Framestore’s talented VFX Supervisor, Josh Simmonds shares insights into the process of bringing the key sequences of Sony Pictures’ 65 to life. The conversation includes seamless collaboration with vendors, overcoming animation challenges, space exploration, dinosaur encounters and adventure!

As the lead vendor on 65, Framestore’s dedicated team in Melbourne crafted approximately 700 shots that brought the film to life. Simmonds shares, “Throughout the production, which spanned an extended timeline due to reshoots, our crew size fluctuated, ultimately reaching around 100 talented individuals across various departments as we approached delivery.

“We worked seamlessly with other vendors on a shared sequence and on-screen graphics that we incorporated into a number of our shots. The sequences ranged from space scenes featuring Mills’ ship navigating asteroid fields to ground-based destruction shots and of course dinosaurs – lots of dinosaurs!” Simmonds explains.

“Some of the supplied creature designs were quite unusual, so there was considerable exploration required to get the animation and gait of those specific dinosaurs looking natural”, continues Simmonds.  

“My favourite sequence is the T-Rex siblings trying to tear apart the escape pod at the base of a cliff; there are many full-CGI shots in there and our environment team did a great job matching the live-action scenery.”
– Josh Simmonds, VFX Supervisor, Framestore

Simmonds cites one sequence in particular as uniquely challenging. “Koa is snatched by a large Lagosuchus and dragged across the beach into a grassy area. The second part of this sequence was filmed as a pickup around two years after principal photography, and on a different continent to the first. To protect the second (Ireland) location from any damage, there were limits on how we could capture Koa’s journey, so we had to recreate all of the grass she was dragged across in CG, with FX interaction for both her and the fully animated Lago.”

The film’s subject matter made it a particularly endearing project for Simmonds:

“65 was a rare opportunity to combine two childhood obsessions – dinosaurs and spaceships. The team created some stellar work and we had a blast bringing the sequences to life!”