Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1540269
o c t o b e r • n o v e m b e r • d e c e m b e r 2 0 2 2 c g w 7 A devastating fungal pandemic has spread rapidly across the globe in HBO's The Last of Us, transforming the infect- ed into horrific zombie-like creatures and causing society to collapse. Based on Naughty Dog's video game series of the same name, Season 2 picks up five years aer the events of the first installment. Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Joel (Pedro Pascal) have settled into the community of Jackson, Wyoming—a fortified strong- hold against the harsh post-apocalyptic world. The duo live among a group of survivors including Joel's brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna) and Ellie's friends, Dina (Isabela Merced) and Jesse (Young Mazino). This season explores the lengths that these uninfected humans will go to in the name of survival, navigating the consequences of vio- lence and vengeance as they fight to protect the people they care about the most. Wētā FX played a vital role in bringing the thrilling events of the new season from the page to the screen, including the massive snow-covered infected hordes that descend upon Jackson in Ep- isode 2. Working closely with showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann, the team craed terrifying new infected creatures, built an extensive CG environment surrounding Jackson, developed a new compositing-based weather control system, and much more. VFX supervisor Nick Epstein and animation supervisor Dennis Yoo shared an inside look into bringing Season 2's epic visuals to life. How did you set up your workflow for this season? Nick Epstein (VFX Supervisor): The initial thing is to really under- stand what the creative goals are, and then to set up the processes that are going to make your team successful in reaching those goals. You want to do that before things get really gnarly and you hit that critical mass of shot production, so you're not just solving the same problem over and over again. You can do it in a much more struc- tured way. We went through the previs, so I had some idea about how epic and challenging this was all going to be. But honestly it wasn't until day two or three when I was on set with Alex [Wang], who's the pro- duction visual effects supervisor. In the morning it was blazing sun- shine, by lunchtime it was pouring with rain, and by the evening it was snowing. It was like that I'd say two-thirds of the shoot, where we had these really crazy weather conditions to deal with. So that cued me into some processes that we would need later on. Then also seeing what was being shot. It was fairly close to our previs, but it's only when you see the plate come through that it re- ally dawns on you that this is what we're up against. You get an idea of what you're facing, and then you begin to break it down with the team. Dennis Yoo (Animation Supervisor): One of the things that I thought we needed to prepare for was the dogs. I had experience working in dog movies before, and they're one of harder animals to do. Because everyone knows what a dog's supposed to move like, and everyone knows how they're supposed to act. So they're one of those animals that you can't get wrong. Then some of the things that I thought I had a handle on because we did it in Season One, like the crowds. We'd get these plates, and they'd be blank. You have a title card going: massive horde. We start- Wētā worked closely with showrunners Craig Mazin & Neil Druckmann.