ALIENS EARN UPGRADE, NEW YORK MOVES TO LONDON FOR A QUIET PLACE: DAY ONE

By OLIVER WEBB

Images courtesy of Paramount Pictures.

A Quiet Place: Day One is the third installment in the Quiet Place franchise and serves as a prequel to the events of A Quiet Place. Day One was directed and co-written by Michael Sarnoski (Pig) while John Krasinski (IF) returns as co-writer and producer for Paramount. Set in New York City, Day One follows Sam (portrayed by Lupita Nyong’o), a terminally ill woman on an outing to Manhattan. After the city comes under attack from an alien invasion, Sam, along with other survivors, must navigate a way to safety. It soon becomes apparent that the aliens are drawn to even the slightest of sounds.

The bulk of the footage was captured in Manhattan. A helicopter unit shot aerial plates around the city to provide more scope and authenticity. Production then shifted to London.

ILM’s Malcolm Humphreys (The Batman), who served as Visual Effects Supervisor on Day One, was familiar with the previous two films in the franchise as both were ILM projects. “They were supervised by Scott Farrar, who is a huge character at ILM, so it was a bit daunting in terms of stepping into that [history],” Humphreys says. “The first couple of films were smaller budget, and there were a smaller number of creature shots, but they grew between the sequels. For Day One, there are aspects of the creatures that we’ve seen before that are definitely already established. For this film, we see them on a larger scale and a larger number of them.”

“For Day One, there are aspects of the creatures that we’ve seen before that are definitely already established. For this film, we see them on a larger scale and a larger number of them. … [T]here is a new mother-size creature that we developed, which has a whole different scale, size and weight, and the texture of that creature is very different. We also created little baby creatures that eat some of these strange mushrooms that they open up during the film.”

—Malcolm Humphreys, Visual Effects Supervisor, ILM

The VFX team crafted fresh details to enhance the alien “Death Angels” and fleshed out how the aliens interacted with building and cars, and operated with a hive mentality.

Humphreys and his team inherited some of the creatures from the previous films, but the base-level creature required a revision as well as some additional sculpting and detail work. “There is a scene that’s inside a construction site, and there is a new mother-size creature that we developed, which has a whole different scale, size and weight, and the texture of that creature is very different. We also created little baby creatures that eat some of these strange mushrooms that they open up during the film,” Humphreys details.

Data capture from Chinatown rooftops provided reference for the built-out bridge. Reference documenting the demolition of a bridge helped capture the huge explosion and displacement of water as the bridge collapsed.

Humphreys and his team were given a lot of creative freedom when it came to the shot design of the film. Updating the creature’s performance was one of the most important goals to achieve. “If you watch the first two films, the creatures sort of exist in these two different states. The first is snatch and grab, which is super-fast and you can’t really see what’s going on, or they are moving very slowly,” Humphreys notes. “In this film, one area we fleshed out a little bit more was when you are seeing them in daylight for a lot longer, and how they work together in a herd-like manner towards a common goal was quite enjoyable to explore.”

“If you watch the first two films, the creatures sort of exist in these two different states: The first is snatch and grab, which is super-fast and you can’t really see what’s going on, or they are moving very slowly. In this film, one area we fleshed out a little bit more was when you are seeing them in daylight for a lot longer, and how they work together in a herd-like manner towards a common goal was quite enjoyable to explore.”

—Malcolm Humphreys, Visual Effects Supervisor, ILM

Lupita Nyong’o (Us, 12 Years a Slave) stars as Samira, a terminally ill woman caught up in the alien invasion of Manhattan. An important atmospheric element was the massive dust coating caused by meteorites destroying buildings.

Although Day One takes place throughout New York City, the majority of the film was shot in London. Shooting in New York, especially for the amount of augmentations that were needed, proved to be impractical. “There’s a whole load of visual effects work we were doing to make that possible, by doing set extensions, for example,” Humphreys explains. “I love doing creature work, but then there’s also bits of every other type of visual effect in the film as well. It was shot primarily at the backlot in Warner Bros.’ Leavesden Studios, just outside of London, and some additional location work around London. We were shooting locations and then augmenting them to look like New York. There was a mixture of some drama photography done in New York, a minimal shoot, and some additional plate photography, then quite a large data-capture of different neighborhoods in New York. The story is essentially a journey from the tip of New York in Chinatown all the way up through the neighborhoods and into Harlem. That’s quite a large distance, and the architecture and geography change quite dramatically between those locations. Keeping the look of New York is an added challenge on a project like this, and that was particularly difficult to achieve but was ultimately a rewarding process. I was very lucky, as we went and did the data capture on my first day in New York, partly just to immerse myself in the story. I actually walked from Chinatown all the way to Harlem, which is quite a long distance, about a four-hour walk. That helped me really engross myself in the geography and the feel of the city as it changes. That in itself was invaluable research.”

