1923

Part of ILP's contribution to the show was establishing how the main characters make their way across the Atlantic. We built a large cruise ship, merchant ship and a ferry based on reference of typical vessels from the time period. A digital replica of Ellis Island was also constructed, for which we thoroughly studied photography from the 1920's to make sure we kept the scene historically accurate.

The birth scene in ep207 was shot using a baby prop and animatronic, which would be enhanced or replaced in VFX using a full CG asset. The goal was to keep the animation, look development and lighting grounded in the scene by making sure it stayed anchored to the practical puppet, while still pushing the animation, facial articulation and skin shading to really bring the baby to life.

The basic motion of the practical puppet was rotomated and passed on to the animation team, who would carefully design the performance and expression for each shot through key frame animation. As a final step, a per-shot-sculpting approach was utilized to refine shapes and preserve volume, and to enhance how the CG baby was interacting with the rest of the scene.

Several variations of textures and shaders were developed and designed to work in tandem with the practical doll and sfx, and to show the progression of the baby being delivered, cleaned up and swaddled.