June 9, 2025
Still Watching Netflix (YouTube)
Director Tim Miller discusses how he approached directing this dinosaurs in space adventure, starring MrBeast! Featuring Jennifer Yuh Nelson and David Fincher.
Tag: VFX Breakdown
LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS Volume 4. Inside the Animation: Spider Rose
May 29, 2025
Still Watching Netflix (YouTube)
Director Jennifer Yuh Nelson showcases some behind-the-scenes of her process to create Spider Rose. Featuring Tim Miller and David Fincher.
LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS Volume 4. Inside the Animation: Can’t Stop
May 23, 2025
Still Watching Netflix (YouTube)
Director David Fincher gives a glimpse inside the animation of Can’t Stop starring the Red Hot Chili Peppers! Featuring Tim Miller.
Xbox Commercial Directed by Romain Chassaing and Co-Directed by David Fincher
April 10, 2025
Xbox
In Xbox’s Wake Up, directed by Romain Chassaing and Co-Directed by David Fincher, a wonderfully off-beat fairy tale unfolds: Horatio, a rat, rekindles his humanity through the joy of gaming. We follow Horatio through a day in the rat race: a packed commute, the drudgery of the office, a rushed lunch at his desk. The mundanity is interrupted by glimpses of mysterious gamers—the only humans we see amongst the rats. After a long day, Horatio powers on his Xbox on his Samsung OLED TV and connects with his friends. A much-needed dose of fun transforms him into the human he always was.
Xbox – Wake Up (Short Version, 1:23)
Xbox – Wake Up (Long Version, 1:43)
Watch the Concept Designs and VFX Breakdown at 1920 vfx
Tagline
“What brings us joy, brings us back.”
CREDITS
Client
Xbox (Microsoft Gaming)
Partner
Samsung
Products
Xbox video gaming system and Samsung AI TVs
Title
Wake Up (Brand Trailer)
Agency
Droga5 (New York)
Chief Creative Officer
Scott Bell
Executive Creative Director
Tres Colacion, Giancarlo Rodas
Creative Director
Joseph Russomano, Temnete Sebhatu
Producer
Connor Hagan
Copywriters
Jared Schermer, Tomas Coleman
Post Production / VFX
1920 vfx
Colourist
Kai Van Beers
Creative Director
Ludo Fealy
VFX Supervisors
Ryan Hadfield, Chris King, Jorge Montiel Meurer, Chris Gill
VFX Artists
Adam Gramlick, Ahmed Ugas, Alejandro Marzo, Alex Rumsey, Andrea Umberto Origlia, Andreas Georgiou, David Rencsenyi, Eva Bennet, Joe Baker, Juan Francisco Saravi Migliore, Klaudia Skalska, Lewys Rhodes, Lucas Warren, Mattias Lullini, Miles Tomalin, Monika Lesiecka, Robert Lilley, Ross Gilbert, Sergio García Castro, Taylor Webber, Tom Cowlishaw, Joe Baker
VFX Producer
Ross Culligan
VFX Co-Ordinator
Lena Almeida
Digital Matte Painter Artists
Jordan Haynes, Carlos Nieto, Grant Bonser
Proschetic / SFX
Anarchy Ltd. (UK)
SFX Supervisor
Dannielle Boyne
SFX Technicians
Hannah Cooper, Olivia Loughton
Production Company
RESET
Managing Director
Dave Morrison
Director
Romain Chassaing
Co-Director
David Fincher
Director of Photography
Jeff Cronenweth, ASC
Production Designer
David Bersanetti
Art Director
Caroline Soussen
Executive Producer
Jen Beitler
Line Producer
Ash Lockmun
Production Service
B2Y Productions, Bulgaria
Service Producer
Simeon Vasilev
Production Manager
Ivanina Burneva
Editorial
Cut+Run
Editor
Paul Watts
Assistant Editors
Roman Kuznets, Eli Beck-Gifford
Executive Producer
Ellese Shell
Head of Production
Marcia Wigley
Sound
WAVE Studios
Sound Designer & Mixer
Aaron Reynolds
Sound Producer
Eleni Giannopoulos
Executive Producer
Vicky Ferraro
Music
APM Music
Xbox helps you flee the rat race in cinematic spot directed by David Fincher and Romain Chassaing
Droga5’s ‘Wake Up’ film aims to recapture the glory days of gaming ads two decades ago.
