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IR\VI INVASION

Short fantasy film directed by Karel Březina. Experience using innovative VFX film technology TAKE1.. Collaboration on complex pre-production, conception and implementation of 3D CG environments and visual effects.

Client

  • IRVI Pte. Ltd.

Agency / Studio

  • Motorcycle FX Series

Crew

  • Jan Černý
    CEO IR\VI / Producer

  • Karel Březina
    Director / Screenwriter /
    idea maker

  • Jan J. Filip
    director of photography

  • Michal Syrový
    production designer/architekt

  • Pavel Ridosko
    music composer

  • Radek Svoboda
    color grading

  • Jan Brukner
    VFX Supevizor / 3D Matte painter / Creative designer

What I Did

  • Preproduction

  • Concept and Storyboard
  • 3D Matte painting

  • 3D Visualisation / Animation

  • VFX Supervision

2015

In the moonlight
FIERY LIGHT AWAKEN,
midnight ball can begin...

Somewhere through the dark woods the graceful shape of an obsolete chariot rushes. The Countess and the Sovereign suspect that this night will be special. The clock on the fairy's wrist strikes 12 o'clock at night. The show can begin...

FANTASY SHORT MOVIE

I collaborated intensively on the film with director Karel Březina, who is the author of the theme and story of the short film. Karel has always been an enthusiast for noir films with vampire themes and a distinct atmosphere, and I have had previous experience with him, for example, working on the G:Strinx : Angeldust music video project. Together with Honza Cerny (CEO of IR\VI) they came up with a short clip that would present the new TAKE1 filmmaking technology in action in a fun way.

TECHNOLOGY IR\VI

With the help of IR\VI's patented TAKE 1 technology, film and visual content creation can be approached in a whole new creative way. It changes the image keying process, with no need for a green studio and allows you to work more freely with semi-transparent materials. It creates the ability to dynamically resequence scenes, actors, objects and create complex layered compositions. See more at IR\VI website.

PRODUCTION

Karel Březina approached me at the very beginning of the development of the short film. We worked with different production options. For example, filming on a real location in the Bohnice cemetery in Prague or shooting shots with actors in a swimming pool to create the illusion of weightlessness. In the end, we decided to shoot in the Barrandov film studios, where we had more control over the scene.

SEE MORE ABOUT THIS PROJECT.

How did the whole project come about?
Previews of the concepts, preparations and designs and the story...

All in CASE STUDY BELOW...

VFX PREPRODUCTION

At the beginning of the development of the short film, Kal Brezina and I were involved in the preparation and pre-production of the trick shots. This preparation included technical documentation, a 3D animated previsual of the scenes with camera settings and intended scene dimensions. Based on the pre-production, the filming was then realized in the film studio, where it served as a reference for the actors and director. see below PREVIZ preparation.

CONCEPT DESIGN

Another area of the production that I took great care with was the design of the environments and their concepts. I worked with the main location of the cemetery with a number of different camera placements and compositions. Some scenes were to be realized as full CG and others were to be combined with acting and compositing into real shots. For inspiration and realization of the environment I used photographs I took in very atmospheric locations : a defunct cemetery in the Bohemian Forest. Hřensko - old gasworks, The main motif was the neo-Gothic Clare Chapel, Hřensko.

day concept
night concept

ANIMATIC / VFX PREPRODUCTION

Below you can see samples of previsuals and comparisons with advanced shots that I prepared to prepare the production in the studios and better communicate with the actors and set up the right composition, cameras. I also communicated with the architect who was preparing the design of the building. On set while shooting in the studios, I was doing VFX supervision and gathering materials for photogrammetry and reconstructing some parts of the set and scenery. Thanks to TAKE1 technology we got a lot of assets directly from the set of animated scenery of plants etc.

MATTE PAINTING / 3D SCENE

For the realization of non-existent sceneries and atmospheric panoramas I used advanced and hybrid methods of 3D matte painting, which I combined with 3D reconstructed objects from the shoot, digital painting and my own photographs. In the thumbnails below you can see the level of detail in the environments.

FINAL SHOTS

Part of the final compositing work was done in the POKROK studio, where skilled compositors added small sub-effects to the scenes and animated the scenes with other small VFX layers. The final post-production, vfx compositing itself was a bit delayed and I came back to the project only when it was heading into color grading which was handled by a great editor and creative color wizard Radek Svoboda (PFX) who brought everything to a successful end.

FINAL SHORT MOVIE

The whole film was a great experience for me with intensive preparation and production, close cooperation with "marathon" director Karel Březina, very careful architect Michal Syrový, creator of realistic environments and sets Michal Plešingr, DOP cameraman Jan J. Filip and many other skilled people.