With its star-studded cast and sprawling narrative, Scott Cooper's Black Mass heads back to the '70s to tell the story of Whitey Bulger - the brother of a state senator and one of South Boston's most infamous criminals.
It was fitting, then, that Zero VFX - with one of its two offices in Boston - was called upon to re-create the bygone era of the city it calls home.
From augmenting crowd shots to swapping one season for another, Zero's work on the project was far- and wide-reaching. Nevertheless, despite its contribution, Zero lived up to its name, leaving no trace of its fingerprints across the production.
We managed to implement a diverse range of invisible effects across Black Mass, working directly with the plate photography, says Sean Devereaux, VFX supervisor for Zero on the project, and more than willing to spill the family secrets.
It was challenging, but I think 99.9% of the people who see it will never know we touched a single frame of it.
Changing Seasons
The Zero team worked on 375 shots in total, straddling period enhancements, shot corrections, and violence augmentation. The name of the game was realism, which, while adding to the drama of the film, was a challenging task.
The director, Scott Cooper, wanted the film to be totally true, in every way possible, to the time it took place, explains Devereaux. That meant shooting on location in Boston and sometimes in front of buildings that wouldn't have existed in the time period. It was up to Zero to remove those buildings from the plates.
Another factor to consider was that Black Mass was shot in late spring, whereas most of the scenes in Black Mass take place in a much colder late winter. Zero's team of seasoned supervisors, producers, and artists took on the monumental task of swapping seasons.
Utilizing a diverse array of tools - including Autodesk's Maya, The Foundry's Nuke, and Adobe's Photoshop, Devereaux and his team went about transforming mild spring to a stark winter. This involved creating CG snow. Any time you see snow in the film, it was added by us, says Devereaux. Also, it entailed removing the thick foliage from the trees visible during footage.
There's really no way to just take off leaves from a tree - you have to replace the entire background, explains Devereaux. A lot of our shots became over 80% digital in order to accomplish that, with entire backdrops of green foliage changed to snow-tipped branches.
Creative Control
All of these changes were impressively created without the aid of any greenscreens. For Devereaux, this wasn't necessarily an issue, as it gave the director much more creative freedom in how he approached each shot for the film.
I want to give the director as much time as possible to figure out how he wanted his shot to look, and as soon as you put that greenscreen up, you're instantly limiting his ability to have more time with the cut, explains Devereaux. In avoiding that, yes, it meant we had to focus on rotoscoping, but it allowed the director more freedom in the editorial process. At Zero, we want to engender that creativity, not distract from it.
Devereaux states that the most VFX-intensive shots faced during the production were those set within a moving vehicle. They did take the most resources, remembers Devereaux. We had to replace absolutely everything outside of the windows, including the reflections, which required a lot of careful, meticulous work from our artists.
Thankfully, VFX Supervisor Paul Linden was on set, he continues. He did a great job on set, ensuring that the transition between on-set shooting and postproduction was as smooth as it could possibly be.
From Drawing a Crowd to Drawing Blood
In addition to the CG snow, the crowd extension - achieved by duplicating extras - became another important element in the Black Mass VFX process.
There were no CG people involved in Black Mass's crowd extensions, explains Devereaux. It was a case of simply duplicating extras from multiple takes. We achieved the effect in 2D using assets captured from other takes and angles. The result was totally seamless.
Zero didn't just need to draw a crowd, but also draw blood. Black Mass is, after all, a violent film, and that meant a great deal of arterial spray being used to enhance the special effects occurring in the original plates.
Zero's work didn't just include enhancing the violence, but also toning it down. If you're a sucker for authenticity, you know bullet holes don't have smoke come out of them when you shoot somebody, but squibs sometimes cause that, says Devereaux. As such, a lot of our work involved squib cleanup. It was about making things look more real while also enhancing the impact of the violence.
Building Boston
Throughout the Black Mass project, reality was the name of the game. Yes, entire buildings were removed, and an epic reversal of Mother Nature was achieved. But despite these feats Zero's involvement needed to remain as low key as possible.
We did a lot of work, but what I'm really proud of is that, of all the work we've done at Zero, Black Mass truly is one where you'll never know we were there, concludes Devereaux. We're invisible - it's an illusion in every sense of the word.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
13/11/2026
The UIM E1 Series wraps its third season this week with the Bombay Sapphire E1 Miami GP, Nov. 11-14, on Biscayne Bay at the Miami Seaplane Base on Watson Island...
13/11/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
13/11/2026
Singer-songwriter Benson Boone will headline entertainment for the Discover NHL Winter Classic between the Utah Mammoth and Colorado Avalanche at Rice-Eccles St...
