Vine FX blends practical and CGI elements for ITVs After the Flood, crafting immersive world-building crucial to the post-disaster thrillers authenticity, writes Robert Shepherd
By Contributor
Published: March 13, 2024 Updated: March 14, 2024
Vine FX blends practical and CGI elements for ITV's After the Flood, crafting immersive world-building crucial to the post-disaster thriller's authenticity, writes Robert Shepherd
target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin>
Vine FX is cementing its reputation in compositing and water-focused effects. Fresh from its notable creation of stormy seas in Boat Story, its latest work sees it play a crucial role in a mystery thriller set in a town hit by a devastating flood.
In the six-part ITV drama, After the Flood, Sophie Rundle portrays Joanna Marshall, a PC fixated on an ostensibly benign flood fatality. Police attribute an unidentified man's demise in a submerged lift to rising waters, but Joanna questions the circumstances, pondering his mysterious presence and anonymity.
The titular flood scenes were shot at Tees Barrage, a specialised white water rafting facility in Stockton. With the capacity to pump 14,000 litres of water per second through an international standard course, it provided the perfect backdrop.
Standout among shots that received the VFX treatment is a drone pull-out above the flooded village. Part of this dramatic reveal was achieved in-camera, with the production building and filling an enormous water tank and placing building facades around its edge. But the rest was realised with CGI.
We took the drone footage and ran it through Reality Capture photogrammetry software, explains Matt McKinney, senior 3D generalist at Vine FX. That gave us a starting point - a sort of virtual set - and we built 3D geometry around it. The plate from production was like how they used to shoot Westerns - building facades with nothing behind them. We masked out the tank and built an entire town around it in 3D geometry.
To enhance the realism of CG elements, Vine FX applied textures derived from the drone footage, projecting real world buildings onto the geometry in Maya, blending pre-existing overcast lighting for a cohesive visual outcome.
It wasn't as easy as it sounds. The water in the wider shot is interesting, adds Jake Newton, senior 3D generalist at Vine FX. It didn't really call for a full simulation, so we used Maya to generate animated vector maps to create the water surface. You get this really nice, believable texture without having to render out an overly detailed simulation. It's all about efficiency and making sure that you do what's needed for the scene at hand.
Along with building a full village environment, Vine FX incorporated CGI elements such as trees, cars, and buildings to give the sense of a lived-in place. The team also included personal belongings in the back of cars. We made a huge library of assets, things like garden furniture and litter, cars, trees, bushes, and ivy that we could use on the buildings. Those small details are what people don't usually take to be CGI, but it's absolutely crucial to making a believable scene, McKinney adds. You get to a point where it doesn't look artificial because there's just so much in there.
During the flooding sequences, people are caught in fast-moving, dangerous water - from drivers becoming stuck in cars to a baby being swept away. To accomplish this, Vine FX turned to its trusted compositing software, Nuke, and some AI-powered tracking plugins. Achieving an accurate 3D track of the prop baby proved challenging, with water and other practical elements often occluding the carrier and hindering the track.
One of the challenges was identifying matte lines that didn't naturally exist. We had to invent areas where a roof or guttering would typically be so we could seamlessly blend live-action footage with computer-generated imagery, adds Newton. Then we added those items in to hide any joins. Visual effects is about staying invisible, working with in-camera footage. And when you have a show that gives the right amount of attention to production and post production, it's going to be something special.
After the Flood is available on ITVX.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
23/07/2026
Download Now!
To receive a short case study showcasing Vivid Broadcast's audio setup, please enter the following details:
--
First Name* First Name ...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Witbe brings its AI-native testing and monitoring infrastructure to Amsterdam: demonstrations on real devices, a peer-reviewed technical paper in the conference...
23/07/2026
Quickplay, Caretta Research, Evergent, and Yospace have announced that the renowned IBC Pride Happy Hour will once again bring the vibe and fun back to IBC on F...
23/07/2026
At IBC2026, Interra Systems will present this year's focus: operational AI at scale for QC, monitoring, and captioning workflows. The industry has moved pas...
23/07/2026
Illusionfx is finally coming!
Alex Perea July 23, 2026
0 Comments
The new website is now live to mark the occasion.
Since the last update, feedback h...
