VFX Legion served as the primary visual effects studio on 'The Passenger,' the new hostage thriller from director Carter Smith ('Swallowed'). One of a package of horror genre films developed and produced by Blumhouse Television exclusively for MGM+, 'The Passenger' premiered digitally on August 4th.
Written by Jack Stanley ('Lou'), the story focuses on two employees at a seedy burger joint - tightly wound Benson (Kyle Gallner/'Smile') and timid, submissive Randy (Johnny Berchtold/'Dog Gone),' Benson snaps when the persistent bullying of Randy by fellow employees goes too far.The protagonist gets a shotgun from his car, massacres the tormentors, and flees-taking Randy as his passenger/hostage on a violent rampage.
Legion created a variety of digital effects to achieve a spectacle of carnage with the intensity that the director envisioned in the gruesome scenes that play out in the restaurant and during the killing spree that follows. Digitally rendered muzzle flashes, bullet hits, blood splatters and other brutal imagery delivers the high-impact visceral violence throughout the film.
A challenging effect-tracking a long, continuous shot-achieved a perfect lock on camera moves in SynthEyes. The uninterrupted take heightens the ferocity of bloody slaughter of the two employees by in the pivotal scene.
Artists replaced objects in the practical photography with CG assets, digitally deleted objects, and augmenting footage, aligning the look of environments with the film’s storyline. CREDITS Title: 'The Passenger' Genre: Thriller Released: Aug 4, 2023 Distributed by: MGM+ Production Co: Blumhouse Television Directed By: Carter Smith Written By: Jack Stanley
Visual Effects by - VFX Legion VFX Supervisor: Blake Anderson Creative Director: James David Hattin Head of Production: Nate Small Compositors: Nolan Conrad, David Goody, Hong Kyoung Kim, Kate T.C. Lin, Lauren Morimoto, Vicki Silva Tracking Artist: Ruy Delgado Chief Tech. Officer: Dylan Yastremski
