Latest news with #BlackMirror
Yahoo
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Black Mirror' VFX supervisor James MacLachlan reveals that ‘the Callister itself needed updating' for the unprecedented sequel
'What's really interesting is the breadth of what's going on,' Black Mirror visual effects supervisor James MacLachlan says of the buzzy seventh season. He adds that series creator Charlie Brooker "would pull things out of the recesses of his brain, references that were really obscure. Even to the point where we were discussing escalators in Tottenham Court Road, and how the metal shines when it catches the light." Watch our full interview above with MacLachlan joining our Gold Derby "Meet the Experts" VFX panel. Season 7 of Black Mirror dropped on Netflix this year after a two-year break. Each episode of the anthology series takes on new characters to tell a dystopian tale of technology. However, the most recent season broke new ground with 'USS Callister: Into Infinity.' More from GoldDerby 'Gypsy' and 'Just in Time' producer Tom Kirdahy on serving a 'social and cultural need' through creative work TV Visual Effects supervisor roundtable: 'Black Mirror,' 'The Boys,' 'The Wheel of Time' 'The Wheel of Time' VFX supervisor Andy Scrase: 'I always think of visual effects as the magic of filmmaking' SEEPaul Giamatti, Chris O'Dowd, Rashida Jones, Cristin Milioti, Jimmi Simpson, and every 'Black Mirror' Emmy acting submission The episode marked the series' first sequel, returning to the world of 2017's 'USS Callister' episode. That installment won four Emmys, including Best TV Movie. The follow-up sees the crew of the virtual spaceship deal with problems arising in the wake of their leader's death. Cristin Milioti, Jimmi Simpson, and Jesse Plemons return to the series for the episode. MacLachlan says, 'We've got a number of protagonists fighting one another and then flying battles in space and lasers and explosions and heart of infinity.' MacLachlan, who did not work on the 2017 episode, approached the sequel, "less like Star Trek. We're slightly more Star Wars with a flourish of gaming through the middle. It was a hell of a lot of fun dealing with the guys on set and seeing their reactions to some of the subtle changes we made from when they did it in 2017. The script developed into a place that was quite new. Even the Callister itself needed updating.' As to whether the visual effects supervisor had any inspiration from gaming, he reflects, "Growing up, Doom 2 was interesting and so was Wolfenstein because of the rooms and how you move through that world." 'USS Callister: Into Infinity' was directed by Toby Haynes, who received an Emmy nomination for his direction on Andor. MacLachlan admits, 'Working with Charlie and Toby was phenomenal. Talk about imposter syndrome when you sit down with those two and they're nodding about how a space battle is working. Everybody would sit back and make notes furiously and, you know, reference things we hadn't heard of before. The creative juices flowing was so much fun with so much to learn and so much to take in.' This article and video are presented by Netflix. Best of GoldDerby 'Étoile' creators on writing a show for 'genius' Luke Kirby How 'The Handmaid's Tale' series finale sets up 'The Testaments' TV Visual Effects supervisor roundtable: 'Black Mirror,' 'The Boys,' 'The Wheel of Time' Click here to read the full article.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
TV Visual Effects supervisor roundtable: ‘Black Mirror,' ‘The Boys,' ‘The Wheel of Time'
Which is more challenging, big explosions or unnoticeable details? How do the different departments work with each other to tell stories on TV? Why is it sometimes lonely in the visual effects department? These were some of the topics discussed by three top television VFX supervisors when they joined Gold Derby's special 'Meet the Experts' roundtable. Our guests are James MacLachlan (Black Mirror), Stephan Fleet (The Boys), and Andy Scrase (The Wheel of Time). Watch our full group panel above. Click on each name above to view that person's individual interview. More from GoldDerby 'Gypsy' and 'Just in Time' producer Tom Kirdahy on serving a 'social and cultural need' through creative work 'The Wheel of Time' VFX supervisor Andy Scrase: 'I always think of visual effects as the magic of filmmaking' 'The Boys' VFX supervisor Stephan Fleet explains why a one-minute shot 'took about 17 hours' to make Approaching a battle scene can be a formidable task for the visual effects supervisor. 