#TedLasso won at the #Emmys for comedy series. In one of the show's scenes, this 26,000-seat stadium looks filled to the brim, but what most people don't know is the crowd is mostly made of fake people who weren't even filmed in a stadium.
This soccer scene was filmed during the pandemic, so in order to keep actors safe and to limit the number of extras on set, production team @Barnstorm_VFX had to get creative using fake people.
In order to make the shot look real, the Barnstorm team used a few different techniques including crowd tiling, plate extras, and motion-capture animation.
They constructed an entire CG stadium and filmed about 20 plate extras in front of a green screen, which was helpful for capturing distinct gestures up close.
Once the plate extras are filmed, they're digitally scattered into the desired shots. The extras were filmed in an array of costumes while doing a wide range of movements.
Plate extras aren't filmed next to each other normally, but further apart than they would be in a real crowd. That way, they can be placed more easily in the final shot.
The team used crowd tiling to shoot one small group and physically move them around the set. They're then combined together in postproduction to look like a cohesive crowd.
Digital doubles helped fill in the rest of the crowd. It's a method that's less realistic up close but can be used to fill in gaps from a distance. Digital doubles made up an estimated 90% of the show's crowd shots.
Because they're completely CGI characters, they can be programmed to have the same reactions, depending on what's happening in the game.
During this shot, where @AFCRichmond scores a goal, any digital double wearing the red and blue of that team was programmed to cheer.
In order to have real human movement in the crowd, Barnstorm's animators donned motion-capture suits and fed every movement to the software. Clapping was particularly important to make the crowd look realistic.
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