Simon Wilkinson, head of VFX at 1185 films, talks about the technology behind the newly-released horror
By Matthew Corrigan
Published: April 19, 2024 Updated: April 22, 2024
Simon Wilkinson, head of VFX at 1185 films, talks about the technology behind the newly-released horror
target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin> Simon Wilkinson, head of VFX at 1185 films, talks about the technology behind the newly-released horror
https://www.tvbeurope.com/production-post/how-1185-films-created-the-vfx-on-new-horror-all-you-need-is-death title=Share via Email class=share-email>
Ahead of its theatrical release in UK and Irish cinemas, Paul Duane's new horror movie, All You Need is Death has been praised by critics. Simon Wilkinson, head of VFX at 1185 Films, talked to TVBEurope about creating the unsettling effects that are set to scare horror fans as the film opens to audiences.
How involved were the VFX team in pre-production and on-set filming? Pual Duane's vision as director of All You Need is Death was to create a lot of the effects using prosthetics. However, although they work well, practical effects still need some embellishment. There were many discussions in pre-production as to how the project would work. The relatively low budget nature of the shoot meant that we were not always able to be on set as VFX supervisors, unfortunately. There was one practical effect that became particularly challenging the team were excellent but the shot was difficult under the budgeting and time constraints, so we had to use VFX to fix it. The team spent many hours trying new techniques within a confined timeframe to achieve the best results.
Where did you draw inspiration for the VFX from? For the creatures/Smudgies, Paul Duane showed us references from the Japanese horror film Pulse, by Kiyoshi Kurosawa. In Pulse, there's a scene where a shadow of a girl appears to walk past the screen and it looks very creepy. Paul was very keen to use this scene in particular as an inspiration. We wanted to make the most of the shadowy creature itself and add some detail, which is why we chose to adopt CGI and create something with depth.
Simon Wilkinson, head of VFX at 1185 Films We also liked the Dr Manhattan disintegration scene from the film Watchman and tried a similar effect on the creature morph, later on in All You Need is Death. I think it was the idea of the guy disintegrating that inspired us, but we wanted our actor to both disintegrate and then morph into the creature afterwards.
What was the main purpose of using VFX? The VFX were used to enhance the folk horror narrative without being too obvious for the audience. The best example is where we removed the thong on the actor who played the creature. The creature was non-binary and Paul Duane created the creature with actor / model, Benedict Stewardson, in mind. They gave an exceptional performance and played a really essential role in the film. The thinking around extracting the thong was to remove the gender, making the creature look naked, so we had to get rid of the defining lines this was quite a challenge.
The blood effects were used to enhance the horror. The bottle which becomes lodged into Rita's face (played by actor Olwen Fou r ) was prosthetic and looked plastic, so it was re-textured to look like glass. The chisel blade in a scene at the end of the film was CGI and motion tracked to the handle, because obviously it wasn't a good idea to let two actors try and violently stab each other with a real blade!
How many shots did you create for the film? 20 shots were created.
How big was the VFX team on the project? The VFX team was quite small, with three people overall.
Talk us through the workflow. Each shot required a different approach but the workflow was consistent throughout. R&D is a very important if not an essential part of our process. Once we have agreed the concept we can complete the work. The Smudgies, which were the shadowy creatures which had haunted the character Breezeblock all his life, started life as a CGI Nosferatu-type creature, and this had quite a lot of depth. It was transparent and had a skeletal structure inside, almost like an X-ray. The CGI was created in Lightwave and Blender. It was rigged and then a walk-and-crawl motion capture was applied to it. To make it look shadowy we took it into After Effects and applied some smoky filters to it, softened it off and made it look darker.
Paul Duane was impressed by that development but wanted it simplifying further, so we removed the transparent detail. When viewed as a solid shadow it didn't look right. It still looked too defined, too much like Nosferatu. So we decided to stick with the same method (because we liked the movement that we got from the motion capture) and used a 3D model of a monk instead. It had a more human shape to it but the robe made it look more solid, less defined, and also it added that extra dimension to the movement. This worked a treat and as a result the Smudgies looked more creepy and it was difficult to identify what they were this is exactly what the director had in mind.
When speaking to Eye for Film publication, Paul Duane noted When you're on a limited budget, you've got to think of ways to creep people out without showing them too much. The more you try to show, the less effective it can be. The VFX are very sophisticated. There are actually creatures in there. I kept saying Show less, show less! Take out the detail.' You can see the shape of it. You know there's sort of a thing inside there, which is why all the VFX work paid off.
What was the biggest challenge of working on All You Need is Death? The biggest challenge was the creature morph, at the end of the movie. Originally this was going to be a practical effect with minimal VFX. The whole scene
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
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...
02/07/2026
Blackmagic PYXIS 6K Used to Shoot Director Takahisa Zeze's Cry Out
Brie Clayton July 2, 2026
0 Comments
Highly mobile camera supports tense and de...
02/07/2026
Broadcast Solutions acquires BFE, expanding its lead in European broadcast, medi...
02/07/2026
Berklee Alum and Faculty Perform at Boston Public Library's 250th Anniversar...
