BACKSTAGE PASS

“THE ONLY TYPE OF VISUAL EFFECTS WE DIDN’T HAVE ON THE SHOW WAS A NORMAL EXPLOSION, BUT WE DID EXPLODE A CAROUSEL IN SPACE”
Chris MacLean, VFX supervisor, Mr. X

A road trip through various roadside attractions takes on mythological proportions with American Gods, which airs on Starz and Amazon Prime Video. Much like the conflict between ancient and upstart deities featured in the novel authored by Neil Gaiman, the adaptation has experienced turmoil with the departure of original creators Bryan Fuller (Hannibal) and Michael Green (Logan). A constant presence throughout season one and two has been Christopher Byrne (12 Monkeys), who went from being a second unit director to the executive producer/director on the show.

“When you see visual effects in other shows it has a different look,” notes Byrne. “What we discovered is that by applying a level of sharpening in nonvisual effects shots and then toning it down when the visual effects shots get dropped