Main VFX Completed on "Flying Apart"

Update! Editing Nearing Completion

"Flying Apart" Release Imminent!

So far the editing has been progressing steadily on "Flying Apart", Stuart Woodrow-Winsby's dark lookinto the world of a severly introverted vivisectionist. Stuart, Larry (and sometimes Ian) have been working steadily on the project to speed along the completion of the rough edit. So far, all the shots are in place, with only one or two minor pickups still to do for the opening and ending credits, not to mention the foley sound which has to be collected to clear up the soundtrack.

When this has all been completed, the rough edit will be taken and painstakingly put through the final grading process, shot-by-shot until we have a finished piece ready for release. Look out for it as it won't be many weeks now!

Prior to (and during) the production of Team TV's "V3", discussions were flying around about a project entitled "Flying Apart" which was refined to a highly interesting script.

"Flying Apart" is our most recent piece, a dark look into the world of a introverted vivisectionist targeted by animal rights groups and the pain and ultimate nervous breakdown he suffers as a result of the distressing messages on his answerphone. Through this distress he loses almost everything and decides to take a chance...

One of the interesting points of the story was that (in some incarnations of the story) the film would contain a car exploding. Many of the group worried whether this would be realistically possible and discussions continued regarding different shots. However, some of the special effects progression made in "V3" enabled the Director (Stuart) to realistically request a car explosion.

Planning and preparation began, and come the weekend of the shoot, the scene was put into action, taking just under 2 hours to complete photography on all the main elements which would later become layered elements in the final composite. The scene was Directed and edited by Larry, who has the most extensive background in Visual Effects.

This is the final version of the shot which will appear in the movie. It will have loaded if you have Quicktime 7 and can be played by pressing the play button.

"I wanted to create the shot as a whole, as you might view actual pyrotechnics footage in an edit, so that Stuart could think of it less like VFX and more like any other shot when deciding to use it. There's often a lot of stigma attached to VFX in low-budget productions."

The shot has taken an approximate 50 hours of work to complete in it's current incarnation, and makes up a composite of more than 60 layers (matte paintings, live video, rotoscoped elements, explosions, fire, smoke, shadows, debris and other particles) which was compiled in 5 different programs. It is one of the more successful VFX endeavours.

"The VFX were far more polished than I expected and the nature of this particular explosion significantly improved the dynamic of the narrative. I knew that Larry had got the VFX bang-on when the car's owner backed away from the screen after the explosion!"

The full edit of "Flying Apart" is progressing as this article is written and should be available to view on this website within the next two months - look out for it, it's going to be a blast!