However, even with the travel restrictions caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Goyer was not prepared to compromise principal photography taking place at Troy Studios in Ireland, Germany, Iceland, Malta, Fuerteventura and Tenerife. There were lots of Sophie's Choices made by David Goyer because you have to hit a number and fit it in the box.' Michael Enriquez came in and carried the post and burden of vendor communication. 'Chris MacLean couldn't be available while he was supervising on set and was a large component on the creative side in physical production. 'I realised early on that we needed a second visual effects supervisor because there was such an overlap between physical production and post-production, and the different time zones,' explains Kathy Chasen-Hay, senior VP VFX, Skydance. The Empire is aggressive and male so I wanted their ships to be like knives, which meant that they weren't just folding space but ripping it.'Įmpire ships fire upon the planet of Anacreon (Image credit: Apple TV+)Īn additional 19 VFX vendors had to be brought in to support lead vendor DNEG, Important Looking Pirates and Outpost VFX as the VFX shots for the ten episodes of Season 1 went from 1,500 to 3,900. 'What I tried to do in the script is to at least emotionally describe the effect, because I always come from a place of story.

We kept coming back to 'What's something we haven't seen before? What's something that is iconic? What's a shape that feels simple?''Ĭonsidering the vast scope of the production, which takes place on various planets over thousands of years and involves space travel, VFX were a critical part of the storytelling. 'But if you don't have anything to point to at the beginning it becomes daunting to develop the visual language.

'We told them, 'It's not going to be like any of those things',' recalls Goyer, who serves as an executive producer, showrunner and writer. The main visual references for studio executives on Foundation were Star Wars, Star Trek and Alien. ILP used 3D elements for the clouds, nebula and starfield that appear in the sky of the planet Synnax (Image credit: Apple TV+)

Flare 3d model