22 March 2021

The Watch: Pre-vis & Post-vis explained

Welcome back to part 2 of our series on the VFX work behind BBC America’s latest Terry Pratchett adaptation – ‘The Watch’. In part 1, we covered the initial design process behind the two dragons at the heart of the story. There’s Goodboy, the hand-held dragon with the power of a flamethrower. Then there’s the…

15 March 2021

From concept to completion: Dragons in The Watch

In early 2021, BBC America aired the fantastical new Terry Pratchett adaptation – ‘The Watch’. A fantastical world as rich as Terry Pratchett’s Discworld required some innovative VFX work to bring this adaptation to life, especially the dangerous Noble Dragon that threatens its world and the cute, but fiery, pocket-size dragon Goodboy.  REALTIME was a…

18 November 2020

REALTIME Pledges Party Budget for Worthy Causes #xmaspartypledge

REALTIME is pledging unused Christmas party budgets to worthy causes this year.  And we’re appealing to UK businesses to do the same! More than 55 staff at UK-based REALTIME (www.reatimeuk.com) have already pledged their Christmas party budget to support health, wellbeing and youth homelessness charities.  We hope to raise £2,000 for Centrepoint (www.centrepont.org); a charity…

21 October 2020

TV VFX for dummies – Budgeting for your VFX (part 2)

Here we are again, another part of our ‘TV VFX for dummies’ series. And part 2 of our discussion on budgeting for your VFX. In part 1, we talked about the difficulty in assessing the final costs and the importance of staying on top of the ever-changing budget. In this part, we will look at…

13 October 2020

REALTIME Appointed Key VFX Vendor on Sky Original Drama

VFX Studio REALTIME (www.reatimeuk.com) has been appointed a key VFX vendor on the second season of Sky One drama ‘A Discovery of Witches’. The second season of ‘A Discovery of Witches has been commissioned by Sky One and is being produced by British television production company Bad Wolf. REALTIME has been briefed to create and…

06 October 2020

TV VFX for dummies – Budgeting for your VFX (part 1)

Welcome back to another part of our ‘TV VFX for dummies’ series, covering all of the aspects of the TV VFX outline, from the biggest ideas to the smallest details. Every part of the process is important, and each has its own quirks that might leave you wondering what to do. That brings us to…

14 August 2020

A guide to crowd replication

The pandemic and its associated restrictions have left many industries with a quandary. How do we go about our business as usual when we’re far from ‘business as usual’? It’s something we’ve all had to adjust to and the TV industry is no different. Many productions have kicked back into life, albeit with a new…

10 July 2020

TV production in a COVID-19 world

Some months after the UK lockdown began, businesses can finally reopen. But running a business can’t be done like it was before Covid 19. Every industry has had to adopt new ways of working in an effort to keep staff and customers safe. Strict cleaning regimes, two-metre distancing, perspex screens to separate people – every…

22 May 2020

The detailed guide to previs

Every step in the TV production process plays its own important part in the creation of the final product. No matter the production, there is an intricate machine of moving parts going on behind the scenes that eventually coalesce to create something special. Today, there is one area in particular we want to focus on.…

11 May 2020

Free Resources For Artists

If you are not working at the moment, perhaps now is a great time to learn new skills or brush up on old ones. Maybe it’s more about how you market yourself or manage your freelance business. Or managing fellow artistic brethren. Or anything related to your career – no limits! So I’ve been chatting…