23/07/2026
Evergent (5.A86) will showcase its Agentic Revenue Orchestration Platform for streaming services, sports leagues, pay-TV operators at IBC2026 (RAI Amsterdam, 11...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
David Dvir, 2D founder (left), Sundeep Reddy (center), and Jean-Marc Bouchut (right), both of Zeiss...
23/07/2026
Screen Australia announces new national documentary accelerator program 23 July 2026
Screen Australia has today announced the Above the Line Documentary Accel...
23/07/2026
RT Commercial has today announced Centra as the official food partner once again of The Traitors Ireland, coming to RT One and RT Player later this year.
Ce...
23/07/2026
RT Commercial today announced Honda as sponsor of Today with David McCullagh RT Radio 1, weekdays 9am 11am.
Broadcasting directly after Morning Ireland in ...
23/07/2026
RT News is pleased to announce Barry Gallagher has been assigned as the new journalist covering news from Cork, Kerry and the wider Southern region
Working al...
23/07/2026
Lock in and load up the cloud. GFN Thursday brings fresh updates and new adventu...
22/07/2026
Among other tweaks to coverage, the broadcaster added announce positions in the ...
22/07/2026
The Australian Sports Technologies Network (ASTN) has reported a sharp acceleration in Australia's sportstech sector, with revenue growth rising from 10% in...
22/07/2026
From a retrofitted broadcast bus to packed Match Day Live! events, Bennett detai...
22/07/2026
TMRW Sports has named Brendan Donohue as President, Flag Football, where he will lead the company's professional flag football business in partnership with ...
22/07/2026
Stephen Arnold Music (SAM) designed and produced soundtracks for nine projection...
22/07/2026
Harmonic has announced a $25,000 donation to Global Empowerment Mission (GEM) fo...
22/07/2026
Telemundo has announced it has acquired from UC3 exclusive U.S. Spanish-language...
22/07/2026
The Rest Is Football, hosted by Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer, and Micah Richards, ...
22/07/2026
Sports Studio has announced a partnership with TheSoul Group to distribute Free ...
22/07/2026
Daktronics has concluded its 2026 High School Video Summit, a two-day hybrid event combining virtual sessions with hands-on host school visits across the countr...
22/07/2026
FOR-A America will exhibit at the MMCA Show in Pensacola, Florida (July 21-24), marking the company's first appearance at the house of worship AV event. FOR...
22/07/2026
The New York Yankees have selected Lumen Technologies (NYSE: LUMN) to connect Ya...
22/07/2026
Calrec will exhibit at IBC 2026 (Stand 8.C47) with demonstrations of its IP-native audio ecosystem built around the Argo console range, and will announce two ne...
22/07/2026
Solid State Logic has announced the appointment of Algam EKO as its distributor for SSL large format consoles in Italy, covering the Live, Broadcast, and Studio...
22/07/2026
FloSports has announced the launch of the FloSports Channel, a free ad-supported streaming channel premiering on Prime Video in the U.S. on July 21. The channel...
22/07/2026
Banana Ball TV (BTV), the broadcast operation of the Savannah Bananas, has insta...
22/07/2026
SiriusXM and Audacy have announced an agreement bringing 42 Audacy sports, news, and talk stations from 29 U.S. markets to SiriusXM. Twenty-three Audacy sports ...
22/07/2026
The collaboration produced more than 500 short-form videos across four cities th...
22/07/2026
At 2,600 sq. ft., the new home of digital content houses a main studio, podcast space, and an auxiliary control room
NFL franchises are accelerating their prod...
22/07/2026
Library now available in Engine Player
Another of Eduardo Tarilonte's popular sample libraries has just been moved over to Engine Audio's Engine Pla...
22/07/2026
All-in-one mic & DSP interface overhauled
Cloudvocal have just refreshed the design of their all-in-one mic, audio interface and DSP processor, introducing ...
22/07/2026
The final boss of the lost dual-op-amp circuit
Electro-Harmonix have just introduced the Deluxe Big Muff Pi 2, which they say offers their latest take on t...
22/07/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Proven managed IP solution helps broadcasters confidently navigate the future of broadcast distribution
LTN announces it has completed successful satellite-to-...
22/07/2026
Today, Chaos announced V-Ray 7, update 4, eliminating the need for asset conversions and tool switching, which slow down media and entertainment pipelines. Arti...
Vine FX blends practical and CGI elements for ITVs After the Flood, crafting immersive world-building crucial to the post-disaster thrillers authenticity, writes Robert Shepherd
