In The Last of Us (S1E1), there’s a moment before the world falls apart.
Sarah stands in the neighbor’s living room, quiet light, shallow focus, no green screens, no trackers.
Just story.

The news is playing the old CRT.
A ghost of the U.S. map, emergency coverage.
A signal of what’s coming.

That burn-in wasn’t in the plan.
Rose Hicks from Alpha Chromatica had to track a shot never meant for VFX, match the lens defocus, rebuild grain, and pull a matte for a midground subject completely out of focus; the old woman in the wheelchair.

A blink-and-miss composite that sells the beginning of the end.
Invisible work.

The kind that makes the world feel real, right before it ends.