LONDON — One of Us (www.weacceptyou.com) worked on two sequences featured in director Baltasar Kormákur’s latest thriller Everest. The studio handled summit extensions for everything above Hillary’s Step, a vertical rock face miles above sea level.
Live action for the sequence was shot on large greenscreen stage, and due to the size of the greenscreens, a great deal of prep work was necessary to make sure the shots would work. The scene combines a combination of digital matte paintings, set extensions, and CG particles for atmosphere.
The One of Us team also produced storm cloud environments for the feature, adding to the atmosphere, as well as the drama. The studio received a great deal of reference material from RVX and high-res GoPro footage that showed the sky at the edge of the atmosphere as very deep, vivid blue. The light and shadow is pin sharp, so they had to create environments, adding vivid air to the atmosphere as tiny crystals of ice/air. Believability was the goal, even though the real environment looks almost unbelievable.