Photography

Photography is the first step in creating our backdrops, and one that requires a good deal of precision. Our drops work so well because we have devised methods to ensure maintaining an accurate horizon line, scale, and perspective & parallax, along with other issues that could come up on set.

Horizon Line

What makes our backdrops feel natural is ensuring our horizon matches the filming height on set.  This is not always easy to achieve, especially if we are outside or using multiple camera angles.  To get around this, we use laser levels and markers on our tripods and the location to get our tripods at proper filming height even with graded properties that are not level themselves.

Perspective

Last, capturing the widest field of view, while maintaining a true perspective, helps our drops work so well on set. A wider view on a drop gives a greater number of filming positions on set, increasing its versatility. To accomplish this, we often work outside to avoid window jams and/or awnings or porches, greatly expanding our field of view. However, we also need to ensure only the actual view you would see from inside the room is on the drop.  We do this by only placing our camera in front of the main window(s) that will be on set and, in certain instances, use multiple tripods and shooting positions. This ensures facades of neighboring buildings or other objects that would not be seen from inside are not shown in the backdrop.

Below are some videos going into more depth.