Sabrina Sanchez
April 10, 2025
AdAge
Here’s How 1920 Created the Xbox Rat Race for David Fincher & Romain Chassaing
April 15, 2025
STASH
VFX Notes: Fight Club 25th Anniversary. CGI, photogrammetry, fat suits and soap
Hugo Guerra & Ian Failes
October 15, 2022
Hugo’s Desk / befores & afters
David Fincher’s glorious, mysterious, spectacular Fight Club has just turned 25! A new VFX Notes episode with Hugo Guerra and Ian Failes looks back at the film, and breaks down the incredible, invisible visual effects work.
We dive deep into the photogrammetry side of things from BUF, and look at the variety of work from Digital Domain, the penguin from Blue Sky (!), plus VFX from other vendors. It was an extraordinary achievement from visual effects designer Kevin Tod Haug to oversee this work.
Check out the video below which includes a whole range of behind the scenes and VFX breakdowns.
Chapters:
00:00:00: Intro
00:00:40: A word from our sponsors
00:01:50: The podcast begins
00:04:52: Our first viewing of FIGHT CLUB
00:11:56: The DVD is like film school
00:28:47: Jeff Cronenweth and the visual style
00:37:23: The manny takes of Fincher
00:41:27: Kevin Tod Haug’s amazing work
00:43:20: It would be nominated if it was today
00:45:24: Shaders and radiosity
00:48:03: Photogrammetry and BUF
00:53:07: Previz
00:57:08: The virtual camera moves like the kitchen scenes
01:00:45: BUF VFX and the sex shots
01:06:19: The age of CG tests
01:09:48: The plane crash
01:13:48: High rise collapse
01:21:49: Having fewer artists for a longer time
01:23:49: Peter Ramnsey’s animatics
01:24:23: The cave animal
01:27:08: One of the first behind the scenes featuring HDR spheres and grey balls
01:31:03: The Titanic breath leftovers
01:33:15: The gunshot
01:37:14: The Furni shot
01:39:44: The opening credits
01:45:43: Meat Loaf’s Fat Suit
01:50:00: Members and Patreon credits
Watch the “age-restricted” Fight Club VFX breakdown by BUF:
YouTube
BUF.com
Filmmaking Masterclass: Recreating THE KILLER with Anamorphic DZO PAVO Lenses
June 21, 2024
Media Division
With The Killer, David Fincher created a masterpiece of cinematic storytelling.
In the first act – the Paris hit – Fincher and his team combined three sets in post. They also added typical artifacts like horizontal flares and distortions to give The Killer an anamorphic vibe.
To learn and explore, we set out to recreate the climax of the first act of The Killer, BUT to do it for real: One real location and real anamorphic lenses. We even developed a way to do film through a real rifle scope – anamorphic of course.
This was possible as DZO just introduced three new focal lengths to their awesome PAVO lineup of 2x anamorphic lenses, a 135mm, a 180mm, and a 65mm Macro. This new focal length and the general short minimum focus distance of the PAVO made them the ideal companions to shoot our short.
We take you behind the scenes, share our experiences with you, and, of course, show you the result: “The Killers” gives the original a slightly different spin…
Disclaimer: We collaborated with DZOfilm and got the full PAVO set of 9 lenses to shoot our short. As always, we strive to give you our honest opinion based on our experience and tests.
Please join the ranks of the Media Division: YouTube, Instagram, Facebook
Links to Collaborators and Partners: Morty Films, Chris Karibu (behind the scenes footage), Matthias Herrmann & Valentin Loustalet (location visit in Paris), Tim from Lemac Film and Digital (rentals for the Fujinon images), Artemple (VFX Breakdown).
00:00: Intro & Contents
02:48: The Killer / A Cinematic Masterpiece
03:44: Subjective Camera Movement
05:00: Subjective Sound Design
05:41: Subjective Edit
06:25: Paris: A Real Fake Location
10:08: Faking the Anamorphic Look|
12:14: Reimagining The Killer
15:49: Gear: The Lenses
23:18: The Rifle Scope
25:01: Gear: The Cameras
27:45: Feature: The Killers
31:08: A Second Killer & Verdict
33:16: Thank You
34:02: Member Shout Out
Creative Industry Insight Podcast: “The Killer” with VFX Editor Casey Curtiss
Bobby Miller
January 11, 2024
Creative Industry Insight
In this episode, we welcome VFX Editor Casey Curtiss who joins us to talk about his work on The Killer. Casey walks us through what the role of a VFX editor entails and how those skills were used on The Killer.
