CATEGORY: production
SERVICES: matchmove / keying & roto / cleanup / compositing
01. Area of responsibility
We participated in the project on an occasional basis. Our responsibilities included working on several beautiful shots, which required a lot of work. What we remember most is working on the shots of a burning house, because the work had to be done in a very short time frame and we had to create the visual appearance of a fire practically from scratch.
In the end, we all got a beautiful cinematic clip telling a painful and cruel love story. It tells of the pain of not being able to protect your loved one from all the hardships of this world.
02. Matchmove & Scene Geometry
At this stage, the technical basis for the entire project was determined.
Accurate camera tracking and scene reconstruction were extremely important for subsequent high-quality keying, cline-up, and compositing of fire in the scene with the burning house.
Camera Tracking
Each shot was matchmoved from scratch to ensure sub-pixel accuracy.
We reconstructed every camera path using 3DEqualizer, relying on precise lens data collected during the shoot.
Key steps included:
- Manual 2D tracking & refinement for complex motion blur areas.
- 3D camera solve optimization using survey data and scale reference.
- Export and validation in Nuke to confirm spatial consistency with CG assets.
Every matchmove was validated by overlaying proxy geometry directly on the live plate — ensuring the robot’s movement aligned perfectly with the real environment.
Scene Geometry
Once cameras were solved, we rebuilt key environment geometry for realistic lighting and shadow interaction.
This included proxy geometry for windows, walls, doors, and ceilings. Simply put, everything that CG fire interacted with in one way or another.
Main goals:
- Create accurate shadow catchers and contact surfaces.
- Enable GI and reflection accuracy during rendering.
- Provide collision references for animation and simulation passes.
Geometric proxies not only assisted with lighting, but also supported the physical logic of fire movements in real space.
03. Cleanup & Compositing
Once the tracking stage was complete, we embarked on the complex and labour-intensive process of setting up the reference fire and other equipment on location, followed by compositing the fire footage selected for each individual shot.
Cleanup & Plate Preparation
Before integrating CG fire into the shots, we needed to remove unnecessary information from the frame. This included stands, lighting equipment, reference stands with fire, and other filming equipment.
The process combined manual paintout, AI-assisted cleanup, and projection painting to restore the original environment.
Tasks included:
- Manual cleanup in Nuke using roto, paint, and 3D projection techniques.
- AI inpainting for static and low-motion areas, followed by manual refinement.
- Reconstruction of occluded geometry (walls, ground, props, fabric).
- Shadow & reflection preservation to retain natural lighting.
- Degrain / Regrain pass for texture continuity.
Each shot was restored to look completely untouched — as if nothing extra had ever been there.
Fire Compositing
After completing the cleanup stage, we moved on to the main and most important part: compositing the fire footage into the frame.
The goal was complete physical and photographic realism. Correct reflections, shadows, and the play of light.
Compositing Steps:
- key / fill / bounce balanced to on-set HDRI, including interactive fire light on surrounding geometry.
- Shadow & contact passes: soft occlusion grounding fire to plate.
- Depth & atmosphere: Z-depth-based haze and fog.
- Color harmony: filmic tone curve, ACES LUT, light wrap.
- Edge treatment: motion blur, lens diffusion, and chromatic aberration.
Each shot was composited to feel photographed, not rendered.
It was an incredibly interesting and beautiful project. We faced a lot of challenges that had to be solved ‘here and now,’ and there is a certain magic in that. We are proud to be part of such an incredible story. We are also grateful to PostTribe for their incredible cooperation.
Special thanks to our partners:
Posttribe
