Changbai Mountain flying theatre experience officially takes its first flight after four years in the making

The long-awaited Changbaishan flying experience has officially taken it’s first flight, offering visitors a truly immersive and sensory perspective of the Changbai Mountain from the unique birds-eye view of a soaring bird of prey.

Emmy-winning visual effects studio, Moonraker VFX and award-winning natural history production company Talesmith, joined forces as Flying Theatre Films to deliver this incredibly ambitious film for the new visitors centre at Changbaishan National Park in China - which was an epic four years in the making. 

Commissioned by PEL Creative, the ride uses a state of the art hydraulic seating system ‘I-ride’  by Brogent Technologies, to suspend viewers in front of the 4K, 60-foot half-dome screen that  immerses audiences in a never-seen-before aerial flight of the park and uninterrupted views of the sacred mountain.

In a single magnificent shot, the film takes visitors on an epic journey through the landscape, in all it’s four seasons, soaring like a falcon across lush wide-open plains, rocky ravines and dense forests, eventually reaching a magnificent lake at the summit. Visitors are able to connect with the mountain in a completely new way, overcoming the usual harsh conditions of the natural environment, with a 4D out-of-this-world experience that defies gravity. 

The launch of the ride marks a new era of the visitor experience, as attractions across China, Europe and the US increasingly seek to take visitors to untouched corners of the globe using this immersive technology. 

Simon Clarke, Creative Director of Moonraker VFX and founder of Flying Theatre Films commented; “ This was one of the most technical projects we have ever undertaken at Moonraker, but we’re hugely proud of the finished experience which, after five years in the making, is wowing visitors with a unique, fully immersive and sensory perspective on an environment rich in natural history”. 

To capture this volatile landscape, the Flying Theatre Films team filmed multiple locations in 8k from helicopters and drones which they then used to model the precise details of the environment and animate significant moments of the flying ride back in the studio. Their 3D team used specialist software to track the camera allowing them to seamlessly blend computer generated elements with the real-life footage. 

Director, Martin Williams, founder of Talesmith and Flying Theatre Films added; “At Talesmith we’re all about innovation and this project shows what’s possible when you bring together creative minds from different disciplines to produce something truly unique that pushes the boundaries of storytelling and technology. The ride experience is breath-taking”.

Sarner International engaged Moonraker on its 8.5 million redevelopment project to help transform Bodmin Jail into an immersive and authentic film-like experience for visitors this October

Leading visitor attraction experts, Sarner international, called on award-winning VFX studio Moonraker to help transform Cornwall's historical site Bodmin Jail into an immersive and cinematic experience for visitors. Sarner and Moonraker have collaborated many times in the past, (Fram Museum, Norway, The Doctor Who Experience, London) with Sarner leading the overall planning and design process and Moonraker providing the audio visual content for the attraction.

The ‘Dark Walk’ experience, which is reopening in early October, features Moonraker’s cinematic films and projected effects that take guests on an immersive and atmospheric journey through Cornwall’s rich landscapes retelling the criminal stories of its eerie past and life in the 18th century prison.

Moonraker combined its production, visual effects and storytelling expertise from film and television to shoot and deliver over 30 different bespoke formats, from large scale projections and holograms to AR applications, many of which required seamless blending into the scenic backgrounds. Emma Kolasinska, Moonraker’s producer on the project, commented, “It’s incredibly challenging to set up a VFX pipeline when you’ve got such a huge variety of deliverable formats. Some of those screens are really large - with one measuring 20m by 3m - and that means you have long renders.

To achieve the film-like quality and authenticity, Moonraker’s production team conducted extensive research into the history behind the Jail, down to the small details such as replicating the exact buttons on the character’s costumes and their Cornish accents. Over a four day studio shoot, live action reenactments were combined with physical sets and visual effects to provide the ingredients for the composited scenes that were then later blended with practical and scenic effects and theatrical lighting.

Michael Bennett, Sarner’s Creative Director and project designer added “Sarner are well known for the creation of extraordinary theatrical experiences, we have a unique creative vision that tells a story in a new and dramatic way. It is critical that we work with creative partners who understand this vision and Moonraker have been outstanding in realising the project with all the complexities of the production and visual effects that were required, it has always been a rewarding experience for me, working with the Moonraker team.” 

Graham Watts, Moonraker’s Creative Lead, commented “It was important that every projection felt like part of the same cohesive design and an authentic vision. It is the same level of detail as a film, the objective for visitors to feel as though they are fully immersed in the stories and life of the 18th century Jail”. 

