Post Production Revealed: Vine FX on War Of The Worlds (Disney+) | News

Vine FX completed over 1300 VFX shots for the third series of War Of The Worlds, adding to the over 500 shots it did in series two.

Premiering on October 19 and starring Gabriel Byrne and Léa Drucker, the series follows the war between the survivors and the aliens as it reaches a new tipping point and a terrifying phenomenon grips countless people across the globe.

The 1,300+ shots included everything from creature animation and environment design to complex CG and FX work. Part of this included the creation of a photo-realistic International Space Station and a black hole hovering above Earth.

To film the external ISS scenes, the actors were rigged up and appeared across the stage building. This foundation was then expanded upon using intricately constructed CG to create fascinating views of Earth and a full CG ISS, with both day and night lighting setups. 3D Supervisor, Pedrom Dadgostar, conducted extensive research to ensure the ISS, space environment and Earth captured the right atmosphere, feel and realistic level of detail.

To tailor the asset for use across multiple sequences, precision and fine detail were assessed at each step. This included creating technically correct aspects and components such as wiring, panels, a full dome, astronaut visors and tethers for the astronaut’s suit.

The evolution of the black hole was monitored over a long period of time and featured pyrosimulations inspired by the first images ever released from astronomers on the Event Horizon Telescope team. It was also designed to appear as a time travel wormhole, which revealed a view of a decaying London on the other side. Created using a combination of full CG buildings and projected DMP textures; an entire part of the city was recreated in a battered and abandoned state, complete with weathered facades and partially submerged vessels in the stagnant Thames.

The environments featured in the show required various set enhancements, including CG structures such as the particle accelerator room, an underground train station, a tunnel, and parts of the ISS interior ceiling that were removed during the shot to recreate the “floating” effect above the spacecraft. Key office locations also required green screen replacement with a panoramic day and night view of London that included the sky ripple effect inherited from the first season.

The largest volume of work saw exponential growth in the FX department, which faced a variety of challenges, ranging from large flocks of murmuring birds, electromagnetic laser beams, water and fire simulations. The work ended with the black hole exploding, tearing the ISS apart and unleashing chaos and destruction across the Earth.

Vine FX worked with Urban Myth Films executive producer Julian Murphy to ensure the visual and graphic effects were aligned with the vision for the show. He said: “It’s another collaboration in an extensive success story with Urban Myth Films. It’s a very close collaboration with a lot of trust and commitment. Vine FX worked within tight parameters – time and money are limited – and while there was creativity, kept things as simple as possible.”

Vine FX founder and VFX supervisor Michael Illingworth added: “It’s the biggest production we’ve worked on so far. The ambition of the show was bigger than previous years and, despite the challenges, it was great fun to work on.”