The team at Serious approached me to help tackle the visual effects for a key sequence in episode one of CBBC’s Gifted.
Leading a small team of two other compositors, we delivered close to 100 shots over the course of a few weeks in episode one’s climactic sequence, working in Nuke to add camera shakes, falling debris, dust impacts, atmosphere and levitating rocks during the teen superheroes’ daring rescue mission.
Set in modern-day Edinburgh, ‘Gifted’ follows a group of young Scottish teens who discover they have unique superpowers and must band together to fight a powerful organisation that is targeting them.
Lead compositor at The 2D Workshop for BBC One‘s murder mystery adaptation of ‘Murder Is Easy’, produced by Mammoth Screen.
We completed a total of around 30 sky replacement shots across the two episode series, creating sky plates from my own photography archive.
Most of these involved fine hair, trees and other challenges such as defocus, so we worked carefully in Nuke to preserve the detail in the shot as we carried out our sky replacements.
I delivered over 150 VFX removal shots across this 10 episode series, a key part of which involved removing the rig used to move the car into position on the studio set.
This required some creative approaches since the studio had just about everything that works against this kind of visual effects work, all combined into one – shiny reflective floors, moving lights, smoke and camera motion.
Hot Wheels Ultimate Challenge was produced by Workerbee for NBC.
After collaborating with The 2D Workshop on series 13 of Doctor Who in 2021, they invited me back for some visual effects work on the Netflix docu-drama Blood, Sex & Royalty (produced by Nutopia).
My work mostly involved the removal of anachronistic objects and architecture, compositing matte-painted set extensions and correcting the colour of the castle walls.
This shot in particular became a far bigger challenge than anyone anticipated:
Since much of what we needed to remove in the background was behind fine-detailed trees and reeds, myself and the team at The 2D Workshop had to come up with a solution that would allow us to complete the shot on time and within budget.
The resulting idea was to composite in additional trees to hide some of the modern buildings in the background, with the rest being a matte painting. I sourced tree assets that visually matched the existing trees in the plate, both in terms of variety and lighting conditions, and comped them into the shot.
For the beheading of Anne Boleyn, there are multiple ways of achieving this, using a half-sword prop for example and digitally completing the sword in CG. In this instance, the two actors were shot on separate plates with a locked-off camera. It’s simple, effective solution that looks 100% realistic for a highly emotional scene that cannot be undermined by wonky visual effects.
I then combined the two plates, taking a little extra time to create a shadow of the sword on her shoulder as it swings closer, it’s a small detail but it goes a long way to bring the two plates together.
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Inject energy and visual wit into brand new outrageous series Nella Rose’s Flight Mode for Channel 4.0, produced by Goat Films
Outcome
A completegraphics package for the 6 episode online seriesthat captured and enhanced the bombastic tone of the series
This series launched as part of Channel 4’s new digital-first channel, Channel 4.0, which lives across YouTube and socials. Flight Mode is an airport-based gameshow that puts opposing teams through a whole host of wacky games and forfeits, competing to bag a free holiday.
The first task was to create an airline brand for host Nella Rose, that would used across the props and set. It had to be punchy and set the tone for a show that involved a lot of adult-humour:
I was assured this did the job, with cast and crew doing double-takes and laughing on the set!
As a little bonus I also created a range of tongue-in-cheek brand banner ad graphics that could be sprinkled through the episodes:
A snappy title card for the series:
Vibrant lower thirds kept track of contestants and team names, over-sized in design to suit being viewed on a phone screen:
Graphics also help viewers follow along with games such as Emotional Baggage:
Miscellaneous graphics tie everything together and punctuate other key elements of the show’s format:
Create hand-drawn style graphics for Channel 4 property pilot My Second Hand Home (produced by Wise Owl Films) with the aim of creating a down-to-earth, playful energy with the visuals that reflects the eco-centric second-hand sensibilities, and also serving the core function of creating a clear narrative.
Outcome
A full set of loosely illustrated, bright, whimsical graphics to visualise contributors’ plans for refurnishing their homes, plus a title card and additional explanatory graphics to help viewers follow the story.
The logo has a scratchy, handmade patchwork quilt feel with the word “Eco” highlighted as a key part of the format’s theme.
Room graphics visualise the ideas of the contributors as they talk through their plansAn animated shopping list template was supplied to the edit so they could track the contributors’ purchases as the story requiredA selection of custom lower third templates were also provided to the edit
Carry out visual effects work for Doctor Who Series 13
Late in 2021 I worked with The 2D Workshop on some of their shots for Doctor Who Series 13, which included some green screen, set extensions and screen replacements. I’ve watched the show since I was a kid, so the pressure was really on…
Outcome
Around 30 visual effects shots delivered to a happy client, and a box ticked on my childhood bucket list!
Design and create motion graphics for a BBC2 documentary special celebrating Nirvana’s impact on the UK music scene, making use of archive materials provided by the filmmakers. Produced by Wise Owl Films.
Outcome
A full motion graphics package in keeping with the grungy style of the band, using dynamicfilm-stock style archive image sequences, a title cardand pre-title insertsdesigned andcreated over a week.
Create TV show graphics for new Friday night online entertainment show Extra Time Friday, to match the red, white and blue studio set.
Outcome
A glossy, shiny floor show-style logo, an 8 second animated intro, sting and a looping logo hold, created over 2 weeks.
London-based independent media company Stomping Picturesapproached me to design the logo for their new online show Extra Time Friday, broadcasting live on Facebook and YouTube. This is to become their flagship show aimed at their ethnic minority audience, an under-represented group in light-hearted prime time entertainment.
Having talked in depth about the details and idea behind the show, I came up with three different creative directions for the logo, which director Nick then narrowed down to the one that best fit his vision.
The final design was reminiscent of glossy late-night entertainment shows, whilst the title sequence took inspiration from a clock counting down to Friday, with musical accompaniment from the house band.
The crew had worked tirelessly to set up this new reality series and find a practical location. With the shoot was only weeks away and lots of work yet to be done, there was a HUGE problem – the location was considered not wild and mountainous enough to get the greenlight from the commissioner. Switching locations would be a mountain of a task in itself, so production company Workerbee approached me to save the day with the magic of visual effects.
Outcome
40+ visual effects shots including environment extensions, object removals and particle simulations.
The Bridge is a reality show that aired on Channel 4 & HBO in 2020, narrated by actor James McAvoy.
Concerned whether or not these shots would work seamlessly with the rest of the show, the production team initially asked for a couple of test shots to see what was possible. Satisfied with the results, I went on to deliver over forty shots for the series.
It also became apparent during production that shooting flare guns necessary to the format was going to be extremely problematic, due to concerns surrounding local wildlife. Not one to shy away from a challenge, I also created a number of photoreal CGI flares, which were so effective that most of the production team didn’t know they were created with visual effects!
The production team needed a hand producing graphics for this new television series at short notice, I jumped on board to help them out with all their lower thirds and miscellaneous graphics requirements based on pre-designed elements from MTV.
