HBO Voyeur Project

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HBO voyeur is a tantalizing project the gives us a glimpse into all the simultaneous lives being acted out in a single apartment building. This project, directed by Jake Scott with vfx done by Asylum touches the voyeur in us all and leaves you darting around to watch the drama unfold in the different rooms. The diorama display of all these people is a very creative way of capturing the real time drama of the building. To achieve this effect was no easy task:

“Instead of undertaking the seemingly impossible task of shooting all four floors at the same time, one floor was re-dressed four times, then the shots were stacked on top of one another in post. Integral to the success of the production was a counter on set that enabled certain “cuesâ€? to be performed. For example, when one character is cued to run up the stairs from one level to the next, he disappears at the top of the stairs at the 42nd second mark on the level one set, then he appears at the bottom of the stairs at the 43rd second mark on the level two set. This kind of synchronicity created the fluid movement that was required. The performance on each set was well timed and choreographed, but there was still a need to slip and retime each apartment to hit key sync points accurately to the frame. Each apartment was shot without a ceiling to account for various lighting requirements, ceilings were then re-created as a matte paintings in post. The challenge was in animating the lighting changes on these matte paintings so they were affected by the same lights that were lighting the room. A matte painting of the floor joists was created to separate each floor; the brickwork was also retouched and regarded… All of the apartments needed to be stabilized and lens distortion removed to keep them square as they were stacked on top of each other. “

There is so much stimulation in this piece it is impossible to see a fraction of what is going on in a single “voyeuring”. Good luck those of you with ADD.

Also, If you gt to hbovoyeur.com you get the option to focus on the stories you choose. Plus there are several more singular stories that take place in different buildings that are just as enjoyable to watch.

About the author

Jon Saunders

/ www.jonsaunders.tv
internet surfer/designer extraordinaire

6 Comments

Ramin

Its beautyfull. You can watch it 5 times and still miss a piece of someone’s story.

troykooper

amazing. that is retardedly amazing. I dont get what is happening in the “proposal” room yet. I want more.

del_razor

man…

chills…

this has definitely got to win somethin in the “best of the decade” category..

tremendous effort..

the tie in between the temped / temptress / and others is cool..

wonder how many times it took them to shoot each room and get them all to interact correctly..

Alessandro

reminds me on some level of that screenwash you posted a while back. love the way the different lighting in each room works as a kind of collage.

jo3

it reminds me of timecode, but architectural in its presentation instead of a documentary style. personally i like the relationship between the killer within and the discovery, it utilizes all the spatial conditions that an apartment building like this provides. the fire escape as a means to secrecy and the illusion of privacy provided by thin membranes between each neighbor.

very nice.

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