CG Supervisor on Season 1 and both VFX and CG Supervisor on Season 2 of the most expensive production in South African television history. Collaborated closely with the showrunners, producers, DoP, and art department on set, while coordinating every CG and VFX department lead through post-production. Luma Animation delivered over 600 VFX shots spanning large-scale environment extensions, period-accurate set enhancements, battle sequences, and atmospheric effects. The series debuted in 2023 with record audience numbers and won the SAFTA for Best Achievement in Visual Effects in 2024.
On Season 1, served as CG Supervisor, overseeing the CG department's output and ensuring visual consistency across environment extensions, crowd work, and atmospheric effects. For Season 2, took on the expanded role of both VFX and CG Supervisor, owning the full VFX pipeline from shot turnover through final delivery. With over 600 shots to deliver, upfront planning was critical. I drove storyboarding and previs for all major VFX sequences so that every department had clear targets from day one, reducing iterations and keeping the schedule on track. Solved complex integration challenges across a mixed pipeline using Blender 3D for animation and rigging, Karma for rendering, and Fusion for compositing, keeping quality high while managing a massive shot count under broadcast deadlines.
Recreating 18th-century KwaZulu-Natal required environment fidelity that had never been attempted in local broadcast. We used SpeedTree and Houdini to generate massive libraries of indigenous vegetation, and I developed a procedural layout tool that allowed artists to scatter these assets onto terrain geometry with automatic LOD handling for rendering. For battle sequences, we built custom crowd systems in Houdini with keyframed digital doubles for mid-ground character interactions, requiring a seamless match-move pipeline that I oversaw personally.
The VFX work earned a SAFTA (South African Film and Television Award) for Best Achievement in Visual Effects in 2024, the highest recognition for VFX in South African film and television. Shaka iLembe was the most awarded drama in SAFTA history with 12 wins, including Editing, Cinematography, Directing, and Best Actor. It also won two Septimius Awards and multiple NFTAs.
Photorealistic CG Creature
Battle Sequence — VFX Crowd Extension
CG Creature Development — Hyena, Bat, Bee
SAFTA — Best Achievement in Visual Effects (2024)
Luma Animation — Principal VFX Studio
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