The architecture and geography between Chinatown and Harlem changes dramatically. There was a large data-capture of different neighborhoods in New York.

“It was shot primarily at the backlot in Warner Bros.’ Leavesden Studios, just outside of London… and shooting locations [around London], then augmenting them to look like New York. … I was very lucky, as we went and did the data- capture on my first day in New York, partly just to immerse myself in the story. I actually walked from Chinatown all the way to Harlem, which is quite a long distance, about a four-hour walk. That helped me really engross myself in the geography and the feel of the city as it changes. That in itself was invaluable research.”

—Malcolm Humphreys, Visual Effects Supervisor, ILM

London was the primary hub for the visual effects work. “We had multiple sites working on it,” Humphreys adds. “We also had teams in Vancouver, San Francisco and Mumbai. Most of the work that we did – and the way I like to work is – segment the work into logical chunks that we could give to each of the offices so that they have a little bit more autonomy and ownership of the work. It’s not always possible, but it does help make it a bit more manageable and enjoyable for everyone.”

Meteorites striking Manhattan in the daytime precede the alien invasion. There was a mixture of drama photography done in New York, a minimal shoot and some additional plate photography.

Overall, the film consisted of roughly 450 visual effects shots. “It was a nearly perfect job for me, in the sense that there was a lot of 2D work, creature work, environment work, and there are some really quite large-frame ‘oners,’” Humphreys details. “They were just an undertaking of finding the right artists and team to work on those shots because they run for so long. They are multiple shots tied together. All the shots we worked on were challenging in their own different way. The last sequence in the film was quite a technical challenge. That was made up of multiple locations, including an airfield at Bovingdon, a location on the River Thames on a pier, then a boat that was docked and some additional tank work. Our job was to stitch all those locations together so that Joseph and Lupita’s characters could smoothly move from one location to the next. Then we also needed to make it feel like it’s all taking place in New York. That was quite a technical challenge, but was quite enjoyable to do. There were some really enjoyable shots, like one shot in the upper East Side for example. The backlot that we had was quite successful for some of the work, but when we got the one shots where we wanted to make it look quite different, it was trying to make the backlot look like a whole different environment or a different part of New York, and that was quite satisfying.”

“The last sequence in the film was quite a technical challenge. That was made up of multiple locations, including an airfield at Bovingdon, a location on the River Thames on a pier, then a boat that was docked and some additional tank work. Our job was to stitch all those locations together so that Joseph and Lupita’s characters could smoothly move from one location to the next. Then we also needed to make it feel like it’s all taking place in New York. That was quite a technical challenge.”

—Malcolm Humphreys, Visual Effects Supervisor, ILM

A Manhattan crowd scene moments before the aliens attack. Manhattan footage was mixed with the backlot shoots at Warner Bros.’ Leavesden Studios outside London where New York sets and extensions were created.

A new mother-size creature was developed with dramatically different scale, size, weight and texture.

Although Day One takes place throughout New York City, the majority of the film was shot in London.

A major action sequence takes place in a submerged subway where a large underwater gimbal allowed the platform to be lowered.

The creatures, their numbers, movements and mentality were updated for Day One, and some of their textures differed from the previous films.

The film was shot primarily at the backlot in Warner Bros. Leavesden Studios outside London and at various locations around London.

Dust and ash float through the streets of Manhattan. Keeping the look of New York was an added challenge for VFX Supervisor Malcolm Humphreys and his team in London.

A large amount of physical debris was needed and more belongings like bags and shirts were added in post.

Humphreys and his team were given a lot of creative freedom in terms of shot design, and one of the main elements was fleshing out the creature movements in more detail.

Having the creatures flip over cars in New York City was one of the creative choices that Humphreys and his team employed. Most of the visual effects work consisted of 2D, creature and environment work and some large-frame ‘oners.’

Roughly 450 visual effects shots were created for the film. ILM was the primary vendor along with Important Looking Pirates, Proof, Cadence Effects and an in-house team.

Out from the shadows where they lurked in the previous films, the creatures in Day One hunt openly in daytime.

In Day One, the creatures work together in a herd-like manner towards a common goal.

VFX Supervisor Malcolm Humphrey walked from Chinatown all the way to Harlem to immerse himself in the story and to get an accurate feel of the geography of New York City.

Humphreys kept a close, running dialogue with the crew throughout the production, which was key on a project of this scale. “It was a tight-knit group of us discussing how we were going to achieve certain shots,” he says. “Then going into post with Michael and building a really strong relationship with him was quite enjoyable. Michael’s fantastic to work with because he gives you enough room to offer up ideas and help add to his vision.”