Netflix's The Residence is a comedic whodunnit that's set in The White House. The series was inspired by Kate Andersen Brower's book, "The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House," and stars a large cast that includes Uzo Aduba, Giancarlo Esposito, Edwina Findley, Molly Griggs, Jason Lee, Ken Marino, Al Mitchell, Randall Park, Bronson Pinchot, Julieth Restrepo, Mel Rodriguez, Susan Kelechi Watson, Isiah Whitlock Jr. and Mary Wiseman.
Seth Hill served as the series’ visual effects supervisor, overseeing the seven facilities that made contributions to the show.
"I would work closely with our showrunner, Paul William Davies, to understand what he wanted to do with the series, and from there, brainstorming ideas for where VFX can collaboratively support that vision," Hill explains. "This was not just with the VFX houses, but also all of post and editorial. It’s what I love as the production visual effects supervisor. I am connecting with all parties and trying to find ways VFX can enable what they are hoping to do."
According to Hill, the show's biggest need was to help explain layout of The White House.
"That’s where Paul had written the ideas for the various views of the walls cut away, or the ceiling removed and the camera moving to a wide pulled back perspective so you can see the entire layout in one view. These were referred to as the dollhouse and game board. The idea of these shots was so unique and such a cool way to explain what room is where and what action happens in relation to the other rooms. The same sort of a need for a visual map was written to explain the geography of the big zoom through The White House at the opening, seeing how all the rooms connect together and where everyone is at a precise moment in time."
Beyond the bigger moment, one of the series obvious hurdles was the inability to shoot in the actual White House. Production, instead, build a number of convincing sets, and blue screens were used to Crete set extensions.
"The the exterior required a full VFX build of The White House grounds," Hill shares. "Scenes were shot on exterior locations, which is critical for the lighting to feel natural on the characters, but then we’d replace most of the exteriors when you see The White House. And of course, a few other things, like turning California’s coast into a tropical island, or making the botanical gardens look like Ecuador."
The gear used among the different FVX contributors varied.
"We had several different render engines and software all being utilized," says Hill. "But maybe more unique was our primary vendor, who handled the exterior White House and the dollhouse and gameboard shots, developed some cool ways to parse out and segment the complicated elements to allow for more efficient rendering. This was all packaged into a tool they coded to work with V-Ray, which helped create proxies that could be segmented onto a render farm."
Hill points to long, single shot of the camera pulling up through an elevator shaft and revealing an abstract view of The White House with its facade removed, and then back inside to meet the characters as one of the more interesting VFX sequences.
"[It's] a crazy, amazing bit of artistry and technical wizardry, and everyone involved with it should be super proud of how it came together! It’s such a unique visual moment, completely in service of supporting the storytelling, and a really cool way to help the audience understand the complex layout of such an iconic building. Also, there are so many little Easter eggs hidden in there that you need to watch it 20 times to just take it all in! It was a fun challenge, and I am very excited with how it turned out."