Explore the creative process behind bringing prehistoric creatures to a modern suburban landscape. Warner Bros. Entertainment showcases the intricate collaboration between the film's cast, stunt performers, and Industrial Light & Magic to design and animate unique, dangerous dinosaurs for this intense production.
Director Zach Cregger used practical effects instead of VFX to film the 'Jump Street' sequence in Resident Evil. By dropping 150 lb blood bags from cranes, he captured realistic, dangerous zombie explosions. The sequence was specifically filmed for IMAX to highlight the authentic physics of the stunt work.
The sound of Spider-Noir blends gritty period character with immersive mixing. Re-recording Mixer/Sound Designer Ryan Collins and Re-recording Mixer Nick Offord explore vintage dialogue treatments, atmospheric transitions, distinctive web effects, and inventive sonic details—including a unique sound for Spider-Sense—to create a fresh sonic identity for this new take on Spider-Man.
Christopher Nolan's 'The Odyssey' became the first feature-length commercial film to be shot and released entirely in 70mm IMAX. The quest was decades in the making, with Nolan first shooting action sequences on 70mm IMAX for 'The Dark Knight.'
This is a podcast about the role of VFX coordinators. I joined Ian Failes of Befores and Afters magazine. We discussed my role on the Disney live-action film, Moana, among other things.
How the VFX team on The Matrix dreamt up Bullet Time by combining 3 separate innovations. Ian dives into the history and details of the techniques used for this marvelous effect.
Biased here because I was on this one! Disney's live-action 'Moana' is making waves as it arrives exclusively in theaters on Friday, July 10. In this behind-the-scenes look, discover how stars Dwayne Johnson and Catherine Lagaʻaia, along with director Thomas Kail, reimagined one of the studio's most beloved animated classics.
Chat with Cary Phillips, Director, R&D Engineering Architect at ILM. Cary has been recognized with three Academy Scientific and Technical Awards. These were for the Caricature Animation System in 1998, the ILM Creature Dynamics System in 2001 and the ILM Shape Sculpting System in 2015.
Go behind the scenes to see how our talented team of editors and foley artists brought the history of Disneyland to life frame-by-frame in Disneyland Handcrafted, directed by Leslie Iwerks.
Explore the award-winning VFX behind Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age, the critically acclaimed third season of the docuseries executive produced by Jon Favreau and Mike Gunton and produced by the BBC Studios Natural History Unit.
Go behind-the-scenes at the Ranch with Skywalker Sound's Ben Burtt and Foley artist John Roesch as they discuss how they created the iconic sounds of Raiders of the Lost Ark!
For season 2 of Severance, ESE delivered over 800 visual effects shots, ranging from the iconic “Zolly” transformations between the Innie and the Outie state, to snow enhancements and icy roads, to blue screen comps and various challenging VFX tasks.
The world needs this video of Hugh Jackman interacting with sheep stuffies. B-roll from The Sheep Detectives, including stuffies and stand-ins for the sheep in the film.
Bringing the many forms of the infamous Pennywise to life in IT: Welcome to Derry was an absolute thrill for our teams! Whether it meant pushing his Killmouth design further or creating new transformations, such as cloth-like wings, our artists embraced every opportunity to expand the character’s presence on screen.
Go behind the sound of ANDOR Season 2 with Margit Pfeiffer, Supervising Sound Editor and Dialogue & ADR Supervisor. Now nominated for a BAFTA TV Craft Award for Sound: Fiction!
Go behind-the-scenes of ANDOR Season 2 with Tony Gilroy and Alan Tudyk. Now nominated for a BAFTA TV Craft Award for Special, Visual, and Graphic Effects!
Go behind the scenes of James Gunn's Supergirl. This is a marketing thing here, but I'm excited for the movie so I'm putting this up here.
Go behind the scenes as Wētā helps bring to life the music video for ‘Children of the Sun’, the lead single from Mandopop superstar Jay Chou's new album of the same name.
Project Hail Mary creature effects creative supervisor Neal Scanlan discusses how Rocky was brought to life via puppeteering.
Rob Bredow shares ‘Solo’ stories, and how ILM inspired him before he was even at ILM. Rob is Senior Vice President of Creative Innovation at Lucasfilm.
Watch ImageworksVFX's behind the scenes video on how they made the character Nightmara for In Your Dreams, narrated by VFX supervisor Nicola Lavender.
The legendary VFX supervisor on the speeder bike chase in Return of the Jedi, the stained glass knight in Young Sherlock Holmes, how ILM conquered digital compositing, and more.
