That boat scene, the environments, and shots you may not even have thought were VFX ones.
Today on the befores & afters podcast, we’re chatting to Ripley visual effects producer Joseph Servodio and visual effects supervisor John Bowers. Ripley, from writer and director Steven Zaillian, is currently streaming on Netflix, and I have to say it’s one of my favorite series in recent times. The cinematography and production on the show — which is presented in black and white — is just gorgeous. And the VFX fit right into that, very much of the invisible effects variety. You might be shocked at how many shots there are because it’s hard to actually locate them.
What we do talk about in the show is one of the centerpiece VFX sequences, and that’s the murder of Dickie by Tom in the boat, a sequence ultimately crafted by Wētā FX. Then there are a variety of environment augmentations, travel scenes, blood hits, use of dummies and digi-doubles throughout the series. One the coolest things I learned too, was the CG wig and beard crafted for a scene in which Tom is pretending to be someone else to the inspector. It’s just done so brilliantly.
This episode of the befores & afters podcast is sponsored by SideFX. Looking for great customer case studies, presentations and demos? Head to the SideFX YouTube channel. There you’ll find tons of Houdini, Solaris and Karma content. This includes recordings of recent Houdini HIVE sessions from around the world.
Check out the podcast below, and a behind the scenes featurette.
