VFX Uncovered: Union on 28 Years Later (feature)

Union VFX has revealed the work that went into producing over 900 VFX shots for feature film 28 Years Later. 

The film sees director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland return to the rage-infested UK they created in 28 Days Later and followed up with 28 Weeks Later over 15 years ago. Union co-founder and VFX supervisor Adam Gascoyne worked on the original 28 Days Later, and has since worked with Boyle on other projects. 

Gascoyne was supervisor for 28 Years Later, with Clare Norman as VFX producer. At Union, Dillan Nicholls was DFX supervisor, Noel O’Malley was CG supervisor and Paul O’Hara was Union VFX producer. 

28 Days Later was filmd on a Canon XL-1 for portability and and atmosphere, and cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle similarly brought in a rig of 20 Apple iPhone 15 Pros adapted with cinematic lenses for Years. The film was shot in an ultra-wide 2.76:1 aspect ratio. As such, the VFX had to fit with this aesthetic, as it did in the original film. 

Gascoyne explained, “Danny and I have worked together for a long time, I know it’s important for him to feel the rawness of the film and I always work alongside him and to his vision. We use VFX as a tool to help tell the story creatively, to support character arcs and development so everything we do has to be very much background and found within the photography. There is an enormous amount of planning that goes into achieving that to give Danny the freedom to shoot and get the performances they need without interference.

“In the film, the country has been without technology for nearly three decades, so we had to seamlessly sell that narrative to the viewer. We had to make the unreal world real and totally believable. There was a huge amount of VFX work involved but much of it is invisible. However, two sequences that were pivotal to the plot are the Causeway chase and the Happy Eater. Both look pretty epic in the final film, and I’m incredibly proud of the team’s work.”

One key environment was the Causeway that connects the ‘safe’ island to the mainland, which is overrun by the Infected. When Spike (portrayed by newcomer Alfie Williams) and his dad, Jamie (portrayed by Aaron Taylor-Johnson)  embark on a rite of passage: a journey to the mainland and an opportunity for Spike to kill his first infected. Not only do they discover secrets and horrors, their return culminates in a dramatic chase sequence. 

This terrifying sequence contains 130 shots, most of which were fully CG. The causeway itself had to look like it was 1.5 miles long and included a stunning, fully CG aurora nebula sky housing a murmuration of over 10,000 CG birds. 

Gascoyne said, “There’s quite a significant amount of work in that particular sequence. We had to create an environment for that to happen in, and then extend all that water out and put it in the sky. We had some amazing photographic references from photographer Dan Monk at the Kielder Forest Observatory. 

“There are certain times of the year when the Milky Way is perfectly clear because there’s no light pollution around. That inspired us to put this amazing sky above the causeway, because we felt that, after 28 years of no light pollution, you would see these amazing, beautiful vistas at night. 

“We had about a 100-meter stretch of water on set, and then we recreated the environment complete with FX water, mist and seaweed and extended it out. When the characters’ feet touch the water, there’s almost a glow like akin to bioluminescence created by plankton.” 

Later on in the film Spike sneaks off the island seeking medical assistance for his mum Isla (portrayed by Jodie Comer).  As they search for Dr. Ian Kelson (played by Ralph Fiennes) they are forced to seek safety in an abandoned Happy Eater. 

They break in to find a toxic miasma of gas looming overhead which explodes dramatically when ignited by gunfire. 

O’Malley said, “A great deal of look development work was required to create the miasma gas as reference was minimal. The gas had to be quite thin with little density so it was complex to create, but thankfully Danny liked our ideas early on which allowed us to really spend time on the nuances in the FX simulations to create something original, but believable. 

“This was a very FX heavy setup with the layering of the miasma and ignition towards the end of the sequence. Particular attention was paid to the cut so any movement we added to the miasma worked well with the next shot. 

“The lighting was a challenge as we needed to give the impression of an oily top layer on the gas as it hadn’t been disturbed in years. The shot also required extensive rotoanimation to drive the collisions of the choking characters with the miasma gas.” 

Union’s work also covered multiple CG firing arrows, blood splats, a herd of galloping deer and a pack of rats scurrying away from a CG train. 

28 Years Later is now available on Netflix, as well as on Digital and on 4K UHD Steelbook, Blu-Ray & DVD.