Hollywood-based visual effects studio Eden FX helped to create the most vfx-laden episode of the hit CBS TV series Ghost Whisperer. For the installment ‘Ghost in the Machine,’ which aired on Oct. 17, the sole visual effects provider created an entire CG virtual world comprised of a major urban exterior environment which included street scenes and a live arcade.
In the episode, series star Jennifer Love Hewitt becomes a digital avatar in a virtual social networking environment to hunt down a predator who is targeting young girls on the web. The CG work was added to live-action footage shot against an enormous green screen measuring 30 feet high by 150 feet long on a soundstage at Universal Studios.
‘Eden FX was brilliant in its execution of our avatar world,’ says Ghost Whisperer exec producer Ian Sander. ‘Because the parallel universe Eden digitally created was unrivaled in network television, there has been a great and tremendous amount of buzz about the ‘Ghost in the Machine’ episode’our viewers loved it!’ Eden FX co-founders John Gross and Mark Miller made the announcement.
Software used by Eden for this project included Digital Fusion, After Effects and LightWave. The producers referenced other futuristic worlds created for such films as Blade Runner and Metropolis.
Episode director Steve Robman explains, ‘There is a huge amount of green screen work in this episode, and very large physical areas of green screen that we were trying to create. We had to map out, in advance, where the ends of buildings were going to be, and doorways and benches, so that when we shot against the green screen and those things weren’t inside our viewfinder, they would work out correctly when the CG images were transplanted on top of it.’
Ghost Whisperer is produced by Sander/Moses Prods. in association with ABC Studios and CBS Paramount Network Television. The show airs on Fridays at 8 p.m. (ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Watch a behind-the-scenes featurette on the making of the ‘Ghost in the Machine’ episode below.
