PRE-PRODUCTION
For a project with as many complications as this one, pre-production work was critical in setting up the project for success in post. We met with Eko, who was handling the concept and writing as well as editorial, and Hidden Content, who was handling production, to work out the details required in capturing and organizing the various parts and branches of the film. Additionally, we met with Realmotion to advise on the particular challenges of working in the equirectangular VR perspective in terms of assembly, compositing, and visual storytelling.
To account for the huge amount of media we were planning to shoot, we worked with the Eko team to plan for the final combined runtime of the piece and ran data calculations to figure out what our storage needs would be on set for the OZO raw codec and then in post for the enormous 4K stereoscopic DPX stacks we would be generating.
After the initial planning stage, we accompanied the production team on location scouts and shooting tests. We advised the team on a number of location-specific issues such as optimal camera placement and blocking to account for lens stitch lines. By considering the various technical elements at play for each setup, we were able to manage the additional cleanup VFX work that would be required.