London-based visual effects studio One of Us (OOU) collaborated with director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, production VFX supervisor Nigel Denton-Howes, and VFX producer Rupert Smith in crafting the macabre underworld of the 2024 Netflix film Damsel.
Damsel tells the story of Princess Elodie (played by Millie Bobby Brown), whose happily ever after is disrupted when she is offered as sacrifice to a dragon on her wedding day. The story follows Elodie’s journey of survival amidst formidable challenges, brought to life by One of Us’ VFX.
The supervision team, led by OOU creative director Emmanuel Pichereau united their creative forces across both London and Paris studios. He shared that the film allowed his team to produce a variety of work at the highest level. “The work is amazing, and we are already ramping up on our next big creature show.”
The VFX studio worked with Production Designer (and dragon aficionado) Patrick Tatopoulos to create the hero dragon character in Damsel. The team played an active role in design and shot planning throughout the production. “We built our largest team of animators to date across our London and Paris studios,” remarked OOU head of animation Catherine Mullan. “Our dragon was a complex character with her own story to tell, and we’ve demonstrated our ability to tackle the most complex creature work. Our team’s resilience, creativity, and collaborative spirit shone through and I couldn’t be prouder of what we’ve achieved.”
OOU’s CG teams were tasked with creating a vast CG cave environment and set extensions which showcased their ability to build immersive worlds from concept through completion. The in-house FX team was also expanded, and delivered work including dragon fire, napalm, thousands of burning flying swallows, dust, debris and destruction, melting and cracking ice, and plenty of blood. The project was OOU’s largest to date, with three units running in parallel and a total of 250 crew having worked across the show.
CEO Rachael Penfold emphasised the importance of this project for the company, “I am so incredibly proud of the beautiful and complex work our teams have produced on Damsel. It has enabled One of Us to take a huge step forward. We have evolved every part of our process through this fantastic collaboration. We are now perfectly poised to take on the next challenge!”
One of Us has previously worked on Netflix series The Sandman, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, Netflix series The Witcher S2 and more.
