Silver Studios are proud to have provided previs, postvis and techvis for HBO’s True Detective: Night Country. Set in Alaska and featuring Jodie Foster and Keli Reis , this 6 part series is filled with intrigue and suspense. Check out our reel showcasing our work below.
“Integral to the animation sequences was the timely use of previz, by Silver Studios. Because some of the storyboard sequences worked, but not others, it was important that we learn this as early as possible, so that changes could be made and a new sequence agreed upon, before it was handed on to Cinesite for the finished shots. Silver Studios were quick and responsive to feedback, building creature and environment assets, and nailing the camera moves and animation, which meant that changes further down the line were minimised. ”
The Caribou Sequence
Caribou sequence previs alongside final shots
Silver Studios were brought on board early on to visualise the challenging opening sequence of the Caribou herd running through an icy environment towards a cliff edge. Our rigger Jared Embley built a lightweight rig for the animation team which would allow them full control without slowing them down when multiple caribou were brought into a scene.
Our previs supervisor Nikki Atkinson, in collaboration with animators Davide Cioffi and Filipe Ribeiro, dissected the sequence into essential movements needed to efficiently visualize it. Starting at this point, we constructed a set of animation cycles that were incorporated into a library and subsequently cached for improved working efficiency.
Once the cycles were built, our animation team then had a very efficient way of building shots. Utilising a combination of animation caches and custom animated hero characters meant we could quickly respond to director changes. Experimenting with different lenses and layouts, even with multiple caribou in the scene file was a completely fluid process for our team.
Our combined strategy involving animation caches and tailor-made hero animations ensured that the expansion of our herd during the previs process did not impede our pace. Once the location was set, our asset builder Mike Gilbert rebuilt the environment according to the exact google map location, which meant we were dealing with the correct world scale and distances that the caribou would need to cover.
Introducing real world locations at this stage meant that when we passed on our scene files to the final vendor Cinesite, they had a very useful first pass layout to hit the ground running with.
The Polar Bear
The on-set VFX team provided us with excellent reference in the form of lidar and photogrammetry of Ennis Town for a sequence where a polar bear appears in front of Evangeline’s car. We were also provided with reference in the form of an on set stuffy which proved very useful for layout and timing of the animation. We remodelled this environment into a lighter weight previs version, but kept the proportions and scales accurate. Our previs scene files when handed over to the final vendor consequently were accurate and to scale, which can save a lot of time in layout.
The polar bear went through various stages of character design whilst in previs. Our rigger Kasper Larsson added a deformer to our rig which meant we could dial in more or less weight adjustments without losing any animation we had done so far.
This project, envisioned by a flexible, talented team, proved to be highly creative and rewarding, showcasing seamless collaboration from preproduction to the final stages.
Storyboards provided by the production team were a fantastic starting point, allowing us to previs and postvis the shots before handing over to the final vendor
Credits:
Studio: HBO
Director: Issa López
VFX Supervisor: Barney Curnow
VFX Producer: Jan Guilfoyle
Silver Studios
Previs Supervisor: Nikki Atkinson
Previs Artists: Davide Cioffi, Filipe Ribeiro, Cenk Koksal, Mike McGuiness, Murat Tahan
Previs Asset Artists: Jared Embley, Mike Gilbert, Kasper Larsson