The studio created 40 VFX shots and 17 MGFX animations for the film that chronicles the 1970 Apollo launch and its catastrophic explosion, adding compelling visuals to the emotional story and rescue; now streaming on Netflix.
The Glasgow-based VFX house Revenant worked alongside the Insight Film team, producers Clive Patterson and Hugh Davies, and director Peter Middleton to deliver CG animation, high level compositing, and VFX for the new documentary Apollo 13: Survival, now streaming on Netflix. The studio’s work supported the film’s narrative by ensuring the story is as compelling visually as it is emotionally.
Apollo 13: Survival chronicles the most iconic crisis in spaceflight history. In 1970, nine months after Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a catastrophic explosion left three astronauts stranded halfway to the Moon. Over the next four days, NASA’s rescue mission, a life-or-death drama, was broadcast in real-time to the anxiously watching world.
The film opens up a time capsule of rare audio and visuals from the shuttle, NASA’s control center, and the astronauts’ families. The Revenant team set out to enrich this archival atmosphere and aid the storytelling in a historically accurate way with a blend of era-specific visuals and crisp, clean shape language. Staying true to the grainy infographics reference used at the time, the image transition shots move in the style of a carousel slide projector. The result is a seamless merging of NASA’s archival footage with Revenant’s authentic visuals.
“We had access to a wealth of original archives, including interviews, family photos, and detailed information about NASA's computers,” said Revenant creative director Kev McCrae. “This provided us with a deep understanding of the technology of the era and the design elements associated with press campaigns during the incident. These insights formed a strong foundation on which to build the visual effects package, ensuring it was both authentically and respectfully aligned with the story. Peter Middleton's passion for the project was a significant driving force for our team, inspiring us to create visuals that were truly bespoke, original, and seamlessly integrated into the film. It was an absolute joy to work on this project with such a dedicated team.”
Using Nuke for the VFX and After Effects for the MGFX, the Revenant team created 40 VFX shots and 17 MGFX animations for the film. From educational infographics that neatly break down complex aspects of the space rescue, to VFX shots of starry views from the spaceship that visualize audio clips of the astronaut’s experiences, Revenant strove to enhance the story in an atmospheric way.
“A key focus and challenge for us on this project was ensuring that we were doing the footage and audio clips justice, with everything we created helping to tell the stories properly, authentically, and sensitively through our visuals package,” added motion graphics artist Emily Thomson. “There needed to be a seamless blend between what we provided, and the documentary itself, to create a natural flow. For this reason, we also had to keep the designs simple and representative of the time that the original footage comes from, whilst still creating a stylish and bespoke aesthetic. Traversing these two paths at once pushed us creatively and ended up being one of the most exciting things about the project.”
Watch the trailer:
Source: Revenant
Debbie Diamond Sarto is news editor at Animation World Network.
