By OLIVER WEBBImages courtesy of Apple TV+.Every time Jason Dessen (Joel Edgerton) opens a door in the corridor, a different variation of Chicago is revealed. Dark Matter is based on Blake Crouchs bestselling novel that follows family man Jason as he is abducted into an alternate version of his life.Based on Blake Crouchs 2016 bestselling novel, Dark Matter follows family man Jason Dessen (Joel Edgerton) as he is abducted into an alternate version of his life. To return to his family, he must embark on a journey to save them from his own worst enemy: himself. Philippe Massonnat, who served as Folks VFX Visual Effects Producer on the AppleTV+ series, had first heard of Dark Matter through a sister company in the Pitch Black film family. We loved Blake Crouchs book and had previous history with the production VFX team on the show, so it was a no-brainer for us to try to be involved, Massonnat states.Initial conversations between the VFX team and the producers focused on laying the groundwork to create the various worlds of Dark Matter, producing high-quality realizations of Blake Crouchs worlds.VFX Supervisor Lionel Lim first heard about Dark Matter as a potential project through his producers at Folks VFX. Lim explains, Blake Crouchs novel is truly captivating, so we were thrilled to work on the series adaptation. The chance to bring this story to life on screen was exciting and inspiring for me and the entire team. Our initial conversations focused on laying the groundwork to create the various worlds of Dark Matter. The expectation was to produce high-quality realizations of Blake Crouchs worlds. From there, we quickly moved on to concept development.Folks VFX Visual Effects Supervisor Lionel Lim and his team gathered reference material on Chicago from photos, footage and maps, providing the filmmakers with a solid foundation.Massonnat understood early on that it was imperative for the work to be grounded in reality. Chicago being the only constant in the many worlds the characters go through, we knew we would have to work on many variations of the city and its skyline. All of our variations needed to be a realistic version of a what if scenario that could have happened if things went differently.Having a real city to reference was incredibly helpful, providing us with a solid foundation to stick to and refer back to whenever we had doubts. This approach ensured that the essence of Chicago was consistently captured in each alternate world.Lionel Lim, VFX Supervisor, Folks VFXFor the bidding process, Massonnat and his team got access to early concepts from Blakes creative team. They had worked on variations of the potential worlds our heroes would go through, he explains. It helped us evaluate the workloads for some of the worlds, but also gave us great pointers for the mood and level of creativity Blake and his team were looking for. With the production VFX team on set in Chicago, we also received a lot of references of the city and its surroundings that were very helpful.Chicago was the only constant in the alternate worlds the characters go through, requiring many variations of the city and its skyline. Dynamic new iterations of Chicago were built each time the door was opened.Every alternate world is a variation of Chicago, and all the variations of the city needed to be realistic versions of what could believably happen in an alternate Chicago reality.Every time our heroes open a door in the corridor, we had to reveal a different variation that needed to be as stunning, detailed and realistic as the previous one. Whether it would start a whole sequence like the snow world or futuristic Chicago, or only be for a couple of shots like the scorched Chicago or the tsunami wave, the quality needed to stay at the highest level.Philippe Massonnat, Visual Effects Producer, Folks VFXAs every alternate world is a variation of Chicago, Lim and his team gathered as much reference material as possible about the city from various sources. This included pictures, footage, maps and more, Lim details. Having a real city to reference was incredibly helpful, providing us with a solid foundation to stick to and refer back to whenever we had doubts. This approach ensured that the essence of Chicago was consistently captured in each alternate world.From a production standpoint, the main technical challenge of the show was the sheer amount of worlds. There were so many worlds to create that different teams concept, environment, VFX and compositing were spread over many different variations at the same time, working on future episodes, upcoming worlds and building new iterations of Chicago.From a production standpoint, the main challenge of the show was the sheer amount of worlds. Every time our heroes open a door in the corridor, we had to reveal a different variation that needed to be as stunning, detailed and realistic as the previous one, Massonnat says. Whether it would start a whole sequence like the snow world or futuristic Chicago, or only for a couple of shots like the scorched Chicago or the tsunami wave, the quality needed to stay at the highest level. Planning was a very important part of making all this possible, we had to be very mindful of our resources and our scheduling, making sure we had the best possible crew focusing on the right environment or FX at the right time, ready to jump on the next one as soon as they were done to keep the wheels turning and steadily feed our compositing team.When it came to streamlining workload for Lim and his team, the art department created concepts for each Chicago variation and sought early approval with the initial footage. Simultaneously, our CG team built a rough model of Chicago using satellite data and maps, Lim says. This Chicago environment was then used, alongside our concept art, as a base to feed each worlds variations. We then built specific props and assets to help set [artists] dress the city and adapt the look for each world, whether it was snow banks, snowed-in trees, houses, boats, sand dunes, sci-fi buildings, etc.Whether it was the snow world, futuristic Chicago, scorched Chicago or the tsunami wave, a consistently high level of quality was required throughout.Massonnat