Those Who Wish Me Dead
UNDER FIRE
Trevor Hogg enters a burning forest with Rodeo FX to learn about their work on Those Who Wish Me Dead
Aidan Gillen as Jack Photo credit: Emerson Miller
Setting a forest on fire was not a viable option for filmmaker Taylor Sheridan (WindRiver) when making ThoseWhoWishMeDead, which revolves around two killers trying to eliminate a murder witness by setting the wilderness ablaze. Rodeo FX was given the responsibility of creating a highly detailed digital asset that could withstand closeups and aerial views. “It was mostly environmental work and effects went hand-in-hand with the burning forest,” notes Matthew Rouleau, environment supervisor, Rodeo FX when discussing the 283 VFX shots he and his colleagues were responsible for producing. “There were a few digital doubles.”
“One thing that was unique about this project was the scope,” notes Nathan Arbuckle, FX supervisor, Rodeo FX. “It wasn’t like a 50/50 mix on these shots. We had to create the forest from scratch and add the effects on top of that.” The methodology had to be efficient and flexible. “A bunch of plates were shot in an actual forest and we were asked to set that on fire in CG,” states Rouleau. “How do you approach it? Do you roto out individual trees and put fire in front and behind it? That wouldn’t make any sense. What we set out to do was aB plate of what they shot in CG, so we redid the whole forest one for one in CG. Fires were built to burn out portions of it, and compositing could roto out what they needed to keep from the plate and add the CG where they wanted. It was a big puzzle in that sense. Where do you draw the line between where the CG begins and the plates end? It was difficult.”