'Seeing an edit slug that says, 'Space battle here,' you know what's coming," says MacLachlan. "It's quite daunting seeing the white words that say, 'Giant heart of infinity explodes,' needing to work into the scenes that are in and around it. Some are in camera, some are full CG, some are augmented. Maintaining that level of expectation through those moments, yeah, it's daunting.' 'Once you get into the big magical battles, that's something where you can't get it wrong,' says Scrase. 'There's a lot of fan reaction content creators. You get a lot of satisfaction from seeing how they react to it. You've looked at an individual shot about 200 times at least. It's good to see people's reaction to it the first time. That raw emotion to it and reaction is priceless.' For his part, Fleet leans into his collaborators to take off the pressure. 'It's funny because, for battles, we have this great stunt coordinator, John Koyama, who does these huge fights. They involve a lot of blood and wire removal on my end. So with the exception of maybe a larger visual effects component, I actually am able to step back and let special effects, prosthetics and stunts do a lot of the cooking,' he says. On The Boys, he explains, the effects come into play in when 'there's some new super power. Even if it's someone just looking at something and their eyes are gonna glow. Then I know I'm going on a journey in post.' 'It's fascinating, isn't it?" muses MacLaughlan. "We've got to glean from everybody how we're going to achieve shots; rather than just doing our own little window. Given how many teams of people who are reliant on us in post, it's a fascinating dynamic. Isn't it? The team sport versus what we have to supply later to all of these teams. I'd never thought of it like that.' As Scrase sums it up, 'I still try and keep it intimate. I get to visit all the vendors because all the work's done in London. I like to build up a bit of camaraderie and a team spirit. That's just the way I like to work. I tend to find you pull in everyone on board with you. I make sure I bring the whole team with me. They can suffer with me along the way.' This article and video are presented by Netflix, Prime Video, and Sony. Best of GoldDerby 'Étoile' creators on writing a show for 'genius' Luke Kirby How 'The Handmaid's Tale' series finale sets up 'The Testaments' 'The Wheel of Time' VFX supervisor Andy Scrase: 'I always think of visual effects as the magic of filmmaking' Click here to read the full article.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘The Boys' VFX supervisor Stephan Fleet explains why a one-minute shot ‘took about 17 hours' to make
'We don't want the simple way,' proclaims The Boys visual effects supervisor Stephan Fleet, who joined Gold Derby's "Meet the Experts" VFX panel. 'We don't want the obvious magic trick that everyone's seen before. So even something you read on the page that you think could be the most simple thing, like a split screen of someone, can be a very complicated thing to do.' Watch the full interview above. The Prime Video series was adapted from the comic book series of the same name by Eric Kripke. It focuses on a group of vigilantes trying to take down corrupt superheroes. 'The original pitch to me, before I signed on, was that this isn't a superhero show. This is a show about the intersection of celebrity and politics, told if celebrities were superheroes," Fleet says. "I love superhero shows. I watch them. I've worked on ones myself. But in this case, I'm looking at it as a satire on celebrity and politics first. So you're always trying to find, no matter how absurd, a foundation of something real to base everything off of. We're always trying to find that basis in reality on the show, and then just crank it up to 11 if we have to.' More from GoldDerby 'Gypsy' and 'Just in Time' producer Tom Kirdahy on serving a 'social and cultural need' through creative work TV Visual Effects supervisor roundtable: 'Black Mirror,' 'The Boys,' 'The Wheel of Time' 'The Wheel of Time' VFX supervisor Andy Scrase: 'I always think of visual effects as the magic of filmmaking' SEEEric Kripke, Antony Starr interview: 'The Boys' Fleet acknowledges that 'every season our wonderful team of writers led by Eric Kripke are gonna try and raise the stakes