beforesandafters.com
Behind the visual effects by DNEG in the film.The premise of Scott Derricksons The Gorge involves two charactersLevi (Miles Teller) and Drasa (Anya Taylor-Joy)finding themselves each responsible for the surveillance of a mysterious gorge, but on opposite sides of the chasm.For scenes of the characters in their watchtowers and around the top of the gorge, DNEG was tasked by production visual effects supervisor Erik Nordby for delivering the above-gorge environment. Production filmed the actors at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden. There was a strip of that pathway where Levi walks on the western edge, outlines DNEG visual effects supervisor Anelia Asparuhova. That pathway was practical, and the tops of the towers were practical, but everything else was CG. DNEG relied on LiDAR scans and texture photography from Norway to build the digital gorge asset. There was also some scanning that Erik Nordby did in Scotland that we used for the detailed level of the rocks, says Asparuhova. To build the gorge, we reasoned it would hypothetically be located in central Europe, and so we took ideas not only from Norway gorges but also ones in Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria. Thats why you see that the forests were mostly coniferous, but also with a few deciduous trees sprinkled here and there to suggest that were in that north central part of Europe.We even hired a geologist in the first few weeks, adds Asparuhova. We were really, really adamant to make sure that, even though we were driving it artistically, we didnt want to build things that couldnt exist in nature. DNEG also delivered digital environments for scenes when the characters are in the surrounding forest, including for an action scene involving drones. We had some scenes, for example, notes DNEG visual effects supervisor Sebastian von Overheidt, where Drasa is hiding behind a tree. Shes running through the forest. Thered be maybe two real trees behind her, but the rest is all full-CG forest. We had to figure out the forest ground, the exact species of the trees, the exact look and color of the leaves and all those things.In addition to the gorge itself, and surrounding foliage, DNEG was responsible for generating a thick layer of fog around the gorges top. For that, advises Asparuhova, we did a few tests of what the fog was supposed to look like. The fog is almost like another character in the movie, and we went through a few different levels of density. We wanted to make sure that it wasnt too flat because obviously that is just not something very interesting to look at. But we did look at a lot of canyons with fog in them just to get some ideas of what that could look like. We wanted to make sure that it had enough motion in it, enough movement to keep it alive, but not to distract from the rest of the action. We had to build the gorge walls deep enough for it to not end up with any issues and any edges, continues Asparuhova. They were quite heavy renders because we had the fog, we had the waterfall and other elements.Close-up views of the fog, and moments that required fog interaction, had their own challenges. For instance, Levi ziplines over the other side of the gorge. For those shots of Levi going over the gorge, says von Overheidt, you get quite unusual steep angles into the fog. You see the transition where the fog meets the rockthe fall-off. We would add extra simulations to make sure we got a nice fall-off and nice detail. Then later for the quadcopters that rise from the fog, we had a different kind of problem to solve for those, as we are looking flat across the fog and we are right on top of it. At one point, Drasa jumps down into the gorge (and through the fog) after Levis zipline snaps. For that, says von Overheidt, we had the base fog volume and then added additional cloud simulation inside the fog as shes jumping through.For the jump itself, Anya Taylor-Joy performed the leap and then landed on a crash mat. DNEG took over Taylor-Joys jump with a digital version of the character. We followed the animation of her jumping off with a body track and very close shot sculpting, explains von Overheidt. We then transition into the full CG moment, which means were decoupled from the matchmove and were able to do our own camera move as the dive into the wispy foggy clouds takes place. Once out of the gorge, Levi and Drasa are pursued through the forest by quadcopter drones, which were crafted by DNEG. We had a practical reference of a one-to-one size model of the drones that they really threw down the forest, says von Overheidt. This was a good reference for lighting and how much dirt got kicked off. There was also some pyro going off that we could use as a reference. We then created a full clean plate of that scene, and a full CG forest behind the scene, and then had our drone assets tumble through with full FX simulation. Drasa and Levis actions invoke the Stray Dog protocol that results in a nuclear blast, triggered by a series of smaller explosions. DNEG looked at various pieces of footage from nuclear tests and blasts. We had to tailor-make an explosion to fit into the gorge, describes Asparuhova. All the explosions we had seen had been happening on flat ground, but here we had to look into the physics of it happening in a gorge. The explosion actually happens below. Normally, you would get the explosion, then you would have the shock wave, and it would obliterate everything. Our challenge was, how do we do this several hundred meters under and still make it look realistic? It also included the destruction of the towers, adds Asparuhova, which we had to break into pieces and then blow them away. There were trees we had to animate, too. We had some really interesting footage from real trees showing how they bend and how they start smoking with the explosion. In the end, it was first a bunch of smoke that comes out and then the shockwave hits and literally bends and obliterates everything in its way.The explosion is a massive moment in the film, of course, but DNEG was also responsible for other much more subtle moments. Asparuhova identifies the times when Levi and Drasa are peering at each other through their binoculars. For those shots, there was this subtlety required in terms of, how do you not obstruct the story? We had to show that these two are falling in love with each other, but we still had to show it as them looking through binoculars so that the audience understands whats happening. Sometimes its the subtle things that you have to spend a lot of time and a lot of thought on, just so that its as seamless as possible. ScreenshotAll images courtesy of DNEG 2025 Apple Inc.The post How the gorge was made in The Gorge appeared first on befores & afters.
