Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1542296
P H OT O : F X Before and after visual effects shots from "Alien Earth." 54 C I N E M O N T A G E T E C H moving crudely through the frame in the lighting of that shot as a reference for how the creature would look in reality, in that actual space with that lighting. They physi- cally move the maquette to all the different marks while keeping the camera running," said Cote. "So, there'd be a background shot, a clean plate, and a maquette pass; that's three or four elements for each scene." There were also complex motion-con- trol shots, like the "transition" scene in Episode 1, when the kid characters have their consciousnesses transferred into synth bodies. "It's all done in one take. I had to stitch that together a few times in the Avid to make sure for proof of concept. All those elements were sent separately to the vendor so they could stitch them together for the final visuals, including when the shot tilted up to the overhead monitor where the 'Peter Pan' animated film is playing. It was a lot," said Cote, who revealed that at the last minute, a studio note came in requesting that each kid have a name tag. "Since the kids' consciousnesses were put into adult synth bodies, it could have been a bit con- fusing if we didn't know that they change their names when they become synths. So adding name tags was a whole other pass for that one-take shot," he said. Cote admits that he's a bit old school in terms of visual effects editorial, having started his career as an apprentice at ILM in 1988 — before there was Avid Media Composer or any NLE software, before Photoshop, After Effects, Maya, and other visual effects tools brought the work into the digital realm. Cote said, "There was no such thing as pre-viz or post-viz. The pro- cess involved doing a temp optical, sending it to the lab, waiting for the next day to check it out, and then continuing to iterate." Editing tools evolved as Cote's career progressed, yet he has stuck to using Avid Media Composer for making visual effects temps. For him, it's the most efficient way to get work done, so why complicate it? Cote said, "The advantage is that you can easily unwind it when you're turning the show over. You don't have to hunt for the elements you used to make a temp. They're there. It prevents what we call 'mystery mixdowns.' Truthfully, we did have that on this show; assistants and others on the post team would make temps but bury where the sources were. We'd have to hunt down all the elements used to make that mixdown. So my primary tool is — and will always be — the Avid, for everything." There is one exception. Cote uses Adobe Photoshop (something he's become very proficient at) to create clean backgrounds, then imports those plates into the Avid. Working mainly in the Avid environment is a conscious choice. Cote explained, "Rather than working in other applications and hav- ing to export and re-import the elements, I'll keep as much as I can in the Avid. The way I organize a session, I always know for whatever temp I made, there's a bin that has all the elements that I used to make that temp." Another complex CG sequence in Ep- isode 1 was the tactical team's arrival at the Maginot crash site. Although this was conceived of and shot as a continuous take, it was later decided to add cutaways to