axisVFX, a Bristol- and Glasgow-based visual effects studio established by animation company Axis and visual effects supervisors Grant Hewlett and Howard Jones, created compelling VFX for latest episode of the 2014 series of the BBC's Doctor Who.
The episode, directed by Douglas Mackinnon and titled Flatline, contains 66 VFX shots from axisVFX , including a new multi-dimensional menace called the Boneless. The axisVFX crew not only created the visual effects for the shots , but also conceived, designed and developed the look and performance of this new impossible creature.
The Boneless are a race that only exists in two dimensions, and they are first seen as they explore our planet, distorting three-dimensional surfaces as they go. As the creatures spend more time in our three-dimensional world , they begin to evolve and explore the third dimension themselves with a potentially devastating effect.
The script described how these creatures move, grow and evolve over time, but everyone who read the words on the page imagined it differently in their head , said Hewlett. So this was our biggest challenge, visualizing something that had never been seen before, something that initially had to be flat but at the same time become sinister, threatening and frightening.
Following the initial meetings with Executive Producers Steven Moffat, Brian Minchin and Mackinnon, the axisVFX design and concept team set about producing concept artwork that explored how the Boneless could look. VFX Art Director Ste Dalton worked with the concept artists taking influences from many different places, from Ferro fluids to Francis Bacon.
We presented over t30 different design explorations for the Boneless creatures, said Jones. We knew whatever we created in a piece of digital concept art had to be producible under the challenging constraints of a TV production schedule. With that in mind, we very quickly moved from 2D concepts into doing test sequences utilising 3D tools in Side Effects' Houdini and 2D tools in The Foundry's Nuke. These tests and explorations were led by our FX Lead Joe Thornley-Heard.
After testing a number of solutions for the Boneless, including using Kinetic cameras from the Xbox to re-create three-dimensional creatures live with real actors, we settled on a more flexible way of working, said Hewlett.
Hewlett and axisVFXCreative Director Stu Aitken worked together to deliver a plan leveraging high-end performance capture techniques from the animation team, including 3D body scanning and motion capture.
These are techniques we have honed on multiple projects, and we have it down to a fine art. The speed of shooting on Doctor Who meant we needed a robust and flexible approach, which would accommodate last minute changes easily. We arranged to 3D scan all of the actors in costume and then set up a motion-capture shoot , which was directed by Douglas , said Aitken
Hewlett worked closely on-set with Mackinnon providing on the spot technical and creative solutions including shooting plates.
Due to the complex nature of the script and the demanding shooting schedule, I really had to get hands-on, shooting plates that would later become shots, suggesting alternatives to save valuable shooting time and re-designing shots as we went. Douglas was great to work with as he is always asking questions and pushing what's possible. I really enjoyed the journey, said Hewlett.
Lighting the Boneless and placing them into the shots seamlessly was paramount for authenticity and believability for the audience. The lighting and rendering team led by CG Supervisor Sergio Caires used all of the reference materials shot on set to light the creatures accurately. These rendered passes were then finessed by the compositing team and added to the 2D effects that were being applied to the shots.
For the 2D version of the Boneless, Mackinnon brought in reference of some sea slugs that he felt had an appropriately unnerving sort of motion to them.
Hewlett explained: Myself and Lead FX artist Joe Thornley Heard worked on creating a CG version of the slug, giving it similar properties in the way it moved. These could then be combinedand driven by various fluid dynamic processes making them move together as one mass
Creating the 2D Boneless effect was a fun challenge for our compositing team led by Carl Chittneden, said Jones. At this point, the 2D boneless have no solidity, existing solely within the surface of the world. Taking the creatures Joe created in Houdini , we settled on a treatment where they would start out invisibly hidden in the textures of the surrounding environment, then gradually reveal themselves as they move, dragging and displacing those surfaces with them. We accomplished this by using the rendered passes from Joe's Houdini 3D setup to smear and distort the original plate in a variety of ways within Nuke. The result was a look that gave Douglas exactly what he wanted: a subtle yet impossible treatment of the boneless that felt unnerving and other-worldly.
