That shot - 3rd December 2008
You know the big 50 second CGI Hawk flying one.
I remember 3 years ago, on location in a cottage in Wales – Mac was describing a very special shot to the crew “It's going to be like this long, one-take shot flying across the scenery and mountains of Wales, and there's going to be a hawk flying along with it, flying along straight into camera, and we're going to follow it along and it's going to get closer and closer to us and eventually duck out of the shot, and it's going to be like nothing before ever seen in a short film”.
Well as you can imagine, realising this has not been easy. It has taken 3 years of hard work, lots of dead ends, re-shots and retries, but on Tuesday evening this week we finished it. We completed (bar colour grading) a 50 second CGI-compositing masterpiece of a shot that has taken the combined efforts of 10 different people to make happen.
Initially we had completely different footage, floating over a sunlit lake and across the North Wales hills. Hugh McDonald, one of our compositors, had been working on the shot, and kept telling us “this is gonna take a lot of work guys”, there were just too many man-made, modern landmarks; walls, buildings, roads, fields – all of which did not fit with the period setting of Hawk.
In July 2007 we got the opportunity to re-shoot the shot in Snowdonia, and based on Hugh's feedback, we decided to take it. Our 2 nd attempt came back much better. Instead of crossing more typically English countryside, we were thrown into the jagged, harsh slate rocks of the Snowdonia valleys. Wispy mist floating along the mountain summits and the general air of seclusion, danger, wonder and isolation we were after. After James Carter, our editor, had applied numerous speed changes within the shot we set about attacking that vision that Mac had always clung too.
Stage 1: The Shot itself had some minor man made objects to be painted out, which Hugh set about doing.
Step 2: The Hawk . We had been contacting effects houses across Britain inquiring into pre-existing Hawk models for nearly a year by this point. Leads that initially seemed fruitful did not yield the goods, but we never gave up. Most people we spoke to said building a photo-real Hawk like that is something you cannot do with no budget, and we were encouraged to give up on numerous occasions, people saying our ambitions were simply too high. A Freelance CGI artist even had a crack at building a new model from scratch, but did not have the time to fully rig or texturise it. Looking at the early model, we decided to continue looking elsewhere as we felt there was no point doing a half hearted job on this, Mac's vision was a grand one, and this had to be right.
We had been working with Media Hungry for a few months at this stage on other CG elements within the film, and after continued searching, Emma Clifton one of our CG artists suggested a few online sites in American where you can buy pre-existing models – no Harris Hawk unfortunately but we tracked down an Golden Eagle model. Media Hungry decided to take it on, so we bought the model and set about completely re shaping it and retexturing the feathers, skin, colour and tone – a complete overhaul, using still photography that we had shot on the original shoot. It took a long time, but eventually we had a fully animatable CGI Harris Hawk. It had taken 2 years of looking, but eventually we had it. Since then Media Hungry have been animating like crazy – putting the Hawk into 9 different scenes in the film including our 50 second long aerial shot. We went through numerous versions, tweaking the many movements of the hawk until Mac was content with the motion.
Stage 3: Mist . Whilst the Hawk was being animated Hugh was busy producing Computer Generate mist/low lying cloud that will travel past the camera as if we are drifting through it. James Carter gave him specific entry points within the 50 seconds where Mac felt mist would be most dramatic and work in tandem with what the hawk was doing.
Stage 4: Compositing . Finally Hugh pulled together the finished background mountain plate with the man-made objects no longer to be seen, also putting the mist and the hawk all into the final comped shot. After a few last minute alterations to the tracking of the mist we signed off this shot on Tuesday with a big screen viewing. It has taken literally years. It is an amazing shot, it has progressed everyone involved as filmmakers and masters of their various arts. It has been more than worth it. We are nearly there I promise.
Matthew Jones
Producer
Hawk sculpting - 23rd October 2008
Hawk Co-Writer Alex McArdell (who also happens to be my brother) gave me a fantastic Birthday present this year. He made this fantastic sculpture out of clay which is a great representation of the Hawk project. First writing and now sculpting, whatever next?? It does give you one of the first good views of the "Antlered God" character in Hawk.
The Post-Production on Hawk has taken longer than anticipated and we'd like to thank you for being patient with us. However, the wait is almost over...
Sean McArdell
Producer
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