Greater Oxford Area
The bulk of the work is still film and television, but underneath the “special effects” label has always been a fairly broad discipline of physical engineering and problem solving. Most productions eventually require custom systems, unusual mechanical solutions, or controlled environments that do not exist until somebody builds them. That means dealing with pneumatics, hydraulics, atmospherics, fire, energetics, structural rigging, electrical systems and control infrastructure, usually under awkward time constraints and in places not particularly designed for any of it. And then it all gets put so close to people it literally touches them, without ever breaking them. Alongside film and television work, the same capability has allowed development into other areas including environmental testing relating to military vehicles, high-performance additive manufacturing, and automation of 5-axis precision machining of designed products on some fairly serious new machinery courtesy of DMG Mori. Credits include Wednesday, The Eight Hundred, The Imitation Game, Coriolanus, The Way Back, Sexy Beast, Sony Bravia ‘Paint’, and bringing things right back up to date and commercial again, Sainsbury’s last two BFG Christmas Ads. Our almost-recent work from 2023 on Wednesday received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Special Visual Effects, alas only to be dashed on the rocks by a flood in Five Days at Memorial.
TV Mini Series: Production Company: Halcyons Heart Films / Halcyon Heart Films. Director Joseph Bullman Cinematography John Pardue | Production Designer Matthew Button Featuring: David Thewlis, Jason Watkins, Posy Sterling, Asim Chaudhry, Tom McKay
TV Series: Production Companies: The Imaginarium, Amazon MGM Studios. Directors Robin Wright, Andrea Harkin Cinematography Mattias Nyberg, Paul Morris | Production Designer Niamh Coulter Featuring: Robin Wright, Olivia Cooke, Laurie Davidson, Waleed Zuaiter
TV Series: Production Companies: Kudos, Nebulastar, Mercury Studios, Stigma Films. Director Paul Whittington Cinematography Ben Wheeler | Production Designer Julian Nagel Featuring: Levi Brown, Jordan Bolger, Ben Rose, Eve Austin, Michelle Dockery
TV Series: Production Company: Moonage Pictures. Directors Marco Kreuzpaintner, Haolu Wang Cinematography Joel Devlin | Production Designer Richard Bullock Featuring: Jacob Fortune-Lloyd, Shira Haas, Amaka Okafor, Kyle Soller, Stephen Graham