Bodychecker Productions | La Ciguapa Siempre
VFX | 3D | Compositing
We had an amazing time working with our dear friend and collaborator, Monica Suriyage on her short film, La Ciguapa Siempre, which premiered at the Chinese Theatre as part of the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival. We created a variety of visual effects from a digital campfire, magical breaking legs, and 3D forest environments. Have a look at the process and some of the final results below.
In the list of striking physical features of a ciguapa (the titular mythical creature), are backward facing feet and incredible speed. To achieve sequences with a ciguapa running backwards through the forest, we opted to shoot the character running on a treadmill on green screen. From there we designed a 3D forest environment for the final composite.
Digital forest elements came into play here as well to help simulate a wider shot. For the sake of reliable, consistent light, the production chose not to have a practical campfire on set. We worked with the DP to stage practical, flickering lights in the firepit to use as a base for us to add digital smoke, flames and subtle heat distortion.
