Under the Ice

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Under the Ice

The invisible visual effects: the frozen lake, the fall and the water

Almost nothing you see in these shots existed when they were filmed: the lakes were not frozen, the boy was not in the middle, and the hole, the breaking ice and the water are 3D and compositing. A horror short by Àlvaro Rodríguez Areny, 2021.

The lakes we shot were not frozen. I froze them in post: first a previs with colour planes marking where the ice goes, then the final shot.

Previo de trackFinal composite

On set the boy was not in the middle of the lake. I placed him there, far away and small, so the ice felt enormous.

The ice breaking under his feet: the circular hole, the cracks and the fall seen from above.

The simulation of the break and the block of ice under the water. First the clean pool, then the background removed and graded towards green, and finally the blocks of ice.

The ice animationThe ice animationThe ice animation

The shot filmed in the pool, with no ice, and the final result with the ice integrated.

The stunt double sinking into the water had legs too long for the boy. I shortened them in compositing: the original take on the left, the modified one on the right.

OriginalModificada
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