Cory Stillman
We are in the thick of awards season, with several of the key guilds handing out their awards in the weeks ahead, all leading up to the Oscars in March. One of the most exciting elements of these guild awards is how they shed light on the contributions to film and TV that many of us would otherwise miss.
That is almost certainly the case in a show like The Residence, whose photoreal VFX work is meant to integrate seamlessly into the show. It is easy to stare in awe at the elaborate VFX work on our favorite sci-fi and fantasy programs, but I had the chance to sit down with the fine folks at Crafty Apes VFX to learn more about how their work on the popular Netflix series helped shape one of its most essential characters…beyond Detective Cordelia Cupp (Uzo Aduba), The Residence leans on a CG falcon as a narrative avatar.
“By adopting the perspective of a bird of prey, the show translates Cordelia’s expertise as a birder into a visual ‘overview’ of the investigation,” explains the Crafty Apes team. “Under the overall VFX supervision of John Nelson, the team approached the falcon as a storytelling device, one that needed to feel grounded, intelligent, and emotionally connected to Cordelia’s process.”
Through the eyes of this falcon, The Residence turns the familiar setting of the White House into a virtual crime scene.
“We created what we internally called the ‘Dollhouse View.’ This unique perspective allowed the director to visualize simultaneous actions leading up to the crime, providing a clear, synchronized look at the suspects across different rooms.”
Of course, the falcon itself also called for serious attention to detail. Crafty Apes adopted a brand-new version of the Houdini feather system that had just been released, achieving a level of realism in the bird’s plumage and flight dynamics that would not have been possible with older workflows.
The complexity of that work across the falcon and the show’s White House environment earned the recognition of the Visual Effects Society, securing Crafty Apes three nominations at the forthcoming VES Awards.
“Ultimately, this project succeeded through a seamless synergy between high-fidelity digital artistry and meticulous practical production,” they say. “By anchoring our CG environments and Houdini-driven creature work in real-world data, from DC scout shoots to LiDAR-scanned sets, we provided the filmmakers with a limitless digital stage.”
Following the show’s VES nominations, the Crafty Apes team share below an inside look at the creative and technical process behind building the Falcon and reconstructing the White House in CG.
What narrative and visual goals guided the creation of the falcon character, and how did the design serve the story?
The falcon functions as a narrative avatar for Detective Cordelia Cupp. By adopting the perspective of a bird of prey, the show translates Cordelia’s expertise as a birder into a visual “overview” of the investigation. As the falcon circles the White House, it maps out her internal logic, allowing the audience to see the suspects’ testimonies and the physical clues from her unique, analytical vantage point.
Under the overall VFX supervision of John Nelson, the team approached the falcon as a storytelling device, one that needed to feel grounded, intelligent, and emotionally connected to Cordelia’s process. Every design choice was driven by the goal of transforming her investigation into a visual journey as the story unfolds.
How did your team balance photoreal detail, animation, and performance to make the falcon feel grounded in live-action scenes?
We brought the falcon to life by blending real-world observation with high-end VFX. Working with a live Saker Falcon and its trainer, we captured high-res reference of its movements and plumage. Our team then built the digital double from the “skin” up, sculpting the anatomy and hand-placing individual feathers.
Asset development and grooming were led by Julie Tardieu, whose team focused on anatomical accuracy, feather layering, and micro-detail to ensure the bird could hold up in extreme closeups. This gave us the flexibility to simulate realistic feather clash and wind resistance during the South Lawn flyover, ensuring that every moment felt grounded in reality.
Animation, led by Burke Roane, balanced physical realism with performance nuance, treating the Falcon not just as a creature, but as a character. His team studied weight, inertia, and subtle behavioral cues to make the Falcon’s movement feel intentional and emotionally connected to Cordelia’s point of view.
What drove the decision to create fully CG environments for key locations like the White House, rather than using practical sets?
The decision to utilize fully CG environments was driven by both the logistical realities of filming at a high-security location and a desire for total narrative freedom. Since filming at the actual White House was not an option, we meticulously reconstructed the entire grounds and exterior using high-resolution photo reference and architectural schematics. Under the supervision of CG Supervisor Gabriel Vargas, the team focused on structural accuracy, scale, and architectural fidelity to ensure the digital White House felt authentic in every shot.
Beyond mere access, the CG environment allowed for impossible cinematography. We could place the camera anywhere, from grand establishing shots to the falcon’s POV as it glides over the South Lawn. DMP Env Artist Matthew Ribeiro supported these sequences by crafting detailed sky, skyline, and landscape extensions that grounded the White House within its surrounding environment across varying lighting conditions.
