To Infini and beyond - ftrack powers Orv VFX

Transporting viewers from the safety of Earth to an alien-infested, 23rd-century mining colony on the distant edge of the solar system is no mean feat - just ask the filmmakers behind indie sci-fi pressure cooker Infini.

Following an elite rescue team dispatched to find the lone survivor of a catastrophic biological outbreak, Infini's inspirations are rooted in the sci-fi genre films of the late-Seventies and early-Eighties. But rather than just emulate the tone of seminal achievements Aliens or The Thing, director Shane Abbess and Storm Vision Entertainment - the studio behind the picture - also sought to replicate the practical, in-camera visual effects techniques that made the aforementioned films such timeless classics.

With its cavalcade of breathtaking stunt work, elaborate sets, otherworldly puppetry and a robust 350-odd visual effects shots across the entire production, Infini is packed with everything you want from an adrenaline-fuelled, space-based blockbuster - and it was all created on a modest budget by a relatively small team. As such, ensuring Infini's success meant keeping the entire team in sync - and that was where ftrack came in.

Post-in-pre

Whether it was a huge set-piece or just a simple backdrop to an integral dramatic beat, the crew on Infini kept things as grounded, simple and well-prepared as possible.

We tried to avoid using lots of crazy camera moves, explains producer Matthew Graham, who previously worked with director Shane Abbess on genre action movie Gabriel. Infini is a very drama-driven story. The effects we've put in there help frame the setting, but don't draw you out of it. There's no big spectacle just for spectacle's sake. That said, there are still some pretty big moments: it's a sci-fi film after all - you have to have something in there!

Achieving these more VFX-heavy shots - which included augmenting alien lifeforms to building intricate set extensions - was the sole responsibility of Graham's company, Orb VFX.

One such set extension included the creation of the Blade Runner-esque cityscape behind protagonist Whit Carmichael's apartment balcony. In order to create these environmental extensions, Graham and his team compiled photographic versions of all the sets used in the film, allowing them to create digital backdrops that matched the correct lighting and textures of the physical environments.

ftrack was used to plan each of the shots that contained these assets, ensuring that the whole process was carried out as smoothly as possible: Using ftrack, artists could be designated tasks - for example, generating assets such as the photogrammetry library - and once created, the new asset could then be assigned to shots and sequences to allow artists to quickly find what they needed, says Graham. We would take the environmental assets into Maya and reconstruct them as projected model assets, which could then go across into NUKE. We could then change the perspective or spin the model around to add a corridor - or in one case, an entire room through a doorway.

In this example, Orb VFX needed to use the environment assets to solve a scheduling problem - they had a half-built set that wasn't finished in time for the shoot. The solution for this was to to drop a green screen behind the set's open door, explains Graham. The next day we managed to finish the set, so we could take photographic images of it and use these as a digital asset to replace that green screen from the previous day. It was a quick-and-easy solution - enabled via VFX - to a time and scheduling issue.

This kind of approach to filmmaking played into the Infini team's motto of post-in-pre' - meaning finding in-camera solutions that would help with post-production in the long run. Another example of this was when we did the in-camera projection of Whit's apartment block, reveals Graham. This was shot on day one, and the actors were supposed to feel oppressed in this horrible futuristic version of Earth. With the in-camera projection, we could show a massive image of the run-down buildings on set, and that really helped the actors get into the right mind space to act out the scene. Also, even better for us, it gave us an in-camera comp to work with!

Previs preparation

Among a myriad of visual effects - including matte paintings, environment composites and practical creatures - one of the more challenging elements of the film's production involved a death-defying jump. In the scene, Infini's protagonist Whit Carmichael has to leap across an impossible chasm. Extensive previs was needed to ensure the scene went off without a hitch.

We called it Whit's Jump', says Graham. Our hero is running away from something and he has to jump over an impossible chasm. He nearly makes it but, at the last minute, loses his grip. All of that had to be planned meticulously. Various sets had to be built per shot, and the stunt guys needed to know what to do in the moment. For that reason we heavily planned the whole sequence through previs.

Orb VFX was responsible for carefully mapping out the scene in advance, ensuring it could be created within the tight schedule and budget.

Previs is incredibly important for sequence like this, says Graham. It helps us communicate to all the other departments and plan logistics and costs. It also helps us make tough but crucial decisions early on. For example, we had one sequence that, after we prevised it, we decided to drop. It was going to be too ambitious. In the end it saved us a lot of money, so in that respect it was a very valuable exercise!

Its all in the ooze

During Infini's suspenseful climax, certain members of the ill-fated crew are revealed to have been assimilated by the film's insidious alien life-force, transforming our hero into one of t

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