Jonathan Cheetham, visual effects supervisor at Jellyfish Pictures, talks to TVBEurope about working on Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Author:
Jenny PriestleyPublish date:
Dec 14, 2017Social count:
0
Jonathan Cheetham, visual effects supervisor at Jellyfish Pictures, talks to TVBEurope about working on Star Wars: The Last Jedi
0
SHARES
Visual effects, animation and motion graphics studio Jellyfish Pictures were among the vendors employed by ILM and LucasFilm to help create Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
Jellyfish previously worked on Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, working on the post-vis of the film. Having created 150 final shots for the Gareth Edwards directed film, they were delighted when LucasFilm wanted to work with them again.
"We were only supposed to do a portion of the pre- and post-vis and in the end I think we did almost half of the actual film," says visual effects supervisor Jonathan Cheetham. "They then came back to us and send wed like you to do more and trickier stuff for The Last Jedi, so our partnership is growing."
"We did a lot more heavy 2D/3D effects in each shot on this film," explains Cheetham. "The majority of shots were set extensions because they always wanted to build on the scope of the film, build on the scope of the sets that they built. So there were a lot of extensions of ships and environments.
"We also did a lot of work on holograms, so a lot of the time we working in amongst actors and artists on set to coordinate the holograms and how they appeared and how they sat within each shot," he continues.
"The look of those was pretty much directed by ILM so we did a lot of asset sharing on a lot of those ship builds and interiors. There was a lot of work on how the film should fit together with their shots and our shots. But a lot of the time was adding more drama - be it explosions or atmosphere. We did a lot of fluid animations and big sims for Houdini this time round which we dont usually get the chance to do."
Of course, Jellyfish wasnt the only vendor working on The Last Jedi so the team had to make sure the software and kit they were using worked seamlessly with other companies.
"We had to make sure that the kit we used was the same as other studios were using, because we had to be very aware of shared assets and shared pipelines," says Cheetham. "All our versions of Nuke and Maya etc. had to be in line with the other studios. We predominantly used Nuke for compositing, Maya and Houdini for the CG and effects, we grew our team for Matchmove and layout and we did use a little bit of ZBrush.
"At its peak we had about 35-40 people working on the project. We worked on the film for quite a long time, it was spread over six months. That was made up of production, prep and roto and comp, CG Matchmove and effects. A decent amount of the studio was working on it. I think we did about 130-140 shots," says Cheetham.
Star Wars will always be intrinsically linked with London - be it through principal photography at Pinewood Studios or the post house and vfx companies in Soho. "I think everyone feels Star Wars comes home every time its in London," says Cheetham.
"That was very much the feeling when we were working on post-vis in London. With the amount of vendors working on the film, and the fact that ILM now have an office in London, it felt like Jellyfish were part of the bigger Star Wars family."
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Zero in on one that says yes (and no)
Andy Marken May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image courtesy of Deposit Photos
For content creators the most difficu...
29/05/2026
With InfoComm 2026 just weeks away, NDI is giving attendees plenty of reasons to...
29/05/2026
Reaffirming a partnership that has defined Canadian sports broadcasting since 19...
29/05/2026
Mobile/tablet is No. 2 device for watching TV, suggesting that the sports-production industry needs to take another look at the format
Ring Digital's Sprin...
29/05/2026
Berliner Ensemble, one of Berlin's five major theater companies, has expande...
29/05/2026
Solid State Logic will showcase its new compact, fly-away TCA Tour audio product...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, passed away last month on April 12 ...
29/05/2026
Paramount+ will be the English-language U.S. home for Barclays Women's Super...
29/05/2026
Further strengthening its virtualisation strategy to fully support broadcasters ...
29/05/2026
Swiss broadcaster Canal Alpha has deployed Harmonic's award-winning, software-based XOS Advanced Media Processor to modernize playout operations across cant...
29/05/2026
PTZOptics will showcase a new generation of intelligent video workflows at InfoComm 2026, June 17-19, Las Vegas. Visitors to booth N8227 will see how PTZOptics ...
29/05/2026
Arizona's Family has launched the Arizona's Family Sports (AZFS) streaming app, a new direct-to-consumer destination for live, local sports. The app is ...
29/05/2026
Starting in 2027, DAZN will be the exclusive home of The Canadian Football Leagu...
29/05/2026
Comcast Business has detailed the advanced network infrastructure it has deploye...
29/05/2026
In two-day event, leaders from academia and industry explored solutions to chall...
29/05/2026
The Basketball Tournament (TBT), now entering their 13th year of competition, ha...
29/05/2026
Roku has launched FOX One as a Premium Subscription on The Roku Channel in the U.S. Roku customers can now subscribe to FOX One using their Roku account for liv...
29/05/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
29/05/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent ratings news and is derived from press re...
29/05/2026
The days are getting longer, the temperatures are rising, and playlists are filling up for the season. With summer around the corner, Spotify's global edito...
29/05/2026
New retro-inspired MPC announced
There are few devices that have gained the status held by Akai Pro's MPC range, and in recent years, the company have s...
29/05/2026
Save up to 30 on acclaimed titles
Following a successful launch at Superbooth 2026, Bjooks have revealed that they will be continuing the Kickstarter campa...
29/05/2026
Binaural monitoring application improved
Genelec have just released an update that brings some powerful new features to their HRTF-based binaural headphone ...
29/05/2026
6 June 2026 at SAE Institute, London, UK
IMSTA FESTA 2026 is almost upon us, with some of the biggest names in pro-audio set to descend upon SAE Institute i...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, died April 12, 2026, at his home in...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Comparing 5 AI Video Enhancers for Restoring Old Video Quality
Kate Luvis May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Digitizing VHS, MiniDV, and other legacy formats doe...
29/05/2026
Studio Hamburg Builds New Post Pipeline with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Workflow replaces a patchwork of legacy tools...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
At the Intersection of Music and Dance, an Epic Collaboration Boston Conservatory musicians and dancers found creative parallels in their recent performance o...
29/05/2026
Back to All News
Latino Film Institute Fellows Screen Their Short Films at the Egyptian Theatre
The Inclusion Fellowship and Spark Animation Grant uplifts 15 ...
29/05/2026
GLOOKAST LAUNCHES CINNAFILM TACHYON PLUGIN FOR MEDIA PRODUCER AND MEDIA SERVICES
This release first appeared here.
Visit our Tachyon product page or contact...
29/05/2026
May 29 2026, 09:00 (PDT) Dolby and rednote Bring More Immersive Storytelling to...
29/05/2026
Something fundamental has shifted in how people consume media. Audiences aren't abandoning television or radio content; they're just expanding how, wher...
29/05/2026
Youtube exclusive special drops today
Watch now
UKTV today announces another e...
29/05/2026
Back to All News
The Official Trailer of Physical 100 Italy, on Netflix From Se...
Jonathan Cheetham, visual effects supervisor at Jellyfish Pictures, talks to TVBEurope about working on Star Wars: The Last Jedi
