Befores & Afters

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

That look of shock is real —> I just received an early copy of my ‘Industrial Light & Magic: 50 Years of Innovation’ fro...
21/12/2025

That look of shock is real —>

I just received an early copy of my ‘Industrial Light & Magic: 50 Years of Innovation’ from , and it’s even better than I could have imagined.

I have collected VFX books for years (including all the past books), and still can’t quite believe I’ve been involved in this latest one!

I had such a wonderful time writing this book with my friends at ILM. It’s FULL of in-depth information about the history of the studio, and FULL of behind the scenes images, many of which I had never seen before.

A huge thanks to the PR and marketing team at ILM who made all this possible: , , and Lucas Seastrom, among others. They fought to include the best info and the best imagery.

Also, thank you to and who trusted me to be part of this from the beginning.

Most of all, thank you to the ILM crew members over the years who have made some of the most amazing imagery and stories out there.

The book officially releases in the US on 13 January 2026: https://amzn.to/4lQecII (make sure you also check your local Amazon stores)

Hope you enjoy it!

Capturing what is to be The Thing -->In this excerpt from issue #47 of Befores & Afters, we look at how The Thing was m...
19/12/2025

Capturing what is to be The Thing -->

In this excerpt from issue #47 of Befores & Afters, we look at how The Thing was made for , featuring Industrial Light & Magic, Digital Domain, Framestore, Sony Pictures Imageworks, Imaginarium Studios and The Third Floor - Visualization Studio.

https://beforesandafters.com/2025/12/20/capturing-what-is-to-be-the-thing/

I am a super-fan of . Congrats once again to and .
19/12/2025

I am a super-fan of . Congrats once again to and .

Thia’s legs (are missing) -->The practicalities of limb removal in . An excerpt from issue #46 of Befores & Afters mag...
18/12/2025

Thia’s legs (are missing) -->

The practicalities of limb removal in .

An excerpt from issue #46 of Befores & Afters magazine.

During filming, production came up with several ways in which Elle Fanning could be supported, either while sitting, appearing to be propped up on her torso or even being carried on the character Dek’s back.

Find out about the different approaches:

https://beforesandafters.com/2025/12/19/thias-legs-are-missing/



Wētā FX Industrial Light & Magic ILP - Important Looking Pirates Framestore

There were Tim-Tams.
17/12/2025

There were Tim-Tams.

So, thoughts on the VFX Oscar shortlist? Congrats to all the crew members on these films! Avatar: Fire and Ash – magazin...
17/12/2025

So, thoughts on the VFX Oscar shortlist? Congrats to all the crew members on these films!

Avatar: Fire and Ash – magazine coming!
The Electric State – magazine coming!
F1 – get the mag https://www.patreon.com/posts/issue-43-f1-144421337
Frankenstein – magazine coming!
Jurassic World Rebirth – magazine coming!
The Lost Bus – get the mag https://www.patreon.com/posts/issue-42-lost-143464518
Sinners – get the mag https://www.patreon.com/posts/issue-45-sinners-145307590
Superman – get the mag https://www.patreon.com/posts/issue-41-digital-142926653
Tron: Ares – get the mag https://www.patreon.com/posts/issue-44-tron-145025197
Wicked: For Good – magazine coming!

See you at the Bake-Off!

Issue #47 of is now available and goes in-depth on the VFX of ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’.The world of First Ste...
16/12/2025

Issue #47 of is now available and goes in-depth on the VFX of ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’.

The world of First Steps is the 1960s-inspired retro- futuristic setting of Earth-828, demanding a very particular approach to the film’s production design and visual effects. “The tone and feel of the production design and cinematography guided the VFX development,” production visual effects supervisor told befores & afters. “We wanted the same kind of 60’s space race retro-future look to any FX work. We kept open the possibility of shooting whatever we could in-camera, but remained technique agnostic, and tried to focus on matching the look we wanted with whatever technique was appropriate.”

That approach resulted in the film utilizing a multitude of vast practical sets that were combined with extensive digital environments. Furthermore, a practical animatronic robot on set for the Fantastic Four’s robot companion H.E.R.B.I.E., a practical Fantasticar, and a miniature build for the Excelsior spacecraft helped inform digital replicas of these important components of the film.

Meanwhile, a significant digital visual effects effort was employed to bring the many super-powered beings to life. This included Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic’s stretchiness power, Sue Storm/Invisible Woman’s force fields and invisibility, Johnny Storm/Human Torch’s fire and flying abilities and Ben Grimm/The Thing’s rock body. Then there were Silver Surfer’s own metallic surfaces and flying, and the enormous scale of Galactus. Clashes in outer space and in a retro-future New York were among some of the major visual effects contributions.

This special issue of befores & afters magazine documents the major effects moments as outlined by Stokdyk (who collaborated with visual effects producer Lisa Marra on the film), with direct contributions from visual effects supervisors hailing from , , , and .

DIGITAL: https://www.patreon.com/posts/issue-47-four-145716739
PRINT: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G6VV3DX7
SUBSCRIBE: https://www.patreon.com/c/beforesandafters/membership

Issue #46 of is now available and goes in-depth on the VFX of ‘Predator: Badlands’Predator: Badlands, from director , ...
16/12/2025

Issue #46 of is now available and goes in-depth on the VFX of ‘Predator: Badlands’

Predator: Badlands, from director , drops the long-running franchise into a new hostile terrain, following a young Yautja warrior Dek () who forms an uneasy alliance with a damaged Weyland-Yutani Corporation synthetic Thia (). The pair meet a myriad of creatures, sometimes even battling them, mostly while Thia is without her legs.

That fact—removing Fanning’s lower limbs—immediately provided the film’s visual effects team with a range of challenges, as did the approach to Dek’s mandibles, which would be achieved completely digitally. In addition, the central creatures Bud and the Kalisk, and a host of other exotic species, needed to be generated in CG.

Overseeing the visual effects work were production visual effects supervisor Olivier Dumont and production visual effects producer Kathy Siegel. The lead vendor was (visual effects supervisors Sheldon Stopsack and Erik Winquist, and animation supervisor Karl Rapley). Additional vendors were , , , , and , with handling visualization.

In this special issue of befores & afters, we go in-depth on the visual effects of Predator: Badlands, which reached 1400 VFX shots, breaking down the key visual effects challenges with Dumont, Siegel, Stopsack and Rapley.

DIGITAL: https://www.patreon.com/posts/issue-46-digital-145714107

PRINT: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G6WLZ2KT

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

Wohoo! has begun!
15/12/2025

Wohoo! has begun!

Starting with this cool crowd!
14/12/2025

Starting with this cool crowd!

From classroom to credits --> How the right school helped this FX artist land a credit on ‘Sinners’.This is a fun look a...
11/12/2025

From classroom to credits --> How the right school helped this FX artist land a credit on ‘Sinners’.

This is a fun look at Befores & Afters at how Martin Brattensborg, now working at Storm Studios, undertook a 12 Month FX Technical Director Program through Campus VFX.

Get inspired by Martin's journey, and see how he was involved in a key fire simulation for that amazing oner in the juke joint in 'Sinners'.

https://beforesandafters.com/2025/12/12/from-classroom-to-credits/

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