Interview with Russ Shaw & Daniel Walker on the Making of Biffy Clyro’s Goodbye Video

Russ Shaw on Quite Brilliant

I’m the founder of Quite Brilliant, but I also act as a VFX supervisor on many of our projects. My background is in visual effects—I’ve been a VFX artist for over 30 years, working with tools like Autodesk Flame (which I still use today, particularly on our LED volume, though in a more limited non-tracking role).

Our latest project was Biffy Clyro’s music video Goodbye, directed by Ben Newbury and produced by Common People with Future Creatives. Released in July, the video was designed to take full advantage of high-spec equipment and features that make virtual production smooth and enjoyable.

At our Twickenham Film Studios stage, we installed:

• A 24m x 4.6m Samsung 2.1 IVC main wall
  
• 100sqm of Pixreal 3.9 Enzo ceiling panels
  
• Wild walls across a 5,500sqft sound stage
  

We also poured a new concrete floor, allowing us to integrate a flush-mount DMX turntable and drop the curved screen behind it—eliminating the need for additional staging. Above the screens, we mounted multiple SkyPanels and created network points around the gantry so gaffers could easily attach their own lights, plug into our system, and use IBL (image-based lighting) data from Assimilate.

At Quite Brilliant, we handle a wide variety of projects—from commercials and long-form content to social media and stills photography. As early adopters of virtual production (our first VP commercial was in 2014 using laser projection), we’ve now delivered more than 150 productions.

While I mostly use Flame myself for stills work, my team leans on Unreal Engine for real-time rendering and Assimilate for playback and IBL shoots.

The challenge with Goodbye was the tight schedule and budget. While we helped create backgrounds and post renders of the satellite, we recommended that the director and his VFX collaborator prepare certain pre-shoot elements, like flame and lava effects. These were ingested and converted into Notch files for smooth on-set playback—sometimes literally on the day of shooting.

Daniel Walker, Technical Artist at Quite Brilliant

For the Goodbye shoot, we used Assimilate Live FX to bring the scene to life.

We first built the environment in Unreal Engine, working with the director to block out camera angles and the shot list. From there, we rendered 12K plates for playback on the LED wall. Since this production didn’t require tracking, pre-rendering gave us the best possible image quality.

Using Assimilate Live FX made it simple to:

• Apply quick final color grading adjustments
  
• Flag portions of the LED wall for precise reflections, exactly as the director wanted
  
• Leverage image-based lighting for immersive, pixel-mapped illumination
  

We set up our in-house ARRI SkyPanel S60-C fixtures above the screen and on the stage floor. These were connected to our local network using the sACN protocol, which Assimilate immediately recognized and controlled. For this shoot we used Mode 6 (CCT + RGBW, 16-bit), which gave us full color control and smooth pixel mapping.

Integrating additional fixtures on set was just as easy. Once I found the GDTF template for a specific fixture, Assimilate could take control—allowing us to manage the entire lighting setup from a single machine. This streamlined workflow is especially valuable for high-pace shoots like Goodbye.

About Quite Brilliant

Quite Brilliant is the UK’s leading Virtual Production service company, with more than 200 projects across advertising, film, broadcast, and stills.

Based at Twickenham Film Studios, our 24m x 4.6m LED volume is the UK’s only permanent installation of its size to feature Samsung’s latest Micro LED technology. Its superior resolution and image quality make it an ideal choice for high-end productions and still campaigns.

We also provide smaller LED screens for social and content work, and our flexible model allows us to support everything from LED volume dry-hire to full-service production. Our focus on technology, sustainability, and collaboration drives us to fuse AI, CGI, and scanning workflows into modern production pipelines.

Highlights include:

• Producing the UK’s first commercial film shot in VP (2020)
  
• Winning the 2023 APA Ideas Award for “Best Use of Virtual Production”
  
• Partnering with Samsung to build the UK’s most advanced LED volume
  

At Quite Brilliant, we don’t just aim to be suppliers—we aim to be partners. Collaboration is in our DNA, and it’s this ethos that sets us apart.

About Assimilate

Assimilate’s Live FX provides filmmakers with an all-in-one toolset for live compositing, LED-wall staging, and real-time VFX. By unifying camera tracking, projection mapping, lighting control, and recording into one platform, Live FX accelerates creative decision-making, reduces turnaround time, and enhances in-camera storytelling.

Assimilate also develops a full suite of post-production tools, including:

• Live FX Studio – live compositing, projection mapping, DMX lighting, and keying
  
• Live Assist – multi-cam VTR for video assist with green-screen support
  
• Live Looks – live grading and instant look creation with Scratch integration
  
• Scratch VR – advanced on-set and post tools for any camera format (2D/3D/VR)
  
• Play Pro Studio – professional player for VFX reviews, ProRes RAW QC, and transcoding
  

Assimilate tools are trusted worldwide by DITs and post artists for stability, speed, and flexibility.

Learn more at www.assimilateinc.com.