“What was unique about this project is that Moonraker worked as the pre-production, production and visual effects team. This enabled us to think about the project in a 360-way and shoot with our visual effects capability in mind.

Moonraker VFX secures major funding from Creative England to produce immersive 3D content for museums and planetariums across the globe

Moonraker VFX, an award-winning VFX studio based in Bristol, has secured half a million in funding from Creative England to produce their own original immersive, 3D content for theatres in science museums and planetariums around the world.

Moonraker has a long history as a creative partner in large screen projects for museums and attractions, including the recent Thea Award winning Fram Museum in Oslo, but the funding comes as a game-changing opportunity for the business, who have been keen to produce their own original content for the attraction space for some time.

The funding from Creative England will make this possible for the first time, enabling the production of a ‘Moonraker Originals’ - an IMAX film with spectacular visuals and immersive 3D moments as audiences witness meteors flying past them or volcanoes erupting right before their eyes.

Simon Clarke, Creative Director at Moonraker, commented; “As a VFX studio, we have the technical tools and expertise to realise moving images that are often hard to capture in camera. This gives us an edge to take the audiences to worlds they could never imagine - so why not package this with a great story into our own film.”

The film will play to Moonraker’s strengths and legacy of their work in the natural history and science-doc genre, and will be of high scientific value with the potential to appear on digital education platforms and link to the science curriculum.

While the initial two year project will be produced for the big screen, Moonraker anticipates spin offs in other formats, to include television, augmented reality and Flying Theatres.

Creative England empowers and invests in creative companies nationwide and their funding has been an essential component to make this a reality for Moonraker and they will have a significant input during the project. Jon Grafton, Managing Director of Moonraker, commented, “We’re delighted to be working with Creative England on this project. They will be highly invested and proactive in helping us move forward and will be important partners on the journey.”

Simon Clarke, Creative Director at Moonraker, added; “This is a hugely exciting time for Moonraker and the funding by Creative England is a real opportunity for us to drive forward our own original content and have a lot more creative and editorial control.”

“Not only will this project create ongoing revenue as we create licensable 3D content for theatres across the globe, but the films will act as a brilliant piece of marketing as we look to expand global awareness of the Moonraker brand,” he concluded.

Earth From Space - An Exciting New Four Part Programme Coming Soon!

Moonraker VFX cannot wait to tune in to Earth From Space, a new 4-part programme where cameras in space tell stories of life on our planet from a brand new perspective. They reveal brand new discoveries, showcase incredible colours and patterns and highlight just how quickly the planet is changing. We were honoured to have been able to work with the team at BBC Studios to showcase our expertise in creating cinematic Earth shots once more. Earth From Space will be broadcast on BBC1 on Wednesday 17th April.

Exciting Immersive AR Experience in Northern Ireland

We are incredibly excited to announce that Moonraker VFX have been awarded development funding by Tourism Northern Ireland to create an AR app for their key tourist destinations. We are thrilled to be collaborating with our Bristol friends Zubr on this project.

 We aim to launch Phase 1 of the app in Spring 2019 which will give visitors to the monumental Carrickfergus Castle on the northern shore of Belfast Lough a unique new immersive AR experience. This 800 year old Norman castle is steeped in a rich and fascinating heritage which the app will explore, revealing hidden layers behind the castle’s walls, taking visitors on a journey through pivotal points in the castle’s history. 

 This latest commission continues on our growth into the Museum, Visitor Attraction and Family Entertainment sector which has recently seen us work on a broad range of projects including Fram Museum in Oslo, Norway, Calvados Experience in France and Flyride Changbaishan, China. 

Wildscreen Festival Panda Awards Sees One Strange Rock Take Home 3 Awards!

As the home to the BBC’s Natural History Unit as well as the Bristol Natural History Consortium, Bristol has rightly gained a reputation as a leading centre for the understanding and appreciation of the natural world. It makes sense then that it is also home to the world famous Wildscreen Festival, a biennial celebration of wildlife and natural world film making. This years event took place in venues across Bristol Harbourside and was bigger and better than ever before. The city welcomed a host of internationally renowned natural world filmmakers and broadcasters who joined forces to share ideas, form collaborations and compete to pick up a prize at the festival’s culmination; the glittering ‘Green Oscars’ event The Panda Awards, which honour the creativity, innovation and sheer talent in the industry.

This year we are incredibly proud to announce that One Strange Rock won in every category it was recognised for meaning it picked up not one, not two, but THREE Panda Awards at the event!