As well as the Boneless creatures, the axisVFX crew also created other effects for Doctor Who: Flatline, including the flattening of various CG props and live-action actors by the Boneless, a shapeshifting Tardis and energy-based force fields and blasts.
It has been a fantastic experience to work on the UK's biggest and most famous sci-fi show. said axisVFX Managing Director Richard Scott. The show is loved by so many it is amazing to think that our work on Flatline will still be watched 30 years from now by diehard fans of Doctor Who .
Most recent headlines
09/11/2025
Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...
21/10/2025
Globecast, the leading provider of broadcast, media and entertainment managed services, has announced the appointment of G Morgan as Executive Vice President of...
21/10/2025
Visual Data announces the appointment of Maz Al-Jumaili as Senior Vice President, Worldwide Localization, to advance client engagement, strategic partnerships, ...
21/10/2025
As Amazon's Prime Video prepares to launch its coverage of NBA basketball under a major new deal, Grup Mediapro has announced that it is working with the st...
21/10/2025
ATLANTA Good news for consumers using an Atlanta DTH receiver to watch ATSC 3.0: with a new software update, they will be able to blanket their homes with Wi-Fi...
21/10/2025
While recent news has been heavily focused on Hispanic migration into the U.S., The 2025 Hispanic Market Report from Claritas highlights the fact that this gr...
21/10/2025
MAIDENHEAD, UK RWS has hired Michael Wayne as its head of media and entertainment in Los Angeles where he will lead the company's media localization busines...
21/10/2025
Imagine Communications and Rohde & Schwarz today announced a definitive agreement under which Imagine will acquire Pixel Power Limited, a wholly owned subsidiar...
21/10/2025
Atlanta DTH (ADTH) today announced a major update that will expand the functionality of its NEXTGEN TV receiver by enabling gateway capabilities allowing viewer...
21/10/2025
Heartland Video Systems, Inc. (HVS), a premier video systems integration, consulting, and expert ATSC 3.0 implementation firm announces that it has partnered wi...
21/10/2025
QuickLink, the leading provider of award-winning video production and remote guest integration solutions, today announced the appointment of Austin Hinton as it...
21/10/2025
nternet connectivity startup Miri Technologies Inc. will use this week's NAB Show New York as the launch pad for its latest ground-breaking innovation, the ...
20/10/2025
Inside TAMS: How Time-Addressable Media Stores could redefine sports workflows By Paul Markham
Friday, October 17, 2025 - 08:57
Print This Story
A penalty...
20/10/2025
Transformational production: Inside TVN's remote production push for the DFL...
20/10/2025
How NBC Sports Transitioned Stamford Facility to One Format: 1080p HDRMulti-year plan harmonizes workflows, simplifies operationsBy Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial ...
20/10/2025
NBA on NBC' Studio Production Team Is Ready for Tip-Off With Coast-to-Coast...
20/10/2025
Under pressure: TVN CEO Markus Osthaus considers the German sports broadcasting ...
20/10/2025
(L-R) Maria Dizzia, Carmen Emmi, and Russell Tovey attend the Plainclothes pre...
20/10/2025
In March, we launched Concerts Near You to help listeners find concerts from their favorite artists. Since then, more than 3 million people have used it to disc...
20/10/2025
Em diversas cidades do Brasil, um movimento tem se fortalecido para celebrar o poder, a beleza e a profundidade da criatividade negra. O Dia AMPLIFIKA, agora em...
20/10/2025
In cities across Brazil, a movement is growing that celebrates the power, beauty, and depth of Black creativity. AMPLIFIKA Day, now in its fifth edition, return...
20/10/2025
Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft rendering...
20/10/2025
DENVER and MUNICH Imagine Communications today announced its plans to acquire Pixel Power Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Rohde & Schwarz. Financial terms of...
20/10/2025
LOS ANGELES G Morgan has joined Globecast, a provider of broadcast, media and entertainment managed services, as executive vice president of sales, Globecast Am...
