Expiration

Expiration is a USC graduate thesis film directed by Lisheng Zhang, and produced by Don Ohmer and Sherri Lin. The film follows the relationship between computer nerd Jeffrey and his android girlfriend, who suddenly starts rapidly decaying. Jeffrey must track down a mysterious set of clues related to her manufacturer in order to save her in time. I was the VFX supervisor on this film, and there were some unique challenges involved in bringing this story to life. The decaying was accomplished with a combination of practical make-up and digital effects.

This effect was mostly makeup, but I used VFX to add a “hole” so you can see inside.
The android’s eyes flash when she activates. This was one of several similar shots.

The film also has several scenes that take place on a bus. We rigged up a bus with greenscreen and then shot matching plates around downtown Los Angeles to fill in the backgrounds. I also added some dirt to the windows to help sell the realism.

Before/After for one of the many bus window comps.

Here’s a few more stills. The above was shot for day, but these two were shot for night.

I also did a number of screen composites for this film. The director gave me the screen graphics and I comped them in.

All VFX were accomplished using Blender 3D and Adobe After Effects.