Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/559853
PRIMETIME www.postmagazine.com 15 POST AUGUST 2015 CG helicopters within that same scene." He continues, "We try to make it as invisible as possible; I think [viewers] would be surprised with how many shots we actually do and pretty much [have] gotten really good at selling." According to Kolbe, some of the visu- al effects are completed in-house, while other work is shared with such VFX stu- dios as Gradient Effects or CoSA VFX, both based in LA. "We do all of the above. To pull off the amount of visual effects required in these scripts, and for the costs, we're always trying to find new and different ways of doing the work. My past experience is I set up facilities specifically for projects, I rent facilities as a vendor and now what I do, depending on the project, I will either put together a small team to be able to do a bulk of the work in-house and be able to use those savings to be able to afford to give work to a Gradient or a CoSA. That's kind of the way we've been working lately." Kolbe says the teams rely on the same arsenal of tools as other studios, such as Nuke for compositing, but also points out that Gradient Effects has its own propri- etary software used to create CG versions of the Nathan James as well as create some "phenomenal" water simulations. "This year, Gradient has taken their water simulation software to a whole new level," he says. For the show's 2015 run, Kolbe was brought on not only as VFX supervisor, but as a co-producer, which he says allows him considerably more input in the creative process and early planning of the episodes. "By having the visual effects and production sides together, and being involved in the creative side, it's definite- ly given us a lot more latitude and ability to create better visual effects work," he says. "Now we're designing visual effects with the writers, which is great. Being able to be more involved in the creative process and a part of the production process from the beginning will show much better up on the screen. I'm hoping that's going to be more of the plan as far as where the visual effects industry is going to go, which is to be more involved in the creative process as well as doing the visual effects work." Many backgrounds are altered to accommodate storyline locations. The Nathan James is sometimes an entirely- CG ship.