02/07/2026
Broadcast Solutions GmbH, a leading systems integrator and provider of innovative solutions for the broadcast media industry, is acquiring BFE Studio und Medien...
02/07/2026
Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has extended the ingest facility at leading Brazilian sports company LiveMode, work...
02/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/07/2026
Standalone processors acknowledged for the innovation and value they bring to Pro AV
Cobalt Digital, a leading designer and manufacturer of signal processing ...
02/07/2026
Synamedia announced today the appointment of Dr Tzvi Gerstl as Chief Executive Officer. Paul Segre, who has served as CEO for the past six years, will transitio...
02/07/2026
Screen Australia backs audience-led filmmaking with new insight-driven initiativ...
02/07/2026
Screen Australia refines guidelines for Narrative Content Development and Docume...
02/07/2026
Maxon Autograph: Introduction to working with Tables
Simon Ubsdell July 1, 2026
0 Comments
An overview of Autograph's ridiculously powerful tables...
02/07/2026
Boston Conservatory's Soir e Breaks Records to Fund Student Scholarships The event achieved 127 percent of its fundraising goal in an evening celebrating ...
02/07/2026
How Adam Rosenwach Pivoted from Music to Med Tech Without Missing a Beat What do the rehearsal room and the boardroom have in common? More than you might thin...
02/07/2026
Summer is heating up - and GeForce NOW is taking players along for the ride.
Start the month with Monopoly: Star Wars Heroes vs. Villains, bringing a galaxy fa...
01/07/2026
Broadcast Management Group (BMG) has announced the appointment of Kathy Samuels ...
01/07/2026
Shade has announced Custom Objects and Automations, a platform expansion releasing June 29, 2026, that adds database and workflow automation capabilities direct...
01/07/2026
FOR-A America has announced the addition of Jaz Wray and Fernando Cruz to its U.S. sales team. Both report to Ernie Leon, Senior VP and Head of Sales and Strate...
01/07/2026
NBC Sports will air all 15 MLB games nationally on Sunday, July 5, across NBC, P...
01/07/2026
Clear-Com has announced a wireless communications upgrade for Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, deploying FreeSpeak II and FreeSpeak Icon systems across both prod...
01/07/2026
England's performance team will use Sony's STATSports APEX GPS tracking system to monitor player physical data in real time during FIFA World Cup 2026 m...
01/07/2026
Adder Technology has announced the appointment of Neil Hillier as Chief Executive Officer, effective July 1, 2026. Hillier succeeds Adrian Dickens, who transiti...
01/07/2026
Bitcentral, Inc. has announced a strategic transaction creating two separate companies. The Production and Playout business will continue as Bitcentral, now own...
01/07/2026
DAZN has announced results from DAZN48, its creator initiative for the FIFA World Cup 2026. Launched in April 2026, the program received thousands of applicatio...
01/07/2026
Sarah Rose, VP, global services, Daktronics (NASDAQ: DAKT), will be inducted into the Information Display and Entertainment Association (IDEA) Hall of Fame at t...
01/07/2026
Gravity Media and the World Economic Forum's production team provided broadc...
01/07/2026
Insight Productions has announced the launch of Insight Storm, a 53-foot mobile broadcast unit built for esports production. The truck is built around a Ross Vi...
01/07/2026
ESPN has announced several content initiatives marking America's 250th anniversary, as part of The Walt Disney Company's Disney Celebrates America pro...
01/07/2026
Eleven production kits, REMI workflows, and cloud distribution bring 40 World Cu...
01/07/2026
The conference also discussed the opportunities offered an industry that is endu...
01/07/2026
The Mountain West Conference has announced the launch of MW , a direct-to-consumer streaming platform powered by Kiswe. The platform will carry live Mountain We...
01/07/2026
New AI Assistant, Multi-channel Audio, ARA2 improvements & more
Tracktion's DAW software has just received its latest major update, gaining a selection ...
01/07/2026
Stammering, stuttering, strangulated tones
The Crow Hill Company's latest creation promises to be the most original sound set they've produced to d...
01/07/2026
Exclusive run of limited-edition modelling pedals
Sweetwater and Andertons M...
01/07/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) is pleased to announce that the ca...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Manfrotto Introduces UNCOVER, the new premium camera bag collection for modern h...
01/07/2026
Blackmagic Design Powers Houston Tamil Sangam Literacy Competition
Brie Clayton July 1, 2026
0 Comments
Volunteers use ATEM Mini Pro, Blackmagic Desig...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
PlayBox Technology has published State of Broadcast Infrastructure 2026, an in-depth industry research report examining the technologies, operational challenges...
01/07/2026
LONDON, UK, 1 JULY Jigsaw24 has appointed Alan Henry as Head of Sales for Media and Entertainment, reinforcing its continued investment in helping broadcaster...
01/07/2026
Content Vault, the patent-pending secure content distribution platform protecting high-value media from disclosures, theft and unauthorised access, today announ...
Simon Wilkinson, head of VFX at 1185 films, talks about the technology behind the newly-released horror
