Technical and creative origins: creating a tennis ball scene in the film «Rivals»

The sports drama «The Rivals» and its Impressive Visual Effects

The sports drama «The Rivals» starring Zendaya, Tom Feist, and Josh O’Connor recently hit the screens. The film used both practical and digital effects, but one of the key scenes — a tennis match — particularly caught the audience’s attention.

The VFX team decided to remove the tennis rackets and ball from the scene, focusing on the players’ hands instead. The actors simply waved their hands, pretending to hold imaginary rackets, while the rest of the details were added using computer graphics. For filming, they used Arri Alexa LF on a 30-foot Technocrane to capture the most realistic shots.

Later on, the team conducted detailed scans of the tennis court and background actors using LiDar and photogrammetry technologies to create separate elements of computer graphics that enhanced the scene of a virtual stadium.