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VFX FOR TV www.postmagazine.com 26 POST APRIL 2016 SHADOWHUNTERS Based on Cassandra Clare's novel series, The Mortal Instruments, the new Shadowhunters airs on Freeform net- work (formerly ABC Family). The show opens with Clary Fray learning she is a Shadowhunter, a human with angelic blood who protects humans from de- mons. When her mother is abducted by a group of rogue Shadowhunters, Clary joins with another faction to save her mother and discover her own powers as she moves among faeries, warlocks, vampires and werewolves. Geoff Leavitt, who has sever- al seasons of Dallas, Longmire, The Good Wife and the Point Break re- make for Alcorn Entertainment to his credit, is the show's VFX supervisor. For Shadowhunters, which shoots in Toronto, he interacts with an ar- ray of VFX vendors: Encore Toronto, Atmosphere in Vancouver, Keyframe Digital in Niagara-on-the-Lake, and City and Torpedo, both in Toronto. He also heads an in-house VFX team set up in the show's post production offices at Sunset Gower Studios in LA. "For a show like this, with many types of VFX, having different vendors with spe- cialties is really beneficial," says Leavitt. "A lot of the vendors collaborate, too. They work together and come up with some- thing that looks fantastic — a far cry from the days when vendors fought over assets and proprietary issues." With no time for previs, Season 1 took a "run 'n gun" approach to designing VFX, he reports. "I had development meetings with the showrunner and ex- ecutive producers to talk about the VFX and create multiple iterations, which we eventually narrowed down to one for the vendors. The vendors also made their own creative contributions." Leavitt's team is tasked with stele and rune effects. Steles are metal objects with a crystal tip, which are used by the Shadowhunters to draw runes — a kind of brand — on the body. Runes remain invisible until they are activated with steles. "Runes are make up effects that are augmented with VFX," he explains. "When they are brought to life, we paint out the make up effects and bring on the VFX for the rest of show. Steles are a prop whose light tip is either practical or a VFX enhancement — and I challenge you to tell the difference!" A host of recurring demons fills the Shadowhunters' world. Encore Toronto adds fearsome mandibles and stingers to the Ravenar assassins — actors outfitted in full body suits and make up. Encore also animates the fully-CG Shax — para- sitic breeding, insect-like demons with a keen sense of smell that Leavitt likens to "bloodhounds." Traditional canine-looking CG were- wolves are created by Atmosphere, which uses proprietary fur tools for their dog-like coats. Leavitt's team adds flashing green eyes to the human pack leader and his followers as they trans- form into werewolves, then Atmosphere's 3D-animated creatures take over. Actors playing vampires are speed- ramped to give them the ability to move at warp speeds. Encore Toronto crafts their true deaths VFX burning off their skin to reveal some skeletal structure and, ultimately, ash. Keyframe Digital endows the live-ac- tion seelies (faeries) with special magical powers to open secret doorways in the forest. Keyframe used particle effects to craft the black swirling smoke of the one-off Memory demon, which extracts memories from people. Leavitt's team creates set extensions and new environments for the show's fantasy worlds, including changing the Toronto skyline and waterfront into the books' New York City locations. "We were lucky to have a lot of aerial foot- age from the The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones feature film so we didn't have to spend money on New York stock footage, and we could build stat- ic shots into greenscreen set pieces," he says. Leavitt and the vendors all use a simi- lar toolset based around Maya and Nuke to streamline asset sharing. Check out the May issue of Post for more "VFX for Television" coverage, including USA Networks' Colony and Fox's Lucifer. Shadowhunters' VFX supervisor Geoff Leavitt (inset) coordinates with a number of studios for the show's VFX needs.