Episode ‘Gasp’ scooped up two of the prestigious awards; The Doghouse Editing Award and the Music Award. This episode explored the unlikely and unexpectedly interconnected systems that allow life on our planet to breathe. In this episode our VFX helped to explain the process of transpiration, depicting water's journey from the rain forest floor, through the trees and into the clouds. We took live action plates and added the effects to feel as if they were inside the structure of the tree itself.

The Innovation Award was presented to the ‘Home’ episode which saw NASAs most experienced astronaut, Peggy Whitson, smash through the atmosphere on her final journey home. Our photorealistic shots of the Earth from Space throughout the series were critical to the storytelling as the documentary was endorsed by astronauts such as Peggy who left Earth behind to see it for real.

It was a pleasure to be involved in such a ground breaking, unique and jaw-droppingly beautiful documentary about Earth and we are so proud that our hard work, and the hard work of everyone involved, has been recognised in such a way.

The series to date has been viewed by 81 million people worldwide.

Still from ‘Home’

Exciting New Visitor Attraction Work

The Moonraker Studio have been very busy recently working on some really exciting Visitor Attraction projects which has seen our work shown in Norway and France.

We were lucky enough to work with award winning Visitor Attraction Design & Installation company Sarner International on three fascinating projects; bringing a polar ship to life, exploring the processes which go into producing the world famous apple brandy Calvados and tracking Norway’s fascinating journey to becoming the landmass it is today.

Head over to our Project page to find out more about our work on each of these projects!

The Making of One Strange Rock.

Nutopia and Protozoa pictures commissioned Moonraker VFX to work as a creative partner with Framestore on the series One Strange Rock for National Geographic together with filmmaker Darren Aronofsky.

The visual effects team at Moonraker created sequences across all 10-episodes, which revealed the relationship and inter connectiveness between the planet’s life-support systems. We created an online style guide that VFX artists and directors could reference. This was key in setting the aesthetic vision for the series and had strong input from Darren Aronofsky. As with any creative process, Moonraker, encountered several interesting challenges, the requirement to create shots without any or limited reference material and for the shots to be aesthetically pleasing yet scientifically accurate. 

“ “Often we were asked to come up with something that was invisible or had no reference imagery. We had to come up with a visual solution which was emotive and complemented the narrative of the sequence. “This is a far more creative exercise than doing a set extension where the requirement is simply to make something look realistic” ”

— Graham Stott, Creative Lead at Moonraker VFX. 

The 'Shield' Episode

In a sequence of shots revealing the Earth's core, Moonraker analysed detailed imagery of the sun as a starting point and then developed a look that felt unique and unfamiliar. Technically these challenges were overcome by using Houdini for complex simulations of fluids and motions which depicted the intense energy generated within the centre of the earth, a bit like a huge plasma dynamo. 

““As a result of collaborative teamwork we managed to create a resulting image which was an impressionistic dynamic world representing heat and light from a dynamic space.” ”

— Tom Downes, Head of 3D at Moonraker.

Finished frame showing magnetosphere around the earth.

Look development for the Earth's core.

The 'Genesis' Episode

Shots which represented the start of life were created by visualising the birth of the cell ‘Luca’ (into what became us – Humans).  These shots commenced with the creation of a digital sketch book: using a variety of sources as inspiration a combination of differential mesh and laplacian growth techniques in Houdini resulted in a series of organic looking shapes for the cells and cell interiors.

3D concept art for cell interior. 

Final image from cell destruction sequence.

One Strange Rock is currently airing on SKY and available to download on Amazon Prime.

Moonraker create stunning VFX for the Calvados Experience

Moonraker VFX were recently commissioned by Sarner International to create a film for the world-class visitor attraction, the Calvados Experience in Pont l'Evêque, Normandy.

Set on the site of France’s most famous distillery, the Calvados Experience takes the visitor on a journey from the transformation of the humble apple to the famous apple brandy. 

The team at Moonraker VFX used stunning shots and 3D projections to explain this most unique of distillation processes. 

Our artists used Maya, Nuke and After Effects to create all our shots including an incredible 3D apple mountain projection of 10,000 tumbling apples.  

Below is a link to our first press coverage on French TV:

Moonraker deliver unique, large screen experience at the award winning Fram Museum, Norway!

Moonraker HQ are very excited this week for the opening of the brand new Antarctica Experience exhibition at the award winning Fram Museum in Oslo, Norway.

This ground breaking exhibition explores the tumultuous journey to Antarctica of the world´s strongest wooden ship, the polar ship ‘Fram’. We were lucky enough to work in collaboration with Sarner International to bring this incredible journey to life.

