Loco VFX was contracted by Keystone Films, the producers of the recently
released Leon Schuster comedy feature, Mad Buddies, to create all the visual
effects (VFX) throughout the movie.
This included creature work, green screen, clean-ups, rig removals and split
screens.
“We were initially asked to provide a quote based on a breakdown of an early
draft of the screenplay,’ explains Loco VFX’s David Whitehouse. “Following that
we were asked to do a test sequence using a VFX-heavy sequence that
Keystone shot from the film as the basis for the test.’
Once Loco VFX was contracted, the team had around six months to complete the
job. “This was quite a tall order as the VFX shot count ended up at just over 230
shots,’ notes Whitehouse.
One of the biggest challenges of the job was creating an ostrich that could fly.
Loco’s technical gurus Derik van den Berg and Neill Vermaak spent three months
specifically developing feather and muscle systems for the ostrich.
“A lot of time was also put into developing methods for rendering the ostrich
passes within a realistic timeframe. We went out to an ostrich farm to study
adult ostriches and were given an opportunity to study an ostrich carcass,
document muscle movement and joint rotations, and collect as much
photographic reference as possible,’ comments Whitehouse.
The Loco team used Maya, Nuke, Syntheyes, various Adobe packages, and a
number of internally developed proprietary tools to create the required effects.
According to Whitehouse, Loco VFX R&D and general preparation for most
aspects of the film stood them in good stead. “Time was still the biggest
challenge though as by our very nature, we always want to add that little
something extra to a shot. Time constraints force us to move onto the next shot
before we ever feel a shot is truly complete.’
He describes working with Leon Schuster, director Gray Hofmeyr and producer
Helena Spring on Mad Buddies as “an absolute honour and a pleasure to boot’.
“Marc Baleiza, who headed up post-production on the film, is a consummate
professional and made our job a whole lot easier every step of the way,’
concludes Whitehouse.
Loco VFX was founded in November 2011 by Whitehouse and George Webster.
