Emmy Awards 2023: Detailed Discussion on Unseen Visual Effects by Barnstorm, Focusing on Ted Lasso Series
In the latest season of Apple TV+'s hit show, Ted Lasso, visual effects company Barnstorm VFX used a combination of Mocha Pro and Nuke to create invisible yet impactful visual enhancements. These tools allowed for the seamless integration of digital assets such as crowd plates, stadium advertisements, and digital LED hoardings, expanding the scale and visual ambition of the show's sports settings.
Mocha Pro, a planar tracking and rotoscoping tool, was instrumental in accurately tracking camera movements and isolating elements within the shots. This facilitated the precise insertion of digital assets, ensuring a seamless blend with the live-action footage. Nuke, a powerful compositing software, was then used to integrate these assets into the scenes, enabling realistic layering and color matching that made the additions look natural and invisible on screen.
Visual supervisor James MacLachlan and the Barnstorm VFX team employed these techniques to create a "bigger, wider, and more ambitious" feel for Season 3, enhancing the stadium environments and crowd presence beyond what was physically captured during filming. This effort has not gone unnoticed, with the team currently Emmy-nominated for their work on the episode "Mom City" in the category of Outstanding Special Visual Effects.
The crowds on Ted Lasso are practically captured performers run through various reactions and arrayed using a crowd system developed for Nuke. The compositors at Barnstorm VFX are skilled at using Mocha Pro for quick fixes, making them more self-sufficient. The most prominent effects on Ted Lasso are the CG stadiums and crowds. Every game on Ted Lasso is a narrative, so the crowds need to react fairly specifically to the action on the field.
Digital LED hoardings with advertisements and the ball are sometimes digital on Ted Lasso. The use of Mocha Pro was particularly useful in solving problems related to character placement against different backgrounds, such as bright sky to dark stadium and crowd. The only real things in most shots are the players on the field, and they're shot on an open practice field.
Barnstorm VFX outsources rotoscoping and some 3D tracking to vendors who use Silhouette for roto work, with the option for internal QC or tweaking. This allows for more control over the final product at Barnstorm VFX. Mocha Pro also allows compositors to perform final shots without needing to kick work up the chain, saving time.
The team is proud of their work on Ted Lasso since the first season, and their dedication to creating high-quality visual effects is evident in the show's ever-improving visuals as the scope of soccer/football scenes expands. Barnstorm VFX values a generalist mindset, expecting compositors to have an understanding of planar tracking and the ability to track and roto small things in a pinch. This approach promotes efficient communication between departments at Barnstorm VFX, ensuring a cohesive and polished final product.
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Movies-and-TV and entertainment sectors have recognized the impressive visual effects work done by Barnstorm VFX on Ted Lasso, with the team currently receiving Emmy nominations for their outstanding visual effects. Sports settings, particularly football games, underwent a significant enhancement in Season 3, thanks to the employment of Mocha Pro for planar tracking and Nuke for compositing, resulting in a wider, more ambitious feel.
