CGSociety :: Production Focus
22 June 2011, by Paul Hellard
INTRODUCTION
Pacific Renaissance Spartacus Ltd and Starz crew had built an impressively successful series of ‘Spartacus: Blood and Sand’, but wanted to raise the bar of the VFX for the next series. The required VFX were a large component of the look of the show as it was shot entirely on green screen stages in Auckland, New Zealand.
The VFX Art Director, Daniel James Cox was essentially the 'glue' between the main departments: Production Designer Iain Aitken (and his talented art team), the two DPs who alternated between each episode, John Cavill and Aaron Morton, the multi-talented Producing Director Rick Jacobson (who directed Ep 2 + 6), and the EP team of Chloe Smith and Rob Tappert.
PRE-PRODUCTION
“When I came onboard, there were about eight weeks left of pre-production,” explains Daniel Cox. “After extensive meetings with Iain, Rick, the DPs and Rob, it quickly became apparent that during series one, all these departments weren't communicating as efficiently as they could be, and there were a lot of visual problems that resulted from it.” The team put together a selection of images from series one, which included shots they thought worked, and other shots which weren't quite so successful. This was a great starting point. Cox took all this information and put together a VFX Methodology document, then presented back to the Heads of Departments.
thanks to Barbara Davies