in some way.' And the recent fourth season is no exception. A new character, called Splinter, was able to clone himself multiple times, which led to the visual effects team needing to work on a scene with multiple Splinters performing sexual acts. He explains, 'Fully nude clones means a lot of matching. Their whole bodies have to look identical. So there's a lot of replacement and prosthetics too, if you can read between the lines.' The trickiest scene was when seven Splinters were all in one shot. Fleet says, 'It's about a minute long motion control shot. There's no face replacement; it's all the actor playing himself. It took about 17 hours total to rehearse and film this one shot. Anyone who's done visual effects knows motion control can be a very slow and complicated process.' 'On The Boys, we found our tone and we do it in our way," Fleet continues. "I just wanna keep honoring everything in the show with visual effects and never make it about the visual effects. But I want to also acknowledge that visual effects are an important component of the storytelling.' This article and video are presented by Prime Video. Best of GoldDerby 'Étoile' creators on writing a show for 'genius' Luke Kirby How 'The Handmaid's Tale' series finale sets up 'The Testaments' TV Visual Effects supervisor roundtable: 'Black Mirror,' 'The Boys,' 'The Wheel of Time' Click here to read the full article.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘The Wheel of Time' VFX supervisor Andy Scrase: ‘I always think of visual effects as the magic of filmmaking'
'Season 3 had a hardcore number for VFX,' Andy Scrase says about The Wheel of Time during our Gold Derby "Meet the Experts" VFX panel. It all began with the opening episode of the season, "To Race the Shadow." 'We had this really large magic battle. Once you come off a heavy Season 2, to go straight into it again on Episode 1, was probably our biggest challenge," says Scrase (watch the full interview above). "But, it felt like something that hadn't quite been executed on the screen before in terms of episodic TV.' The Sony series has been adapted for Prime Video by Rafe Judkins from the Robert Jordan fantasy novels of the same name. The recent third season covers events from the fourth and fifth books (The Shadow Rising and The Fires of Heaven). 'I've got respect for the source material. I try to stick to descriptions as close as I can. And if I feel like something's not going to be visually exciting enough, then I tend to bring in a bit more creative license,' Scrase says, adding 'that challenge is still the biggest thing. Getting something that looks very different to what's been seen before and reimagining that description Robert Jordan used in the books.' More from GoldDerby 'Gypsy' and 'Just in Time' producer Tom Kirdahy on serving a 'social and cultural need' through creative work TV Visual Effects supervisor roundtable: 'Black Mirror,' 'The Boys,' 'The Wheel of Time' 'The Boys' VFX supervisor Stephan Fleet explains why a one-minute shot 'took about 17 hours' to make One of the characters at the center of the story is Rand (Josha Stradowski), who learns he is the dragon reborn. Scrase loves that 'there's a real darker aspect to him. The male challengers in the show's abilities are corrupted by the dark one. I like the that there's more of a grey area with Rand. You don't know if he's going to save the world or destroy it. I think that makes it a lot more interesting.' In the season finale, "He Who Comes with the Dawn," Siuan (Sophie Okonedo) is falsely condemned and stilled of her power. "We ended up having these 'stilling arrows' fired at her and stick out of her. It felt barbaric," says Scrase. "The design of them, were very barbed, and there was Sophie's performance playing this moment of 'stilling.' Seeing how the audience reacted to it really did drive home how emotional that particular moment was.' He reflects, 'I always think of visual effects as the magic of filmmaking. We get to imagine and execute those things that just aren't possible to do in real life. Creating that stuff is great to be able to do.' This article and video are presented by Sony. Best of GoldDerby 'Étoile' creators on writing a show for 'genius' Luke Kirby How 'The Handmaid's Tale' series finale sets up 'The Testaments' TV Visual Effects supervisor roundtable: 'Black Mirror,' 'The Boys,' 'The Wheel of Time' Click here to read the full article.
