In 2021, Chris McLaughlin gave us insight into DNEG’s work on Venom: Let There Be Carnage. Today, he takes us behind the scenes of Skeleton Crew, marking his debut in the Star Wars galaxy.
How did you and DNEG get involved on this series?
DNEG’s involvement with the show started around January 2023, and our final delivery was around April 2024.
What was your feeling to enter into this iconic universe?
I was thrilled… and a little terrified! It was a real privilege to get the opportunity to work in the Star Wars universe. I grew up on the Star Wars films, and I’ve always been a huge fan of the production design.
How was the collaboration with the showrunner and VFX Supervisor John Knoll?
Collaborating with John on the show was a real pleasure. We met with him weekly to review our work and, as we neared the final delivery stage, these meetings became more frequent. Beyond providing invaluable critiques and guidance, he also shared references, concept art, and work from other vendors, ensuring a cohesive visual style across the production.
How did you organize the work with your VFX Producer?
Oliver Eikhoff was the VFX Producer at DNEG, and he was an invaluable collaborator throughout the production. In particular, I found that his support made a huge difference with helping to streamline communication between our teams in Vancouver, Montreal, and India. My organization and time management skills aren’t always the strongest, so Oliver’s assistance was instrumental in keeping everything on track and making the process much smoother.
What are the sequences made by DNEG?
Our work was mainly in Episodes 4, 7 and 8. In Episode 4 our work was mainly around the suburbs and school of At Achrann, and then in Episodes 7 and 8 we did all the VFX work for The Mint that is (spoiler) discovered beneath At Attin.
The environments in Star Wars: Skeleton Crew are incredibly diverse, from desolate planets to bustling spaceports. What were the main challenges in creating such varied settings while maintaining visual consistency across the series?
All of our environments were based on concept art provided by the production, which naturally helped maintain visual cohesion as everything stemmed from the same creative source.
There are certain iconic visual motifs that are synonymous with the Star Wars universe, and while we did have opportunities to incorporate Kitbash and Greeble elements, the overall aesthetic was primarily driven by the concept art.
Additionally, John would share work from other vendors working on the same episodes, ensuring a consistent visual language across the series. His guidance was also invaluable in recreating some quintessential Star Wars components – for example, the way the Onyx Cinder lands or the amount of glow and frequency of flicker in Jod’s lightsaber.
Did you rely more on practical sets or virtual production for creating large-scale environments? Could you explain the approach taken?
In all of our sequences, the ground and certain key features were practical. In At Achrann, the set included piles of rubble and debris, destroyed buildings, and the spaceship’s entrance ramp, providing tangible elements for the cast to interact with. Similarly, in the Mint sequences, the landing platform and spaceship ramp were built practically. Beyond these key set pieces, everything else was shot against a bluescreen and later replaced with our CG environments.
Were there any environments that were entirely CG, and how did you ensure they felt grounded and tangible, especially in sequences where the actors needed to interact with the setting?
The majority of our work was creating full CG environments, so our CG Supervisor Eve Chauvet and Environments Supervisor Nelson Dos Santos had their hands full. For each environment, we started with a piece of concept art, which was always very detailed and effectively conveyed a very specific mood.
At Achrann was a war-torn suburban area, devastated by destruction and surrounded by what looks like a decaying, drought-ravaged forest. For our scenes there, we built several key set pieces including a statue, a bombed-out school, and a destroyed house. Beyond these key elements, we also created a library of partially destroyed buildings, rubble, debris, overgrown plants, and trees to populate our scenes and build our layouts. These details were carefully placed throughout the scene, filling out the environment to enhance the sense of scale and devastation.
The Mint sequence was just as challenging. The concept art was more specific than in At Achrann and required us to build some vast spaces populated with huge machinery and robotics. In addition to the concept art, we drew inspiration from real-world references such as massive industrial spaces and underground caves. Whenever possible, we added security droids as recognizable, human-sized elements to help emphasize the scale of the environment.
