Vine FX has brought its visual effects expertise to Netflix’s latest Enola Holmes adventure, combining puzzle-driven sequences, action enhancements and invisible effects to strengthen the film’s Victorian-era setting.
Produced by Legendary Entertainment for Netflix, Enola Holmes 3 sees Millie Bobby Brown as young detective Enola Holmes. Directed by Phil Barantini and written by Jack Thorne, the film follows Enola to Malta, where a new investigation brings together mystery, action, and intrigue. Vine FX delivered 150 final shots for the feature, working with production VFX supervisor Mike Ellis and the wider production team.
One of Vine FX’s key sequences visualises Enola’s puzzle-solving process, with letters and symbols rising from a page and rearranging themselves in the air as she deciphers a coded message.
“There’s a brilliant scene where Enola visualises the problem and crafts her code. The letters reform on the page, then float up into the air where she rearranges them,” explained VFX supervisor Ben Hicks. “We wanted to provide as much creative scope as possible, as the production team fine-tuned exactly how they wanted the sequence to look. Once everything was finalised, we were able to apply the textures and create the animations that brought the scene to life. The result was a beautifully crafted final design that everyone was happy with. We went through a lot of iterations on how the Morse code would transform into letters, so it became another highly collaborative creative process. In shots like this, these smaller effects are what really help tie everything together.”
Hicks added, “In one sequence, we created sandy textures to replace a large area of carpet that had been laid down for the shoot. We extended the sand across the surrounding paving areas to make everything feel more soft and natural. There were quite a few different angles in the sequence, so we had to build multiple digital matte paintings and make sure the sand felt consistent throughout. We integrated the sand naturally into the environment so it felt like it had always been there rather than something that had been added afterwards.”
CG supervisor Tim Kilgour shared, “We worked very closely with production for this as the edit was still evolving as we went along. The concept started as liquid ink coming off the page, which later evolved into the idea of dried letters peeling away from the paper. This effect gave the sequence a much nicer design language, with these floating fragments that looked like dried ink lifting from the page. The words, letters and symbols were changing as the storyline developed.”
Kilgour added, “We had to create a system that was adaptable, allowing us to update the content while maintaining the overall look and animation style. It was all about finding the right balance. We wanted it to feel like a genuine fingerprint smudge while still supporting the story point and remaining visually interesting. The production had shot a practical explosion on set, but they wanted it to feel bigger and more dramatic. They provided us with LiDar scans of the set, and we recreated the effect, extending the destruction and blowing apart sections of the structure while matching what had been captured on camera. Because we had such good reference from the practical shoot from the HDRIs and LiDar data, it made the process much more straightforward. The client had prepared everything exceptionally well.”
Creative director Simon Carr mentioned, “Cables, modern structures and various present-day elements all had to be removed to create period-correct cityscape work. Some of that prep work was actually quite complex because of the amount of parallax involved, but it all needed to be removed in order for the shots to feel historically convincing.”
Vine FX also worked on a large-scale mine explosion. The production had shot a practical explosion on set, which the studio enhanced using CG to make the destruction larger and more dramatic. The studio additionally created muzzle flashed, bullet impacts and environmental enhancements, demonstrating how smaller effects can help integrate a larger action sequence.
A significant part of Vin e FX’s work focused on invisible effects and environmental enhancements to support the film’s period setting. The team carried out extensive clean-up and de-modernisation work across locations filmed in Malta, removing cables, modern structures and other contemporary elements.
The studio also replaced carpets with sand, enhanced backgrounds with mountains and trees, and extended coastal vistas. Digital matte paintings were used across multiple angels to keep the environments consistent and make the added elements appear naturally integrated into locations.
Throughout production, Vine FX worked closely with the filmmakers as the project developed, adapting to changing edits and creative direction. Executive VFX producer Kaitlyn Beattie said, “This show was much more collaborative than most. We had to stay flexible, as the reels were still being actively edited while we worked.”
The workflow required collaboration across departments, with production coordinator Aiden Free helping manage changes as creative decisions were updated. The team remained focused on finding solutions and moving the project forward despite the challenges of an evolving production.
