Press release from Iloura
Leading Australian VFX and animation house Iloura has been congratulated on its work on the HBO 10-part mini series, The Pacific, which airs March 14th in the USA.
The Pacific tells the tale of three marines during America's battle with the Japanese during World War II.
“Iloura’s artistic and technical contributions were invaluable in realizing the series’ epic scope and quest for authenticity. They delivered a number of the big, signature shots for the series. It was a wonderful collaboration,” said Mark Hoerr, V.P., Post Production, HBO Films and Mini-Series".
The Melbourne-based VFX studio who’s previous feature film work includes CGI water and bombing scenes for Baz Luhrmann’s Australia and VFX explosion work for Philip Noyce’s Catch a Fire, commenced work on the HBO project in November 2007. Its work features across nine of the ten episodes.
“The Pacific is HBO’s signature production in 2010, and with Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg as executive producers, it is as significant as TV production can get.” said Simon Rosenthal, Executive Producer, Iloura.
The team at Iloura worked on a very broad range of VFX requirements across 184 shots for the production. The shots ranged from simple but necessary digital retouching through to complex animation and VFX involving actors, water simulation, digital ships, matte paintings and battle explosions.
“One of our shots, in episode one, features troops loading into smaller landing boats from battleships. Very little of this scene was achieved in camera. Some of the foreground boats were captured photographically but most of the boats, ships and the airplanes were generated in 3D, as was all of the cannon fire. The ocean is a mixture of live action elements and CG, particularly where water interacts with the ships. The foreground ship from where the troops are disembarking was a combination of set and CG extensions. The troops themselves were shot against blue screen and integrated into the final shot.” Said
Ineke Majoor, Head of VFX, Iloura.
“Being part of The Pacific was hugely challenging and ultimately a rewarding experience. It is testament to reputation of the Australian film industry and the faith in our local talent that international productions would choose to bring such an epic production like The Pacific to Australia”. said Ms. Majoor.
Iloura is currently working exclusively on the Miramax feature film project Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, produced by Guillermo del Toro and on James Cameron's Sanctum, one of Australia's first stereoscopic (3D) dramatic feature films, directed by Alister Grierson.
The Pacific airs this month in the USA and in Australia from April 2010 on Network Seven.