Stereo
The stereo team was brought in early on the project, to digitally re-colour 375 shots and to deliver the full 3D conversion of the movie. The conversion team was able to utilise z-depths of the CG characters and cyber-scans of the live-action characters to ensure consistency of sculpting and to deliver a stereo conversion with a huge amount of detail. This also allowed the team to enhance the stereo version of the film per Marcus Alexander’s brief, adding details such as the creation of more stereo volume for the orcs to make them appear even larger-than-life.
One of the key challenges of the film from a stereo standpoint came in the first big battle scene between the humans and the orcs. The stereo team had good z-depths for the orcs and the CG environments, and needed to ensure that its conversion work on the live-action characters matched the stereo detail it was able to create for the CG. There were many shots in which the CG orcs and live-action characters interacted – to make them connect seamlessly in stereo was a very complex process. The final battle scene was equally complex. As it was the climax of the film and had to be larger than life and super clean. The teams used all the tools at their disposal, along with the z-depths and layers of elements and assets from the VFX vendors, and the hours of hard work they put in are evident on the big screen.