13/11/2026
Blackmagic Design has announced the Blackmagic Ambisonic Microphone, a 7th order ambisonic microphone array that captures spatial audio for immersive video prod...
13/11/2026
SMPTE has announced that The Studio B&H and Riedel Communications will provide the video infrastructure and communications technology for the Solutions Hub at t...
13/11/2026
The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) has announced the theme and program focus for the 2027 HPA Tech Retreat, which takes place Feb. 14-18, 2027, in La ...
13/11/2026
Football Manager 27 Touch is available on Apple Arcade starting today. The game ...
13/11/2026
MotoGP has announced a two-year media rights agreement with ESPN covering the Un...
13/11/2026
Apple Sports, the free iPhone app, has added the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) to its lineup of supported sports, in time for Saturday's UFC 334. The...
13/11/2026
The NBA and Fanatics Studios, the joint venture between Fanatics and entertainme...
13/11/2026
ESPN held its annual EDGE Innovation Conference last night and offered up an ove...
13/11/2026
Regional sports network gives Ithaca College, SUNY Cortland students a platform to thrive
One of the biggest games in Division III college football will be pla...
13/11/2026
Studer-inspired 500-series PWM compressor unveiled
The HLabs range already includes a couple of Studer-inspired offerings in the form of the PRE169 and EQ16...
13/11/2026
Download Now!
To view the white paper, please enter the following details:
--
First Name* First Name
Company*
Country* Please select your countryA...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Blue Lucy, the workflow orchestration and integration platform for broadcasters, rights owners and localisation companies, today announced an integration with c...
13/11/2026
Krotos announces Black Friday offers on Studio Pro and Studio Max
Brie Clayton November 12, 2026
0 Comments
First-year annual plans start at US$195.99...
13/11/2026
Blackmagic Design Announces Blackmagic Ambisonic Microphone
Brie Clayton November 12, 2026
0 Comments
New 7th order ambisonic microphone with 108 MEMS...
13/11/2026
Meet the Berklee Student Setting Planetary Motion to Music With his compositional platform SoniKosmos, Javier Roqueni aims to make the universe the ultimate i...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , er...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , er...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Amagi, the media industry cloud company, today announced a partnership with Golden Times Media Technology (stock code 920021.BJ), a Beijing-based media and tech...
13/11/2026
CGI (TSX: GIB.A) (NYSE: GIB), one of the largest independent IT and business consulting services firms in the world, together with its Malaysian partner, Cedar ...
13/11/2026
SMPTE, the home for media professionals, technologists and engineers, today announced that The Studio B&H and Riedel Communications will provide the video infra...
13/11/2026
iWedia, a global leader in connected TV software solutions, will present its software-first approach to DRAM optimization at Android TV APAC Summit 2026 in Bang...
13/11/2026
Beginning today, November 13, Apple HomeView is available for purchase at Apple Store locations, on the Apple Store online, and in the Apple Store app in select...
13/11/2026
From pediatric research to smart hospitals, AI is helping care teams spend less time on routine tasks and more time with patients.
Health systems and startups...
12/11/2026
Industry leaders examine how Dynamic Media Facility, Media eXchange Layer, and c...
12/11/2026
The junior Tar Heel is embracing the technical and creative challenges of live production while emerging as a leader and mentor in the control room...
12/11/2026
Gracenote, Nielsen's content intelligence business, has released its fifth a...
12/11/2026
RTL Deutschland will bring the NHL to free-to-air TV in Germany starting Nov. 30...
12/11/2026
Clear-Com supported On Air 2026, a 24-hour student-led broadcast connecting 45 u...
12/11/2026
uniqFEED has opened a Remote Operations Center (ROC) in Madrid, Spain. It is already operational, delivering virtual advertising for LaLiga matches. The ROC is ...
12/11/2026
Disney, ESPN and the NBA will present Dunk the Halls, the third real-time animated NBA game using Sony's Beyond Sports data visualization technology, on Chr...
12/11/2026
Van Wagner has launched Van Wagner RELAY, a digital platform for official athlet...
12/11/2026
Deal brings together two of the industry's most established graphics brands and significantly expands Vizrt's footprint in U.S. sports and regional broa...
12/11/2026
Euro TV Production GmbH of Austria has upgraded its outside broadcast vehicle with Lawo technology. The mc 36 Classic console in service since 2019 was replaced...
12/11/2026
Tagboard has launched Spark Resize, an AI-assisted tool now in beta that takes an existing graphic and produces a new version for a different aspect ratio or sc...
With its star-studded cast and sprawling narrative, Scott Cooper's Black Mass heads back to the '70s to tell the story of Whitey Bulger - the brother of a state senator and one of South Boston's most infamous criminals.
