2014 Emmy Written Submission BESSIE Category 98 OUTSTANDING SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE 1 BESSIE Category 98 OUTSTANDING SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE Visual Effects work on Bessie covers three main fields: Historic set extensions, digital and practical trains and digital audience work. BESSIE SMITH was an acclaimed Blues Singer who earned the title “The Empress of Blues”. She was a destitute, yet talented young entertainer from Chattanooga, Tennessee. Her story stretches from New York to the far southern states and spans the time frame from the Teens through the Thirties. Bessie received her first big break when joining MA RAINEY and THE RABBIT FOOT MINSTRELS on their tour. During this era, the primary means of transportation for entertainers was via train or car. With success came the ability to travel in private train cars. BESSIE’s and MA RAINEY’s journey between cities required several period set extensions as well as moving or stationary CG trains. Each exterior train and all moving interior train shots in BESSIE are visual effects. Our approach to creating trains was twofold. We generated a fully CG version of both BESSIE SMITH’s & MA RAINEY’s trains, including a locomotive with smoke simulations. For realism, mainly live-action train plates were used as the base of the shot. These had to be digitally resurfaced and structurally reconfigured to match the needs of our story. Live action train plates and stills were shot in a single day at the tail end of production. Prior to the visual effects train plate shoot, great diligence was needed to analyze each “train shot” for environment, angle, light direction, etc. Using two cameras and spherical lenses, tiles of the moving trains were later assembled and placed in their new environments. As the schedule was tight and budget limited, this allowed for the detailed design of the trains to be completed in post-production. With the loss of the key rail yard location during production, visual effects were essential to realizing these portions of the story.
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2014 Emmy Written Submission BESSIE
Category 98 OUTSTANDING SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
1
BESSIE Category 98 OUTSTANDING SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE Visual Effects work on Bessie covers three main fields: Historic set extensions, digital and practical trains and digital audience work. BESSIE SMITH was an acclaimed Blues Singer who earned the title “The Empress of Blues”. She was a destitute, yet talented young entertainer from Chattanooga, Tennessee. Her story stretches from New York to the far southern states and spans the time frame from the Teens through the Thirties. Bessie received her first big break when joining MA RAINEY and THE RABBIT FOOT MINSTRELS on their tour. During this era, the primary means of transportation for entertainers was via train or car. With success came the ability to travel in private train cars. BESSIE’s and MA RAINEY’s journey between cities required several period set extensions as well as moving or stationary CG trains. Each exterior train and all moving interior train shots in BESSIE are visual effects. Our approach to creating trains was twofold. We generated a fully CG version of both BESSIE SMITH’s & MA RAINEY’s trains, including a locomotive with smoke simulations. For realism, mainly live-action train plates were used as the base of the shot. These had to be digitally resurfaced and structurally reconfigured to match the needs of our story. Live action train plates and stills were shot in a single day at the tail end of production. Prior to the visual effects train plate shoot, great diligence was needed to analyze each “train shot” for environment, angle, light direction, etc. Using two cameras and spherical lenses, tiles of the moving trains were later assembled and placed in their new environments. As the schedule was tight and budget limited, this allowed for the detailed design of the trains to be completed in post-production. With the loss of the key rail yard location during production, visual effects were essential to realizing these portions of the story.
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UNHITCHING TRAIN CARS: Ma Rainey & Rabbit Foot Minstrel Cars Live action foreground plate with actors, live action train elements, digital train resurfacing and reconfiguration, digital matte painting.
BESSIE LEAVES MA’s SHOW Foreground live action plate, CG train surfacing and extension, digital set extension, foreground lighting and enhancements.
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BESSSIE JOINS MA RAINEY’S SHOW Live action foreground plate with actors, full CG train with locomotive and smoke simulation, digital set extension, foreground lighting and enhancements.
BESSSIE JOINS MA RAINEY’S SHOW
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TRAIN DEPOT Foreground green screen plate, mid-ground practical train, digital set extension.
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BESSIE GETS A NEW TRAIN Live action foreground plate, digital matte painting train and set extension.
CONYERS STREET Two foreground green screen plates, digital widening of street, CG Train, multiple CG objects, foreground enhancements, digital set extension.
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KIDS WITH FLOWERS Foreground green screen plate, background live action trees plate, live action train with CG surfacing, reconfiguration and train extension, digital vegetation and set extension.
SHARECROPPERS Foreground green screen plate, combined background plates from two passes, sharecropper duplication.
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COCA COLA TRAIN DEPOT Live action foreground plate, digital set extensions foreground and background, live action train surfacing and reconfiguration.
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BESSIE was filmed solely in Atlanta, Georgia & vicinity. The city was a rich environment for period theaters and locations. Set extensions were occasionally necessary to place us in specific locations such as New York City and areas in the southern belt.
WELCOME HOME BESSIE in Chattanooga, TN Live action foreground plate, digital set extension, foreground enhancements, CG marquee.
VAN VECHTEN’s BALCONY over Central Park (NYC) Live action foreground plate, live action background plate, digital matte painting background, mid ground and foreground, repo.
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NEW YORK FLAT IRON BUILDING, NYC Live action foreground, digital set extension with CG elements.
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Additionally, a wide variety of visual effects were used to underscore story points.
HEADBAND & BLOOD CG blood.
BLUE BESSIE Live action foreground plate, digital intro into shot, CG light cone and particle animation, artificial camera move, CG feather, retime.
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Bessie Smith’s theater performances were central to her story. Up to 150 extras were cast to fill seats within theaters spanning between 500 – 4500 seat venues. Smart placement of extras made it possible to avoid crowd duplication, however in the final closing performance a very large audience was needed. Due to delays in the shooting schedule a crowd tiling shoot was cancelled and the location was no longer an option. Visual effects recreated a theater digitally and filled the 4500 seats with an audience on green screen seats with two different perspectives: low and high. This allowed us to move the camera freely for crane shots.
CLOSING PERFORMANCE CRANE UP OVER AUDIENCE Live action foreground plate with parallaxing audience extension, set extension.
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CLOSING PERFORMANCE CRANE OVER DIGITAL THEATER Foreground green screen plate, green screen audience, background CG environment.
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