Oscar®-winning editor Stephen Mirrione, ACE says he “didn’t know anything” about Formula One before working on the film. But that didn’t matter once he read Joseph Kosinski’s script. The commitment to authenticity, deep research, and sheer ambition made the decision easy.
Framestore's approach has always been that great VFX are powered by great tech. On Superman, they became the first to use 4D Gaussian Splatting in a feature film to capture volumetric performances with photorealistic fidelity.
Explore how Disney revolutionized visual effects with the sodium vapor process, a technique pioneered by Disney Legend Ub Iwerks that allowed filmmakers to create natural-looking backgrounds, decades before blue and green screens became common in filmmaking.
Snowfall, fog and atmospheric conditions were carefully composited using a segmentation and depth extraction toolkit. Combined using deep data and onset LIDAR remapping, the weather was transformed to become not just a beautifully harsh environment but also a key character in the episode.
On this very special episode, Wren and Niko are joined by VFX legend Joe Letteri from Wētā FX to get into the details of his work on James Cameron's Avatar: Fire and Ash.
Eran Dinur reveals how his team meticulously recreated period accurate crowds in Tokyo and Wembley while keeping the digital work entirely invisible. For Eran, the ultimate compliment is a viewer who walks out of the theater believing every single frame was captured in camera.
Wētā FX's work in Predator: Badlands included the emotive animation for young Yautja Dek's performance, the terrifying Kalisk creature, weapon effects and digital world-building on Planet Genna and beyond.
Clear Angle Studios discusses photogrammetry booths, LiDAR scans and other capture on big projects. The company is responsible for scans of actors, locations, and props on many big productions. These include, recently, Wicked: For Good, Superman, and Stranger Things season 5.
Cinematographer, Michael Bauman, breaks down how 'One Battle After Another' blends the rich detail of VistaVision with the raw, gritty energy of 1970s cinema.
Ian Failes from befores and afters magazine sits down with Wētā FX senior visual effects supervisor Guy Williams and Wētā FX sequence visual effects supervisor Joanna Davison to discuss the VFX of James Gunn's Superman.
Invisible by design, engineered for authenticity. This is the story behind the 2500 digital visual effects shots featured in F1® The Movie.
Framestore brought its magic to the film's practical sets, digitally extending iconic locations. 107 different species of CGI animals were integrated, balancing complex grooms with digital vegetation.
ILM invites you to the grid. Explore the visual effects of Tron: Ares, a massive undertaking involving an army of vfx artists from the powerhouse VFX shop.
The team at Framestore serve up an incredible breakdown here of their work on James Gunn's recent Superman flick. The work is great, and it's up for your consideration this awards season.
James Cameron talks about the importance of the human touch in making visual effects. From the performance capture to the big screen, get a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Avatar: Fire and Ash.
The cast and crew of Stranger Things break down every detail that went into the final battle of the series.
To celebrate the ten-year anniversary of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, explore Industrial Light & Magic’s Oscar-nominated work that brought the film to life.
Get a behind-the-scenes look at how Director Dan Trachtenberg and team collaborated with Wētā Workshop to bring the next installment to the big screen.
Step inside the sound design and mix of Paul Thomas Anderson’s newest film, One Battle After Another, with this in-depth look at the work of the sound team. Featuring Re-recording mixer, supervising sound editor, sound designer Chris Scarabosio, Re-recording mixer Tony Villaflor and Production Sound Mixer José Antonio García.
Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to Phil Tippett about a couple of projects he has in the works - including what could be a follow-up to MAD GOD.
This is a story of mastery, mentorship and the enduring art of making things by hand. From Peter’s forge to your collection; thank you for being part of the journey.
The team behind the show gives us a breakdown of the interesting use of puppets that vastly helped vfx teams tackle the challenge of bringing these prehistoric animals to life.
The music of Hamnet, discussed by Max Richter and guest host Jon Burlingame. In their conversation, Richter shares how early musical sketches shaped the production, how he blended period instruments with processed textures, and how the film’s psychological and natural landscapes guided his approach.
Writer/Director Guillermo del Toro and VFX Supervisor Dennis Berardi take us behind the scenes of the digital magic that helped bring the world of Frankenstein to life.
Frankenstein filmmaker Guillermo del Toro walks through each step in his creative process for making movies, from developing and structuring the story and screenplay, to world-building, to designing creatures and monsters.
VFX Supervisors Mitchell Drain and Nikos Kalaitzidis from Digital Domain collaborated with HBO's Production Supervisor Daryl Sawchuk to conceptualize and execute the creature design for the Skeleton Man.
Dolby Labs sits down with Jon M. Chu and Alice Brooks to discuss the look and feel of the Wicked follow up.