Listen to the podcast:
Executive Produced by Daniel Miller and Monika Ditton. Artwork Designed by Piotr Motyka. Music by ELPHNT.
Follow Creative Industry Insight on Ex-Twitter and Instagram.
Ollin VFX: The Killer VFX Breakdown
January 19, 2024
Ollin VFX
Visual Effects By: Ollin VFX
Executive Producer: Alejandro Diego
Visual Effects Supervisor: Yabin Morales
Visual Effects Executive Producer: Álvaro González Kuhn
Visual Effects Producer: Denisse Garcés
Visual Effects Sequence Supervisor: Isaac Camacho
Visual Effects Project Manager: Edgar Ortiz
Visual Effects Production Coordinators: Andrea Manzano, Luis González, Ursula Salas
CG Lead: Oscar Paz
CG Artists: Aislinn Alcaraz, Tlacaellael Cedillo, Alberto Gaona, Jerónimo Martínez
Lead Artist: Argenis Dionisio
Associate Visual Effects Supervisor: Xany Méndez
Compositors: Ramón Monsanto, Francisco Contreras, Eduardo Grandizo, Gabriel Zamora, Alberto Carmona, Alejandro Saavedra, Ariel Picone, Elena Amador, Martin Villareal, Dereek Alcubilla, Edwin Leger, Jonathan Silverio, Paula Andrada, Nikita Guliaev
Matte Painting Artist: Wellinthon Simeón
Visual Effects Editors: Daniela Ramírez, David Malvaez, Héctor Ramírez
Head of IT: Alejandro Gutierrez
Pipeline Developer: Eric Campos
Systems Administrator: Manuel Macedo
Systems Assistant: Luis Urrutia
Accounting Manager: Claudia Domínguez
Talent Acquisition Manager: Alicia Álvarez
Wylie Co.: The Killer VFX Breakdowns
January 9, 2024
Wylie Co.
The Killer digi-double visual effects sequence & breakdown. This is our first of many breakdown reels we’re going to post on X for our VFX work on The Killer.
For this particular sequence in The Killer, Eric Barba, Peter Mavromates and David Fincher approached us with an extremely difficult task, to create close-up, photoreal digi-double shots of Michael Fassbender riding a scooter.
The quality of the work had to seamlessly cut back to back between live-action shots of The Killer on set. Extra complexity was added because the original plan to shoot these shots on a virtual stage didn’t live up to what Fincher had envisioned.
Because of this, there were no HDRI’s or usable array footage and sparse reference photos. The lighting and lookdev had to be dialed in by eye. We began with the Killer asset, adding fine facial detail and cloth simulations.
We then used photogrammetry to assist with cascading streetlight timing and travel speed. The final result was high res meticulously crafted nearly full CG shots cut into the live-action sequence with the ultimate goal of nobody noticing.
Advancements in software, hardware, and artist skill enabled us to create The Killer digi-double with a team of 7 artists using Lenovo workstations, AMD processors, NVidia GPUs, Nuke, Maya, Houdini & Redshift software. And months of time!
All of our work in David Fincher’s The Killer involved digi-doubles. Here are 3 breakdowns of digi-double gore that we provided for the film. Full CG shots, cut between live-action shots. They include particle fx, fluid dynamics, various hair, cloth, and bone simulations, and good old-fashioned animation by hand.
Visual Effects By: Wylie Co. Culver City, California
Visual Effects Supervisor: Jake Maymudes
Visual Effects Executive Producer: Kris Drenzek
Digital Effects Supervisor: Josh Hatton
Visual Effects Animation Supervisor: TJ Burke
Lighting & FX Artist: Liam Jurkowich
Animation Lead: Sashdy Arvelo
Animators: Li Li, Taylor Cooke
Compositor: Nick Kaye
Lookdev Artists: Bora Jurisic, Richard Bridge
3D Tracking Artists: Tommy Ibanez, Nallely Gomez
Pipeline TD: Roberto Cadena Vega
Coordinator: Sofia Beroud
Savage VFX: The Killer VFX Breakdown
December 18, 2023
Savage VFX
Visual Effects By: Savage Visual Effects
Visual Effects Supervisor: James Pastorius
Visual Effects Producer: Brice Liesveld
2D Animation: Kevin Konitsch, Henry Borrasso, H Haden Hammond
3D Animation: Tim Turner, Rusty Ippolito, Andrew Romatz, Luke A. Ewing, Joseph Chiechi, Alvaro Segura, Mike Bettinardi, Mike DuPree
The Fincher Analyst 