Telling stories in film has always been about making the most out of any given location and then using the best VFX practice to bring the images to life. This has never been more necessary than during the restrictions and limitations we have experienced during COVID.

The challenge laid down for RES from Director Matt Devine and the team at Revolver / Will O’Rourke was how to show ravenous seagulls devouring a delicious meat pie at Sydney Cricket Ground when there are no actual Seagulls at the location.

In reality seagulls could only be enticed a short distance from the coast so we found the perfect patch of grass by the harbour at the botanic gardens and shot the seagulls there against a bluescreen backdrop with strict social distancing guidelines in place.

We recorded all the lens data and camera heights, then filmed with a limited crew at the SCG. Matching the lighting and camera angles we photographed the back-plates then matched in Flame suite adding tracking and lens defocus and flare to bring the final sequences to completion.