Edinburgh Live
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Edinburgh Live
Netflix's Department Q cast from Shetland favourite to Game of Thrones icon
The video will auto-play soon 8 Cancel Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info Get the latest Edinburgh Live breaking news on WhatsApp New Edinburgh-based detective thriller Department Q has finally dropped on Netflix, and viewers are sure to recognise the cast. The star-studded series features plenty of familiar faces from shows like Downton Abbey, Shetland and Call the Midwife, as well as films like Trainspotting and Harry Potter. The show synopsis from Netflix reads: 'A brash but brilliant cop becomes head of a new police department, where he leads an unlikely team of misfits in solving Edinburgh's cold cases.' But who heads up the cast for the new mystery thriller and where have you seen them before? Keep reading to find out more. (Image: NETFLIX) This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more Free Netflix subscription Get Netflix free with Sky Sky is giving away a free Netflix subscription with its new TV bundles, including the £15 Essential TV plan. Members can watch live and on-demand TV content without a satellite dish, including hit shows like The Last of Us, Black Mirror and all WWE programming. from £15 Sky Get the deal here Who is in the cast of Department Q? Matthew Goode - Carl Morck English actor Matthew Goode leads the cast of Department Q as DCI Carl Morck. Downton Abbey fans are likely to recognise him as Henry Talbot, while The Crown viewers will remember him as Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon. The star has also fronted fantasy romance series A Discovery of Witches, starred as Finn Polmar in The Good Wife and appeared in BBC period drama Dancing on the Edge. He also has an impressive film resume, having starred in movies such as Woody Allen's 2005 film Match Point, 2008's Brideshead Revisited, 2009's A Single Man and 2013's Stoker. Kelly MacDonald - Rachel Irving BAFTA award-winning actress Kelly MacDonald is probably best known for her role in Danny Boyle's 1996 film Trainspotting, where she made her debut. Since then, she has appeared in many high profile films, including 2007's No Country for Old Men, 2001's Gosford Park, 2005's Nanny McPhee and 2011's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2. She also portrayed Margaret Thompson in HBO crime series Boardwalk Empire, which won her an Emmy nomination. Additionally, she has appeared in Line of Duty, Black Mirror's Hated in the Nation and voiced Princess Merida in Disney animated film Brave. (Image: NETFLIX) Alexej Manvelov - Akram Salim Alexej Manvelov is best known for his roles in various Swedish series, including 2020's Top Dog. However, he has also starred in several English language series including Jack Ryan, The Contractor and award-winning thriller Chernobyl. Leah Byrne - Rose Dickson Newcomer Leah Byrne has starred in TV mini series Nightsleeper and Deadwater Fell. Call the Midwife fans might also recognise her for playing Maggie Nickle back in 2019. Jamie Sives - James Hardy Jamie Sives has had a long career that began on stage in the National Theatre of Scotland's production of James III. His credits include Shetland, Annika, Guilt, Chernobyl and Game of Thrones. Kate Dickie - Moira Jacobson Celebrated actress Kate Dickie has too many credits to list, but many fans will recognise her for playing Lex in the BBC series Tinsel Town and Lysa Arryn in the HBO series Game of Thrones. Her other credits include 2006's Red Road, where she made her debut, 2012's Prometheus, 2015's The Witch and 2017's Star Wars: The Last Jedi. (Image: NETFLIX) Mark Bonnar - Stephen Burns Shetland fans will recognise Mark Bonnar for playing Duncan Hunter, while Casualty viewers may remember him for his role as Bruno Jenkins. His other credits include Line of Duty, Unforgotten and Guilt. Shirley Henderson - Claire Marsh Popular actress Shirley Henderson is best known for her roles in the Bridget Jones and Harry Potter movie franchises. Shirley has won two Scottish BAFTAs, a VFCC Award and an Olivier Award. She has also appeared in Trainspotting, Doctor Who and Happy Valley. All episodes of Department Q are available to stream from today, Thursday May 29, exclusively on Netflix.
