Our scripts work best when we can establish a brief moment of an authentic football match at night in a major stadium.
One challenge ahead of us is to create the illusion of a full stadium, which we will achieve through a combination in-camera solutions (e.g., camera composition, extras, art direction, and lighting) and visual effects (such as compositing multiple crowd plates and crowd duplication).
For certain shots, we should also look into the potential of utilizing existing generic HD footage (that is, stock/archive footage) of wide shots from real football matches, and match our action to those plates. Since finding and getting the rights to usable sports footage can be time-consuming and expensive, we will not rely on this option to tell our stories – but we will research what’s possible early on in our pre-production process.
The most straightforward example is that we could use existing footage to show the goal being scored for the in-seat entertainment screen for our young boy to watch. While we’re searching for that shot, we could also search for a shot of players celebrating after a goal – which might match our “Amenity Kit” scene.
Similarly, we should search for wide establishing shots of crowds that we could composite into our backgrounds, adding to the scope and authenticity of the spot.
This idea of using existing footage might even help us to create a new shot we never knew was possible. For instance, imagine showing a wide overhead aerial shot showing an entire stadium with a jumbo jet parked on the field (added with VFX), along with the flight crew that we film ourselves and composite into the existing scene. We do not currently have the time to do a shot like this from scratch, but might be able to alter existing footage into a usable wide shot for a scene or two.
Using existing footage is not essential, but it may give us additional creative opportunities, humor, and large-scale shots.
