From the early days of the project I worked closely with our VFX supervisor doing design work for the ceiling, water and islands of the Supreme Intelligence chamber environment, distorted melting footage in the mind fracking memory sequence, and Supreme Intelligence energy blast effect. Most of the work was in exploring the vast space of possibilities with the client, to narrow in on a favoured design to refine through to final.

As the effects lead I was responsible for creative and technical direction for the effects team, under the guidance of the VFX and CG supervisors. As the crew grew throughout the project, my responsibilities shifted to a leadership and support role and much of this work was handed over to be beautifully developed and executed by other members of the team. One exception was the energy blast effect, which I brought through to final shots with artist Jacob Santamaria.

The highly detailed ceiling of the chamber went through several rounds of iterations, from pure white, to dark, and various other lighting treatments in between, as we worked collaboratively with lighting and comp departments. The final version, procedurally modelled with detailed patterning was finished by artist Jonathan Ravagnani.

Our sequences had other one-off effects including digi-double simulation, walls made of non-newtonian fluid, additional energy effects, and destruction of the chamber environment itself. I contributed shot work with the SI character's introductory transition from ferrofluid to glass-like humanoid figure, while the simulated ferrofluid lake surface was simulated by artist Heather Cardew.