While on a tour of the White House with his young daughter, a Capitol policeman springs into action to save his child and protect the president from a heavily armed group of paramilitary invaders.
Several innovative techniques developed for the project enabled Hybride’s artists and programmers to produce extremely complex scenes. The team developed innovative tools that facilitated the creation of an entirely virtual city—traffic lights, street lamps, bicycle racks, road signage and advertising panels were automatically generated to maximize production time. Hybride artists also developed special tools to create and populate scene elements including vegetation and vehicles, as well as a cutting-edge tool to populate trees and simulate their movement.
Due to the high level of shot complexity, Hybride artists used deep image compositing techniques to manage the sequence and maintain quality without compromising the level of detail desired. The Hybride team also created graphics for the control tower monitors, helicopter cockpit displays and televisions seen in the sequence.
VFX Breakdown
Image Engine
VFX Breakdown
Prime Focus
In this edition of our ‘Close Up’ series, we take a ‘close up’ look at the VFX behind Roland Emmerich’s summer action blockbuster ‘White House Down’, featuring Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx. PFW VFX Supervisor Alex Pejic, 2D Supervisor David Shere, VFX Producer Nick King and CG Supervisor Rob Allman give a detailed account of the extensive VFX work PFW contributed to the movie, accompanied by exclusive breakdown footage.
VFX Breakdown
Prime Focus
https://vimeo.com/84888315
PFW called up for duty its crack VFX teams in London, Vancouver and Mumbai to deliver the 326 shots it contributed to the movie, creating two big action sequences – the ‘Chase’ sequence, in which the presidential limo is pursued across the White House gardens by terrorists in SUVs; and the ‘Bomb’ sequence, which sees three F22 Raptors fly-in over Washington to blow-up the White House.