Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1517009
o c t o b e r • n o v e m b e r • d e c e m b e r 2 0 2 2 c g w 7 A ward-winning VFX and design studio Phosphene served as principal visual effects house for FX's criti- cally acclaimed mystery series A Murder at the End of the World. Working under the direction of series VFX supervisor Aaron Raff and show-side VFX producer Tavis Larkham, the studio delivered scores of dazzling visuals for the seven-epi- sode mystery thriller, including exteriors and interiors of its central location: a tech billionaire's mysterious resort. The work received a nomination for a Visual Effects Society (VES) Award for Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode. Created, written, and directed by Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij, A Murder at the End of the World centers on a Gen Z amateur sleuth, Darby Hart (Emma Corrin), who is working to solve a murder at a secluded luxury hotel in Iceland during a furious snowstorm. The se- ries also stars Clive Owen, Harris Dickinson, Alice Braga, and Marling, herself. The hotel complex is a layered mix of practical locations, set builds, and visual effects. Raff, who also served as Phosphene's studio VFX supervisor, joined the series' production team in scout- ing locations in Iceland. They chose an existing hotel located at the base of a snow-covered mountain range for the hotel's first floor. A separate location, a hot spring in eastern Iceland, was selected for its curvy entryway. Phosphene's visual effects team combined the two sites and added a distinctive circular CG second floor as well as snow dris, falling snow, and other environmental effects. "Aaron Raff is a true wizard of visual effects and A Murder at the End of The World owes much to his taste, talent, ingenuity, and the work of everyone at Phosphene behind the scenes to realize real- ly challenging sequences across seven hours of storytelling," says Marling. "Aaron was deeply involved in the creation of the hotel from the very first scout in Iceland, working closely with Zal, our produc- tion designer, Alex DiGerlando, and me to find the best way to blend portions of existing locations in Iceland with sets we created on the sound stage in New Jersey, with portions of the hotel that would only ever exist as visual effects." The hotel's ring section was designed by DiGerlando (who also designed the interior) and modeled by Phosphene. "The CG team refined the model and added photorealistic architectural details along with layers of snow," says Raff. "The building's exterior is made of concrete to give it the feel of a bunker." Scenes in the resort's interior were shot on a massive practical set in New Jersey. Raff and the Phosphene team built matte paintings from location plates to create exterior views from the windows of the circular hotel structure. "I spent a lot of time in Iceland with a VFX photographer, shooting video panoramas in every direction and at every time of day," Raff recalls. "We captured the line of sun, shadows moving across the mountain, and gusts of wind. Those environmen- tal details bring the panorama to life." The Phosphene team, led by producer Steven Weigle, also cre- ated visuals to support a high-tech LiDAR security system used by the resort's billionaire owner to monitor activity in 3D space. They accomplished that by setting up frozen moments with actors in var- ious parts of the hotel. Those scenes were captured using handheld scanners, eight-camera rigs, and LiDAR. "We simulated how such a system would work by, essentially, doing it for real," explains Raff. "Using photogrammetry techniques, we assembled what looks like a