Manchester-based studio, REALTIME, joined the Sky & Peacock Original limited series Lockerbie: A Search for Truth as VFX Partner.
The five-part limited event series, starring Colin Firth, is based on the search for justice by Dr Jim Swire following the 1988 Lockerbie disaster.
Led by VFX Supervisor Sue Land, REALTIME supported the production in portraying the scope of the disaster through several big sequences in the opening episodes, including the foreboding ‘coffee cup’ sequence. In this sequence, the audience sees a teaspoon landing on the roof of a police car as they drink their coffee, signalling the start of the plane’s descent over the Scottish town of Lockerbie. Around seventy-five percent of the series’ visual effects were crafted for episode one.
The team used their proprietary virtual production tool to help visualise the surrounding area of Lockerbie and General Muammar Gaddafi’s palace in Morocco in pre-production and while shooting on set, feeding that data back to the VFX teams in postproduction. The tool was developed alongside the show, with funding from Greater Manchester’s Media City Immersive Technologies Innovation Hub.
Says Jonathan Rawlinson, Head of Film and Episodic at REALTIME, “It was our first time working with Carnival Films and they were incredibly supportive and collaborative. We felt involved every step of the way in bringing Dr Jim Swire’s story to the small screen.”
The five-part series is a co-production between Carnival Films, which is part of Universal International Studios and Sky Studios. Renowned Scottish playwright David Harrower (Blackbird, Knives in Hens) is lead writer. Maryam Hamidi (Vigil) is guest writer on an episode. BAFTA Award-winning Otto Bathurst (Peaky Blinders, The Winter King) is lead director. Jim Loach (Save Me) also directed an episode. Gareth Neame and Nigel Marchant are Executive Producers for Carnival Films. Sam Hoyle is Executive Producer for Sky Studios. Additional Executive Producers include David Harrower, Otto Bathurst, Liz Trubridge, Jim Sheridan, Kirsten Sheridan and Oskar Slingerland.
The series is based on the book The Lockerbie Bombing: A Father’s Search for Justice by Jim Swire and Peter Biddulph, along with multiple other sources.
Lockerbie: A Search for Truth premiered January 2 and is available on Sky and the streaming service NOW in the UK and Peacock in the US.
Jon Creamer
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