Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Remembering the legend: how Scanline VFX retold the SENNA story

13/01/2025

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

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
LINK: https://www.tvbeurope.com/production-post/remembering-the-legend-how-s...
See more stories from tvb

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

01/06/2026

Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 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...

02/05/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Search, Faster Editing, and an AI-Ready Foundation for Modern Media

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

01/05/2026

NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to Integrate Dolby's Full Suite of Premium Picture and Sound Innovations

January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...

30/04/2026

PWHL Reports Record Growth in Third Regular Season as Playoffs Begin April 30

The Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) concluded its third regular season on Saturday, reporting growth across attendance, viewership, digital engage...

30/04/2026

NBC Sports Launches National Sunday MLB Coverage Beginning May 3

NBC Sports will air national MLB coverage on Sundays beginning May 3, with MLB Sunday Leadoff on Peacock and NBCSN at 12:30 p.m. ET, followed by the debut of th...

30/04/2026

Clear-Com Appoints Brian Grahn and Ben Turnwell to New Roles

Clear-Com has appointed Brian Grahn as Market Outreach Manager of the Americas and Ben Turnwell as Business Development Manager for EMEA live. Grahn joined Cle...

30/04/2026

ARRI Introduces cforce MAX Lens Motor for Hi-5 Lens Control System

ARRI has introduced the cforce MAX, a new lens motor for the Hi-5 lens control system. The cforce MAX is twice as fast as the cforce plus motor it replaces whil...

30/04/2026

Knuerr, Voxtronic, and IHSE to Present Integrated Control Room Solution at Airspace World

Knuerr, Voxtronic, and IHSE will jointly present an integrated control room solu...

30/04/2026

The CW Network and ESPN to Stream CW Sports Live Events on ESPN App

The CW Network and ESPN have announced an agreement to make the ESPN App the exclusive streaming home for all CW Sports live events. CW Sports will continue to ...

30/04/2026

Sennheiser Spectera Deployed on Ed Sheerans The Loop Global Stadium Tour

Ed Sheeran's The Loop' tour launched in Auckland in January 2026 before moving on to Australia, with South America and the United States to follow late...

30/04/2026

Audinate Launches Dante Preset Creator for Offline Network Configuration

Audinate has announced Dante Preset Creator, a free online tool for configuring Dante network settings before hardware is available on site. Presets created in ...

30/04/2026

Yahoo Sports Appoints Jarrod Schwarz as General Manager

Yahoo Sports has announced the appointment of Jarrod Schwarz as General Manager of Yahoo Sports. Schwarz will oversee product, design, and technology; revenue a...

30/04/2026

Nielsen: U.S. Viewers Spent 79.8 Billion Minutes Watching Soccer in 2025

Nielsen has released a new report, Get Ready with Media Intelligence: 2026 FIFA World Cup Edition, examining U.S. soccer viewership trends, fan engagement, and ...

30/04/2026

USA Lacrosse Names SportsEngine Preferred Youth Sports Management Platform Partner

USA Lacrosse and SportsEngine have announced an expanded partnership, naming Spo...

30/04/2026

Telos Alliance To Appear at MPTS 2026 Across Multiple Partner Booths

Telos Alliance will participate in the 2026 Media Production and Technology Show (MPTS), taking place May 13-14 at Olympia London. Rather than exhibiting from a...

30/04/2026

DAZN Bolsters U.S. Ambitions With ViewLift Acquisition, Targets Evolving Regional Sports Landscape

The global streamer buys the U.S. DTC platform solutions provider for a reported...

30/04/2026

Tigo Sports Upgrades Video Infrastructure with Ateme Technology

Tigo Sports, Paraguay's leading sports broadcaster, has upgraded its video infrastructure with Ateme solutions for live encoding, multiplexing, and signal c...

30/04/2026

World Rugby and IMG Announce Long-Term Media Rights Partnership

World Rugby and IMG have announced a long-term media rights partnership focused on growing rugby in the United States ahead of the Men's and Women's Rug...

30/04/2026

NWSL & Overtime Re-Up Gen-Z Focused Content Partnership

For the second year in a row, Overtime and the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) are teaming up through a renewed content partnership to bring fans even...

30/04/2026

ESPN Executive Vice President David Roberts Set To Retire

The 22-year ESPN vet's responsibilities will reportedly be taken over by SVP Mike Foss...

30/04/2026

SVG GameDay, Ep. 13: Anaheim Ducks' Scott Fausneaucht - Skating with the Ducks of Orange County

In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...