The series features environments with rich details and atmospheric lighting. How important was the use of photorealistic elements, and what tools or software were key to achieving this level of realism?
The majority of the detail in our environments came directly from the production design. While there were occasional opportunities to enhance or add embellishments, most of the design work was already set, leaving us to focus on building and lighting the environments.
Given that all of our environments were large and expansive, we relied on a lot of atmospherics (smoke, haze, dust) to help convey the scale. In most cases, the atmospherics were generated by our FX team, and our Lighting Supervisor Sébastien Bélec had an extensive library of smoke and haze elements that he could use to shape the look of our scenes.
The security droids in Skeleton Crew have a distinctive look and movement style. Could you walk us through the design process, from concept art to their final animation?
Many of the security droids in Skeleton Crew were full-size puppets, operated by puppeteers standing directly behind them. The droids’ legs moved in sync with the puppeteers’ leg movements, while their arms were controlled using rods. These rods, along with the puppeteers, were later painted out in post-production to create the final effect.
Our CG versions were digital replicas of these puppets, with their animation closely mirroring the movement of the puppeteers. This approach gave the droids a natural, organic quality and a level of character and authenticity that I think would have been difficult to achieve through traditional keyframe animation.
The character of Neel involved a digital head replacement. What were the main challenges in ensuring the CG head seamlessly matched the actor’s body movements and lighting?
We had a digi-double of the actor that portrayed Neel, and we made sure that we had a particularly tight body track to his performance, particularly around the neck, shoulders and clavicle, which is always key when doing a full head replacement.
We had a lot of examples of Neel’s practical head in surrounding shots in the sequence, so we had a lot of reference to work from. Getting the skin tone correct was also important – it was more complex than it appears at first glance, ranging from blue through grey to pink. We spent quite a bit of time dialling that into our composites, ensuring that you could read the pinker, fleshier tones without it feeling too saturated.
How did you approach the facial animation of Neel to preserve emotional performance while maintaining a natural and believable look?
We had only a few shots where a full CG head replacement was needed for Neel, as most scenes featured the animatronic. When we watched the cuts of our sequences (which mostly featured the animatronic puppet) it was clear that Neel would be a fan favorite, so it was essential that our digital version stayed faithful to the practical performance.
Our digital asset’s rig was built to match the capabilities of the onset animatronic, and we also ran a skin and hair simulation that would give us some movement in his ears, trunk and hair.
The animation team took their cues from the animatronic performance. Neel’s mouth is mostly obscured by his trunk, but he has big, gentle eyes, which is where the majority of the performance came from, with lots of gentle blinks, soft eye darts and some moments of subtle wrinkling in the brow and nose.
Looking back on the project, what aspects of the visual effects are you most proud of?
I think the head replacements we did for Neel are very convincing, and I think you would struggle to distinguish between our head replacements and the animatronic. I’m also very pleased that I now have a lightsaber shot under my belt!
What is your favorite shot or sequence?
Undoubtedly, my favorite shot is the Onyx Cinder swooping in for landing in Episode 4. It encapsulates so many quintessential Star Wars elements – the undercarriage lowering, the roar of the jet engines, and the billowing dust, smoke, and sparks as it touches down. Our FX Lead Santiago Bono Plaza did a fantastic job with the simulations, crafting all the dust and smoke FX. Meanwhile, our Compositing Supervisor Chris Maslen ensured the ship was integrated into the many layers of smoke and haze.
What is your best memory on this show?
Being able to finally watch the show on TV with my son!
What’s the VFX shots count?
DNEG delivered around 150 shots for the show.
What is your next project?
I don’t think I’m allowed to share any details yet, but it involves another well-known character from my childhood!
A big thanks for your time.
// TRAILERS
WANT TO KNOW MORE?
DNEG: Dedicated page about Skeleton Crew on DNEG website.
© Vincent Frei – The Art of VFX – 2025
