Goodbye Kansas Studios delivers VFX for See Season 3

Goodbye Kansas Studios describes the stunning special effects behind the Emmy-award-winning post-apocalyptic drama starring Jason Momoa.

Goodbye Kansas Studios delivered 50 shots for season three of See. The Emmy-award-winning drama starring Jason Momoa is set in a post-apocalyptic dystopia, where humankind has lost the ability to see, and society has had to adapt to find new ways to survive. What the characters also cannot see, but viewers can, is the stunning visual effects that elevate the drama into a spellbinding show.

Goodbye Kansas was brought on as a visual effects provider, with a combined team of over 84 artists, technicians and supervisors across FX, lighting, motion capture and production departments. The large-scale production was led by Felipe Borges as VFX Supervisor and Martin Widö as FX Lead – the scope of work ranging from CG characters and environments, motion capture, set and crowd extension, to creating explosions for complex narrative sequences.

The sci-fi drama relies on complex FX for the main battle sequence, where Goodbye Kansas created CG assets for key warfare sequences, alongside crowd work and set extension. Martin outlines: “We developed digital explosions to a level of detail that they truly blend into the tangible authentic environment, along with water that reacts with these explosions. We also developed digital characters and crowds to behave and interact with the surrounding environments. In some shots, we had all of these together.”

For the team, the biggest challenge was taking all of the different CG elements together and bringing them into one shot to create seamless battle sequences. Goodbye Kansas needed to incorporate CG digital characters alongside 40-50 filmed extras to conjure the scene of  hundreds of soldiers in battle. Martin explains: “You have extras that were there with proper costume, but our CGI version of the soldiers needed to stand side by side and be able to blend. And we were able to achieve that. Ensuring all of the elements out of computer graphics blending into place is always a challenge.”

Related COW News

Another way Goodbye Kansas achieved accuracy within the shots was by harnessing the capabilities of their in-house motion capture facility. Felipe explains “We used motion capture to get the most accurate movements. We incorporated professional stunts into our motion capture soundstage, capturing different types of performances and reactions to explosions using wire rigs.”

Goodbye Kansas exceeded expectations with their work on the project, receiving feedback that their “creative investment, cooperation and flexibility was second to none.”

The third season of SEE aired on 26th August 2022.

###

Enjoying the news? Sign up for the Creative COW Newsletter!

Sign up for the Creative COW newsletter and get weekly updates on industry news, forum highlights, jobs, inspirational tutorials, tips, burning questions, and more! Receive bulletins from the largest, longest-running community dedicated to supporting professionals working in film, video, and audio.

Enter your email address, and your first and last name below!