Tag: VFX Breakdown

When Only the "Right" Kind of Microphone Will Do

This ‘Mindhunter’ promo needed something very, very specific. Territory studio delivered.

Ian Failes
December 3, 2019
Befores & Afters

If you’ve watched David Fincher’s Mindhunter series about the development of the FBI’s Behavioural Science Unit from the late 1970’s through to 1980s, then you’ll already know there’s a certain kind of meticulousness to the Netflix show in each episode.

Well, that same kind of detail was added even to this promo for season 2 of series that got shown on social media. And it all revolved around…a microphone.

Tasked with creating a mic in between agents Ford and Tench in a police interrogation cell was Territory Studio, which also handled a few other clean-ups in the push-in shot.

Here’s the story, step-by-step, of how Territory – led by VFX Supervisor Simon Carr and VFX Producer Robin D’Arcy – researched the prop itself (even taking a used version apart), modeled it in CG and finished the shot.

Read the full article

Mindhunter Season 2 VFX Breakdown by Territory Studio

November 1, 2019
Territory Studio

Charting the development of the FBI’s behavioural science unit in late 1970’s USA, and based on the true-crime book ‘Mindhunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit‘, Netflix‘s TV series required an effortless recreation of time and place.

We worked with the production team behind Netflix’s second season of Mindhunter, initially to produce a promo shot which was published across their social media channels, and then to create some stand-alone VFX shots. The scene shots ranged from creating CG backdrops, torches and microphones, to recreating authentic vehicles and helicopters for search scenes. This fascinating series allowed us to become part of legendary Director, David Fincher’s world.

From promo shots…

With microphones providing a pivotal accessory throughout both seasons, we were asked to create a teaser recreating their iconic first microphone, which also features in the opening credits, in CG. The teaser was used across their official Facebook, Twitter and Instagram channels before the launch of season 2, garnering hundreds of thousands of views.

… to final scene shots…

Providing final shots in 6K meant working in the finest of detail, at the highest quality. Working closely with Fincher, and the producer, Peter Mavromates, feedback was precise and invaluable, making for a smooth and speedy process. From researching types of trees for the woodland car scene, to playing with atmospheric lighting and weather conditions, we enjoyed this project from start to finish.

Watch the VFX Breakdown reel videos

Thanks to Vincent Frei and The Art of VFX.

Recreating the Mindhunter Reel-to-Reel titles (minus the corpses)

Techmoan (YouTube)
May 5, 2018

A ‘joyously nerdy’ video in which I attempt to assemble all the components to recreate the reel-to-reel title sequence from the Netflix Show Mindhunter.

hifiengine: the Portable Stereo Reel-to-Reel Tape Recorder Sony TC-510-2 (or Sony TC-5550-2 in Japan)

The Tapeheads forums: “Looking for the sony tc-510”

The RPF forums: “The Tape Recorder from Netflix MINDHUNTER” (“David wants perfect”)

New Mindhunter style metal 5″ reels can be bought from Righteous Reels.

Special thanks to Jason Moore (on Patreon) for the tip regarding The Professionals episode.

The music used in my recreation of the title sequence is ‘Spirit Of the Dead‘ – by Aakash Ghandi and is from the youtube audio library (Download link).

NOTE: The TDK tape leader was created specifically for the sequence with CGI to hide the original Sony one:

Ollin VFX 2018 Demo reel

Ollin VFX (vimeo)
December 12, 2017

Thanks to Andrew Moore