20/10/2025
PLYMOUTH, Wisc. Heartland Video Systems and Zixi have partnered to enable broadcast-quality live video delivery over any IP network....
20/10/2025
A. R. Rahman on Facing Fear and Finding the Divine In an interview with Berklee President Jim Lucchese, the Oscar-winning composer reflects on how courage and...
20/10/2025
Monday 20 October 2025
To view this content, please enable our use of cookies. ...
20/10/2025
Rohde & Schwarz transfers Pixel Power to Imagine Communications Companies work collaboratively to ensure continuity and ongoing support for existing customers...
20/10/2025
RT 's Prime Time is set to host the final Presidential Election Debate this Tuesday night, October 21, providing an opportunity to hear directly from Irelan...
20/10/2025
NVIDIA and Google Cloud are expanding access to accelerated computing to transform the full spectrum of enterprise workloads, from visual computing to agentic a...
19/10/2025
Back to All News
Sins of Kujo' Comes to Life in New Live-Action Series Set for Spring 2026
Entertainment
19 October 2025
GlobalJapan
Link copied to cl...
18/10/2025
New England Sports Network (NESN) has chosen Harmonic, working with Astound Business Solutions, as its enterprise technology partner to transform primary distri...
18/10/2025
NEW ORLEANS, La. In the run-up to the start of the NBA season, WVUE-TV and Gray Local Media have announced a deal with DirecTV that will greatly expand access t...
18/10/2025
Berklee Celebrates 40 Years of the Fall Together Concert Faculty composers Bob Pilkington and Greg Hopkins are among the featured artists for this year's ...
17/10/2025
NEP Group Receives New Equity Investment From 26North Partners LP, Co-InvestorsCarlyle remains the largest shareholder as the company prepares for the futureBy ...
17/10/2025
Apple Lands Five-Year Deal for F1 Distribution in the U.S.Besides airing on Apple TV, the sport will be amplified on other Apple servicesBy Ken Kerschbaumer, Ed...
17/10/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Marshall Electronics' Bernie Keach on the Future of PTZ Camera...
17/10/2025
L2 Productions' REMI Facility in Austin Can Produce Content From AnywhereMusic festivals, sports events are produced via flypacks and remote control roomsBy...
17/10/2025
By Lucy Spicer
One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Festival...
17/10/2025
(L-R) Christopher Meyer, Addison Timlin, Cooper Raiff, Lili Reinhart, Alyah Chan...
17/10/2025
M sica e arte se uniram em uma noite especial na semana passada na ZIV Gallery, ...
17/10/2025
Music and art came together for one special night last week at ZIV Gallery, an i...
17/10/2025
Spotify and FC Barcelona are extending our partnership through 2030, continuing a collaboration that's redefining how fans, players, and artists connect. Th...
17/10/2025
MURRIETA, Calif. The Sports Fishing Championship (SFC) has deployed DigitalGlue's creative.space storage platform to streamline video production by centrali...
17/10/2025
BELLEVUE, Wash. Football continued to cement its reputation as a bulwark of TV advertising in Q3 2025 with new data from iSpot that showed both the NFL and coll...
17/10/2025
The Sports Fishing Championship (SFC), the premier competitive saltwater fishing series, has transformed its production workflow by adopting creative.space, the...
17/10/2025
QuickLink, a leading provider of award-winning multi-camera video productions and remote contribution solutions, announces the release of StudioPro Version 4, ...
17/10/2025
Although the annual Grammy Awards celebration is best known for recognizing achievements in the recording industry, the show often proves a visual spectacle as ...
17/10/2025
OpenDrives, Inc., a leading provider of software-defined data storage and data services, has promoted Alex Dunfey to Chief Technology Officer (CTO) from his for...
axisVFX, a Bristol- and Glasgow-based visual effects studio established by animation company Axis and visual effects supervisors Grant Hewlett and Howard Jones, created compelling VFX for latest episode of the 2014 series of the BBC's Doctor Who. 
