Visual Effects: Rushes Film & TV
Visual Effects Supervisor: Jonathan Privett, Hayden Jones
Visual Effects Producer: Louise Hussey
Production: Lesbian Vampire Killers - Feature Film

The recent British comedy/horror spoof directed by Phil Clayden and ostensibly a vehicle for BBC sitcom stars James Corden and Matthew Horne is one of those rare occasions when a movie's name more than describes it's content. So with Lesbian Vampire Killers we all know what we're dealing with. Female vampires in the buffy, if you will. Or as James Corden himself describes it, "Shaun of the Dead with tits".

So while its substance doesn't really offer anything to get your teeth into there are a couple of noteworthy things about it. It was the first UK feature film to have been shot entirely on a Red One camera. Additionally it does feature some impressive Visual Effects, courtesy of London post facility Rushes, who also worked closely with the director and production team from pre production to assist with the new post pipeline camera data requirements and to plan the VFX.

Rushes completed 250 VFX shots for Lesbian Vampire Killers using The Pixel Farm's PFTrack throughout, for both 2D and 3D tracking of shots. The movie's two and a half minute prologue sequence which offers a back story of how all the village girls become vampires on their 18th birthday, comprises of 55 chromakey shots, all of which were completed and composited at Rushes. This long establishing sequence saw PFTrack used extensively as VFX Supervisor at Rushes, Jonathan Privett explains, "PFTrack was also fairly heavily used on the opening prologue sequence to allow for tracking in of the CG environments and background matte paintings. This was a more straightforward implementation however as it was all shot in a controlled green screen environment where we were able to direct the DOP and place tracking markers where needed". For more difficult shots PFTrack proved just as effective, producing good data where other tracking systems simply cannot. PFTrack is renowned for handling zoom shots with an unrivalled degree of success, and this proved to be a great help on a number of shots, including one, which superficially appeared quite simple. Jonathan Privett provides the details, "Another seemingly simple shot was Jimmy throwing the dart into the map. Although the track didn't have to be perfect as it was a fast moving object in a moving scene we still required a fair level of accuracy. As the shot itself was quite a severe crash zoom though we were only too aware that most tracking software would not be able to cope. However PFTrack gave it a fair crack of the whip, and did give the animator enough information to extrapolate from and perform some manual cleanup on. It certainly helped speed up what could have been quite an unpleasant shot otherwise, and without having to delve too deeply into any complex tracking processes."

Rushes produced a huge number of shots of vampires dying and exploding in a variety of imaginative, graphic and comedic ways which involved compositing practical elements of smoke, steam and "gloop" into plates. One example involved a vampire having the top of her head lopped off with a shovel, an effect which used a combination of prosthetics, green screen, practical elements and CGI, but no Van Helsing. Perhaps the biggest visual Effects shot of the movie is the Queen Carmilla resurrection scene. The idea for the scene involves the blood of the vampire's captives, Jimmy and Lotte, being drained into Carmilla's crypt initiating the resurrection. Carmilla then begins to form and rise up from the blood itself. The plan was to create the desired effect using physical props and effects. After a little experimentation however it was decided that the sequence needed some augmentation and enhancement to give it the more dramatic effect it deserved. Ultimately a huge proportion of the sequence was entirely created from scratch in 3D, including Carmilla's beating heart, pulsating in a bloody CG miasma. Flashes of light and lighting effects were further added to create a more powerful and dynamic effect. PFTrack once again was integral to the process of tracking these CG elements into the scene and proved a great time saver in the process, as it usually produced a good track at first attempt.

The importance of having an uncomplicated, robust and reliable tool to take care of tracking problems cannot be overstated here, especially where a facility does not have a dedicated matchmoving department. Louise Hussey, VFX Producer at Rushes offers an insight into just how useful PFTrack has been in the production workflow. "Generally speaking, with such an enormous quantity of work to complete in a very tight deadline PFTrack mainly helped by working first time, most of the time, with little user input. As a company with no specific matchmoving department it is imperative that all our animators can quickly and easily get to grips with their tracking software and be able to track their own shots independently. PFTrack provides an intuitive user interface, and has such a high first time success rate that we feel comfortable that virtually all of our 2D and 3D operators can get to grips with it very quickly."

PFTrack was used throughout the production, from seemingly simple shots such as Jimmy throwing a dart into a map, through to more complex shots like Carmilla's forked tongue licking Fletch's face. Or the dramatic resurrection sequence where Carmilla forms out of the bubbling pool of blood, which along with the heart was 3D, and had to be seamlessly tracked into the live action crypt. A large number of tracking shots were also comprised of the titles and captions throughout the film, which actually presented some of the greatest difficulties. Some way down the pipeline it was decided that the captions should seem integrated into the scenery rather than superimposed graphically, as is more usual. Since the shots had not been set up and filmed with this mind some pretty complex but solid tracks had to be achieved. This often meant hand held shots in dark woodland environments, with foreground foliage and a lack of specific tracking markers. Jonathan Privett comments, "Stark white text against such backgrounds is very unforgiving so we had to ensure that the tracks were as solid as possible. In this regard it was quite a daunting task for something so seemingly simple, but PFTrack stood up to the task incredibly well. Virtually all shots tracked first time, with only a little extra nudging and manipulation on the more complex shots."

He goes on to explain that not having a specific matchmoving department at Rushes means that rather than having individual animators specifically trained to utilize PFTrack's more involved features, its more likely that several animators will work on all aspects of a shot. And while he recognizes that this set up may neglect a good deal of PFTrack's potential in terms of other capabilities that it has, he insists that conversely, working this way does maximize it's usability and success rate in being able to track a huge volume of shots in a short space of time. Finally he says, "PFTrack means that when it comes to scheduling shots and animators we no longer have to worry as much about whether it will track, how long will it take and do we have anyone available who is good at matchmoving. With the ever increasingly tight budgets and deadlines we are encountering this becomes more and more valuable."

Words: Martin Southwood