Discover the work of Academy Award-winning costume designer Deborah Scott, production designers Dylan Cole and Ben Procter, property masters Brad Elliot and Melissa Spicer, art directors Luke Freeborn and Aashrita Kamath, and Wētā Workshop.
Executive producers Andy and Barbara Muschietti, as well as the rest of the cast and crew, breakdown what fans can expect from the series premiere of IT: Welcome to Derry.
Oscar-winning editor Joe Walker, ACE invites you into his personal cutting room to demonstrate how he used storyboards, sound effects and basic vfx techniques to develop and plan out the proper timing for scenes in Dune: Part Two. Joe will show how the 'Paul Rides the Sandworm' sequence was plotted out even before he had a frame of footage.
A deep dive (literally) into the fascinating underwater and above water making of the Avatar movies.
A long look at the massive amount of work done by Framestore on Fantastic Four: First Steps.
From the breathtaking innovations in the 'Star Wars' trilogy to the astonishing imagery in 'Transformers,' Industrial Light & Magic has truly revolutionized visual effects in TV and movies. ILM's compositing supervisor Todd Vaziri breaks down the methodical approach to the groundbreaking creations that have redefined the limits of our imagination.
A discussion about tech, rendering, de-noising, data flows and, yes, AI.
DVD Extras - behind the scenes of Fantastic Four: First Steps. Take a look at the mo-cap work, and practical FX and costume design for the villains in the movie.
Take flight with Framestore in this behind-the-scenes look at how they translated Toothless, and the beloved animated movie world of Berk, into a live-action spectacle.
From Kentucky roots to a van full of stormtroopers, Chief Lighting Technician Alex Gaynor has lit some of the biggest shows in the galaxy, like The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett.
Learn how Gaffer Justin Dickson, frequent collaborator with Paul Thomas Anderson and Michael Bauman, stays nimble and bright at night with limited power sources when shooting large swaths of downtown El Paso for One Battle After Another.
Meticulously matching defocus and lensing, the Wētā FX compositors ensured the dragons in House of the Dragon: S2 seamlessly fit into their environments.
Digital Domain proudly contributed nearly 400 VFX shots to Marvel Studios' “The Fantastic Four: First Steps,” helping bring Marvel’s First Family to life in a vibrant retro-futuristic world.
Explore the cordy-ceptional work the team at DNEG crafted for The Last of Us Season 2
It takes a village to raise a dragon. See Christian Manz and his team at Framestore breakdown the work they did on Toothless.
Take a look behind the scenes at how H.E.R.B.I.E. was brought to life!
Severance editor Geoffrey Richman reveals the editing techniques and timeline used to build the emotional intensity of the season 2 finale. He reviews the process behind key scenes that build up to the edit's two key anchor points -- ultimately leading to an intense final moment in the season.
Weapons director Zach Cregger takes us behind the scenes on the cast including Julia Garner, Josh Brolin, Benedict Wong, and Amy Madigan who plays Gladys. Hear from the actors how the mystery horror film came together.
Cinesite created invisible visual effects for Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza's unflinching war drama Warfare, which follows a platoon of American Navy SEALS over a 36-hour period during the Iraq war in 2006.
When director Joe Kosinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer set out to make “F1,” their goal was to create the most authentic Formula One film ever made.
Supervising Sound Editor, Re-recording Mixer, and Sound Designer Mixer David Acord and Supervising Sound Editor and Dialogue & ADR Supervisor Margit Pfeiffer join us to discuss the powerful, visceral sound of the final season of Andor.
In the final episode of season one, Shannon Tindle and John Knoll return to Lighter Darker to discuss the much-debated use of lens flares in film and animation.
Production designer Jeremy Hindle and visual effects supervisor Eric Leven join Lighter Darker to talk through their work on Severance season two.
For this special Halloween Edition, the team flashes back to Ghostbusters II with VFX legend Bill George who shares stories from the model shop.
What’s really going on in the visual effects industry? Emmy-nominated VFX executive and HDRI Consulting founder Joseph Bell joins host Paul DeNigris.
A collection of featurettes from the 2024 entry in the Alien franchise, Alien: Romulus.
For the Oscar nominated film Alien: Romulus, our artists pursued the practical aesthetic and atmosphere of the original Alien films and subtly enhanced the Offspring creature with touches of CG.
Last year, Masters of the Air took off, taking the teams at Rodeo FX to new heights. Relive the journey with a VFX breakdown—enjoy the ride!
From Xenomorphs and Facehuggers to spacecraft and environments, go Behind the Magic with ILM and explore the visual effects of Alien: Romulus in this exclusive breakdown.
