LaserPacific's VFX department is proud to continue collaborating with the post production team on the acclaimed, Emmy Award winning TV series Mad Men. The feel of the 1960's smoke hazed, boozy era is certainly due to the tremendous camera, art, make-up and costume department who have created a wonderful look for the show which is enhanced by LaserPacific's DI based timing tools. But LaserPacific's visual effects unit has also played a role in helping to "sell" the era by adding deft and subtle touches.

LaserPacific provided the visual effects treatment on many of the images that commonly played on television sets throughout the series. "TV inserts" are a common task for a visual effects house, but because of the show's 1960's setting, the TV inserts for Mad Men need to keep the feeling of the times in which the story is set. To accomplish this, the VFX team desaturates the image to black and white and adds additional realism to the shot in the form of  film artifacts such as grain and scratches. The size and curvature of the 60's era television sets require the image to be warped to fit the shape of the era's exaggeratedly curved television tubes. In addition, the team payed extra attention to the accuracy of signal interference of the television of that era and animated disturbances on the TV as the actors moved within the frame. To enhance the realism, reflections were added to the glass of the TV tube from surrounding objects, and illumination from the picture on the TV is reflected onto objects in the room.

Smoking is integral to the story of Mad Men. While the actors on the set actually smoke herbal cigarettes, one of the visual effects tasks for our VFX team was to help add to the "smoke gets in your eyes" feel of the show by adding and enhancing smoke digitally. Not only did it add to the show, but hopefully helped to save the lungs of cast and crew!

The photography in Mad Men is very straightforward. There is almost no hand-held camera and the show stays away from effects like the speed ramps that are so common in shows today. But there was a call for time alteration that created an important moment of the show. LaserPacific helped add a special allure to the character of Don Draper's wife Betty, by helping her literally float down a staircase. Using several tools and some "secret sauce" we created a seamless effect that give the scene a magical quality without calling attention to the fact that "this is a visual effect."

For another episode, we were asked to create a flashback sequence placing Don Draper ten years in the past. The goal was to make the actor look ten years younger whilst retaining all the character and personality of his face. The LaserPacific Visual Effects team applied "digital cosmetic surgery" techniques which allowed for a kind of digital skin enhancement that made him appear more youthful while at the same time maintaining the imperfections that life and genetics have presented him with.

We are proud that on Mad Men our best work helps to enhance and tell the story; sometimes the best visual effects are the kind that literally blend into the background.