To ground the investigation, we also recreated the interior rooms, props, and lighting based on LiDAR scans taken from our practical sets. By digitally “removing” the south wall, we created what we internally called the “Dollhouse View.” This unique perspective allowed the director to visualize simultaneous actions leading up to the crime, providing a clear, synchronized look at the suspects across different rooms.
How did lighting, atmosphere, and compositing ensure these CG environments blended seamlessly with live-action footage?
To ensure our CG environments felt grounded in reality, we relied heavily on the incredible practical sets built by the production team. By using LiDAR scans and HDRI photography of the interior rooms and the South Portico entrance, we were able to match our digital lighting and geometry to the live-action footage with pinpoint accuracy. This allowed us to preserve the specific mood and texture of the practical plates, even within fully digital shots.
Under the supervision of Compositing Supervisor Spencer Hecox, the comp team focused on seamless integration, balancing light wrap, reflections, atmospheric depth, and edge detail to ensure that CG elements disappeared fully into the photography. A standout example of this can be seen in Episode 1, and is a testament to the seamless collaboration between our Layout, Lighting, and Compositing teams.
The shot begins with a full CG exterior of the North Lawn, moves through the entrance into the Grand Foyer and East Room, ascends through the second and third floors to reveal the crime in the Game Room, and finally exits a window to an ominous, lightning-struck establishing shot of the south side of the White House.
This single move integrated six different live-action takes filmed across three separate sound stages. Because each floor of the White House interior was a distinct practical set, our team had to build CG extensions for hallways and ceilings to connect the physical spaces. Using 3D camera tracking, plate projections, and CG reconstructed rooms, our layout artists aligned the physical sets within our digital White House model. Our compositors then balanced the lighting and plate projections to seamlessly blend the transitions between the stages and the CG exteriors, resulting in a single, fluid narrative beat.
What were the biggest technical or creative challenges your team faced in bringing the falcon character and large-scale CG environments to the final composite?
There were several creative challenges on this project, beginning with audience’s obvious recognition of our core setting. The White House is an architectural icon; because so many people have toured its halls or studied its history, there was zero margin for error. Our primary objective was absolute fidelity to the design, scale, and historical detail of the residence.
Precision was also key. For our “Dollhouse” and interior shots, we digitally reconstructed every ornate room and prop. This required a deep dive into the specific aesthetics of each space to ensure that the digital extensions were indistinguishable from the practical sets. We wanted the landscaping to be just as accurate. The exterior was mapped using a combination of architectural schematics and high-resolution satellite imagery. We went beyond the buildings, researching the specific species of foliage on the grounds to ensure the gardens and trees felt authentically “D.C.”
Striving for that kind of accuracy and precision made data management and rendering a key challenge as well. The complexity of these assets, combined with high-density textures, numerous render layers, and AOVs, required immense throughput on our render farm. Managing the data for these layers, alongside the intricate plate stitches in compositing, was one of our most significant logistical challenges.
Lastly, to bring the falcon to life, we adopted a brand-new version of the Houdini feather system that had just been released. Implementing this cutting-edge tool mid-production was a steep learning curve, but it allowed us to achieve a level of realism in the bird’s plumage and flight dynamics that wasn’t possible with older workflows.
How did collaboration between VFX, production design, and cinematography influence the final look and realism of both the character and environments?
The visual authenticity of The Residence began with the work of Production Designer Francois Audouy and his team. The depth of research, architectural study, and craftsmanship that went into designing and building the White House interior sets created an instantly recognizable and globally iconic visual language. That practical foundation was not just a backdrop for VFX. It was the blueprint.
Without the precision of Francois’ design work and the fully realized sets his team constructed, the digital extension of The Residence would not have been possible at the level of fidelity the story demanded. By incorporating his production design directly into our digital builds, scanning sets with LiDAR, and grounding our CG environments in real world reference from DC scout shoots, we were able to seamlessly extend the physical into the digital.
Cinematography played an equally critical role in shaping the final look. Working closely with Directors of Photography Paula Huidobro and Peter Deming, we ensured that every digital extension honored their lighting language, lens choices, and camera movement philosophy. Because the sets were so thoughtfully designed and photographed with such intentionality, we could push the camera into spaces a traditional production camera could not physically reach while preserving the integrity of their visual language.
That alignment between production design, cinematography, and VFX enabled signature moments such as the iconic dollhouse view and the game board perspective, where the White House itself becomes a narrative device mapping Detective Cordelia Cupp’s investigative mind.
In the end, the realism of both the environments and the character work was the result of true cross departmental synergy. Production design established the architectural truth. Cinematography defined how that world was seen and felt. VFX extended it invisibly, expanding the canvas without breaking the illusion. Together, we transformed a high security location into a fully navigable storytelling space while maintaining the tactile authenticity that grounds the series.
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