The Shepherd

DNEG delivered around 60 shots, as well as additional elements, for the Disney+ short film ‘The Shepherd’. Adapted from Frederick Forsyth’s 1975 novella, the short tells the story of young RAF pilot Freddie and his dramatic night flight from Germany to England on Christmas Eve 1957.

Daylight shots of the production’s working Vampire jet taxiing and flying were carefully graded to create a convincing nighttime look throughout the film, replacing sun-lit clouds with a glittering star scape.

We used a combination of fully digital aircraft and live action elements of actual planes, shot both on the runway and in the studio, to show both the Vampire and Mosquito in flight. And extensive digital environment work was done to create moonlit winter landscapes, shining seascapes, and a smooth layer of impenetrable fog.

Our VFX team worked closely with the DNEG Virtual Production team to lay out and animate all the air-to-air shots of the Vampire and Mosquito aircraft. Unreal Engine’s sophisticated realtime shading and rendering was used to produce visually rich animations of the planes and environments, some of which were dropped directly into the final cut of the film.

DNEG 360, a partnership between DNEG and Dimension Studio, delivered the virtual production services. 