Zombies, iPhones and VFX

Issue #63 of befores & afters magazine covers the visual effects of 28 Years Later.

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More than two decades after revolutionising the zombie genre with 28 Days Later, director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland returned to the Rage Virus with 28 Years Later. The film follows a small British community that has survived by isolating itself on a fortified tidal island connected to the mainland by a single causeway. When its inhabitants venture into the infected wilderness, they—and the audience—witness a Britain transformed by years of abandonment, where both the infected and the survivors have evolved in disturbing and unexpected ways.

Like he had done on the original, Boyle embraced an unconventional filmmaking toolkit on this new outing. iPhones, among other small cameras, were deployed by director of photography Anthony Dod Mantle alongside custom-built multi-camera arrays, drones and lightweight camera rigs, allowing the filmmakers to capture kinetic action and intimate performances from fresh perspectives, while maintaining an immediacy that echoes the raw energy of the first film.

An extensive visual effects effort was also part of the mix, led by Union Visual Effects co-founder and visual effects supervisor Adam Gascoyne. Abandoned landscapes, the island and causeway, hordes of infected and several action scenes were made possible with a mix of practical photography, stunts and digital visual effects.

This special issue of befores & afters magazine goes deep on the effects in 28 Years Later, care of interviews with Union’s Gascoyne, DFX supervisor Dillan Nicholls and CG supervisor Noel O’Malley, director of photography Anthony Dod Mantle, drone operator Peter Keith, astrophotographer Dan Monk, and special effects supervisor Sam Conway. The issue also includes an interview with Union visual effects supervisor Dean Koonjul on the VFX of the direct sequel, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, directed by Nia DaCosta and written by Garland.