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Out of this world We discover how Lux Aeterna delivered stellar visuals for BBC Studios’ Solar System
T he BBC Studios Science Unit is never shy about producing cosmic spectacles, and with Solar System , the team – alongside long-time partner Lux Aeterna – elevated the visual narrative to an otherworldly level (pun intended). Available to watch on BBC iPlayer, this limited five-part series was produced in collaboration with US broadcaster PBS, with the British version narrated by professor Brian Cox. Known for its VFX work on Netflix’s Our Universe , Secrets of the Neanderthals
and 8 Days: To the Moon and Back , Lux Aeterna drew on its cosmological expertise to deliver the brief set by BBC executive producer Gideon Bradshaw. When approached to collaborate on the series, Lux Aeterna’s creative director Rob Hifle immediately drew on his team of experts across storyboarding, CG, compositing and motion graphics to conceptualise the task at hand. “Our creative lead Mike Sadd brought a huge wealth of experience to Solar System – not just through his understanding of the subject but also
through his storyboard and animatic skills,” explains Hifle. Sadd’s contributions allowed the team to break down the full VFX requirements and determine how best to allocate the budget to make the show as cinematic as possible. “Artistically, this saved a lot of time. Sadd’s detailed knowledge of the planets enabled him to dictate the look more accurately. It meant that the CG and FX teams had a cinematic foundation to then deliver immersive high-end filmic visuals,” Hifle continues. The series directive for Solar System was to create an immersive and visceral cinematic wonder from a low-orbit and on-planet perspective. Lux Aeterna delivered over 400 shots that visualised epic vistas, including scenes inside Jupiter’s electric storm clouds, Europa’s crumbling ice canyons, superionic ice on Uranus, enormous dust storms covering Mars, seas and lakes of liquid methane
SERIES LIKE THIS COME WITH extremely high expectations ”
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