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befores & afters

by Ian Failes

The befores & afters VFX podcast from journalist Ian Failes, covering the latest in visual effects, animation and virtual production.

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Episodes

  1. VFX supervisor Eran Dinur discusses the big AI and ML changes that have impacted visual effects

    Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to visual effects supervisor Eran Dinur, who has been teaching courses on ComfyUI and GripTape, about the AI and ML landscape VFX artists are facing right now.

  2. Pitch Black's Troy Tobin on where Rising Sun's REVIZE is now headed

    Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to Pitch Black's Troy Tobin, now Head of REVIZE (Research and Innovation), about the expansion of the machine learning technology which started at Rising Sun Pictures.

  3. Nikola Todorovic on the latest developments in Autodesk's Flow Studio

    Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to Nikola Todorovic, who co-founded Wonder Dynamics (an Autodesk Company), about the new 3D Editor + Canvas in Flow Studio.

  4. Behind the role of a VFX coordinator

    Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to VFX coordinator Cameron Target, who most recently worked on 'Moana'.

  5. 'Stranger Things 5' visual effects supervisor Betsy Paterson on the show's landmark moments

    Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to visual effects supervisor Betsy Paterson about the making of 'Stranger Things 5.'

  6. All the surprising rock climbing and kayaking VFX challenges on 'Apex'

    Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to 'Apex' visual effects supervisor Enrik Pavdeja.

  7. How those adorable sheep in 'The Sheep Detectives' were made

    Ian Failes from befores & afters chats with two Framestore artisans on The Sheep Detectives: visual effects supervisor Graham Page and chief creative officer (and second unit supervisor for the film) Tim Webber.

  8. The visual effects of Widow's Bay

    Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to production visual effects supervisor Brian Drewes about the visual effects in 'Widow's Bay'.

  9. The VFX artist who changed my life

    Ian Failes from befores and afters chats to ILM compositing supervisor Todd Vaziri, who via his VFXHQ.com website in the late 90s kickstarted Ian's career in VFX journalism.

  10. This Wētā FX animation roundtable was a total hoot

    Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to members of Wētā FX's animation team: Dan Barrett, senior animation supervisor, Stuart Adcock, head of facial motion, and Dave Clayton, animation supervisor. It's a hilarious discussion about previs, mocap and where you can even see these crew members as...

  11. ILM's John Knoll reveals one of the toughest VFX sequences he's ever worked on

    Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to ILM Executive Creative Director John Knoll about the advent of digital VFX tech at ILM, and then goes in-depth on the maelstrom in the third Pirates of the Caribbean film.

  12. ILM's David Vickery on combining practical and digital

    Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to ILM creative director David Vickery about his experience combining practical and digital dinos on recent Jurassic World films.

  13. ILM's Cary Phillips on the development of Cari for 'Dragonheart'

    Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to Cary Phillips, who is Director, R&D Engineering Architect at ILM, about the development of Cari for 'Dragonheart.'

  14. Crafting that killer oner for season 2 of Daredevil: Born Again

    Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to 'Daredevil: Born Again' visual effects supervisor Gong Myung Lee and visual effects producer Fahed "Freddy" Alhabib, to break down the oner, the ship VFX, and the other invisible effects this season.

  15. Fire, explosions, water and deer: the visual effects of season 3 of 'The Night Agent'

    Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to visual effects supervisor Chad Wanstreet about the visual effects of season 3 of 'The Night Agent'.

  16. The visual effects of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy

    Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to 'Star Trek: Starfleet Academy' visual effects supervisor Jason Zimmerman about virtual production, digital characters, space scenes and motion graphics.

  17. How to get the most out of the VES On-Set VFX Data Collection and Usage Guide

    Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to visual effects supervisor Sheena Duggal, and VFX supervisor and virtual production supervisor Jim Geduldick, about the newly released VES On-Set VFX Data Collection and Usage Guide.

  18. Behind the visual effects of 'Ted' season 2, including the bear, and the deepfake Bill Clinton

    Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to 'Ted' s2 visual effects supervisors Hoyt Yeatman and Blair Clark about the creation of the main character, and the deepfake work that went into the appearance of Bill Clinton.