Through our creation of an entire CGI environment, visitors to the museum will get to experience what the brave crew themselves would have faced during the expedition; from getting stuck in the ice to sailing through vicious storms to finally reaching Antarctica.

10 digital projectors have been custom rigged to the circumference of the ship from which our photo real ocean and storm environment is projected onto the surrounding walls. Visitors standing on the ship will be in the midst of the action and will truly get a sense of what it would have been like to have stood alongside these men.

The Moonraker team delivered a huge 15 minute, 18K movie to project on to the unique and vast canvas of museum wall wrapping around the Fram, spanning a whopping 583 Billion pixels, the equivalent of around 2 and a half feature films!!

Maya Generalists, Production Coordinators & Producers Wanted!

MAYA GENERALISTS, PRODUCTION COORDINATORS & PRODUCERS WANTED TO JOIN MOONRAKER VFX

YOUR EXPERIENCE:

Moonraker VFX are looking for Maya Generalists with an emphasis on modelling, texturing and rigging for exciting new projects. Experience in delivering to Unity or real time systems is a bonus but not essential.  We are also on the lookout for Production Coordinators and Producers for upcoming projects!  To apply email jobs@moonrakervfx.com. We'd love to hear from you!

America: Promised Land

America: Promised Land was a fascinating project to work on at Moonraker.Produced by Nutopia and broadcast on Memorial Day, the documentary takes the viewer on a journey through the history of how America was populated, focusing on the immigration patterns of ethnic groups.

Learn more about our work on this 2-part series by clicking the link below:

We used multiple two dimensional and three dimensional techniques to achieve the unique look and to ensure that the maps were accurately conveying the census data.

Learn more

This Weekend's Must Sees!

The Moonraker Team are going to be glued to our sofas this weekend with a busy schedule of TV must sees. Tonight we’ll be tuning into Channel 5 at 9pm to catch the second instalment of 8 Days That Made Rome. In this episode historian Bettany Hughes delves into the reason behind the Spartacus revolt. Through our visual effects we helped bring the blood thirsty battle scenes to life. On Saturday we can’t wait to see the first episode of Volatile Earth: Killer Volcanos which airs at 7pm on Channel 4. We thoroughly enjoyed working with Blink Films and Series Producer Oli Twinch on this production where we helped recreate, illustrate and explain some of the most extreme catastrophes to have hit the earth.

8 Days that Made Rome – Coming Soon!

Team Moonraker are very excited to watch 8 Days That Made Rome, a new eight-part programme exploring the 8 key days historian Bettany Hughes believes defined the history of ancient Rome. It was an absolute pleasure to work with the lovely team at October Films on this production and we are extremely proud of what we have achieved in bringing this incredible account to life through our visual effects. 8 Days That Made Rome will be broadcast on Channel 5 on Friday 27th October.

VFX Supervisor Wanted!

VFX SUPERVISOR WANTED TO JOIN MOONRAKER VFX

LOCATION: 26 Oakfield Road, Clifton, BS8 2AT

THE ROLE:

Moonraker VFX are looking for an experienced and hands on VFX Supervisor to lead two exciting and pioneering projects. You will be responsible for the delivery of the projects, managing and creatively leading the artists throughout the projects and ensuring the correct technical approach is in place. You will work with the producer to ensure clear communication between the artists, client, and creative director. You will also work closely with film director to develop and interpret their creative vision. You will work with the producer to agree a project schedule to kit key deadlines and be responsible for delivering work on time.

YOUR EXPERIENCE:

You will be able to work directly on shots and on relevant software when necessary. You will have at least 10+ years VFX post-production experience and previous VFX Supervisor experience. You will be a highly organised proven team leader with strong motivational qualities.

The contract will run into early 2018. Salary dependent on experience.

Dogs: An Amazing Animal Family Coming Soon!

Team Moonraker are looking forward to watching Dogs: An Amazing Animal Family produced by our good friends at Offspring Films. Following on from our Best Visual Effects RTS win for Cats: An Amazing Animal Family, the photoreal family tree has been taken to the next level for this new series on the Dog family tree!

Moonraker on Location

Prepping the helicopter for some aerial filming.

Dogs - An Amazing Animal Family

“Proud to be watching the first screening of Sky’s new series with Offspring Films featuring beautiful cinematography and of course our visual effects!”

RTS Award for Cats: An Amazing Animal Family

“The Moonraker team has a new award in its trophy cabinet after triumphing in the Best Visual Effects category at the Royal Television Society’s latest West of England prize-giving for work on CATS: AN AMAZING ANIMAL FAMILY, a production by Bristol’s Offspring Films for Sky One.”

Learn More!