Friends with Money’s vfx team created the pivotal set piece of this building-in-progress, using a combination of 3D-CG and a miniature, with matte-painted effects. All images © & ™ 2006 Sony Pictures Ent. Inc.

By any vfx-film measure, Sony Pictures Classics’ Friends With Money is not an effects film. But it exemplifies how a judicious use of visual effects can illustrate key plot points, even in a film where the focus is on the actors’ performances. We’re always hearing about how effects should not be gratuitous, but used instead to serve the story. When a modestly budgeted film ($6 million) can effectively employ a select group of effects, it reminds us that sophisticated techniques are not just for big action pix anymore.

Friends With Money is writer/director Nicole Holofcener’s comedy of modern manners, which explores the lives of four longtime female friends. (The women are played by Jennifer Anniston, Joan Cusack, Catherine Keener and Frances McDormand — the latter three being the “friends with money.”)

The film is set amidst the upscale environs of L.A.’s west side, where McMansions sprout like mushrooms to proclaim the wealth of their owners. The urge to expand one’s home is a key thread within this tale, since Catherine Keener’s character is building a home addition that will afford her an ocean view. And that’s where visual effects enter the picture.

The challenge for vfx artists Deak Ferrand (of Santa Monica-based Hatch) and Robin Tremblay (of Montreal’s Buzz Image) was to create the pivotal set piece of this building-in-progress. Ferrand notes, “The filmmakers thought that because they were shooting in a real house on location, it would be impossible for them to build a real home extension. We also needed to see about two to three steps in the construction of this building, from its bare bones beginning until it becomes enclosed with plywood and a roof.” Given these parameters, Ferrand and Tremblay decided that the best and most cost-effective approach would be to use a combination of 3D-CG and a miniature, along with matte-painted effects.

Robin Tremblay of Buzz Image took the miniatures shot by Deak Ferrand of Hatch, reconstructed a 3D-CG model and then projected it onto 3D geometry, allowing virtual camera movement.

Ferrand, being based in L.A., was the man on the ground during shooting, and he also supervised building the miniature. (The shots would later come together digitally at Tremblay’s shop in Montreal.) Ferrand brought significant expertise to project, having previously contributed matte paintings to The Chronicles of Narnia and The Matrix Revolutions. “I’ve been dealing a lot with putting miniatures inside matte paintings, and that was a technique that the production liked. They thought that by having a miniature extension photographed from an angle that matched the photography of the actual house, it would look more believable. It’s always the worry of a production like this that the effects won’t look real.”

It was Ferrand’s first time working with d.p. Terry Stacy, who had previously shot In Her Shoes and American Splendor. “I’m always careful in dealing with d.p.s because they want to just shoot their movie. They don’t want to be stopped by visual effects people.”

While the director did want a large crane move for two of the effects shots, Stacy shot a lot of it with a hand held camera. Fortunately for the effects team, Ferrand notes, “It had a hand held feel but it wasn’t moving, so the perspective didn’t change. We explained that within the budget it would possible to easily add the building extension whenever they didn’t move the camera. At the same time, you want to find something that allows the director her style but doesn’t cost a lot.”

Ferrand did shoot some greenscreen, including a giant greenscreen shot on location at night, which he recalls, “was quite complicated.” But the shot, a POV from over the shoulder of a neighbor as she looks out her window, was essential to the storyline. It established that the building extension would block this neighbor’s ocean view. Despite Ferrand’s greenscreen outside the window, Buzz’s Tremblay would have some significant post work to do. It wasn’t possible for production to remove that home’s windowpanes, so they would have to be rotoscoped out. In addition, there was no ocean view from this location, so Tremblay would have to add that too.

Throughout the shoot, Ferrand was able to acquire all the camera information from the d.p. that he needed. “Sometimes I’ve had difficulty getting camera information on huge productions, but these people were really nice.”

Back at Hatch, Ferrand began pulling frames from an Avid cut, “Just to make sure that we had at the right angle with the right lighting and camera apertures. He then used that information to photograph the rather large miniature (4' x 3') built by Jim Towler (The Manchurian Candidate, Batman Returns). “Jim built a miniature of the house extension based on blueprints he got from the production.