Creative Director, Film, Jonathan Fawkner receives his third Oscar nomination for his work on the latest instalment of the James Bond franchise, which saw him oversee almost 400 shots spanning everything from thrilling action to seamless ‘invisible FX’. Jonathan shares the ticket with Charlie Noble, Joel Green and Chris Corbould.
Framestore’s VFX work on the film includes:
- A dramatic chase featuring Land Rovers, motorbikes and a helicopter – work which involved complementing the practical effects, heightening the sequence’s sense of danger and helping maintain continuity. This saw a combination of note-perfect CG vehicles, deft keyframe animation and impeccably crafted environment replacements.
- Bespoke environment R&D work for the film’s dramatic opening sequence, which saw plates shot in springtime Norway transformed into crisp, snowy winterscapes.
- A stylish sequence backdropped by London’s iconic skyline that required minute attention to detail – from light refraction through the city’s towering glass skyscrapers down to blinking traffic lights at street level.
No Time To Die was a real labour of love for Jonathan and his team, and their fandom shines through in their pixel-perfect VFX work. While we’re frequently charged with conjuring the otherworldy or the fantastical at Framestore, this film was firmly grounded in reality – something that’s a considerable VFX challenge in its own right. From frenetic action to matching director Cary Joji Fukunaga’s stylish vision for what a Bond film should look like, Jonathan and his team carried the work off with aplomb – we look forward to seeing him in his tuxedo, martini in hand, at this year’s Academy Awards ceremony.
Fiona Walkinshaw, Global Managing Director, Film
You can read more about Framestore’s VFX work for No Time To Die here.
Around 170 people worked on the film’s VFX at Framestore, as well as our friends at Company 3, who provided colour. A separate team of 40 Framestore artists worked solely on the opening titles, Daniel Craig’s last gunbarrel sequence and the Billie Eilish music video for the title track. Starting with GoldenEye in 1995, No Time To Die marks the seventh time the creative studio has worked closely with Daniel Kleinman to create a Bond title sequence, having fostered a partnership with the director that’s brought in multiple industry awards.
