With the landmark 1980 series Cosmos, astronomer, educator and author Carl Sagan helped to put wonderment about science in the mainstream public consciousness. The PBS series went on to win three Emmy Awards and was nominated for two others.
Sagan’s widow, Ann Druyan, a noted author, writer and television producer in her own right, was a co-creator and writer on the original Cosmos series and for many years had been trying to bring a new version of the show to the TV screen. She finally did so with the help of Seth McFarlane (of Family Guy fame), making for a backstory that is quite remarkable and which will be detailed in part 3 of SHOOT’s “The Road To Emmy” series, to be featured in our June 20 print issue, concurrent SHOOT>e.dition and online.
For this first installment of our 2014 “The Road To Emmy” series, we focus on the visual effects for Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, a Fox network series which debuted this past March. SHOOT garnered insights from a core team consisting of VFX supervisor Rainer Gombos, and effects producers Natasha Francis and Addie Manis. The original Cosmos indeed set the bar high in terms of science-based entertainment and the challenge was certainly felt by the visual effects artisans tasked with Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey hosted by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson.
VFX producer Francis put a big-picture perspective on the scope of the new Cosmos series. She estimated, for example, that the VFX team on a Spider-Man theatrical feature might do some 40 minutes worth of top drawer effects and animation. By contrast, she shared that some four-and-a-half hours of effects and animation has thus far been generated for Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey. The effects team had to be experts not just on the visual effects but also the subject matter itself spanning the galaxy, atoms, molecules and assorted aspects of science. “The visual effects had to be accurate, theatrical, beautiful and entertaining at the same time,” assessed Francis who said the final tally for the inaugural season was some 1,575 VFX shots. “There were a whole bunch of mini-scenes within each episode, countless environments. Spinning all kinds of plates in the air became the norm for us.”
Manis related that Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey serves as “an example of where there’s a will, there’s a way. Nothing of this scope has ever been attempted on television–in terms of budget, timeline and the high quality of shots we wanted, we were blazing a new trail. Ann [Druyan] firmly believed in it and her vision was clear.”
Gombos said that the VFX and animation involved the deployment of 16 vendors with a mix of “artists working in production offices with us, and others scattered all over the world.”
Helping to bring the vision to fruition was the fact that Gombos, Manis and Francis had a track record of collaboration with one another–and of working on the vendor side. The trio worked together at VFX studio Pixomondo for some time. Gombos was a VFX supervisor at Pixomondo and was loaned out to HBO to work on Game of Thrones. During his Pixomondo tenure, Gombos worked on projects ranging from features to commercials and TV. He worked with Manis, for example on the Zack Snyder-directed Sucker Punch.
Manis had also worked earlier with Brannon Braga, an executive producer/director on Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey. “We spent time talking through the production challenges of the scripts,” said Manis.
Francis added that another dynamic came into play. “We were all enthusiastic about the subject matter. I watched the original Cosmos on TV when I was a kid. It was an inspiring series.” In between feature projects, Francis got the call for Cosmos and jumped at the challenging opportunity.
For Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, the VFX team took on a diversity of graphic design, creature effects and environment creation–all the while making sure the scientific accuracy wasn’t compromised. There were reviews of the material with one vendor after another spanning different episodes.
The visual effects for Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey would seem to be among the early contenders for Emmy consideration. Additionally Gombos has a primetime Emmy pedigree. He won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Visual Effects in 2012 for the “Valar Morghulis” episode of Game of Thrones. The same episode went on to earn Gombos a VES Award in 2013 for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Series.
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This is the first installment in a 12-part series that will explore the field of Emmy contenders, nominees and winners encompassing such disciplines as directing, cinematography, editing, animation and VFX. The series will run right through the announcement of nominees, the Creative Arts Emmys ceremony and the following week's primetime Emmy Awards live telecast. Part 7 of “The Road To Emmy” will also appear in SHOOT's July 25 print issue as well as the SHOOT>e.dition and SHOOTonline.
To read The Road To Emmy, Part 12, click here.
To read The Road To Emmy, Part 11, click here.
To read The Road To Emmy, Part 10, click here.
To read The Road To Emmy, Part 9, click here.
To read The Road To Emmy, Part 8, click here.
To read The Road To Emmy, Part 7, click here.
To read The Road To Emmy, Part 6, click here.
To read The Road To Emmy, Part 5, click here.
To read The Road To Emmy, Part 4, click here.
To read The Road To Emmy, Part 3, click here.
To read The Road To Emmy, Part 2, click here.
To read Primetime Talent, Pre-Road To Emmy feature 2, click here.
To read Primetime Talent, Pre-Road To Emmy feature 1, click here.
