Madrid-based digital post-production company Twin Pines shared with AWN some of their recent VFX work on Alejandro Amenábar’s new Movistar+ series, The wealth. The studio spent a year on the project, ultimately delivering around 1,000 shots, including underwater scenes, an epic naval battle, and a road trip across the United States. The series recently made its US debut on AMC+.
After working together for the first time on the film In times of war – for which Twin Pines was nominated for Best Special Effects at the Goya Awards – the director and studio have teamed up again, this time to adapt Paco Roca and Guillermo’s ‘The Treasure of the Black Swan’ graphic novel for television Corral.
The story of this thrilling journey through time and its many different scenarios presented many unique production challenges.
Check out the project’s VFX reel to see some of the studio’s great work:
“Without a doubt, the underwater sequences were the most complex, as we had to create them entirely in CG,” noted Twin Pines founders Juanma Nogales and Ana Rubio. “We normally incorporated our effects into the look designed during filming, but in these sequences there were no existing sequences, so we had to create everything from scratch – the art, the environment, the lighting and physics simulations – based on the storyboard and director’s instructions.
As one of the main narrative elements of The wealth, the underwater world had to be both realistic and cinematic. To this end, Twin Pines created a series of 3D elements including sand, plants, coral, rocks, vessels and cannons, which were then computer aged. Additionally, they also had to create two looks: one for shots from outside a Remotely Operated Underwater Vehicle (ROV) and one from inside the ROV, which would be seen on the ships’ screens. Americans and Spaniards.
Similarly, the impressive naval battle that took place over the course of the series posed one of the biggest technical challenges for Twin Pines. Explosions, cannon fire, gunshots, sinking ships, and a combination of real and 3D-generated ships were all part of the meticulous and painstaking visual effects work. “We tackled all the 3D elements based on the previews we did with Alejandro, and we worked until the last second to improve these plans, create dozens of versions of each part and work on different phases”, explained Nogales and Rubio. “It involved the largest deployment of resources we have ever undertaken to date.”
This particular sequence required countless hours of simulations, rendering, motion capture technology, scanning of ships, locations, and characters, as well as animatics and chromas. “The Battleship was the first thing we started and the last thing we finished, but it was also the most satisfying sequence for Twin Pines as a VFX studio,” the duo added.
A long road trip across the United States was another big challenge for the production, as footage of Spanish roads was used for exteriors and on-set chroma recording for interiors. The 3D composition included the creation of road signs and various landscape elements, including bridges, buildings, speed barriers, and cars moving in both directions.
The studio’s digital tools included Nuke for compositing; Houdini for simulations; Maya and Clarisse for the 3D scenes; and Arnold for rendering. Additionally, Twin Pines used tools developed in-house by its engineering team based on the specific needs of the show.
This project came to the studio following the expansion of its headquarters which included a major overhaul of the pipeline infrastructure and the expansion of its team of artists; the studio’s growth also included winning a Goya Award for Best Special Effects in 2021 for its work on Akelarre, directed by Pablo Aguero. “From a visual effects perspective, being able to bring to life the complicated scenes that The wealth has been an incredible experience,” concluded Rubio and Nogales. “We successfully met challenges that were at the level of the world’s largest studios in a project with high international visibility.”