There is something lurking in the shadows….. it’s Netflix’s novel adaptation Shadow and Bone! The Third Floor London provided both previs and techvis for the series in the early production phase. The team was led by TTFL Visualisation Supervisors Joanne Smithies and Dave Edwardz, who led the band of artists on EP1 and EP8.

As part of their prep, The Third Floor’s artists dug into the world, characters and folklore, reading the novel that inspired the show in addition to reading the scripts. They also cued from Shakespearean reference the showmakers provided for cinematography, art direction and editing style.

Previs was used as part of the process to enhance, explore and refine the creative vision. In particular, visualization work was utilised to block out core movement and staging within heavy VFX scenes, and also helped inform camera layout and other aspects of the shooting methodology that would be used on the day.

The teams worked together with showmakers to create bespoke techvis that was aimed at informing efficient shooting solutions for the desired VFX. Every shot in the project had some level of planning, the techvis could be shared to communicate ideas, solutions and plans across the full shooting crew and complex shots were extensively diagramed.

Catch the series as it unfolds on Netflix!