In an interview for Animation World Network, Visual Effects Supervisor Stephan Fleet for The Boys, based on the comic book of the same name by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, makes clear there’s more to the visual stylings of the award-winning Prime Video series than exploding heads and flesh-eating flying sheep.
In a world where superheroes embrace the darker side of their massive celebrity and fame, The Boys, now in its fourth season on Prime, centres on a group of vigilantes known informally as “The Boys,” who set out to take down corrupt superheroes with no more than their blue collar grit and a willingness to fight dirty.
“The hardest stuff is the stuff that has to look 100% real,” he tells AWN. “When you do something like a flying sheep, there’s always going to be a slight suspension of disbelief with an audience. Just because those don’t really exist.
“However, cloning, or having a character be multiple versions of themselves in the same frame, was one of the hardest things we had to do this season. Audiences are really savvy in this day and age. I mean, influencers will make TikTok videos where they clone themselves, so people know how it’s done. So now you have to do it in ways that make it harder; you have to do the impossible shots.
The interview includes a number of videos illustrating The Boys “killer sheep” – be warned!
• Check out The Boys on Amazon Prime (Affiliate Link)
• Check out The Boys Omnibus collections (AmazonUK Affiliate Link)
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The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: Comics, Digital Media, downthetubes News, Other Worlds, Television, US Comics
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