The LA/B.C.-based Company Caps Off Work on The Political Drama with Large-Scale CG VFX for the Series Finale As it Releases a Break-Down Reel Showcasing Some of the Trickiest CG Shots Its Team Created for the Hit CBS Series
‘Madam Secretary’ began its final season with the highly anticipated premiere episode revealing that Secretary of State, Elizabeth McCord (Téa Leoni), won the race for the presidency. Capping off three years of contributing digital effects to the show, VFX Legion created a mix of large-scale CG shots for this last season, right through to the series finale.
Legion's team has been called on to create over 140 of the CBS show's most complex visual effects over the last three seasons: From CG environments that transport the live-action to locations throughout the world - to technically challenging effects designed to elevate the visual impact of creator, writer, show runner Barbara Hall's hit dramatic political series.
VFX Legion first came onboard during ‘Madam Secretary’s’ fourth season, after the show’s producer, Tony Palermo, took a meeting with the LA/B.C.-based company’s VFX Supervisor, James David Hattin, and its Executive Producer, Reid Burns.
“Tony was surprised to see such convincing shots of the White House and D.C. from the TV show, 'Scandal' on our reel of CG work," says Burns. “The high-quality digital environments, built by Legion from the ground up, were indistinguishable from practical footage - and got us in the door."
'Madam Secretary' had been using stock footage of the White House, as well as other locations, and working around their limited flexibility. The cost of taking the New York production to D.C., as well as tight deadlines, and actors' schedules made filming multiple environments unrealistic. Legion presented a viable, efficient alternative: photo-real computer-generated environments custom-designed to seamlessly match the show's live-action footage, while enabling locations that don't permit film crews on-site to be recreated digitally with spot-on accuracy.
“The high-quality, complex visual effects we turned around quickly and on budget for that first episode led to the expansion of Legion’s role,” says Burns. “We became the go-to VFX specialist for ‘Madam Secretary’ as the writer’s room started developing scripts with a wider range of scenarios that took advantage of our CG assets.”
Madam Secretary’ was shot in New York, and set in the country’s political epicenter, Washington D.C., addressing issues requiring international diplomacy that took storylines beyond the borders of the US. The White House was a crucial fixture in the show. Legion also created CG environments that enabled scenarios to play out in political hotspots around the globe, taking the show digitally where it was unable to go to on film.
‘Madam Secretary’ began its final season with the highly anticipated premiere episode revealing that Secretary of State, Elizabeth McCord (Téa Leoni), won the race for the presidency. Capping off three years of contributing digital effects to the show, VFX Legion created a mix of large-scale CG shots for this last season, right through to the series finale.
Legion's team has been called on to create over 140 of the CBS show's most complex visual effects over the last three seasons: From CG environments that transport the live-action to locations throughout the world - to technically challenging effects designed to elevate the visual impact of creator, writer, show runner Barbara Hall's hit dramatic political series.
VFX Legion first came onboard during ‘Madam Secretary’s’ fourth season, after the show’s producer, Tony Palermo, took a meeting with the LA/B.C.-based company’s VFX Supervisor, James David Hattin, and its Executive Producer, Reid Burns.
“Tony was surprised to see such convincing shots of the White House and D.C. from the TV show, 'Scandal' on our reel of CG work," says Burns. “The high-quality digital environments, built by Legion from the ground up, were indistinguishable from practical footage - and got us in the door."
'Madam Secretary' had been using stock footage of the White House, as well as other locations, and working around their limited flexibility. The cost of taking the New York production to D.C., as well as tight deadlines, and actors' schedules made filming multiple environments unrealistic. Legion presented a viable, efficient alternative: photo-real computer-generated environments custom-designed to seamlessly match the show's live-action footage, while enabling locations that don't permit film crews on-site to be recreated digitally with spot-on accuracy.
“The high-quality, complex visual effects we turned around quickly and on budget for that first episode led to the expansion of Legion’s role,” says Burns. “We became the go-to VFX specialist for ‘Madam Secretary’ as the writer’s room started developing scripts with a wider range of scenarios that took advantage of our CG assets.”
Madam Secretary’ was shot in New York, and set in the country’s political epicenter, Washington D.C., addressing issues requiring international diplomacy that took storylines beyond the borders of the US. The White House was a crucial fixture in the show. Legion also created CG environments that enabled scenarios to play out in political hotspots around the globe, taking the show digitally where it was unable to go to on film.
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