Craig Wentworth, overall VFX supervisor at Scanline VFX, tells TVBEurope how the spectacular sights and sounds of Formula 1 in the 80s and 90s were recreated for the Netflix miniseries, SENNA
By Matthew Corrigan
Published: January 13, 2025 Updated: January 14, 2025
Craig Wentworth, overall VFX supervisor at Scanline VFX, tells TVBEurope how the spectacular sights and sounds of Formula 1 in the '80s and '90s were recreated for the Netflix miniseries, SENNA
target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin>
Scanline VFX took on a dual role in the production of Netflix drama, SENNA. Explaining the approach taken by the company, Craig Wentworth, overall VFX supervisor, describes the two hats it was necessary to wear,
On the one hand, we provided quite typical visual effects services in the form of the creation of high-end VFX environments and shots in several key episodes. On the other, we functioned for the first time as a project management entity and consultant.
We call it Hub and Spoke,' , he tells TVBEurope, a service that allows us to bring our extensive expertise in complex VFX production to creative partners all over the world. In the case of SENNA, we provided technical guidance to the Brazilian team, and then oversaw the production, schedule, and finance of all aspects of final VFX in post.
This dictated the size of the team involved, says Wentworth, explaining the division of labour for the project. Our Hub and Spoke team consisted of 20 people, including myself, my production partner Vero Lauzon, our production manager Karina Zambelli, several co-ordinators, VFX editors, and a small in-house VFX team.
Working with us were a total of six vendors: Picma Post, Quanta Studios and Miagui were our three key Brazilian partners on the project. They combined for nearly 900 of our shots. NetFX, which is a global network of VFX talent connected via Netflix's infrastructure, produced close to 800 shots for the show.
And the team at ScanlineVFX, which numbered around 300 people, provided 390 VFX shots for several key races. Our in-house team and friends from Eyeline Studios filled out the balance of VFX work.
A total of 2089 VFX shots were created for the series' six episodes in a process that took almost a year, Wentworth explains, Scanline first began meaningful conversations with our client in early February 2023. That is when I came onboard. Main unit wrapped in mid-December that year. The last VFX shot was delivered at the end of September 2024. So we are looking at a 20-month partnership with our Brazilian friends.
For racing fans worldwide, Ayrton Senna was (and remains) an icon of the sport. Formula 1 itself was perhaps more visceral during the period, a feeling which SENNA manages to effectively convey.
I was most certainly a fan of Senna, and of Formula 1 of his era, says Wentworth. That said, his passing somewhat ended my love of the sport. I feel very lucky to have been able to bring Senna's era of racing back to life some 30 years later, and having done so has really re-ignited my passion for the sport at least the late 80s and 90s version.
Recreating racing cars which are now historic was a complex process, with every aspect requiring extensive research. An incredibly talented group of coach builders from Argentina, Crespi Formula 1, spent years reconstructing our cars, based on blueprints and scans of the original vehicles. It was very important to the production to be able to film race action practically, and so many of Senna's most famous cars were built for real, and constructed in a way that would allow us to mount cameras safely, but also drive at pretty high speeds.
We also had to create them digitally for many of our shots, and to fill out the rest of the field. So we scanned the production cars and built 1-to-1 twins of those in CG. These would then be re-dressed to look like other competitors as needed for the story. We also had what we called naked cars' driving around - basically just a chassis and wheels - to which we could add any body we wanted in CG.
Constantly striving for authenticity, the team referred to a large historical archive of footage provided by the FIA (Federation Internationale de l'automobile, the sport's governing body). With real events and people being depicted, ensuring authenticity was essential in this production.
One of the most inspired choices of our director and showrunner, Vicente Amorim, was to intercut our version of events with the actual FIA [footage] from the day, says Wentworth. In many respects, then, VFX had nowhere to hide in terms of portraying accuracy. So unlike, for example, a more fantasy-based' production, we really had to sweat the details. Our digital environments needed to look just like they did in the FIA footage. Our crowds and signage had to match. Ultimately, we paid much more attention to historical accuracy overall.
Virtual production was used extensively on the show, he continues, it was utilised for all close-up footage of our actors driving during racing sequences. We built virtual versions of all of our tracks in Unreal Engine, essentially building the ultimate racing simulator. We surrounded our production cars with screens, and synchronised their movements with a motion base, also driven by Unreal Engine.
Wentworth evidently enjoyed working on SENNA, and is quick to praise the team behind the production. I never really looked at the work as a challenge, to be honest. We had very typical VFX problems to solve: we had set extensions, digital environments, digital vehicles, crowds All of this has been done before. What sets this type of work apart is the quality of the work, its authenticity and how it serves the story.
Our real overall challenge, if I am to be frank, was to produce something
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
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
01/06/2026
Designed to solve a common problem in broadcasting, the automated workflow detects, identifies, removes, and documents copyrighted music
AudioShake has introdu...
01/06/2026
The sports-analytics company combines its data with proprietary AI to help leagu...
01/06/2026
Category line-up & sponsors announced
Photo: Paul Clarke
The Production Music Awards (PMA) have announced that submissions are now officially open ahead of...
01/06/2026
New hybrid sample/synthesis instrument revealed
Excite Audio have just released the latest instalment in their Evolve series, which has been developed in co...
01/06/2026
Latest TONEX expansion captures three rare vintage amps
The newest addition to IK Multimedia's ever-growing TONEX line-up introduces a set of three incr...
01/06/2026
Musically intelligent soft synth gets upgraded
Scaler Music will be probably be best known to many for their music theory tools, but their product range al...
01/06/2026
SBS confirms its broadcast sponsors for FIFA World Cup 2026
1 June, 2026
Media releases
SBS has secured Hyundai, Hisense, Macca's, Rexona, bet365, Com...
01/06/2026
Rohde & Schwarz Satellite Industry Days 2026 guided by the motto From Earth to ...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Marshall Electronics is showcasing a comprehensive lineup of next-generation POV cameras, purpose-built to power today's connected AV environments, at InfoC...
01/06/2026
Adobe Announces Concept to Vector
Deepa Subramaniam June 1, 2026
0 Comments
One of the biggest frustrations we hear from designers is how difficult it...
01/06/2026
Vampire Feature Night Patrol Graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton June 1, 2026
0 Comments
Colorist shapes dark, gritty tone for horror thri...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Mardi 2 juin 14h00
FilmLight (ARRI), 10 rue Ren Boulanger, 75010 Paris
Rejoignez-nous pour d couvrir comment FLAPI (l'API FilmLight) peut transformer e...
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...
31/05/2026
Olivia P rez-Collellmir to Premiere Original Work at Gaud Centennial in Barcelona The Berklee graduate and faculty member will debut her choral symphony with...
31/05/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Wins 15 Awards at the Canadian Screen Awards - See Pho...
31/05/2026
Taiwan is home to more than 500 NVIDIA ecosystem partners. More than 1 million N...
31/05/2026
As factories move from isolated automation to plant-wide intelligence, manufacturers need AI systems that can connect live machine signals, quality systems, wor...
31/05/2026
The NVIDIA AI Cloud ecosystem is accelerating the global buildout of AI factory infrastructure. Partners are expanding capacity to meet growing demand from ente...
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...
Craig Wentworth, overall VFX supervisor at Scanline VFX, tells TVBEurope how the spectacular sights and sounds of Formula 1 in the 80s and 90s were recreated for the Netflix miniseries, SENNA
