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Wednesday, April 13, 2022
How that massive ocean storm scene was created in the first episode of ‘Vikings: Valhalla’
befores & afters: Early on in episode one of Vikings: Valhalla, a group of Greenlanders battle through a fierce ocean storm on their way to Kattegat. This was one of the Netflix’s shows first big visual effects sequences, and one tackled by MPC.
3 comments:
Philip Winter
said...
I am absolutely obsessed with Viking TV series, and there are numerous shows, but sadly I’ve seen them time and time again disappoint me. “Viking Valhalla” specifically, I found disappointing as to me it felt like they did not attempt to create a new visual aesthetic for that time period and instead decided to copy the same boring look used in the original “Vikings” TV series and “The Last Kingdom”. One film coving the Vikings on Netflix that I thought was incredible was “Valhalla Rising” which is an incredibly interpretive but historically correct film. I thought the historical accuracy within the film was incredible, and the scenery and plot line were incredible. I also really liked the German Netflix series “Barbarians”, while this show doesn’t cover the Viking period per se, but instead the various tribes that inhabited Germany and fought with the Romans in 9AD. This show too presents a very different and historically correct interpretation of the Germanic tribes of this period and correctly shows them with colorful and detailed garments, instead of the classic inaccurate fur and leather garments the Vikings are depicted in “Viking Valhalla”.
Although I have not watched this series before, I found the little clip given in the article compelling evidence that this scene was a major collaboration between many departments. Something I find interesting about this article is that there is a lot of terminology that I do not recognize and had to look up since I am not as familiar with production stages and positions in the tv/film industry. A component of the tv/film industry that I often forget about is the amount of shots being taken at the same time and how they are composed together to remain consistent with the storyline and actions that are caught in one shot and not another. Compared to the theatre industry, I forget how much control this industry has over the environment while filming through using a tank and having access to so much postproduction technology to be able to shoot “the flag changing direction on top of the mast” digitally.
This is so cool! I love immersive experiences!! I have realized recently it is what I want to do with my career. I have always been drawn to art as a form of escapism. Whether it is playing music, watching a movie, playing dnd, or making art, it allows me to not think about anything currently bothering me in the real world. I want to provide this to other people, through creating hyper-realistic and immersive "worlds" and environments they can physically enter and interact with. Think of Galaxy's Edge at Disney World and Disney Land. You are transported to another alien world, when you become a part of that story. While not exactly the same, I see a lot of these elements in holiday decor, especially car drive-throughs. For a short period of time, you just get to focus on these beautifully decorated and lit-up scenes that distract you from everything else in life. They are great opportunities for me to learn about how lighting and other props can be used to build a scene, especially scenes that aren't theatre. As a lot of my education as a designer is for theatre, I love to explore design in other forms.
3 comments:
I am absolutely obsessed with Viking TV series, and there are numerous shows, but sadly I’ve seen them time and time again disappoint me. “Viking Valhalla” specifically, I found disappointing as to me it felt like they did not attempt to create a new visual aesthetic for that time period and instead decided to copy the same boring look used in the original “Vikings” TV series and “The Last Kingdom”. One film coving the Vikings on Netflix that I thought was incredible was “Valhalla Rising” which is an incredibly interpretive but historically correct film. I thought the historical accuracy within the film was incredible, and the scenery and plot line were incredible. I also really liked the German Netflix series “Barbarians”, while this show doesn’t cover the Viking period per se, but instead the various tribes that inhabited Germany and fought with the Romans in 9AD. This show too presents a very different and historically correct interpretation of the Germanic tribes of this period and correctly shows them with colorful and detailed garments, instead of the classic inaccurate fur and leather garments the Vikings are depicted in “Viking Valhalla”.
Although I have not watched this series before, I found the little clip given in the article compelling evidence that this scene was a major collaboration between many departments. Something I find interesting about this article is that there is a lot of terminology that I do not recognize and had to look up since I am not as familiar with production stages and positions in the tv/film industry. A component of the tv/film industry that I often forget about is the amount of shots being taken at the same time and how they are composed together to remain consistent with the storyline and actions that are caught in one shot and not another. Compared to the theatre industry, I forget how much control this industry has over the environment while filming through using a tank and having access to so much postproduction technology to be able to shoot “the flag changing direction on top of the mast” digitally.
This is so cool! I love immersive experiences!! I have realized recently it is what I want to do with my career. I have always been drawn to art as a form of escapism. Whether it is playing music, watching a movie, playing dnd, or making art, it allows me to not think about anything currently bothering me in the real world. I want to provide this to other people, through creating hyper-realistic and immersive "worlds" and environments they can physically enter and interact with. Think of Galaxy's Edge at Disney World and Disney Land. You are transported to another alien world, when you become a part of that story. While not exactly the same, I see a lot of these elements in holiday decor, especially car drive-throughs. For a short period of time, you just get to focus on these beautifully decorated and lit-up scenes that distract you from everything else in life. They are great opportunities for me to learn about how lighting and other props can be used to build a scene, especially scenes that aren't theatre. As a lot of my education as a designer is for theatre, I love to explore design in other forms.
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