
22 May, 2019 - 08:01
FX Legion recently wrapped the visual effects for the fifth season of the CBS series, Madam Secretary. The LA and B.C.-based company assembled a team of over 30 artists to craft more than 100 visual effects for the show. The series called for a broad range of computer-generated shots, from large-scale green screens, and matte paintings to digital environments that are integral to the geopolitical issues that shows storyline addresses. (VFX Breakdown Reel)
This season of Madam Secretary has been exciting right out the gate. The premiere episode begins with a bang, as a rocket-propelled grenade explodes in the Oval Office just as a pivotal agreement is about to be signed. Legion simulated dense smoke, clouds of dust and debris, adding to the chaos of the aftermath as the wounded struggle to find their way out of the rubble.
Creator, Writer and Head Producer, Barbara Halls political drama is shot in New York, with a storyline rooted in Washington, D.C. The logistics require Legion to craft photorealistic environments that replicate icon monuments, buildings, and locations in the nations capital, along with the variety of other visual effects that the show requires. A computer-generated shot of the White House viewed from the perspective of Pennsylvania Avenue, and the digital recreation of the Lincoln Memorial that syncs seamlessly with live-action footage are among the visual effects that enable scenarios to unfold in the nations capital.
The plight of the Syrian people is core to this seasons storyline. Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord (Tea Leoni) tries to broker deals for humanitarian aid with heads of state. She seeks out the Chinese Foreign Minister at a tech conference where she finds him immersed in a VR game. Legions team created an entire CG virtual video game environment, replete with a horde of alien monsters that explode and shatter mid-air as he enthusiastically fires on them. Match moving his performance, artists transferred it to an avatar playing the game inside its virtual world. Looped run cycles and interactive death animations unfolding in real-time were simulated in Houdini and then rendered in Redshift.
A long establishing shot provides the cold open for episode 506, jumping directly into the heart of the story with a hard-hitting scene with hundreds of desperate Syrians flooding the Turkish border seeking refuge. Originally shot in NY State, the producers called on VFX Legion to bolster the number of displaced men, women and children in the practical footage. The studios matte painters, compositors, and CG artists augmented the sequence, building a large crowd of refugees that reflects the scale of a mass exodus.
When producers discovered that the number of people on the naval vessel that was relocating them during this natural disaster needed bulking up, they scheduled a second unit shoot with Legions VFX Supervisor David Isyomin on set directing the action to ensure that the footage aligned with the CGI. Artists then Rotoscoped out the entire foreground and added the sky, along with the additional people during the compositing of the scene.
Legion added to the realism of the computer-generated bombing of the presidential palace in Nicaragua with digital fire, debris and other elements simulated in Houdini. Its team built on existing assets from ActionVFXs library, eliminating the need to create each shot from scratch and maximizing cost-effectiveness. Another scenario focused on global warming called for a computer-generated C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft flying through a hurricane, which Legions team simulated in Houdini, rendered in Redshift and lit in Maya.
The most visual effects-driven episode of the season, aptly titled Proxy War, required over a dozen complex shots - from a large set extension and a computer-generated shelled-out lot in Syria, to detailed matte paintings that stand in for the demolished buildings in the background. The digital environment is the setting for children playing football when their laughter turns to terror as they hear the sound of a cluster bomb just before impact. A scene opening with officials walking through the take-off of a computer-generated MiG aircraft via satellite ends as they drop the cluster bomb.
Madam Secretary shines a light on an issue ripped from todays headlines in an episode that opens with a Mexican woman and her young son as their long trek through the Sonoran Desert ends as they reach the US border. After assurances of help from the border patrol, the scene closes with the mothers arrested as the son boards a bus headed to a detention center. The establishing environments, a barren desert landscape and the parking lot of a US sheriffs office, were created by Legions Matt Painter Marc Adamson and Compositor Eugen Olsen. Ruy Delgado handled the camera all of the match moves in the scene.
About VFX Legion:
Based in Burbank and British Columbia, VFX Legion specializes in providing episodic television shows and feature films with high-quality visual effects that get the most out of every budget. Launched in 2013 with a pioneering pipeline at its core, Founder, CD, Senior Visual Effects Supervisor, James David Hattin, and the studios veteran management team, support staff work with a collective of 80+ skilled VFX artists as a single unit, meeting the challenge of high shot counts and tight deadlines for multiple projects.
Legions work includes TV series, such as How to Get Away with Murder, Madam Secretary, Scandal, Suits, El Chapo, Eye Candy, Revolution, and Gone, to name a few. Hardcore Henry, Sinister 2, The Purge: Election Year and The Purge: Anarchy are among the studios film credits. The company is currently wrapping up work on a new feature film out of Blumhouse Productions. For more information about VFX Legion and its services visit hhtp://www.vfxlegion.com
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
08/07/2025
As TV broadcasters shift from wary tire-kicking to increasingly enthusiastic adoption of AI technology, new ways of doing things are taking hold at lightning sp...
08/07/2025
Content personalization has been a hot topic ever since the emergence of niche cable networks and the VCR in the 1980s allowed consumers to access content geare...
08/07/2025
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and monetization at scale, announces that major French media group RMC BFM has selected Broadpeak's server-side ad insertio...
08/07/2025
MBS, a leading service integrator and managed gateway operator, has announced an agreement with SES to acquire a part of its media services in Germany and the U...
08/07/2025
WASHINGTON Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr is applauding the passage of President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill and provision...
08/07/2025
SYDNEY RTS has announced that Channel 7 Sydney has deployed a new comms system from RTS as part of a larger ST-2110 upgrade....
08/07/2025
ATLANTA & CINCINNATI Gray Media, Inc. and The E.W. Scripps Company have entered into agreements to swap television stations across five mid-sized and small mark...
