPP does fantastic photorealism and was also able to go back to the stage to add bespoke elements, adding to the authenticity." Not surprising, the battles were the film's most challenging, as they often consisted of ex- tremely long and immersive takes, and required layering of CG throughout the depth of the never-ending landscape. "At the same time, we had to deal with a lot of interactive SFX effects with the actors. Debris had to bounce off of the actors, and wounds and fire blend into their performance. We knew that an unusual amount of rotoscoping was needed to be able to really be free and creative in compositing to find the rhythm of war." Environmental elements, such as heavy fog and smoke, were added as visual effects.