Creating the Norwegian Godzilla for Netflix's 'Troll'

One of Netflix’s crowd-pleasers last year was the Scandinavian creature-feature, ‘Troll’. Dubbed ‘the Norwegian Godzilla’, the film showcased some exceptional VFX work on an enormous scale and told an epic tale of a disturbed ancient being wreaking havoc. Prompting even more reasons to celebrate for the relatively small team behind the new cult classic, Netflix recently released its list of the most-watched TV shows and movies on the streaming platform, and after tallying up the views, Troll came out on top of the non-English film category.

Artists from Ghost VFX, a visual effects house with offices in the UK, Canada, US, India and Denmark, worked alongside Troll’s director, Roar Uthaug (repped by Great Guns, globally outside of Norway); VFX supervisor, Esben Syberg; and VFX producer, Mikael Windelin to create visual effects for key sequences in the film. The Ghost VFX team, known for its previous work with VFX-heavy franchises like Star Wars and Star Trek, as well as other Netflix properties like ‘Narcos’, was responsible for designing and building the troll asset that was used by all VFX vendors working on the film. 

Discussing the project, VFX supervisor, Claus Kogsboell explains that Ghost VFX got involved early in pre-production on the film, working with the director and concept art. From there, the team continued exploring ideas through references and concept sculpts before arriving at the final design and a production-ready asset. 

“The creation of the troll included everything from sculpting the base model, his facial expressions, and all surface details, to developing simulation workflows, building the rig and underlying muscle structure, as well as texturing and shading the asset,” says Claus. “It all had to be done to a level that would hold up in extreme close-ups.” 

The first VFX sequence in the film is one where the eponymous troll reveals itself for the very first time. Initially camouflaged into the mountainside, the monster is covered in rocks, soil and vegetation, before being brought to life, which provided a challenge for the VFX team. Not only does the moss and debris that has collected on the ancient creature for a thousand years fall to the ground as it moves, but the sheer weight of this behemoth also causes destruction to the environment below. To create this visual, Ghost VFX’s artists simulated the destruction in the terrain to show how the troll’s feet would break the soil and leave deep footprints as it walks.

Other sequences – that Ghost VFX was responsible for – called for more explosive and intricate visual effects artistry, ranging from the violent destruction of helicopters to more subtle and nuanced displays of emotion from the Troll. As well as the innate complexity of the Troll’s surface details and simulated dynamics, this key asset also posed a significant challenge, as it needed to be accessible and usable for all of the film’s post-production teams.

“Huge parts of the troll’s surface were covered with vegetation and his skin had partly turned into chunks of rocks that all needed to move independently from each other,” says Claus. “This resulted in an extremely complex model that still needed to work across all studios even though they didn’t necessarily use the same tools and software packages for shot production.” 

From the earliest stages of production, Ghost VFX received previz sequences and shots that helped aid with visualisation and ideas for framing and timing. Working so closely with the director from the very beginning allowed the team to estimate the scope of work and deliver on the director’s vision for both the Troll and the other VFX shots. This cohesive dynamic is something that Claus credits as one of the key reasons for the success of the VFX, and the film overall. 

“It was a pleasure working directly with Roar (Uthaug), and it made the process very efficient. He had a clear idea about what he wanted to achieve. But he also gave us the freedom to explore ideas - both when it came to the design of the troll as well as in how to tackle different creative challenges during shot production. We are very proud of the result of this collaboration.”