Zoic’s Werewolf for Netflix’s ‘Hemlock Grove’

Culver City/Vancouver-based visual effects house Zoic Studios delivers a dose of spine-tingling transformations from human to beast in the new Netflix original murder mystery series “Hemlock Grove” produced by Gaumont International TV. The series, from executive producers Eli Roth, Brian McGreevy, Lee Shipman, Mark Verheiden, Deran Sarafian, Eric Newman, and Michael Connolly, centers on the mysterious and brutal murder of a young woman in a Pennsylvania steel town. Zoic tapped into their experience in creating jaw-dropping gore and photorealistic wolves on shows like “True Blood” and “Once Upon a Time” in their work on “Hemlock Grove.” The 13 hour-long episodes are currently available exclusively on Netflix.

 

Over the course of the series, the Zoic team used CG to develop the gut-churning transformation sequences, coming up with scenes that are simultaneously fascinating and horrifying. Artists constructed shots of claws sprouting through the skin of a character’s hands, created menacing wolves entirely digitally (as well as adding CG enhancements to practical wolves), and developed a truly stomach-turning mid-transformation shot of a wolf’s muzzle bursting through the flesh of a human face.

 

Led by Executive Creative Officer Chris Jones and using their robust in-house pipeline, Zoic was able to deliver photoreal, high-quality shots on an accelerated schedule. Notes Jones, “Though we’ve worked on a number of similar sequences in the past, we wanted to be unique with our approach and create a signature look. It was great to work with such a collaborative team and re-imagine the werewolf transformation. It’s incredibly satisfying when you can be a part of creating something that is inventive and different from what audiences may be expecting.”

 

Credits

 

VFX Creative Director: Chris Jones
VFX Supervisor: Jon Massey
VFX Producer: Sean Tompkins
CG Supervisor: Michael Kirylo
CG Supervisor: Sallyanne Massimini
Comp Supervisor: Colin Feist