The only way to guarantee the lighting would match any subsequent plates we shot and to give us flexibility with the stadiums in such a tight shoot schedule was to work in a controlled environment and film Ronaldo in a studio against a blue-screen.

Ben Turner, Lead 2D Artist at The Mill comments, 'we used our own shade of blue which had some warmer tones to help the DOP with the lighting as a traditional blue-screen can be too strong and difficult to light.' 

We were impressed and inspired by Ian's energy, and the way he ran through the shots he needed of Ronaldo. It was a brilliant start to the shoot.'

Rob Holmes, Lead 3D and our 3D team then set about designing stadiums based on references provided by Ian, while Ben joined Ian in South Africa for the rest of the shoot.

Ian shot the amazing helicopter scenes of the car driving and did a head replacement on the stunt driver substituting it with Ronaldo's, we then composited Ronaldo into the snow and rain shots of the car location plates. 

With a week to go, Mill Colourist Adam Scott was able to sit with Ian and have complete flexibility on the grade with all of our elements in place.