The season finale of CBS’s political drama ‘Madam Secretary’ aired last week, closing with Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord (Téa Leoni) revealing her plans to run for president to her husband Henry (Tim Daily). VFX Legion followed up the cliffhanger with the release of a breakdown reel that takes a behind-the-scenes look at the making of some of the most complex and exacting photorealistic computer-generated environments created by the Los Angeles-based studio for the show’s fourth season.
Set in DC, the capital’s iconic landmarks, monuments, and buildings bring authenticity to the politically charged drama, which is no small feat for a series shot in New York City. This season, ‘Madam Secretary’ brought VFX Legion onboard to help keep things real, while streamlining the production. Its team’s experience and technical ingenuity were tapped to create large-scale set extensions and meticulously detailed CG environments that stood in for a number of practical location shots without sacrificing the accuracy of the acclaimed series.
VFX Legion’s first task was to create a CG replica of the White House for a large greenscreen set up. Helmed by founder, creative director, and senior visual effects supervisor, James David Hattin, its artists met the challenge, as well as the show’s tight deadline, and went on to create a variety of true to life CG shots from the ground up. Legion’s library enabled them to expedite the production of many the effects by building on existing assets.
The studio took the role of visual effect to the next level, augmenting footage with shots that would have been impractical or impossible to shoot live. Its team created a digital doppelganger of Joint Base Andrews, the US military facility that houses Air Force One, and a digital rendering that used the Mosul Dam in Iraq as its frame of reference. The CG assets supported expanded storylines with scenarios that included the Secretary of State visiting these off-limit locations.
Legion’s sophisticated pipeline enabled its on-set supervisor in New York to gather data on tracking, camera angles, green-screen placement and other specs, efficiently working with the LA team as a single unit to ensure that the CG scenes precisely matched the live-action, as well as the look of the show.
Project: VFX/ 'Madam Secretary
Production Co.: Barbara Hall Productions, LA; Creator, Head Writer, EP,Showrunner: Barbara Hall; EPs: Lori McCreary, David Grae; Producers: Téa Leoni, Tony Palermo
VFX Company: VFX Legion, LA (http://vfxlegion.com)
CD/Senior VFX Supervisor: James David Hattin; VFX EP: Reid Burns; VFX Producer: Nate Smalley; 3D Supervisor: Rommel S. Calderon; On-Set Supervisor: David Isyomin; 3D Animation: Alex Keller; 3D Lighting: Chris Strauss, Bryan Sheppard; 3D Tracking: Ruy Delgado; Matte Painting: Marc Adamson; VFX Coordinator: Lexi Sloan;Compositing: Nick Guth, Austin Hiser, Christopher Klassen, Milton Muller, Eugen Olsen, Kyle Spike
