THE WATCHERS

We provided visual effects for 100+ shots for Ishana Night Shyamlan’s first feature film. The film follows the story of Mina, who becomes lost in an eerie forest in Ireland. She soon finds a group of three survivors who take shelter in the Coop. Mina, along with the others, survive in the wilderness while trying each night to avoid terrifying creatures called The Watchers.

Cadence Effects delivered a wide variety of visual effects for the film including clean up work, 3D set extensions, CG renderings, and more. Much of which was applied to the Coop, it required 3D set extensions and the entire ceiling replaced due to set lights and equipment. We were also tasked with rendering a CG forest for a shot where a character looks through the glass of the Coop including high volumes of foliage and grass. Plus, the Coop had been shot on set as 4 sections, this meant that we needed to remove the seams in the mirror while also maintaining characters’ reflections as they moved across them.

Other effects provided: compositing charcoal drawings onto the floor of the Coop, tilt-shift/distortion to create a dreamlike effect, CG glass shattering, green screens, and wire/rig removals. Additionally, we developed a 3D forest floor to create reverberations seen in ground cover caused by underground creatures. 

The 2024 supernatural horror film The Watchers, based on the novel by AM Shine, stars Dakota Fanning,Georgina Campbell, Olwen Fouéré and Oliver Finnegan. It was directed by Ishana Night Shyamalan, produced by M Night Shyamalan and New Line Cinemas.