VFX breakdown – Our Oceans
Posted on Feb 5, 2025 by Admin
Making waves
We explore how Moonraker VFX brought invisible forces to life in Netflix’s Barack Obama-narrated documentary Our Oceans
Bristol’s Moonraker VFX was recently involved in a Netflix project that broke new ground, bringing the invisible forces of the global ocean current to our screens for the very first time. Our Oceans, narrated by Barack Obama, blends scientific storytelling and visual effects to unravel the secrets of our many interconnected oceans, demonstrating how what occurs in one can affect them all – and, in turn, all life on the planet.
Storytelling with science
Each episode in the series focuses on a different ocean, examining its place in the global system and how it supports local life. It was important to give each ocean its own personality by visualising nuances in how the currents move and interact with the land.
Moonraker built independent simulations for each ocean, styled in alignment with the overall brief from Wild Space Productions. Look development began back in 2022, drawing on NASA’s datasets of currents and meetings with oceanographers. To visualise the global ocean current system, the team experimented with different approaches, finally settling on a visual that could give a sense of delicate balance, illustrate temperature differentials and show exactly how the current system moves around the world – changing as it does.
Another important part of the process was how the cameras moved around and filmed the Earth. “We were asked to create dynamic, rollercoaster-type cameras to shoot across the surface of the earth, ascending and descending almost like a racer drone,” says Olly Hagar, head of 2D at Moonraker VFX. “So we needed to create a custom camera rig in 3D so that we could respond to the client’s requests quickly and efficiently.”
Moonraker VFX (right) drew on NASA datasets (left) for realistic recreations of global ocean currents
Under the surface
Behind the ethereal aesthetic of the global ocean current is a versatile Earth asset that can be modified to suit a multitude of looks and uses. “We have an Earth asset that we’ve built and improved on over a number of years,” explains Hagar. “Part of Moonraker’s work on Our Oceans involved mapping the current simulations from Houdini onto their precise locations on Earth. So we had to know exactly where each section starts and ends, how one ocean flows into the next and understand the connections between them; this is where oceanographic research came in.”
Title wave
Moonraker has extensive experience creating title sequences for nature documentaries. Wild Space and the team at Netflix wanted to put oceans at the centre of all visuals. “It was important for the title shots to help the audience locate where we are in the world while looking at the Earth in a unique way. We developed an unwrapping Earth in Maya that could keep the ocean in the centre of the frame with the landmasses almost vignetting it,” explains Hagar. “We set the scene. The path, temperature changes and subtle changes in the speed of the current needed to be visible in the title shot, before the audience is taken on a journey in the rest of the episode.
“I’m proud of the team’s work on such a challenging project. We created something unique that will have a lasting effect. A year and a half’s worth of work on screen is no drop in the ocean.”
This story appears in the January 2025 issue of Definition