In this exclusive SoundWorks Collection documentary, we dive deep into the mesmerizing world of Dune: Part Two and discover the creative brilliance behind its groundbreaking sound design.
The epic space battle in the third act of Guardians presented a plethora of compositing challenges for our team - epic fire-and-ice FX, nebulous matte painting, hordes of animated characters, and space ships, some the size of small planets, others the size of a family car.
MAESTRO editor Michelle Tesoro is no stranger to cutting movies directed by actors. In fact, it was while she was working with actor Sean Penn on his film FLAG DAY, that Penn turned to Michelle and told her that he just texted friend Bradley Cooper that she was a 'goddess in the cutting room'. Clearly that pitch worked as Cooper entrusted Michelle with the editorial duties for his much-anticipated biopic.
ILM Originals and Director Chris Hawkinson bring you an inside look at the filmmakers and artists that brought “The Creator” to the big screen.
'The Creator' director Gareth Edwards and Industrial Light & Magic visual effects supervisor Jay Cooper talk to Ian Failes from befores & afters.
Out of 1,520 shots in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, only 38 had no visual effects and 33 minutes of the film were completely digital.
Lava, embers, water simulations - even the dust kicked up around their feet - everything needed to be scaled up to look believable interacting with 300-foot titans when Kong and Suko take on Skar King and his horde.
Bringing Cosmo to the forefront in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 presented a unique challenge for the team at Framestore.
Creator Dave Filoni, Production Visual Effects Supervisor Richard Bluff, Animation Supervisor Paul Kavanagh, and Visual Effects Supervisor Enrico Damm conduct a roundtable discussion on the visual effects of Ahsoka.
Not typically a fan of posting showreels, but this one is an exception... for obvious reasons...
The size of two 747s and acted by Benedict Cumberbatch, Smaug the fire drake was the pivotal digital creation for Peter Jackson's The Hobbit trilogy. Everything's better with dragons, right?
Framestore's very special guests for part two are Kathleen Rufallo, Julia Marrone and Margot Ingrassia.
In this exclusive SoundWorks Collection video, they explore the sound effects tracks of Can You Hear The Music scene and how this Oscar nominated sound team collaborated with Director Christopher Nolan.
Dolby Labs are joined by Academy Award®-nominated cinematographer Hoyte Van Hoytema, ASC, FSF, NSC. He discusses how he got his start in the film business, working with Christopher Nolan, shooting “Oppenheimer” on film, how they did all those in-camera practical effects, and his fears about creating a dynamically visual film… with so much dialogue.
Hear from writer, director, and VFX supervisor Takashi Yamazaki and learn more about the unique approach Shirogumi took with the visual effects of Godzilla Minus One.
In this interview, learn how Oren Soffer and Greig Fraser scaled down their lighting package to shoot a blockbuster movie without any creative restraints.
SoundWorks explores the captivating sound design and music of Pixar's Inside Out 2, an emotional rollercoaster that explores the inner workings of a young mind.
Director of Photography, Eben Bolter, from The Last of Us, takes us through his approach to naturalistic lighting.
Niko and Wren are joined by visual VFX artist and Supervisor Todd Vaziri from Industrial Light & Magic to break down some of the best visual effects from his legendary career in the Film Industry.
Go behind the scenes of Sony Pictures' new movie, Gran Turismo, to see how they capture real racing at high speed with real cars.
Claudio Miranda ASC, Director of Photography, Top Gun: Maverick shares what it takes to capture the amazing aerial shots in Top Gun: Maverick.
In this video, delve deep into the goings on at Skywalker Sound, the award winning sound facility behind movies like Jurassic Park, Star Wars, the Transformers franchise and more...
Director Matt Reeves joins Dolby Labs to discuss The Batman. This is part 2 of a special 2-part episode on this movie, where they discuss the film's incredible cinematography.
Industrial Light & Magic artists and technicians utilize traditional miniature model building techniques and motion control technology to create the physical Razor Crest for The Mandalorian. The team blends these old-school methods with modern 3D printing to achieve a specific, grounded aesthetic.
Visionary director Denis Villeneuve discusses the creative benefits of early collaboration with his sound team, the process of crafting Dune's unique soundscapes including: Arrakis desert, sandworm, ornithopter, spice (melange) and the voice of the Bene Gesserit.
The incredible new adaptation of Dune, from director Denis Villeneuve, has some astonishing sound work, fully embracing the immersive capabilities of Dolby Atmos®.
Go behind the scenes of HBO's Emmy Award winning 'Chernobyl' in our new Behind the VFX 4-part series.
This is a fascinating deep dive into the complicated ups and downs of making a feature animated movie with this much pressure on your shoulders.