agrees that the snow world and elevator sequence were technically challenging, though from a producers perspective he points to the restaurant episode in episode 7 as being the trickiest. We had to build a 180-degree vista from the restaurant at the top of the highest building in the city, above a cloudscape with some of the tallest city buildings peaking through, he describes. Its a very emotional sequence for our characters, so the background needed to help convey that emotion. It was a very iterative process. We had to try a lot of options until we nailed the timing [of] the sun position, the color palette and the mood of each section of the sequence, which is spread over about 90 shots from the end of the afternoon until night. We had to be very precise with continuity. Each revision implied that we had to correct a massive amount of shots in a short amount of time to be able to see the sequence as a whole and figure out if it was true to Blakes vision or not. To streamline the process and allow for faster turnaround and reviews, we decided to have a composting supervisor specifically assigned to that sequence. It helped a lot in quickly proposing revisions and spreading them efficiently to the team. In the end, the sequence is gorgeous and carries beautifully the weight of the decisions being made by our heroes.Simultaneously, our CG team built a rough model of Chicago using satellite data and maps. This Chicago environment was then used, alongside our concept art, as a base to feed each worlds variations. We then built specific props and assets to help set [artists] dress the city and adapt the look for each world, whether it was snow banks, snowed-in trees, houses, boats, sand dunes, sci-fi buildings, etc.Lionel Lim, VFX Supervisor, Folks VFXThe mysterious box, which functions as a interdimensional transport device, always appears at the same place in every world, always at the same coordinates regardless of the reality, even in the middle of a busy freeway.All the worlds created for the show initially began with a discussion with Production VFX Supervisor John Heller, and looking at various references to convey the essence of what Blake was looking for. Then we would move on to concepts to refine the mood and the details and get an early approval, before going on building the worlds themselves, Massonnat says. For all the city worlds we used a rough CG Chicago we built as a layout base, as the box is always appearing at the same place in every world. Then we altered the city by adding props and CG assets, FX simulations, layers of matte paintings projected on our 3D base, and anything needed to make it the best possible. Even if only seen for a few frames before closing the door, never to be seen again, our worlds needed to be instantly impactful and memorable.The elevator scene required a high level of detail to make it believable, grounded in reality and compelling at the same time. Simultaneous to the creation of concept art, the CG team built a rough model of Chicago using satellite data and maps. This Chicago environment was then used to differentiate, design and detail the look of each world.Lim notes that due to the big variety of biomes throughout the alternate Chicago worlds mixed with the shots themselves often having camera movements the team decided to use a 2.5D approach for much of the shot work. We were very rigorous with having proper layout steps so that we would never change camera orientation once we started painting environments. For most of our worlds, we often had heavy matte paintings projected onto our 3D models, using a render as a base. This allowed for quick iterations and a lot of flexibility.For all the city worlds we used a rough CG Chicago we built as a layout base, as the box is always appearing at the same place in every world. Then we altered the city by adding props and CG assets, FX simulations, layers of matte painting projected on our 3D base, and anything needed to make it the best possible.Philippe Massonnat, Visual Effects Producer, Folks VFXProduction on the show lasted around eight months, and the complexity of having such a vast amount of worlds to create ultimately meant that the crew needed to be spread over many different variations at the same time. We had our concept team looking into future episodes, while our environment team was split working on upcoming worlds, building new iterations of Chicago each time the door was opened. Simultaneously, our FX team was busy simulating snow storms, deadly bee swarms or a gigantic tsunami in finished environments while our composting team was delivering the latest renders in beautiful shots, Massonnat says. Folks VFX completed approximately 700 visual effects shots for the show. FuseFX, MPC, Digital Domain, Ghost VFX and Papaya VFX were also vendors on the show.The snow scenes also demanded a high degree of detail. Even if only seen for a few frames before closing the door, never to be seen again, the different worlds needed to make an instant impact.Lim explains that the snow world and elevator scenes were the most challenging to capture as they required a high level of detail. Making each world believable while keeping it grounded in reality was a tricky balance to achieve. Multiple variations of cityscapes depicting different times of day were also required. Drawing from earlier concepts established by our art department, we had a solid foundation to build upon. The complexity arose from ensuring each cityscape maintained a high level of detail while subtly bringing them to life, Lim adds. The joy of working on the show definitely came from the opportunity to create vivid and wonderful worlds with our VFX team at Folks. We were fortunate to have an amazing team of artists and supervisors who worked tirelessly to achieve results we can all be proud of.Massonnat reflects, Bringing so many worlds and environments to life was incredible. It was a creative challenge, but bouncing ideas and trying out new things to make a world interesting and captivating with our team at Folks was also deeply satisfying, and we were lucky to have a truly fantastic crew ready to push the envelope to make all those amazing worlds unforgettable.