Visual effects and on-set supervision

The average British garden is a melting pot of thousands of creatures all fighting for survival in their very own 'jungle'.

Intrepid naturalist Nigel Marven undertakes a unique dramatised exploration of this habitat, going on safari in his own back garden after being shrunk down to the size of an ant.

Designer Mick Connaire and Shadow's Visual Effects Supervisor Luke Wilmot put together a team of animators and compositors to create the 250+ effects shots required for the 90" ITV1 film.

Utilising the latest in miniature camera techniques and 30 days of greenscreen filming, the team added Nigel to the wildlife plates, often creating the garden's micro predators as CGI creatures too. Additional work was undertaken to produce a CGI 'digital double' of Nigel for stuntwork and shot scale that could not be achieved on the soundstage.