  19. How ILM invented ambient occlusion for 'Pearl Harbor'

    Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to ILM's Ben Snow and Hayden Landis on the 25th anniversary of 'Pearl Harbor', looking back at key ILM innovations, including ambient occlusion, from the film.

  20. A mysterious creature in a mysterious retirement community: the VFX of 'The Boroughs'

    Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to visual effects supervisor Tara DeMarco about 'The Boroughs', and the creature, environment, TV distortion effects and other VFX in the Netflix show.

  21. A deep dive into the visual effects of 'Murderbot'

    Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to 'Murderbot' production visual effects supervisor Sean Faden.

  22. The old-school show-within-a-show in 'Wonder Man' used some old-school effects techniques

    Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to production visual effects supervisor John Haley about 'Wonder Man', including on the use of forced perspective miniatures.

  23. The art of CG ping pong balls and crowds in 'Marty Supreme'

    Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to 'Marty Supreme' visual effects supervisor Eran Dinur about crafting the ping pong match VFX in the film.

  24. How to make a photoreal CG octopus: the VFX of 'Remarkably Bright Creatures'

    Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to 'Remarkably Bright Creatures' visual effects supervisor Chris Ritvo about Untold Studios' delightful octopus in the film and how it was made.

  25. In-depth on the all the key explosive visual effects in Netflix's 'Man on Fire'

    Ian Failes from befores & afters talks to 'Man on Fire' visual effects supervisor Kevin Lingenfelser about the residential tower destruction, the lear jet sequence and that signature 'man on fire' moment with the main character, John Creasy.

  26. How the artistic innovations behind the 'Spider-Verse' films led to a Scientific and Technical Award

    Ian Failes from befores & afters talks to the Sony Pictures Imageworks recipients about their Scientific and Technical Award stemming from stylized and artistic innovations on the 'Spider-Verse' films.

  27. ILM's Ben Morris reflects on 'The Last Jedi' and 'ABBA Voyage'

    Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to Ben Morris, creative director at ILM London. Here we jump into two of the large projects he helped oversee at ILM, which were Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and ABBA Voyage. We go into the innovations required on those projects, and we explore ILM's move into...

  28. ILM's Rachel Rose on the R&D side of visual effects

    Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to Rachel Rose, Director of R&D at ILM, about the development of virtual production and real-time tools, like StageCraft, and her work on the tools Block Party for rigging and Fez for facial animation.

  29. ILM's Jeff White breaks down that incredible oner from 'The Avengers'

    Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to visual effects supervisor Jeff White, now creative director at ILM Vancouver, on his roles on the Transformers films, the development of BlockParty, that New York oner in The Avengers and the creature work in Kong: Skull Island.

  30. Rob Bredow shares 'Solo' stories, and how ILM inspired him before he was even at ILM

    Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to Rob Bredow, Senior Vice President, Creative Innovation at Lucasfilm, about his time at ILM.

  31. A deep dive into Wētā FX's visual effects for 'A Minecraft Movie'

    Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to Wētā FX visual effects supervisor Sheldon Stopsack and animation supervisor Kevin Estey about 'A Minecraft Movie', including the character Malgosha.

  32. ILM's Janet Lewin reflects on more than three decades with the studio

    Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to Janet Lewin, senior vice president, general manager and head of ILM, on her 30 year-plus history with the studio.

  33. The creatures of 'Keeper'

    Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to 'Keeper' production visual effects supervisor Edward Douglas and to Jenn Taylor, Image Engine's visual effects supervisor on the film, about taking the practical creatures further.

  34. Our new ILM podcast series starts with Dennis Muren!

    Today at befores & afters, we're launching into a special 10 episode series with Industrial Light & Magic as part of the release of the new book. For the first episode, Ian Failes sits down with senior visual effects supervisor Dennis Muren, a multiple VFX Oscar winner and someone who has worked…

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  35. Alec Gillis on the practical effects design process for 'Predator: Badlands'

    Ian Failes from befores & afters talks to creature effects legend Alec Gillis from Studio Gillis about his work on 'Predator: Badlands.'

  36. How the in-house VFX process worked on s2 of 'The Sandman'

    Ian Failes chats to 'The Sandman' s2 production visual effects supervisor Ian Markiewicz, as well as Henrique Reginato and Cristian Slavik from NOX VFX, which acted as the in-house team on the show.

