Bristol-based studio Moonraker VFX delivered 700 shots to achieve an original ‘cosmic noir’ style for new Discovery documentary, Killers of the Cosmos.
The VFX studio wrote its own software tools, leaning on their technical VFX, animation and illustration teams to execute a new approach that treats live action frame by frame.
Produced by Wall to Wall Media, the six-part series features Game of Thrones actor Aidan Gillen as a comic character, who embarks on a detective mission to uncover the evidence and threats to Earth that Space throws at us.
The team at Moonraker led the production for 10-minutes of drama footage within each episode, filming Aidan Gillen on green screen and designing a visual aesthetic that places the character in comic book style urban environments.
The series, airing on Discovery Channel this month, includes over 700 shots – all of which required bespoke graphic design and animation.
“It’s more than you would expect in a big budget feature,” says Graham Stott, Creative Lead at Moonraker. “We had to make sure that Aidan not only looked consistent himself, but all the environments had the same visual motifs that hung together as a gallery of work.”
Tim Lambert, Executive Producer at Wall to Wall Media, said: “The team at Moonraker managed to create a fantastic, but utterly believable world….No one has done anything like this on a documentary series before.”
Jon Creamer
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