Production Company: Powers, BBC
Director: Nick Copus
Production Designer: Joel Collins
VFX Art Director: Dan May
Digital Matte Painter: Justin Hutchinson-Chatburn
Art Director: Robyn Paiba
The Day of Triffids was the first production that allowed us to put all our combined skills to the test. Painting Practice offered producer Stephen Smallwood the full package of an art department, from conceptualizing the first Triffid right through to completing six of the finished VFX shots. Triffids are massive carnivorous plants. Despite the Triffids’ appearances being predominantly CG, the production commissioned several parts of the Triffids to be made. We manufactured everything from the closed ‘Farm Triffids’, to dismembered leg roots and leaf bits, to a fully dissectible Triffid head. In order to get sign off on the final Triffid design, we put the designs into a ‘Kingsley Press’ style context, giving a biological explanation to all parts of the Triffid. The approach was very helpful both the shoot and post production. Our matte painting team delivered six final shots for the film, from the backdrops for the Triffid Farm during the opening sequence to the devastation after the Triffids’ escape. Joel Collins was awarded a Bafta for Best Visual Effects on The Day of The Triffids and shares it with the rest of the Painting Practice team.
The Day of the Triffids was my first job with the studio - back then I was a freelance matte painter. It was a challenge from start to finish covering previz, concept design and VFX post-production.
In many ways it was the first time we employed our studio approach across a large scale production, and we won a Bafta for it!