A fascinating deep dive into the making of 1917 by Sam Mendes and his team. Roger Deakins looks at his work and lighting a oner.
MPC Film led the visual-effects work on 1917, with approximately 600 artists contributing to the film, which was shot almost entirely outdoors on locations around the United Kingdom.
Insane work in this one from an amazing VFX vendor in its prime.
Proud recipients of the Visual Effects Society Award for Outstanding Model in a Photoreal or Animated Project: LAPD Building.
In this exclusive video profile we feature the sound team behind Director Denis Villeneuve's, Blade Runner 2049.
VICE toured the sequel's set with the folks who brought it to life, speaking with the production designer, producer, and director Denis Villeneuve to see how it all got made.
The Dolby® Institute and the SoundWorks Collection have collaborated to produce a series of podcast conversations with the artists nominated for Academy Awards® for Best Achievement in Sound Editing and Best Achievement in Sound Mixing.
Led by Production VFX Supervisor Richard Stammers, and MPC VFX Supervisors Anders Langlands, MPC was lead VFX studio on Ridley Scott’s The Martian, delivering 425 shots.
Honorably mention here for The Sh*t Show podcast. They talk about how difficult it was to make 2015’s Fantastic Four, from director Josh Trank’s erratic behavior to reshooting a third of the film months before releasing.
Star Trek Into Darkness contains over 1600 visual effects shots, created by Industrial Light & Magic, Pixomondo, Atomic Fiction and Kelvin Optical Inc.
Go inside the making of Mad Max: Fury Road. The awesome project used something like 20 different camera bodies: go pros, dslrs, and the like. Stunts are out of this world on this show.
Douglas Trumbull painstakingly crafted the visual effects for Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
Supervising Sound Editor and Sound Designer Richard King discuss the sound teams extensive work on Director Christopher Nolan's immersive sci-fi film Interstellar.
Christopher Nolan and more from the cast and crew speak about the entire process of creating the Dark Knight Trilogy.
An in-depth look at the making of Prometheus.
Side by Side is a 2012 American documentary film directed by Christopher Kenneally. It was produced by Justin Szlasa and Keanu Reeves. It premiered at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival and it was shown at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Featurette from the Star Wars Complete Saga Blu-ray release.
Featurette from the Star Wars Complete Saga Blu-ray release.
A 2010 documentary about the making of the Back to the Future trilogy.
A new take on the old classic franchise. Sound editor Cameron Frankley describes the work done on Terminator Salvation.
Walter Murch, while discussing the making of THX 1138, elaborates on his foundational 'worldizing' techniques.
This and the LOTR Appendices for me are the foundational BTS documentaries.
George Lucas and others discuss the production and the making of THX 1138 (1971).
The Full LOTR Original Appendices
Peter Jackson, members of Weta, and film production personnel are interviewed, telling of the birth of a small company in 1993 (for the making of Heavenly Creatures), which would provide visual effects for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, and its various tasks in rendering fictional, fantasy environments and entities.
The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing is a 2004 documentary film about the history and art of film editing, directed by filmmaker Wendy Apple. The film brings up many topics, including the collaborative nature of filmmaking, female representation in the editing field, and emerging technologies of the 21st century.
This is a section from The Appendices on the logistics of making actors look smaller and bigger, through various practical means.
From the appendices for the Lord of The Rings, we hear from Jackson, editor John Gilbert, first assistant editor Peter Skarratt, co-producer Jamie Selkirk, director of photography Lesnie, producer Osborne, executive producer Mark Ordesky, and assistant editor Annie Collins. They discuss the enormous of amount of footage shot for the film as well as how they pared down all that material.
This made-for-DVD documentary treats horror and science fiction film fans to a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Alien, the terrifying classic.
The full documentary about the making of The Matrix.
Explore the groundbreaking production of Jurassic Park, highlighting the collaboration between filmmakers, paleontologists, and visual effects artists. Gain insight into the innovative blend of practical animatronics and pioneering digital technology that brought prehistoric creatures to life, forever transforming the landscape of modern cinema.
The award-winning documentary about the fascinating and harrowing making of Apocalypse Now, one of the most celebrated films in American cinema.
A close look at the making of The Terminator. Sarah Connor and all!
The Making of The Thing is a captivating and immersive documentary that peels back the layers of one of the most legendary and enigmatic horror films in cinematic history, John Carpenter's The Thing (1982).
The origianl VHS extra from 1985. I used to watch this as a very young child.
The making of the original Blade Runner (1982). Go behind the scenes to see Ridley Scott's meticulous nature, Harrison Ford's experience on set, and more from the cast and crew!