At the end of 2019 The 2D Workshop were lucky enough to be asked to contribute to the VFX of Season 12, Episode 7 of Doctor Who.

The episode, entitled “Can You Hear Me?” introduced the immortal god characters Zellin (Ian Gelder) and Rakaya (Clare-Hope Ashitey). Gelder talks about bringing the character to life here. The characters are able to teleport and The 2D Workshop was challenged to find a unique look as they appear and disappear in various locations.

 

How did we bring this to life?

The effect had to look organic and magical in nature so we developed a 2D animated look inspired by dust and sand clouds.

As the characters were shot on location without any green screen, the first job was to rotoscope them, extracting them from the shot. Clean plates also had to be created if none already existed.

 

Once we had the characters isolated we used fluid particle simulations to disintegrate them and enhanced the look with live-action, billowing smoke footage for added realism and depth. Final touches of ground shadows and reflections were added in comp to integrate the effect into the scene as realistically as possible. Check back for a case study with a full breakdown on How and What we used to created these VFX for Dr Who.

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