Dark Shadows: retro old school VFX with a modern twist

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| May 18, 2012 | 4:24 pm or 4:24 pm GMT

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from the fxguide article:

This film is a modern version of a classic TV show, modernized and updated for the present. As were the visual effects.

The film was shot on film (and not shot in stereo nor converted to stereo). The DOP Bruno Delbonnel, (Amélie, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince) shot the whole production on film so the various effects houses had to match film stocks, grain and look. The stock was 500ASA 5219. Peter Doyle (Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings) was the supervising digital colorist, Doyle and Delbonnel having worked together on The Half Blood Prince. (Note: some of the example images in this article are pre-final grade).

The film was set in the past, and whenever possible the filmmakers used traditional well executed VFX methods, but like the film’s central plot line, even the old techniques were brought forward in time with the addition of the latest effects techniques. Thus it is that Dark Shadows – a story about a man out of time – has miniatures, over cranked shots, recorded at high fps, actors filmed under water for zero gravity effects, hardly any previs and it was all combined with cutting edge camera projection, complex fur tricks and painstaking attention to detail – that extended to removing every blink of Johnny Depp’s eyes and every hint of his reflection from hundred and hundreds of shots.

The film is based on a TV series that was not itself a comedy, explains VFX supervisor Angus Bickerton. “It evolved a bit from the TV series, the TV series was never intentionally funny, it was this slightly strange gothic soap that ran three or four days a week early afternoon – just in time for Tim Burton and Johnny Depp to get home and watch it!,” he jokes. “I dont ever think it was intended to be funny, and when I read the script for Dark Shadows, I imagined – you know, Tim Burton – dark gothic with tinges of humour, but I think more fun came out of it as it evolved”.

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Categories:

• Making Of
• Visual Effects

Tags:

• angus bickerton
• bruno delbonnel
• dark shadows
• method studios
• the moving picture company
• the senate vfx