Getting into a Zombieland Mood

Mark Breakspear tells VFXWorld what it was like making a zombie flick.
Posted In | Magazines: VFXWorld | Site Categories: CG, Films, Visual Effects
Wireframe-Retime
Wireframe-Retime - Additional "seat belt" sequence. © 2009 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. all rights reserved. Images courtesy of CIS Vancouver.

 

 

FG-Retime
FG-Retime - Additional "seat belt" sequence. © 2009 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. all rights reserved. Images courtesy of CIS Vancouver.

 

 

Stuntwoman-Retime
Stuntwoman-Retime - Additional "seat belt" sequence. © 2009 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. all rights reserved. Images courtesy of CIS Vancouver.

 

 

Final Comp
Final Comp - Additional "seat belt" sequence. © 2009 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. all rights reserved. Images courtesy of CIS Vancouver.

 

BD: That's quite a change of pace for you.

MB: Yeah, it's a fun romp around America heading towards this theme park, where they all seem to want to go. They've heard there are no zombies there, which couldn't be further from the truth. And this fantastic battle ensues in this theme park.

 

Wireframe Greyscale
Wireframe Greyscale - The opening, which turned out to be a full CG environment of Washington, D.C, was re-worked and then re-roto'd because it was more complicated than originally envisioned. © 2009 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. all rights reserved. Images courtesy of CIS Vancouver.
Plate with Pan
Plate with Pan - The opening, which turned out to be a full CG environment of Washington, D.C, was re-worked and then re-roto'd because it was more complicated than originally envisioned. © 2009 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. all rights reserved. Images courtesy of CIS Vancouver.
Final Comp
Final Comp - The opening, which turned out to be a full CG environment of Washington, D.C, was re-worked and then re-roto'd because it was more complicated than originally envisioned. © 2009 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. all rights reserved. Images courtesy of CIS Vancouver.

 

BD: And talk about the opening shot.

MB: It's this introduction to Zombieland and it's a documentary-style guy just filming and describing how America has been destroyed and he's looking at the Presidential limo, which is upside down, and flags flying and you see the capitol building in the background and it's burning, and there's smoke and fire everywhere on the buildings and there's blood on the ground and you pull back a bit further and suddenly you hear this noise and it swish pans across and you see a zombie jump over the Presidential limo and almost down on top of [this guy with the camera]. He starts to run away -- it's all one shot about a minute long -- and the zombie finally catches up to him, pulls him down on the ground, tears him apart and eats him. So if you can make it through that…

BD: How did you pull that off?







Comments


Well its quite interesting thanks for sharing!

urdu naats (not verified) | Tue, 01/12/2010 - 05:45 | Permalink

No one can love all the film. There are lots of different view from different people in case of film. Some like Action where as some like romantic pr comedy films. This film is great to see and must say this film has really cool story to see upon.
That's simply Great!!

Nepal SEO (not verified) | Fri, 01/01/2010 - 05:05 | Permalink

This won't win an oscar, and you probably aren't going to stand on a roof top and scream to the world to see it. You will really enjoy this film, probably want to own it on DVD as well. It's worth full price admission and should be seen in a packed theater. It has high replay factor. If you like horror and comedy then you will love this film.

Victor Nemo (not verified) | Fri, 10/30/2009 - 01:38 | Permalink

this is wair removore...nice,,

santosh (not verified) | Thu, 10/29/2009 - 22:55 | Permalink

It's very nice work. Simply super work.

Babu (not verified) | Tue, 10/13/2009 - 22:55 | Permalink

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