Field guide · 01
Pre-production & previs
The cheapest VFX is the kind you plan before the camera rolls. A bit of design thinking, rough prototyping and an accurate digital model of the location go a long way.
Design thinking, not just a spec
We treated development as a series of small, testable slices. Before committing to a look, we ran quick test and prototype days, dropping off-the-shelf VFX creatures into real footage. That let us judge scale, lensing and movement early, while changes were still cheap.
Build a digital model of the location first
The biggest time saver was turning up to the shoot already knowing it would work.
- Recce the location early. We visited twice, in September and October.
- Capture it accurately enough to plan the shoot inside a 3D copy (a digital twin). For example: will the camera stabiliser fit down that staircase, and can you walk down safely with it?
- One approach we found useful: project 360-degree images onto simple geometry in Blender to get quick room maps. Because everything was measured (see Capture), the model was accurate enough to plan against.
Low-cost previs
- Cadrage. Load the sensor sizes and lenses you plan to shoot on, frame up shots on your phone, then drop them into a timeline to test coverage.
- PhotoPills. Track where the sun and moon will be. Useful when you are at the mercy of the weather and do not have a big lighting crew. Even indoors, knowing when sun will hit a window changes the plan.
- Procreate and Procreate Dreams. Storyboard, and draw VFX notes straight over stills and plates to show where effects will sit.
- Milanote. Brainstorming, reference boards, storyboards and production planning in one place.
Keep the first recce light
An initial technical recce can be one person with a 360 camera, an iPad and a couple of measuring tools. We also scanned our lead actors, which fed straight back into previs.
The discipline that saved us the most money was quick, rough iteration. The more scrappy passes you do, the better the final result, even though it feels wrong when the end product is meant to look polished.