The World according to the Blaine Brothers: Set Extensions

The Blaine Brothers’ films use VFX to make their sets feel real, and their approach to set extension is more sensory and suggestive than digital.

Because they knew they were shooting in a three wall studio set the Blaines realised there was a danger of realism being lost, so they used editing, VFX and even sound to build a picture in the viewer’s mind of a very different space. As you’ll hear in the clip above, there is no digital set extension in the interior shots for their film Nina Forever, but instead there was a more subtle use of a panoramic photographic plate of the skyline that was digitally wrapped around the set and was revealed through the different windows on the set.

The Blaines also bring a literal meaning to the definition of a set extension by travelling to the coast to shoot a window at a ‘bed and breakfast’ hotel to cut into the shots of their studio set. Of course, many people would choose a greenscreen solution instead, but the Blaine Brothers’ quest for authenticity was their primary concern, and getting the best performance from their actors.

Can you think of an occasion when you might use a panoramic image (apart from as a skyline), to allow yourself to move or rotate a camera viewpoint in 3D?