Creep Provides VFX for Latest and Final Season of Top Boy

Here at Creep, we are extremely proud to have been the sole VFX vendor for the latest and final season of Top Boy - so we managed to grab our Top Girl, Libby, who was the visual effects producer and ask her a few questions about the journey to finalise this epic show. 

Q> What were your first impressions of the job? 

Libby> We were incredibly excited about the opportunity to work on 'Top Boy,' which marked Creep's biggest Netflix series win to date. It was undeniably a significant milestone for us, and we were fully aware of the show's dedicated and passionate fan base (including many of our own team!), so we knew we had to do a brilliant job. 

Top Boy has received repeated critical acclaim for its well-crafted storytelling and gritty yet beautiful cinematography that gives a genuine depiction of life in East London - In fact, it won a Best Director BAFTA for Television Craft for the previous series whilst we were working on this one! So we knew we had to make sure our work was flawless, and that our VFX would elevate each shot that we worked on. 

Q> What was the biggest challenge on the show? 

Libby> The ambitions - and creative standards - for the VFX were high from the start. Good VFX in a show like Top Boy is really work that you can't see. Scenes should be enhanced and enriched by the work, and it all has to feel real, and sit within the Top Boy universe - which is authentic, gritty and actually a little understated.

As soon as we won the VFX, we put in the hard work to get our best talent on the job, and we set about challenging and refining our own workflows to ensure we could achieve putting the highest level of creativity on screen within the time and budget we had.

Q> Favourite work? Scene? Or Shot? 

Libby> Whilst the gun shootouts, blood explosions and riot scenes look epic, and were a lot of fun to R&D and work on, I'm really proud of some of the less "glamorous" shots, which are often the unsung heroes of VFX, but really add to the storyline. I'm proud of our environment and DMP work throughout the Summerhouse estate, where we added the infamous orange boards - which we built in 3D after seeing practical boards on set, which we then graffiti'd and weathered so they instantly set the tone of this community being pulled apart. Phonescreen comps and news feeds with huge storyline reveals, where we had to nail legibility alongside realism, were often technically tricky, but (hopefully!) you can't even tell they're VFX, which is always satisfying.  

Q> Any special R&D you did for the VFX? 

Libby> We looked into the intricacies of a LOT of different gun types - how quickly they fire, how big the muzzle flash would be, what would happen with a silencer added, how much the environment would light up, etc - and of course how much blood would explode from a hit. Safe to say our Google search history was looking slightly questionable by the end of the project! 

Q> Any thoughts now it is over?

Libby> I'm just sad it was the last season so we can't do it all over again. From the series producers and execs, through to the crew and post teams, it really was an amazing team to work with and they made us feel part of the Top Boy family from beginning to end.

I'm so proud of the work too - we were a relatively small but strong and dedicated team. Every single artist pushed themselves to deliver their best work time and time again - each shot was approached with attention to detail and craft, whether it was removing a reflection or exploding a head. I think the work looks brilliant on screen - the grade and sound design brought our shots to life, and I think this season is an epic finale to a series that will go down in the history books. It was a true pleasure to be just a small part of it.