Go behind the post-production scenes with our Creative Director, Jeffrey Pritt, as he shows us how countless still images of a life-size helmet transformed it into realistic 3D-looking model hanging below an actual, in-scene helicopter for the Vegas Golden Knights 2018 Intro Video.

Video Transcription: 

What’s going on, everyone? Welcome to another episode of How It’s Made with PEG. I’m Jeffrey Pritt.

Today, we’re taking a look at some VFX work we did for our friends at the Vegas Golden Knights, featured in one of their recent intro videos.

Let’s take a look at the finished effect first.

[Clip Plays]

“Fortress, Stand by for Knight Time.”

[Music]

Cool stuff there!

Now, as you might guess, that’s not actual footage of a helmet hanging from a helicopter—but it is pretty convincing, which is exactly what we were going for. So let me show you how we did it.

With any VFX work, a lot of the heavy lifting is done in two places: pre-production and the matching phase. It’s all about blending—getting things to feel like they belong together visually.

At first glance, you might think we built a beautiful 3D model of the helmet. That’s actually something we considered throughout production. But we arrived at an even better solution.

Check this out.

These are photos taken by Andrew from our team—of the actual helmet used in the arena—from every possible angle. You're seeing just a few of them here, but we captured potentially thousands: high angles, low angles, side shots, straight on—you name it.

Why so many? Because we planned to use these stills as elements for our VFX work.

We knew the helicopter shots wouldn’t involve any rotational motion—they were all fairly straight-on. So we didn’t need to model the helmet in full 3D. Instead, we composited these real photos directly into the scene.

Let me show you.

Here’s one of the shots without any color correction or blur. You can clearly see it's the helmet from one of those photos. But when we turn the correction and blur back on, you can see how it blends beautifully into the scene.

We’re matching color temperature, shadows from the helicopter, and all the fine details. Why? Because if anything looks even slightly off—especially with lighting or shadows—your eye picks it up instantly, even if you can't explain exactly what’s wrong. It just feels fake.

So we do a lot of matching to make sure that doesn't happen. Even with blur—something that’s often overlooked in VFX.

Virtually every camera, even high-end ones like REDs or ENG systems, introduces some level of blur. The amount varies depending on factors like camera motion, lens quality, and depth of field. So, to sell the effect, we dial in the exact amount of blur that fits.

That’s what we did here. It really helps sell the illusion.

If we zoom in further, you’ll see the helmet again—this is a real photo—and the chains you see are VFX elements we added in post to make it look like it’s hanging from the helicopter.

Now let’s jump to the main shot you saw in the final video.

Nice.

So here’s the behind-the-scenes truth: we did have a real helicopter fly that route. That part is in the scene. What we added in post was the helmet—just like in the earlier example—attached to the chains.

We even added a hoisting motion to the chain system, to make it look like the helmet is actively being lifted.

Inside our main composition, we’re doing a lot of work: layering, motion tracking, sky replacements, color corrections—you name it. This shot had quite a bit of complexity.

We’re applying color correction curves across both the live-action footage and the VFX elements to help unify everything. This gives the entire image a consistent tone, which really helps it feel believable.

Then, in the comp, we add camera moves—zoom-ins and zoom-outs—to replicate the look of a handheld camcorder or a scoreboard camera.

All those motion cues—like blur and zooms—were created entirely in post.

And when those visuals go up on the scoreboard at T-Mobile Arena? They look amazing.

That’s it for today, guys—a little behind-the-scenes look at how we pulled this off here at PEG.

Thanks again for joining us for another episode of How It’s Made. We’ll catch you in the next one.