Battleground, the 2006 short that was part of the collectionNightmares & Dreamscapesand based on the story written byStephen King, has been met with praise after being analyzed by VFX artists. Who could not believe it was made 17 years ago. King is, without a doubt, the master of modern horror. His stories have been brought to the screen dozens of times, and continue to be inspirational material for multiple films, series and franchises. Since Brian De Palma adaptedCarrie, the writer’s first novel, in 1976, cinema and television have been flooded with productions based on his stories.
In 2006, TNT releasedNightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King, an anthology series featuring short films inspired by King’s works. One of them wasBattleground, in which a hitman receives a mysterious package with toy soldiers that hide a surprising secret. And, even though almost two decades have passed since its release, it seems that the quality of the short’s visual effects are still very effective.
In a new episode ofCorridor Crew’s VFX Artists React, Niko Pueringer, Wren Weichman, and Jordan Allen shared their opinion onBattleground, surprised by the good work done by the artists who made the adaptation:
Jordan: “It doesn’t have any right to be so good.”
Wren: “So, obviously, there’s a lot of incredible comp work going on here, but I think the unsung hero here is the camera work. They’re shooting everything on set here with a camera that’s maybe three feet off the ground. So then they’re filming all these army men on a blue screen that matches the on-set perspective perfectly. And you have to scale that camera move down in a way that’s not the easiest thing to do. It’s so easy to mess up.”
Jordan: “The matching of the lighting, the matching of the camera, the scale-matching. All incredibly well done. They filmed all separate plates, comped them all together, added the depth of field on the back to match the focal plane. What’s really cool about this, all the props are full-scale. Those jeeps that they’re lifting? Full scale. And they rubberized them so that they looked the part because you need the smaller version to match the bigger version. This is when visual effects is not an afterthought. This is when it is a part of the process from pre-production on, and this is what it can do.”
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Nightmares & Dreamscapes Includes Some Fascinating Stories
Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King
In addition toBattleground, which is the first short film in the collection, the series includes seven other episodes that adaptother popular stories written by King. The second episode, titledCrouch End, follows a newlywed couple who get lost in Crouch End during their honeymoon, a town that could be a portal to another reality. InUmney’s Last Case, the third episode, a writer includes himself in the story of one of his characters, a detective, to trade places with him.
The fourth episode,The End of the Whole Mess, follows the story of a film director who, in his final days, remembers when his brother conducted an experiment to end violence in the world, but with terrible consequences. The horror continues in the fifth episode, titledThe Road Virus Heads North, which focuses on a horror writer who purchases a terrifying painting as inspiration, only to discover that the painting begins to change, depicting tragic real-life events.
The Fifth Quarter, the sixth episode, follows an ex-convict who begins a treasure hunt that puts his freedom and his family at risk.Autopsy Room Fourpresents the story of a man who was bitten by a snake and, under the effects of the poison, witnesses his own autopsy. Finally, the last episode,You Know They Got a Hell of a Band, follows a couple who get lost in a place called Rock & Roll Heaven, where the spirits of rock stars dwell.
Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen Kingwas well received by critics and audiences alike, and is well worth checking out if you’re a fan of Stephen King andhis haunting horror tales.
