Ian Failes
befores & afters
The befores & afters VFX podcast from journalist Ian Failes, covering the latest in visual effects, animation and virtual production.
Be sure to visit the podcast's website and support the creator: beforesandafters.com
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Episodes
How the artistic innovations behind the 'Spider-Verse' films led to a Scientific and Technical Award 27.04.2026 22:41
Ian Failes from befores & afters talks to the Sony Pictures Imageworks recipients about their Scientific and Technical Award stemming from stylized and artistic innovations on the 'Spider-Verse' films.
ILM's Ben Morris reflects on 'The Last Jedi' and 'ABBA Voyage' 11.04.2026 23:26
Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to Ben Morris, creative director at ILM London. Here we jump into two of the large projects he helped oversee at ILM, which were Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and ABBA Voyage. We go into the innovations required on those projects, and we explore ILM's move into things like immersive concert and other experiences.
ILM's Rachel Rose on the R&D side of visual effects 31.03.2026 26:00
Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to Rachel Rose, Director of R&D at ILM, about the development of virtual production and real-time tools, like StageCraft, and her work on the tools Block Party for rigging and Fez for facial animation.
ILM's Jeff White breaks down that incredible oner from 'The Avengers' 21.03.2026 28:49
Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to visual effects supervisor Jeff White, now creative director at ILM Vancouver, on his roles on the Transformers films, the development of BlockParty, that New York oner in The Avengers and the creature work in Kong: Skull Island.
Rob Bredow shares 'Solo' stories, and how ILM inspired him before he was even at ILM 14.03.2026 24:59
Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to Rob Bredow, Senior Vice President, Creative Innovation at Lucasfilm, about his time at ILM.
A deep dive into Wētā FX's visual effects for 'A Minecraft Movie' 10.03.2026 34:02
Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to Wētā FX visual effects supervisor Sheldon Stopsack and animation supervisor Kevin Estey about 'A Minecraft Movie', including the character Malgosha.
ILM's Janet Lewin reflects on more than three decades with the studio 06.03.2026 22:18
Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to Janet Lewin, senior vice president, general manager and head of ILM, on her 30 year-plus history with the studio.
The creatures of 'Keeper' 03.03.2026 31:28
Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to 'Keeper' production visual effects supervisor Edward Douglas and to Jenn Taylor, Image Engine's visual effects supervisor on the film, about taking the practical creatures further.
Our new ILM podcast series starts with Dennis Muren! 25.02.2026 48:21
Today at befores & afters, we're launching into a special 10 episode series with Industrial Light & Magic as part of the release of the new book. For the first episode, Ian Failes sits down with senior visual effects supervisor Dennis Muren, a multiple VFX Oscar winner and someone who has worked on some of the most influential visual effects films in history - from the original Star Wars saga, to...
Alec Gillis on the practical effects design process for 'Predator: Badlands' 18.02.2026 28:35
Ian Failes from befores & afters talks to creature effects legend Alec Gillis from Studio Gillis about his work on 'Predator: Badlands.'
How the in-house VFX process worked on s2 of 'The Sandman' 11.02.2026 58:03
Ian Failes chats to 'The Sandman' s2 production visual effects supervisor Ian Markiewicz, as well as Henrique Reginato and Cristian Slavik from NOX VFX, which acted as the in-house team on the show.
Crafting 'Andor' season 2 05.02.2026 52:53
Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to VFX supervisor Mohen Leo and VFX producer TJ Falls about the creation of 'Andor' season 2, including the opening TIE Avenger escape, bringing K2-SO to life again, and the Ghorman massacre.
How on-set scanning of environments and actor capture works 20.01.2026 38:51
Ian Failes from befores & afters chats with Clear Angle Studios US Head of Capture, Brian LaBrec, about photogrammetry booths, LiDAR scans and other capture on big projects.
How Framestore helped make the creatures and cinematography of 'Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age' feel so real 07.01.2026 39:31
Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to Framestore and production side visual effects supervisor Russell Dodgson about the Apple TV+ and BBC Studios Natural History Unit series 'Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age.'
Phil Tippett updates us on the state of his personal projects, and his view on AI 09.12.2025 28:26
Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to Phil Tippett about a couple of projects he has in the works - including what could be a follow-up to MAD GOD, ie. MAD GOD 2. There's also Pequin's Pendequin, and the Sentinel feature Tippett Studio already crafted a test for. Plus Tippett shares his candid thoughts about AI (they may not be what you think).
What it's like to run a visual effects studio in China 01.12.2025 58:48
Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to Base FX founder and CEO Chris Bremble about operating a VFX studio for 20 years from China.
The painterly art and tech behind stop-motion animated 'The Girl Who Cried Pearls' 24.11.2025 52:27
Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to 'The Girl Who Cried Pearls' filmmakers Chris Lavis, Maciek Szczerbowski and Éric Pouliot about the making of this stop-motion animated film.
Infinite Realities on the path to 4G gaussian splatting in digital human capture 18.11.2025 1:16:23
Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to Infinite Realities' Lee Perry-Smith and Henry Pearce about the company's journey into the world of scanning, photogrammetry, videogrammetry and now 4D gaussian splats, including for the holograms in 'Superman.'
Saint Walker on the new Core Skills of VFX Handbook 2025 09.11.2025 28:02
Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to Saint Walker, who is the collator of The Core Skills of VFX Handbook 2025.
Discussing a new era in visual effects with Phantom Media Group 04.11.2025 27:49
In this special sponsored episode, Ian Failes from befores & afters talks to the leadership from Phantom Media Group, or PMG, which now includes PhantomFX, Spectre, Tippett Studio, Milk VFX and Lola Post.
The art and tech behind the body morphing in 'Together' 22.10.2025 27:09
Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to Framestore visual effects supervisor Josh Simmonds about the Michael Shanks film, 'Together', diving into Framestore's body morphing work for the main characters played by Allison Brie and Dave Franco.
What the role of CTO involves at Wētā FX 06.10.2025 44:55
Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to Wētā FX CTO Kimball Thurstan about being a CTO of the revered visual effects studio. We discuss a range of topics, including rendering, de-noising, data flows and…yes…AI.
How The Roddenberry Archive is preserving 'Star Trek' history 29.09.2025 32:40
Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to Mark Spatny, now VFX supervisor and VAD supervisor at OTOY, about his work at The Roddenberry Archive. This is an archive dedicated to preserving the legacy of Gene Roddenberry, who created Star Trek.
Paul Franklin reflects on the VFX of 'Interstellar' 15.09.2025 37:32
Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to visual effects supervisor Paul Franklin, who reflects on what he was doing 10 years ago, which was just after his VFX Oscar win for Interstellar. We dive into the scientific research, the CG and the miniatures side of that film. There's a whole lot of fun anecdotes I had never heard about before. This is a special ep of the podcast that was originally reco...
Behind that crazy creature work in the finale of 'The Umbrella Academy' 18.08.2025 25:04
Ian Failes from befores & afters chats to 'The Umbrella Academy' production VFX supervisor Everett Burrell about the final episode 'End of The Beginning' and the impressive creatures.
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