For “Alias Grace” I was able to throw myself back into the late 1800’s, a period I’ve studied almost as much as the Roman Empire and the history of Honky-Tonk. I’m a big believer in reading the script that you’re working on even if you’re just doing a couple shots. You never know what kind of insight you may derive and more importantly it sets the tone and gives you context. In this case I went one better and not only did I read the script, I read the book because Margaret Atwood is a genius. Mary Harron is also a genius and getting to work with her, even at the arms length of a VFX supervisor, was a bit of a thrill for me. The only sailing ship that they could book had an iron hull. Sailing ships didn’t have metal hulls in 1872 so we replaced whatever parts we could with wood. We also removed the wake and reflection of the camera boat flanking the ship. Then I had to create the Queenstown crossing sequence from scratch. This is the same crossing that was used by the underground railroad so I wanted to get it right by pouring over historic photos and Google Earth to figure out what was there today and matching one to the other. In the case of Dublin harbour we actually had some on site photos for that to supplement a couple period watercolours. We were okay with the ferry sequence until we decided to move the camera around to the stern as we pulled out and realized we would need digital doubles in there.
I certainly had a large hand in the construction of these shots however, remember that I was in constant communication with my VFX director, and on the other side in constant communication with the texturing, modelling, and effects team. I then coordinated with compositing team to make sure they had all the lit elements and mattes they needed to deliver the final shots. At least 5-10 colleagues were working on these sequences alongside me at any time. This was the shot that inspired a second Canadian Screen Awards nomination.
… not only did I read the script, I read the book because Margaret Atwood is a genius.