07/07/2025
SBS Farewells Chair George Savvides AM
7 July, 2025
Media releases
Born of Greek Cypriot parents, Mr Savvides joined the SBS Board as Deputy Chair in Febru...
07/07/2025
Advanced vision solutions deliver more than reliable night vision for tactical-edge warfighters. Today's technological advances can provide the capability f...
07/07/2025
BALTIMORE Sinclair has named Narinder Sahai its executive vice president and chief financial officer, effective immediately....
07/07/2025
Riedel Communications today announced the launch of RefSuite, a powerful new Managed Technology solution tailored to professional sports workflows. RefSuite com...
07/07/2025
Regional base will foster client engagement, partner collaboration, and executive touchpoints
Skandha Media Services, a leading provider of cloud-native media ...
07/07/2025
Advanced Systems Group, LLC (ASG), a technology and services provider for media creatives and content owners, announced its Against All Odds - ASG Builds Cutti...
07/07/2025
Agreement secured on the strength of Skandha's proven track record in delivering reliable managed services across the full content life cycle for existing h...
07/07/2025
1-2 Punch: The Cloud, Generative AI, and the Future of Sports-Content Distributi...
07/07/2025
Tests and decisions: Formula E host broadcaster Aurora on launching new AR graph...
07/07/2025
Building tension: Using new AR graphics for storytelling at the Formula E penult...
07/07/2025
Altitude Sports' Matt Krol on the Success of the RSN's In-Arena Postgame...
07/07/2025
SVG Rewind: Four NFL Clubs Bring Us on Set of Respective Media Day Shoots An in-depth conversation with 49ers Laura Johnson, Ravens Jay O'Brien, Las Vegas R...
07/07/2025
Cosm To Build Fifth Shared Reality Venue in Cleveland as Part of Bedrock's ...
07/07/2025
Back to All News
She Walks in Darkness, Agust n D az Yanes New Film, Premieres ...
07/07/2025
CULVER CITY, CALIFORNIA As Apple Music marks its 10th anniversary this year, Apple unveils its most ambitious creative project to date: a brand-new state-of-the...
07/07/2025
RT has announced that Mark Bignell has been appointed Commissioning Editor for Comedy following a public competition. This senior editorial position will drive...
05/07/2025
Back to All News
Superestar, the Story of a Star Who Never Changed. Premiering July 18
Entertainment
05 July 2025
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard
Dis...
04/07/2025
By Lucy Spicer
Editor's note: We are deeply saddened by the passing of Robe...
04/07/2025
The Summer Reading Challenge has inspired children across the U.K. to embrace a ...
04/07/2025
Introducing CVP Auctions: Trusted Tech, At Auction-Only Prices
Brie Clayton July 4, 2025
0 Comments
A New Destination for Film and Broadcast Gear at U...
04/07/2025
Unveiling China's Ecological Wonders with URSA Mini Pro 12K
Brie Clayton July 4, 2025
0 Comments
Nature Documentaries Freeze Epic Momentsin Extrem...
04/07/2025
Create Any Planet in After Effects
Graham Quince July 4, 2025
0 Comments
The Advanced 3D renderer in After Effects makes it really easy to import 3D o...
04/07/2025
Custom Gradient Colorize for Resolve Fusion
Simon Ubsdell July 4, 2025
0 Comments
Digging into the theory of the gradient colorize process to build ou...
04/07/2025
Watching live sports on TV these days is a delicate balance for broadcasters how much information is too much?...
04/07/2025
WASHINGTON As Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr works to achieve his goal of a very busy, productive summer at the FCC, the agency has rele...
04/07/2025
Other World Computing Launches OWC Guardian USB-C Hardware-Encrypted Portable SS...
04/07/2025
CANAL Brings MotoGP to Vision Pro with Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive
Brie Clayton July 3, 2025
0 Comments
Experience MotoGP like never before as CA...
04/07/2025
Friday 4 July 2025
Watch the trailer here https://youtu.be/Od5WpvWmDr8
Further...
04/07/2025
The Pitch comes to RT Radio 1 airwaves this Sunday at 7pm. The Pitch is a brand...
03/07/2025
For our Vario-Jib, as well as for a repertoire of weights, we now have carts that make transport easier...
03/07/2025
One of our latest innovations: Slider Drive Unit!
Our Vario Slider not only comes with improvements and new features, but also with its own drive unit!
Our i...
03/07/2025
The 360 EVO lives up to its name: 360-degree rotation not only on the pan axis, but also on the roll axis, enables filmmakers to take their creative visions eve...
03/07/2025
What a buzzing few days at BSCExpo in London!
We were thrilled to connect with so many talented professionals from the world of cinematography.
A huge thank ...
03/07/2025
ADOLESCENCE - Shot with Panther Tower"The whole rig had to be detachable mid-episode
Netflix limited drama series Adolescence has been gaining attentio...
03/07/2025
To achieve a true level of decisive overmatch, communication systems must be as ...
03/07/2025
The Broadcasters Foundation of America has named Ray Hopkins, president of U.S. distribution at Paramount Global, to its board of directors....
03/07/2025
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. In his first major policy speech, Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr outlined his Build America Agenda for the agency'...
03/07/2025
As the industry is making a major push to transition to NextGen TV and develop new businesses that will fund the next generation of broadcasting, TV Tech's ...
03/07/2025
Despite enabling its subscribers to watch films and TV shows in the highest possible resolution, Netflix has revealed it is taking things old school with the in...
03/07/2025
WASHINGTON In response to news that Paramount Global has agreed to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit by President Donald Trump, Democrats and other administra...
03/07/2025
WUPPERTAL, Germany Riedel Communications today launched RefSuite for professional sports workflows....