Befores & Afters

Befores & Afters A brand new visual effects and animation publication from Ian Failes.

Behind the visual effects of ‘Ted’ season 2, including the bear, and the deepfake Bill Clinton -->How the Seth MacFarlan...
05/06/2026

Behind the visual effects of ‘Ted’ season 2, including the bear, and the deepfake Bill Clinton -->

How the Seth MacFarlane show was made, in this new podcast featuring VFX supervisors Blair Clark and Hoyt Yeatman.

They offer a fascinating perspective on delivering the humor of Ted through great character performance. First we run through the process involved in shooting Ted scenes, including the stuffy passes, and then into the character animation by Framestore.

We also break down that very notable appearance by Bill Clinton. Interestingly, it was one where make-up effects and CG were tried at first, but when those approaches didn’t quite hit the mark - they turned to some new AI deepfake techniques from Deep Voodoo in order to bring the most realistic performance of Seth as Bill to life as possible.

Listen in here:

https://beforesandafters.com/2026/06/06/behind-the-visual-effects-of-ted-season-2-including-the-bear-and-the-deepfake-bill-clinton/

Issue #56 of Befores & Afters is out! It covers the visual effects of 'Alien: Earth'.Production visual effects supervis...
04/06/2026

Issue #56 of Befores & Afters is out!

It covers the visual effects of 'Alien: Earth'.

Production visual effects supervisor Jonathan Rothbart oversaw the effort to bring the world of 'Alien: Earth' to life. Key effects studio contributors included Wētā Workshop, Second Skin Studio, Universal Production Partners a.s. (UPP), Untold Studios, Zoic Studios, Fin Design + Effects, Pixomondo, Cos FX and Crafty Apes VFX.

SUBSCRIBE: https://www.patreon.com/c/beforesandafters/membership

DIGITAL: https://www.patreon.com/posts/issue-56-alien-159684933

PRINT:

USA: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H3HDYKKW

UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0H3HDYKKW

Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0H3HDYKKW

Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0H3HDYKKW

Plus many other Amazon stores!

🎙 New podcast with Industrial Light & Magic on the 25th anniversary of ‘Pearl Harbor’!Ben Snow, who was a CG supervisor ...
03/06/2026

🎙 New podcast with Industrial Light & Magic on the 25th anniversary of ‘Pearl Harbor’!

Ben Snow, who was a CG supervisor on the film, and Hayden Landis, then a sequence supervisor, join Befores & Afters for a fun discussion on the big VFX innovations from the Michael Bay movie.

These include the breakthrough development of ambient occlusion, and other key CG efforts. Plus some rarely talked about new approaches to motion capture.

We also discuss the stunning practical effects solutions, including massive gimbal work, and the incredible miniatures.

Listen in here:

https://beforesandafters.com/2026/06/04/how-ilm-invented-ambient-occlusion-for-pearl-harbor/

02/06/2026

All the major VFX and animation innovations in ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ -->

Fire, water and creatures covered in the latest VFX Notes episode with Befores & Afters and Hugo Guerra.

Watch the full episode here:

https://youtu.be/3M5USPkxyWU

Wētā FX

This story about Sean Connery visiting Industrial Light & Magic during the making of 'Dragonheart' cracks me up (it invo...
01/06/2026

This story about Sean Connery visiting Industrial Light & Magic during the making of 'Dragonheart' cracks me up (it involves ear phones...).

As told by Rob Coleman in the recent Befores & Afters interview:

"The big memory is when Sean Connery came to ILM. He was shooting The Rock in San Francisco. I remember Judith Weaver called me into her office. She was jumping up and down and she was like, ‘You got to listen to this.’ She had recorded Sean Connery, not an assistant, Sean Connery himself, calling our producer. And it was something along the lines of, ‘Hello, Judith, it’s Sean Connery. I was wondering if I could come by for a visual.’ I swear, she said she would never, ever erase that off her phone.

Judith is quite a short gal. And so when she brought Sean Connery into our main theatre, he towered over her. He looks totally normal when you see him from afar, but he’s like a perfectly scaled up human. I mean, he is just, he’s big and he is impressive. So there he was and there was a presentation.

I have vague memories of that, but I checked with some of the old animators and Steve Nichols had a funny memory. He said Sean was brought to his desk. And Steve was one of our great animators and was asked to show one of his shots. We all worked very close to each other, so we all had headphones. Steve handed his headphones to Sean Connery, who put them on. Steve turned the shot on and by mistake, in his nervousness, he had turned up the volume to full. And so he’d blown out Sean Connery’s ears, who ripped off the headphones. Everything was fine because then Sean Connery then asked for an Altoid which Steve had on his desk and so that was okay."

Read the full interview:

https://beforesandafters.com/2026/06/01/dragonheart-the-inside-stories/

🎙 NEW PODCAST!Very excited to dive deep into the visual effects of 'The Boroughs on Netflix with VFX supervisor Tara DeM...
01/06/2026

🎙 NEW PODCAST!

Very excited to dive deep into the visual effects of 'The Boroughs on Netflix with VFX supervisor Tara DeMarco.

We explore creature work, environments, TV distortion effects and more. Some really cool on-set stories in here.

VFX in the show is by Industrial Light & Magic, Framestore, Ghost VFX, SSVFX, Crafty Apes VFX and SDFX Studios.

Listen in at befores & afters:

https://beforesandafters.com/2026/06/01/a-mysterious-creature-in-a-mysterious-retirement-community-the-vfx-of-the-boroughs/

Today is the 30th anniversary of ‘Dragonheart’!Truly a major breakthrough in digital visual effects and animation from I...
31/05/2026

Today is the 30th anniversary of ‘Dragonheart’!

Truly a major breakthrough in digital visual effects and animation from Industrial Light & Magic.

Celebrate in this fun — and often hilarious — conversation with visual effects supervisor Scott Squires, dragon designer Phil Tippett from Tippett Studio Studio and supervising character animator Rob Coleman. Squires and Tippett were Oscar nominees for Best Visual Effects for Dragonheart.

We discuss design and tech breakthroughs, the special Dragonheart dragon tests, on-set stories and even memories of the 1997 Academy Awards ceremony. Scott Squires has also provided a host of behind the scenes imagery.

https://beforesandafters.com/2026/06/01/dragonheart-the-inside-stories/

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