Behind the Scenes of our VFX Mastery in the Latest Episodes!
I hope this post finds you well and thriving in your creative endeavors!
This week we’re taking a break from the Design Masterclasses, to share some of the most recent VFX work done by the Shoot First team.
For a lot of the last year, we’ve been working on many of the new BBC/Disney Doctor Who episodes, and I can’t wait for you to witness the magic we’ve crafted!
If you’re a Dr Who fan, you’ll have already seen our work in “The Giggle”, the third 60th anniversary special, where we made a giant Neil Patrick Harris (before we folded him into a box), made a whole Theatre and Toyshop fold up into a small box, and many more effects.
In the upcoming Christmas Day episode “The Church on Ruby Road”, we made an army of baby stealing Goblins, their baby eating Goblin King, and their flying pirate ship. Check out our work in this sneak preview (This song is currently #1 in the UK iTunes streaming charts, so we’ve got our fingers crossed for a Christmas Number 1!)
Those of you who are Shoot First students, or regular readers of the newsletter will know that I have a strong preference for VFX done on top of practical work, and leveraging the best strengths of both. That’s exactly what you’re seeing here. The Goblins were all actors wearing makeup, and we replaced everything from the nose up with CG, to allow them to emote freely. The Goblin King is also a mix of both - he’s different from shot to shot, depending on whether the puppet or the CG gave us the best results.
Exclusive Access for Shoot First VFX Course Subscribers: 50-Minute VFX Breakdown!
We’ve been doing so much Dr Who recently, that there’s a lot of opportunity for me to create more content teaching you guys through our approach, and how we used the Shoot First methods to deliver these end results!
So in addition to the usual newsletters, we’ll be doing breakdowns and behind-the-scenes of some of our FX for the latest Dr Who episodes as they’re released.
Most of that will only be for Shoot First VFX students, but we’ll make some stuff for e-mail subscribers too, shortly!
Here’s a sneak peek of what you can expect:
- Behind-the-scenes footage revealing the various stages of VFX production.
- An explanation and demonstration of Shoot First techniques used in cutting edge production
- Hints and tips as to how you can do these FX in your work, even if you’re doing all the VFX yourself
Our first breakdown is a 50 minute video detailing how we tackled folding this whole shop, from concept through the final execution!
How to access this exclusive content:
- If you’re a Shoot First student, simply click on the gif above and enter your login details.
- If you’re not currently subscribed, you can get a $1 week’s trial!
Spread the Excitement!
If there’s anything you’d like to look into in more detail, or anything you’d like covered from another angle, drop me a line, and I’ll see what we can do.
We encourage you to share this newsletter with fellow VFX students, colleagues, and anyone who shares a passion for the art of visual effects. Let’s build a community of enthusiasts who appreciate the incredible work that goes into creating the stunning visuals we see on our screens, and are excited to improve.
Thank you for being a part of our journey, and we can’t wait for you to experience the magic of Doctor Who through the lens of our VFX process!
Happy Watching!