It isn’t easy bringing the fictional future on Westworld to life. Significantly advanced AI robots that function like humans don’t exist…yet. And as a result, the TV show’s experts have had to figure out how to tell an engaging fantastical story while producing a convincing visual display of the impossible.
Most of the Westworld magic behind the most sophisticated scenes are a combination of special effects and VFX. These effects are used to show the advanced tech stuff as well as the gruesome scenes.
Combining the two has impressive results like Maeve’s medically accurate wound and the gory authenticity behind Akane cutting the Shogun’s head in half.
Insider’svideo montage shows how
Justin Raleigh CEO of Fractures FX
and his team made the prosthetics for Maeve and the Shogun. Maeve’s massive laceration required medical research to find out how the muscle and tissue of the area surrounding her neck should be arranged.
Raleigh says of the mechanics behind making Maeve’s wound realistic:
"“But it always starts with… ‘If you’re going to do this as a surgeon, how would a surgeon really do it?’ And we look at all the photos for the process. How they retract the skin. What the internal layers look like. What the muscles look like.”"
As for the artistically beautiful drones, there weren’t any special effects used. Fractured Fx specifically designed the faceless drones as a costume. Ultimately, the drones were a couple of actors wearing body suits. “We really didn’t do any visual effects on top of it. It is a practical physical makeup on someone,” says Raleigh.
As expected, the Shogun’s death scene required a more intense set up starting with a body cast of the actor. The prosthetic was made with biological details that include the brain, tongue, teeth, and tissue that make up a human head, only the Shogun’s control unit is also visible. They then would cut the head in half like a Pez dispenser exposing the innards.
A stunt double wore a prosthetic for the final shot. However, the special effects makeup wasn’t enough to make the scene look real. The Swedish visual effects studio Important Looking Pirates created the digital effects that would make it seem like Akane had taken the sword and cut right through the Shogun’s head.
Important Looking Pirates also handled effects that designed the landscape which would have cost Westworld producers a substantial amount of funds and time to construct. The studio digitally assembled the desert surroundings and the train crash into the Mesa.
The Forge was built with the same special effects creating an entire factory-like space from footage of an empty plot of land in the desert. The mysterious glowing red atmosphere of the Forge itself was also edited by ILP.
ILP studios also did the minor visual effects that converted the young host’s fractured face after the Man in Black shot him. And they generated the image of a young Robert Ford onto the window Dolores was looking out of during her first trip visiting the real world.
CVD VFX – Westworld Season 2 Breakdown from CVD VFX on Vimeo.
The VFX that were used to simulate the Man in Black blowing up his fingers during the season finale was handled by the Vancouver based studio, CVD VFX. As told by Digital Arts Online, they covered Ed Harris’ fingers in blue and edited the footage to remove his fingers and replace them with broken stumps covered in blood. The resulting fingers with exposed bone and blood were excruciatingly painful to watch.
The fantastic work of these studios has not gone unnoticed. Westworld has been nominated for two related Emmys: Outstanding Special Visual Effects and Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup. You can tune in to see if Westworld sweeps these awards during the 70th annual Emmys on Sept 17th.
What are your thoughts on the special effects that go into making Westworld come to life? Share your comments below!