World War Z is a action/horror film about a zombie apocalypse, starring Brad Pitt. The film was shot on locations running the length of the UK and also the EU. 2H3D was called upon to carry out 3D scanning at almost every location, working with the production and the VFX facilities of Cinesite and MPC to provide over 100 final digital assets of cast members, locations and sets, vehicles and numerous props. Our work ran from early tests in pre-production all the way to the final reshoots.
We were proud to work alongside MPC and Cinesite, and we've selected a few examples from the project that illustrate the scans we carried out on-set in order to provide the assets they needed to create their incredible sequences for the final film. We've also included some images of some of the early pre-production tests and a brief account of the logistics involved in undertaking work on a project of this size.
Pre-production Tests - Longcrosse Studios
2H3D's involvement with World War Z began early in May 2011, when we arrived at Longcrosse Studios to carry out head and expression scan tests on two subjects. One of the subjects (Ryen Perkins-Gangnes) featured as a key performer in the Philadelphia street scenes (shot in Glasgow, Scotland) where he is attacked by a zombie before transforming into one himself. We scanned his body at a later date during production at our studio and then attached the head from the pre-production test to create the final model.
Ryen - Head and expression scans
Ryen - Final delivered body scan asset (click to expand)
Tomas - Head and expression scans
The First Location: Malta
By late June we were in Malta, which was to double as Jerusalem in the film - the first location of what was to be many over the next 18 months. Fairly rapidly the scanning requirements increased by three or four times, so we were working around the clock in order to capture the multitude of sets, props and cast members that were required and we got used to having to adapt from day to night work and back again.
Our first body and head scanning location was a blissfully cool sanctuary from the Malta sun, in the basement of the old Knights Hospitaller hospital, which was the main base for the majority of the hundreds of crowd extras. From there it was only a short distance down the road to 1st unit and the main shoot, and a procession of buses ferried the cast back and forth several times a day.
The film's city chase sequences were primarily filmed around a selection of streets and alleyways in the capital of Valetta, and in all we scanned 8 interconnected examples of these, delivering three as final models once VFX facility requirements had been ascertained from the material shot.
The scanning in this area presented several problems. Firstly in terms of logistics, as much of the work was carried out at night. This meant that we had to be more self-sufficient in terms of power and security, as much of the support afforded to the daytime shooting schedule simply wasn't present.
Secondly the incredibly narrow confines of most of the alleyways meant that we couldn't work at the "stand off" distance that we usually operate under, which meant more scans and having to take to the rooftops in order to capture the upper storeys of buildings.
LIDAR scans of some of Valetta's many narrow streets and alleyways.
The same certainly wasn't a problem at the next main location - a huge ferry port depot that doubled as the checkpoint location in the film - nicknamed "Busland". However, the huge size of the set, the plethora of set dressing and props and the constant changes that required rescans presented their own problems.
The immense "Busland" set, from our first rooftop scanning location before moving to gantry and then ground level. We returned on two further days to capture additional features and set changes.
Once again we took to a rooftop to capture some overall data, which although subjecting us to the full force of Malta's midday sun, also allowed us to scan whilst riggers, SFX technicians and other crew were still working at ground level
Back on the ground, we could work on capturing areas between the many vehicles, tents, fences and other props and set dressing, in order to build a more complete model of the set.
We also scanned set dressing and props as individual, separate models, including cars, buses, fences and barriers. One bus received particular focus, and the scan we made was delivered to MPC to assist in their sequence of the zombie horde overturning it.
All this was carried out whilst also finding the time to scan around twenty cast members in our new body and head scanning area - a make-shift booth/tent inside one of the depot buildings which had been divided up amongst the productions' many departments. As usual we found our home in VFX, setting up shop in our usual spot next to the texture photographer.
If our body scanning base in Valetta had been blissfully cool, the same couldn't be said for Busland, and both cast and crew (not to mention equipment) worked at the limits of what was possible in Malta's unrelenting heat, accompanied by the ever-present sounds of machinegun fire, explosions, helicopters, screams, shouts, zombie groans and loud-hailers!
Scans of the "Busland" set, including one of its many buses!
Changes to script and schedule mean that we often returned to locations that we'd already scanned in order to rescan them for modifications of set dressing or to capture additional areas for a widened or revisualised shot. A prime example was Fort Ricasoli. In the film an IDF helicopter is overrun by zombies launching themselves from the top of the fort's wall, and crashes into the camp below in a massive fireball.
After an afternoon spent scanning the Dauphin helicopter used for all the aerial helicopter sequences, we arrived to scan the fort as night fell and were to return on two more occasions to capture the tops of walls, a reset of the camp scenery and the final layout post-crash.
Fort Ricasoli and Dauphin Helicopter scans.
Watch the helicopter get overrun and crash into the fort.
Another Maltese fort we spent some time at was Fort St Elmo. There we carried out LIDAR scans not only of the Fort's main courtyard area but also an internal washroom with connecting spiral staircase and balcony. It was in this confined space in the final film that we see Gerry Lane fighting off a zombie attack with IDF members, ending in the severing of the unfortunate Segen's arm.
As well as sets and locations, there were plenty of heads and bodies of cast members to be scanned, and in total we scanned around eighty bodies and costumes (about four times the original brief!) at the two locations detailed above.
The subjects ranged in age from children as young as five to some in their seventies, and varied in size and shape. This allowed the VFX facility to create a wide variety of body forms for their zombie swarms, as they chopped and changed different top and bottom halves and heads, as well as rescaling the scanned meshes.
The fact that many of our zombie scanning subjects were professional dancers was a terrific help to us, as they could stand extremely still, and were the consummate professionals in Malta's stifling heat, not to mention the often frantic schedule.
As well as body scans for crowd and zombies, it was also necessary to scan IDF soldiers in military outfits, which inevitably meant also scanning helmets, webbing, weaponry and other accessories.
A selection of Malta cast and prop scans (click to expand)
Malta was a gruelling shoot, with both schedule and heat hard on the minds and bodies of cast and crew, and taxing for equipment, and for once we were glad to see Britain's green and rain-soaked land on the approach to Heathrow. We couldn't relax just yet though - there were gigabytes of data to process, edit and deliver to the VFX facilities.
Usually we spend our time on location scanning and then begin the data processing back at our studio, but such were the demands of the project that we'd already delivered around a dozen body and head scans along with several of the LIDAR scans whilst still in Malta. Back in the UK the demands for data continued, and we barely had time to draw breath before the next location in the shooting calendar was upon us.