30/04/2026

Prime Video Announces Multiyear Agreement with Duke Mens Basketball

Amazon and Duke University have announced a multiyear agreement for Prime Video to present exclusive coverage of three Duke Blue Devils men's basketball neu...

30/04/2026

Ratings Roundup: NBA Playoffs Return to NBC Sports up 38%; UFL Viewership up Midway Through Regular Season

Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...

30/04/2026

Introducing Verified by Spotify, a Signal of Authenticity and Trust for the Artists Behind the Music

Music is evolving, and so are the ways you discover and connect with artists. In...

30/04/2026

First-Ever Stockholm Music Week Celebrates the Industry's Present and Future

Between April 22-29, the first inaugural Stockholm Music Week brought together thought leaders and partners across industries including music, tech, government,...

30/04/2026

API launch the Vision+ console

Iconic large-format console upgraded API's iconic Vision console has just been treated to an overhaul that aims to meet the demands of today's profe...

30/04/2026

Lewitt introduce the LCT 440 Pure stereo pair

Comes complete with miking accessories The LCT 440 Pure has proven to be a popular member of Lewitt's mic line-up, offering impressive technical perform...

30/04/2026

SynthFest UK 2026 Announced

24 October 2026 at The Octagon, Sheffield Now in its eighth year, SynthFest UK is the largest event of its kind in the UK, bringing together the top keyboar...

30/04/2026

SBS & NITV LEAD NATIONAL RECONCILIATION WEEK 2026 WITH LANDMARK GULPILIL DOCUMENTARY

SBS & NITV LEAD NATIONAL RECONCILIATION WEEK 2026 WITH LANDMARK GULPILIL DOCUMEN...

30/04/2026

Rohde & Schwarz equips new Terminal 3 at Frankfurt Airport with security scanners

Rohde & Schwarz equips new Terminal 3 at Frankfurt Airport with security scanner...

30/04/2026

Jennifer Ehle and Alex Hassell join the cast of ITV's propulsive lunar thriller First Woman

Jennifer Ehle (Contagion, Zero Dark Thirty) and Alex Hassell (Rivals, Wasteman, ...

30/04/2026

L3Harris Technologies Reports Strong First Quarter 2026 Results

MELBOURNE, Fla., April 30, 2026 - L3Harris Technologies (NYSE: LHX) reports first quarter 2026 results. Highlights Orders of $7.8 billion; book-to-bill of 1....

30/04/2026

Golf Craft Interview: A1s Florian Brown and James Deason

Behind the Broadcast: The Sound of Elite Golf Golf is gaining popularity; the 2025 Ryder Cup achieved record-breaking viewing figures in the UK specifically, wi...

30/04/2026

CPI Media Leverages QuickLink StudioCall for Integrating...

STA VENERA, MALTA, APRIL 29, 2026 CPI Media, a voluntary organization within the Missionary Society of St Paul (MSSP) and a leading media house dedicated to p...

30/04/2026

Hitomi Broadcast Presents UK Debut of MatchBox Panorama a...

New software platform delivers comprehensive timing measurement across production workflows...

30/04/2026

Cutting edge British innovation leads at BroadcastAsia 20...

Once again, the UK Pavilion in Hall 5 of BroadcastAsia 2026 will feature the latest and best in technology specifically developed and tailored for modern media ...

30/04/2026

Avid powers faster workflows and next-generation immersive audio with latest Pro Tools release

Avid powers faster workflows and next-generation immersive audio with latest Pro...

30/04/2026

Ocean Blue Software Launches ATSC 3.0 Inspector for Smart TVs

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/04/2026

Digital Azul positions Lisbon as a remote production hub...

Scalable broadcast-grade production over public internet, replacing traditional OB workflows...

30/04/2026

V Nova Brings DTV Deployment LCEVC Ecosystem Progress and...

Live demonstrations highlight LCEVC ecosystem momentum, AI-powered video pipelines, and expansion across broadcast, streaming, and social media. DTV (TV 3.0) ...

30/04/2026

Student Spotlight: Matthew Leon

Student Spotlight: Matthew Leon The dual major shares his path from community college to Berklee, and how his heritage influences his work. April 29, 2026 B...

30/04/2026

Berklee Artists to Perform at Major Global Music Festivals

Berklee Artists to Perform at Major Global Music Festivals As part of the Berklee Popular Music Institute, students will perform at Lollapalooza, Governors Ba...

30/04/2026

Study: Rokus Low-Cost, Ad-Free Howdy Streamer Hits 1 Million Subs

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/04/2026

MLS Innovation Lab Selects AI Partners

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/04/2026

NRB Files FCC Complaint Over Jimmy Kimmel Live!' Monologue

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...