HIS DARK MATERIALS PRODUCTION.
UNREAL Mulefa resemble elephants with large trunks and diamond-framed skeletons and can be found in the mulefa world, based on real-world locations in Spain
Framestore containing not only the CG assets, but a huge package of concepts, references, 3D models and postvis shots – providing a strong design guide for the final pixel work they undertook,” McEwan states. “It’s at this stage during postvis and while the edit is locking that our collaboration with Framestore is at its height. For all seasons, we worked with Joel and Russell to get the VFX design approved by the showrunners before final pixel work starts.” PAN-DEMIC PROBLEM The breathtaking visuals and richly detailed worldbuilding make it a feast for the senses. To achieve this, the team painstakingly crafted every detail to create a fantastical, believable world. Try doing that in the height of a pandemic. “Lockdown arrived at the end of the Season 2 shoot, so we spent a good few months figuring out how to finish that and work through the postvis for the series,” recalls Dan May, His Dark Materials series VFX art director & previs supervisor, as well as Painting Practice “The team painstakingly crafted every detail to create a fantastical, believable world”
co-founder. “Once that was in a good place, we needed to work out what we could do next – production companies and governments were still working out how to get back to work. Rather than furlough our team, we tasked half of our crew with concepting Season 3 and half on improving workflows and technology.” A lot of this was based around Unreal Engine and collaborative non-linear workflows. May says the team ‘had a lot of fun and slightly mad experiments creating multiplayer environments’ that teams of artists could work together
MODEL-MAKING Handmade representations were used to create believable scenes, including the Golden Monkey (above)
35. JULY 2023
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