  37. Crafting 'Andor' season 2

    Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to VFX supervisor Mohen Leo and VFX producer TJ Falls about the creation of 'Andor' season 2, including the opening TIE Avenger escape, bringing K2-SO to life again, and the Ghorman massacre.

  38. How on-set scanning of environments and actor capture works

    Ian Failes from befores & afters chats with Clear Angle Studios US Head of Capture, Brian LaBrec, about photogrammetry booths, LiDAR scans and other capture on big projects.

  39. How Framestore helped make the creatures and cinematography of 'Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age' feel so real

    Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to Framestore and production side visual effects supervisor Russell Dodgson about the Apple TV+ and BBC Studios Natural History Unit series 'Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age.'

  40. Phil Tippett updates us on the state of his personal projects, and his view on AI

    Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to Phil Tippett about a couple of projects he has in the works - including what could be a follow-up to MAD GOD, ie. MAD GOD 2. There's also Pequin's Pendequin, and the Sentinel feature Tippett Studio already crafted a test for. Plus Tippett shares his…

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  41. What it's like to run a visual effects studio in China

    Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to Base FX founder and CEO Chris Bremble about operating a VFX studio for 20 years from China.

  42. The painterly art and tech behind stop-motion animated 'The Girl Who Cried Pearls'

    Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to 'The Girl Who Cried Pearls' filmmakers Chris Lavis, Maciek Szczerbowski and Éric Pouliot about the making of this stop-motion animated film.

  43. Infinite Realities on the path to 4G gaussian splatting in digital human capture

    Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to Infinite Realities' Lee Perry-Smith and Henry Pearce about the company's journey into the world of scanning, photogrammetry, videogrammetry and now 4D gaussian splats, including for the holograms in 'Superman.'

  44. Saint Walker on the new Core Skills of VFX Handbook 2025

    Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to Saint Walker, who is the collator of The Core Skills of VFX Handbook 2025.

  45. Discussing a new era in visual effects with Phantom Media Group

    In this special sponsored episode, Ian Failes from befores & afters talks to the leadership from Phantom Media Group, or PMG, which now includes PhantomFX, Spectre, Tippett Studio, Milk VFX and Lola Post.

  46. The art and tech behind the body morphing in 'Together'

    Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to Framestore visual effects supervisor Josh Simmonds about the Michael Shanks film, 'Together', diving into Framestore's body morphing work for the main characters played by Allison Brie and Dave Franco.

  47. What the role of CTO involves at Wētā FX

    Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to Wētā FX CTO Kimball Thurstan about being a CTO of the revered visual effects studio. We discuss a range of topics, including rendering, de-noising, data flows and…yes…AI.

  48. How The Roddenberry Archive is preserving 'Star Trek' history

    Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to Mark Spatny, now VFX supervisor and VAD supervisor at OTOY, about his work at The Roddenberry Archive. This is an archive dedicated to preserving the legacy of Gene Roddenberry, who created Star Trek.

  49. Paul Franklin reflects on the VFX of 'Interstellar'

    Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to visual effects supervisor Paul Franklin, who reflects on what he was doing 10 years ago, which was just after his VFX Oscar win for Interstellar. We dive into the scientific research, the CG and the miniatures side of that film. There's a whole lot of fun...

  50. Behind that crazy creature work in the finale of 'The Umbrella Academy'

    Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to 'The Umbrella Academy' production VFX supervisor Everett Burrell about the final episode 'End of The Beginning' and the impressive creatures.

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ABOUT THIS SHOW

The befores & afters VFX podcast from journalist Ian Failes, covering the latest in visual effects, animation and virtual production.

HOSTED BY

Ian Failes

Produced by befores & afters

CATEGORIES

tv film technology

Frequently Asked Questions

How many episodes does befores & afters have?

befores & afters currently has 270 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.

What is befores & afters about?

The befores & afters VFX podcast from journalist Ian Failes, covering the latest in visual effects, animation and virtual production.

How often does befores & afters release new episodes?

befores & afters publishes regularly with 270 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.

Where can I listen to befores & afters?

You can listen to befores & afters on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.

Who hosts befores & afters?

befores & afters is created and hosted by Ian Failes.
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