Delivering virtual production VFX for The Crown

virtual Crown set

The Crown has been nothing short of success, with countless nominations, as well as numerous award wins – including the most recent victory at the 2024 Golden Globes by Elizabeth Debicki, interpreting Princess Diana in seasons five and six, as the Best Supporting Actress in a Drama. 

This is just one of the many reasons why we were thrilled to be contacted by Reece Ewing and Ben Turner, The Crown’s VFX Producer and VFX Supervisor respectively, to work on a VFX sequence in the last season of the show in March 2023. Given our previous collaboration with Netflix on  ‘Our Universe’, we were grateful to have been approached once again to showcase our expertise in cosmology VFX. The work completed on ‘Our Universe’ was also recognised by The Crown’s Director May el-Toukhy and Director of Photography Rasmus Videbæk, who were seeking a blend of cinematic VFX and scientific realism for the sequence.

In the case of The Crown, the shots delivered were included in episode five, titled ‘Willsmania’ and revolved around Prince William’s attendance at the Vancouver Space Centre following the death of his mother. William is going through a turmoil of emotions as he is captivated by this out-of-body experience while sitting in a space capsule. Our goal was to convey his fragile emotional state, in an environment that felt hostile and isolating, and we were able to do so by creating a space ride which carried William from Earth into the depths of space. This choice allowed us to marry our virtual production knowledge with the VFX expertise we are known for.

The beginning stages of this collaboration focused on drafting initial concepts that would convey these emotions. Our Creative Director Rob Hifle and VFX Director Paul Silcox came up with the idea to add visual metaphors to suggest these specific feelings. Some of them include William’s pullback from planet Earth into the abyss of space, accompanied by stars forming – intended to imitate paparazzi cameras flashing, referencing the media attention to which the royal family was subject at the time.

“The whole team were incredibly collaborative and we immediately set about fleshing out concept art, storyboards and animatic cuts for the pre-edits. It was really important to convey May’s sympathetic storytelling threads throughout this sequence. It’s a tumultuous out-of-body experience which gradually ramps up to an emotional crescendo” says Rob.

In the end, the work was finished within six weeks, with all rendering being completed at the Lux Aeterna Studio. All CG departments ended up being involved in the project as the sequence featured one seamless camera move. The close collaboration of Timmy Willmott (3D Supervisor), Clive Llewellyn (FX Supervisor), Tav Flett (Compositing Supervisor) with Emma Kolasinska (VFX Executive Producer) and Tish Marsh (Line Producer) in the Lux Aeterna team made it possible to meet the production’s tight deadlines.

Interested in exploring visual effects for your project? Contact us and we’ll happily discuss this with you.

The Crown on set
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Meet the Team : Tish Marsh