
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 ...
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...
10/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/06/2026
Kiswe announces an expanded long-term partnership with ONE Championship (ONE), t...
09/06/2026
SiriusXM will broadcast FOX Sports' English-language commentary for all 104 FIFA World Cup 2026 matches from June 11 through July 19, available to subscribe...
09/06/2026
EVS has announced it is changing its corporate name from EVS Broadcast Equipment to EVS, reflecting the company's expanded portfolio beyond broadcast equipm...
09/06/2026
Fox Corporation and the NFL have announced a multi-year agreement to bring NFL c...
09/06/2026
FOX Sports and ReachTV, an airport media network, have announced an agreement to...
09/06/2026
Cosm Atlanta, a 70,000-square-foot, three-level immersive entertainment venue located within Centennial Yards adjacent to State Farm Arena and Mercedes-Benz Sta...
09/06/2026
NESN captured five awards at the 2026 Boston/New England Emmy Awards, including four program honors and one individual award.
These awards reflect the passion...
09/06/2026
Ateme has announced that its support for Apple Immersive Video workflows was referenced by Apple during its 2026 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC26).
Atem...
09/06/2026
Bitmovin has announced that Axel Springer SE has deployed Player Web X, Bitmovin's web video player, to power audio readouts of news articles and an audio-o...
09/06/2026
Grass Valley and Lawo have announced a technology collaboration to validate orch...
09/06/2026
LiveU has announced a deployment with the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) t...
09/06/2026
Globecast has announced the launch of its Content Exchange platform, powered by ...
09/06/2026
NBC Sports will present live coverage of Overtime's OT7 football league Championship Weekend from Sullivan Field at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angel...
09/06/2026
We're in three different locations, three different production teams. Coveri...
09/06/2026
The intro video for Men's Basketball won Outstanding In-Venue Video in the C...
09/06/2026
Today is match day minus two for FIFA and HBS. On Thursday, there will be two ma...
09/06/2026
Since their debut, the clock-and-score graphic has drawn the affinity and ire of...
09/06/2026
Last month, Spotify hosted PURE FLOWERS LIVE, a special event celebrating the re...
09/06/2026
Last month, RADAR U.K. artist Skye Newman took the stage in East London for a sp...
09/06/2026
Company to cease operating on 30 June 2026
Australian loudspeaker and amplifier manufacturer Wayne Jones Audio have announced that after much consideration,...
09/06/2026
Increases low-end weight and character
The latest plug-in release from Sheffield-based fedDSP aims to offer an all-in-one solution for users in search of mo...
09/06/2026
Introduces AI Studio Assistant, Moises Studio integration & more
Fender Studio have just announced the launch a significant update that brings an array of n...
09/06/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) is a statutory body mandated to spearhead the equitable growth and development of the South African film and video...
09/06/2026
The BBC has found its Hercule Poirot.
After Deadline revealed last month that t...
09/06/2026
Media buyers and sellers can now compare YouTube reach from computer, mobile, an...
09/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/06/2026
A project aimed at modernizing scheduling operations across Mediaset's channel portfolio
Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitab...
09/06/2026
tvONE, an ACT Entertainment brand, debuts its most powerful video processor ever built: the 4RU CALICO PRO (C7-PRO-4200), at InfoComm 2026 (Booth N6813). Engine...
09/06/2026
Composer and Conductor Eric Whitacre to Receive Honorary Doctorate at Berklee Va...
09/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/06/2026
Technology collaboration to validate AMPP and Lawo HOME orchestration integration, showcasing Dynamic Media Facility principles in practice.
Grass Valley and ...
09/06/2026
Bitmovin, a leading provider of video streaming solutions, today announced that Axel Springer SE, international media and technology company, has deployed Playe...
09/06/2026
LiveU, the global leader in live IP-video solutions, today announced a landmark deployment with the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) that has brought Video ...
09/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/06/2026
Two Alumni Win Tony Awards Mike Morris and Cedric Leiba Jr. won awards for Best Orchestrations and Best Play, respectively.
June 8, 2026
By
Tori Donahue
...
09/06/2026
NVIDIA GPUs with Confidential Computing are now used for confidential inference in Apple's Private Cloud Compute (PCC), as it expands beyond Apple's dat...
09/06/2026
X-Rite Pantone Launches Offset360 to Modernize Color Control Across Existing Pre...
09/06/2026
09 Jun 2026
VEON Appoints Serkan Ozturk as Chief of Staff & Strategy Officer Dubai and New York, June 9, 2026 - VEON Ltd. (NASDAQ: VEON), a global digital oper...
09/06/2026
Tuesday 9 June 2026
Katie Price: Nothing to Hide, a candid and unfiltered accou...