Computer Graphics World

Edition 2 2020

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e d i t i o n 2 , 2 0 2 0 c g w 4 1 C arnival Row is an immigrant's tale, centered on various races who were forced to flee their homelands when war and invaders arrived on their doorsteps to plunder their resources. In this story, these venerable beings are collectively known as the Fae, and they come from ancient, myth- ical lands, and have settled in Carnival Row, the seedy immigrant ghetto section of the sprawling human city of the Burgue. There are two primary types of Fae who have settled here: the Pix, full-size pixies/ faeries with wings; and the Pucks, satyr-like beings with horns and hooves. There are glimpses of others, too: fauns, centaurs, and the gremlin-like sprites known as Kobolds. The Burgue is a class-based society that resembles a dreary, grungy, steampunk-in- spired Victorian England, and the Fae are considered the lowest class of all here, as the creatures – many of them working as indentured servants – are stripped of their dignity and their rights. To make matters worse, a serial killer is terrorizing Carnival Row, threatening the del- icate balance of life in the city, where peace among the Fae and humans is tenuous at best. Keeping the peace in the area closest to Carnival Row are constables who care not a whit about those living here, with the exception of human detective Rycro Phi- lostrate (Orlando Bloom), the only one who is respectful of the Fae and tries to solve the murders and keep the fragile peace. But, Philostrate (Philo) has a secret of his own: He lives as a human but was born a faerie. Just as damning, he has rekindled his love affair with Vignette Stonemoss, a refuge faerie, within this intolerant world. Such is the premise of Carnival Row, a web television sci-fi/fantasy drama pro- duced by Amazon Studios and Legendary Television Studios, and airing on Amazon Prime Video. Created by Travis Beacham and Rene Echevarria, the series is based on Beacham's film script "A Killing on Carnival Row." Betsy Paterson, who served as the visual effects supervisor on Season 1, says the work needed to feel grounded and gritty, part of a world that isn't ours but still feels real and physical. Without question, it's a big show with lots of VFX, which mainly involve creating char- acters and sets, built by a number of studios, such as Image Engine (creature animation including the central monster), Pixomondo (faerie wings), Rhythm & Hues (Kobolds), and Important Looking Pirates, or ILPvfx (unique environments and more in Episode 3), plus others. Season 1, which dropped late last summer, features eight episodes. No release date has been announced yet for Season 2 due to interruptions resulting from COVID-19. Most of the series thus far has taken place in Burgue – and especially at Carnival Row. A great deal of set extension work is used for shots from Carnival Row, as the main drag consists of approximately three blocks of constructed set that extends vertically for only about a level and a half. Dark Days CREATING THE THRILLING VFX OF CARNIVAL ROW'S FLASHBACK EPISODE BY KAREN MOLTENBREY Artists added digital faeries (below) to shots of actors on rigs (above).

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