FX Guide has posted a fascinating article about the creation of the pilot episode of Pan Am. Basically, the entire show was shot on a giant green screen virtual set that, utilizing proprietary technology, allowed real time rendering of a near finally composited shot.
Stargate Studios visual effects supervisor Sam Nicholson considers the Pan Am pilot to feature one of the largest virtual sets ever created. To cater for the show, the terminal features walls, furniture, glass, steel, a spiral staircase, along with planes, vehicles and people populating the backgrounds. Other locations too, including extreme close-ups to planes, used the virtual set approach.
“I think the discussions about building a real set probably lasted about five minutes – probably shorter than that,” recalls Nicholson. “It was just too big a scale and would have cost a lot to build for real.”
The whole article is quite interesting and illustrated with before and after photos.
Read the whole thing here:
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