TV Series
The Lazarus Project
Vine FX
As the sole vendor, Vine FX delivered 890 VFX shots for Urban Myth Film’s eight-part production, directed by Marco Kreuzpaintner, Akaash Meeda and Laura Scrivano.
Vine FX's Michael Illingworth supervised the visual effects, and together with the team, transformed locations and studio sets into Eastern European rooftops, Parisian streets, views of Shanghai, Beirut, and full CG environments. Nail-biting collisions between the characters were surrounded by driving shots filmed in-studio, topped with immersive sci-fi and explosions. Filming took place across Europe which was still under some Covid restrictions back in 2021, this meant it was easier than usual to shut down streets for filming, particularly stunt scenes. There was total of 37 staff working on the show from Vine FX which included the 2D, 3D, Production and Editorial teams. The total duration for the work was around 6 months.
One of the biggest transformations was a car chase sequence in episode one. All filming took place in the Czech Republic and required substantial enhancements in order to transport the viewer to a visualisation of Paris with Parisian architecture. The episode featured over 100 VFX shots ranging from fast-action motorcycles, police cars, vans, driving shootouts and crashing cars.
Pedrom Dadgostar, Head of 3D adds: “With camera crews and crashing cars on every corner, this was not a simple task! The team pre-agreed on the best architectural solutions for building placements before sending an onset photographer to source elements of iconic Parisian streets. Highly detailed CG assets were then sculpted, including the recognizable Haussmann buildings, city landmarks and central European foliage.” Programmes used included Maya, Arnold and Nuke.
A major element throughout the storytelling were the nuclear explosions in a multitude of locations. Each time there is an apocalypse, the Lazarus team turns back time by making a phone call, returning everyone back to the checkpoint. The team created atomic mushroom clouds, blast waves and compression rings with heavy smoke clouds and ground fires to destroy the cityscapes built up in 3D. As the shots were built mostly in 3D space, this allowed the team to depict the epicentre of destruction around the central city points and focus on key buildings, landscapes for maximum impact.
CREW
Production Company
Urban Myth Films
Executive Producers
Joe Barton Johnny Capps Julian Murphy
Producer
Adam Knopf
Directors
Marco Kreuzpaintner Akaash Meeda Laura Scrivano
Post Production Supervisor
Liz Pearson
Visual Effects Supervisor Michael Illingworth
CG Supervisor
Pedrom Dadgostar
Visual Effects Producer Laura Usaite
Producer
Kaitlyn Beattie
Visual Effects Coordinator Gabi Kaziukonyte
Visual Effects Coordinator Tully Mead
Visual Effects Production Assistant Celia Romyn
Visual Effects Editor
Katie Dose
Visual Effects Editorial Assistant Oliver Cowan
Lead Compositor Ole Aleksander Nordby Compositors Alesja Surubkina Suresh Ramasamy Vadims Mirinovs Georgi Nikolov George Petkov Karolina Jeromin Galina Rankova Ivan Grozev
Zafer Ercevik Manny Mastropirro Georghios Shiakallis Dean Adjeikum Milena Hristova Manny Mastropirro Richard Steenoven Pan Vafeiadis Sonny Pye Tommaso Lunardi