La Brea: S3

Burning trees and environment fire were constructed in 3D in Houdini, with EmberGen handling fire generation. EmberGen's real-time features let effects artists experiment quickly and apply feedback from production on how the fires looked and behaved.

Critical to an episodic schedule, adjustments to fire spread, density and behaviour could be applied and reviewed quickly. For shots involving movement — a tree swaying, or falling — a flexible skeleton rig was built in Houdini and carefully matched in appearance to the actual environment in the footage. The rig gave animators control over how the tree responded to wind and collisions, showing correct weight through the canopy. That animation was then taken into EmberGen, where fire was added and further movement mapped out in detail.

Embers were a crucial detail. Custom particle emitters were tuned so that emission rate and burst size produced unique, irregular sparks that could be picked up and carried by virtual winds.

Collision geometry was built for any shot where embers needed to interact with people, walls, trees or other objects — ensuring they felt physically present in the scene rather than floating over it.

The standout sequence of the season was Episode 4's prehistoric firestorm in 10,000 BC — Sam and Lucas trapped in a burning forest, searching for a dog while surrounded by constant ember attacks, spot fires and smoke, before finding refuge between two boulders as the fire front blasts overhead.

For shots where characters were engulfed by an out-of-control wildfire, in-camera practical effects — smoke and orange lighting — were combined with VFX to achieve the right balance of realism. To blend these elements convincingly, the entire set was reconstructed in 3D, allowing the fire to wrap around set-pieces correctly.

The central rocks were mapped out as collision geometry, wind direction and timing were planned to the frame, and the fire front was choreographed to hit specific parts of the set at exactly the right moment to give the characters their last-second escape.

The same fire and smoke pipeline — 30TB element library, EmberGen simulation, Houdini — carried directly into our work on Heartbreak High S2, where virtual pyrotechnics had to hold up under close scrutiny on Netflix.

Future Associate also delivered a car crash sequence combining multiple plate shots with CGI vehicle models. Footage of the collision from multiple camera angles was provided, from which CGI doubles of both cars were modelled and animated.

To ensure correct scale and period accuracy, army construction guides were sourced for the Jeep.

Once the models were aligned with the on-set movement, Houdini physics were used to add breakup detail — glass shattering, debris scatter — with shard size and timing adjustable in post to match the director's cut. The final shot combined all elements into a single seamless take.

A petrol station sequence in Episode 6 required a thorough pass of signage clearance across multiple setups. The 'Wards' branding on the building facade was replaced across the sequence opener, with 'Elders' signage visible in the background — on a sign that needed to read as fully red — removed across a range of angles and focal lengths. Tire signs and tire advertisements, business signage, a security camera and its shadow, and crew reflections visible in car windows were all removed across their respective shots.

Signage clearance compounds across setups — each camera angle carries a slightly different view of the same sign, and each shot requires its own track and clean plate. A number of shots in the sequence were also delivered with editorial respeed and dynamic resize notes applied, meaning the clearance track had to account for moving frame boundaries on top of the removal itself.

A scene required an ultrasound image composited onto a screen across multiple camera angles. The graphic was tracked and integrated into each setup — from wide establishment to close-up — with perspective, lighting and colour adjustments applied per shot to ensure the image read as part of the in-camera world rather than a post add.

Alongside the larger FX sequences, a full pass of production cleanup ran across the season. Power lines were removed across a sequence of shots at one location. Background rigging poles and parked cars were removed from a location dressing sequence. A drone visible in frame was painted out. Scrim reflections were tracked off car windows across a running car sequence. Lens flares were removed. Visor reflections, iPad cables, and saliva cleanup rounded out a long tail of careful, invisible compositing work across multiple episodes.

In a sequence involving Gavin, his jeans were digitally augmented to appear wet — a 2D paint and texture job requiring the surface sheen and darkening of wet denim to be maintained across the performance. A gravel path was removed from one location with grass extended to replace it. Stunt mats were removed from action sequences, and a boom microphone was painted out from a separate setup.