As budget contrainsts did not allow for an exterior shoot, the set of the destroyed Halliwell Manor set was surrounded by 360 degrees of blue screen. The scene covered nearly every possible angle of the set, resulting in about 50 shots requiring visual effects extensions.

Our goal was to replace the blue screen with subtle backgrounds that were consistent with views seen in previous episodes of the series' 8 year run, keeping the viewer's attention on the actors' performances in the intensely dramatic scene.

All views of the exterior sky and surrounding residential area were created in post, based on reference images from location shoots of previous seasons. Mechnology artists painted side angle views of neighboring homes from existing front angle photos. Over 100 of these photos were then placed into a 3d environment, creating a virtual cyclorama which became the basis for the background of each shot.

Each camera setup was tracked in 3D space, and finally composited with steam, smoke, and debris elements to create the final shot.