“It’s everyone’s worst fear of what could happen with technology,” admits Abigail Scollay about “Black Mirror.” In our recent webchat she adds, “What’s different about this season is it was not just modern day or near future. That was unexpected.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.
“Black Mirror” is the anthology series created by Charlie Brooker where each episode takes on new characters and stories to tell a dystopian tale. Scollay was the visual effects supervisor for the Netflix show’s sixth season. The effects wizard states, “The biggest challenge is the variety of the effects. It’s not following a traditional series with a single narrative, where we can rinse and repeat the effects. It’s very bespoke for each episode. We had werewolves, we had nuclear explosions, we had space walks. That’s what makes it interesting.”
“Beyond the Sea” is an episode that was directed by John Crowley. Set in 1969, Josh Hartnett and Aaron Paul play the only two astronauts on a years-long mission. Technology allows both to send their consciousness to replicas of their bodies back on earth. Scollay explains, “I’m proud that we always shot practical elements for everything. For instance, with the space walks we didn’t use digital doubles at all. That’s real elements of Aaron Paul on wires or a stunt double. That requires a lot of tech vis to make sure we could achieve the shots John storyboarded.”
Another installment from the season was “Joan Is Awful,” directed by Ally Pankiw. In that episode Annie Murphy plays Joan, who discovers a streaming service has made a drama based on her life starring Salma Hayek. Scollay says, “We almost had an existential crisis trying to work out, when we were storyboarding for VFX, which Joan it was.”
Scollay has previously worked as effects compositor on Marvel films such as “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Captain America” and “Ant-Man.” She reflects, “I enjoy the way you can change an imagine and make something totally different or beautiful. It’s that attention to detail. My first job was ‘Power Rangers.’ That was quite a lot of fun and different from the work I do now.”
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