SPECTRAL was delighted to join the fantastic crew of Shadow and Bone once again, after the fun and eclectic first season. We both worked for the art department for planning and visualisation and also for the VFX department.

The story picks up just after the events of the first season, and so did our work. We kicked off with 3 days of cross polar reference photography for extras and talents. We scanned numerous hero weapons like Jesper’s guns, Inej’s knife set, the “Neshyener Sword”, Tolya’s sword, hero props including Kirigan’s severe hand and prosthetic hand, severe heads and bloated bodies.

Baghra’s cave, the Sea Whip’s lair, the Shu city and the Shu garden where the fight scenes were filmed, were built sets. The team also scanned locations like the mines of Kőbánya and Tárnok, the interior and exterior of the Budapest Stock Exchange Palace, Monostor Fort at Komárom and the Royal Riding Hall at Buda Castle.

The biggest challenge however was the Privateer’s ship, the Hummingbird. It was a large built set piece with a detachable “flying” part. This ship was in the episode “Rusalye” which was nominated for an Emmy award, for “Outstanding Special Visual Effects In A Single Episode – 2023”