Archive notice: This article was originally published on May 21, 2019. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
After the first season of “The OA” (2016), the Netflix series finally entered its second round this year. Method Studios was largely responsible for the VFX work, together with Cadence Effects, One of us, Fuse FX and other artists. Method Studios created, among other things, the photorealistic CG octopus “Old Night,” which communicates telepathically with OA in one scene while its tentacles wrap around her.
Under the direction of VFX Supervisor Jed Smith, the team developed a complete rig for this, including simulations of the suction cups and flesh, in order to animate the tentacles realistically. During compositing, every strand of hair had to be rotoscoped in order to integrate the octopus into the practical set.
There are also insights from FuseFX into the implementation of several shots from the current season:
The OA | Season One Breakdowns
For anyone who wants to see more behind the scenes from the series: In this breakdown of the first season of “The OA,” you can see the creation of the landscape shots in the atmospheric opening by studio RVX.
The Icelandic studio RVX worked here with photogrammetry techniques, among other things, and supplemented the created 3D scans with further CG elements such as trees and houses and more. Arnold was then used for rendering.
Further information: Go to the Method Studios website
