ZEM got in contact with Daren Horley for an interview by email. Daren worked on the Primeval creatures from Series 1 through Series 5. Thank you very much Daren for your patience and answers to my questions!
1. How did you get involved in Primeval?
I became involved with Primeval when Impossible Pictures, the production company first pitched the idea to the BBC. It was then titled 'Cutter's Beasts'. I did some artwork to help with the pitch. I photographed some work colleagues reacting to imaginary dinosaurs in the alleway out the back of Framestore. The VFX artists that worked on 'Walking With', rendered some creatures and I comped them into the plates. A giganotosaurus and a raptor.
The BBC weren't interested in the idea, they were at the time, in the process of bringing Doctor Who back and weren't interested in doing two sci fi shows.
Impossible took it to ITV who were wise enough to take it. There were discussions about what to call the show. It needed a title something like 'Monster Squad' but classier. It ended up as Primeval.
Tim Haines was very open for input from his collaborators in titling his shows. 'Walking With Dinosaurs' was originally considered too dull a title. There were suggestions of 'Planet of the Dinosaurs' but it was feared that it was too much like Planet of the Apes. As it turned out, 'Walking With' proved to be a very distinctive title and appeared as somewhat of a catch phrase at the time.
There was a long standing relationship between Imposible Pictures and framestore, so the VFX for Primeval came there when it eventually went into production.
2. Can you tell us a little bit about what your work involves?
I worked as, initially concept designer for the creatures, then texture painting lead, and promo stills designer.
This involved first receiving a brief from Tim, about what creatures he wanted to use, then designing them. He was keen to take a different approach to the Walking With creatures, which were as scientifically accurate as possible. Primeval's creatures were, whist mostly based on real animals, aimed at being more character based. They needed something more cinematic. So, for instance, I put as many spikes, brow ridges and horns as we could get away with.
3. Did your work for Primeval present you with any challenges?
It was a nice change to free up creatively. The sprinkling in of fictional creatures was also an enjoyable task. There was still a science behind them, just a pseudo science. What might evolution do in the future for example.
I use photoshop to paint the concept art. They needed to be done quickly. There was no time to explore alternatives in any real depth. I had a good idea of what was needed, so they flowed pretty smoothly. The designs took two stages. Firstly anatomy, then colouration. both need consideration, based on the story line and characterization. For instance, one creature, thrinaxodon, was to be a friendly, dog like creature. I used patches of white, brown and black reminiscent of a beagle.
Spinosaurus was, obviously, a dangerous predator, so what better colour to spell danger than red? I added splashes of red to the drab grey body colour.
Once designs were approved, they went to the modellers, who passed their work back to me for texture painting, then on to the various other VFX departments for rigging, animating, rendering, lighting and compositing.
My final task was to design and artwork promotional images, using renders of the creatures and photographs taken on location with the actors. I often attended the photo shoots to ensure that I would be getting the elements I needed. Five hours waiting on set, then half an hour photo shoot and lunch on a bus!
The biggest challenge on a TV show is working within the compressed scheduling, a consequence of a tight budget. Films are awash with funding, TV shows aren't, so speed is essential. Typically, a film hero creature will be months in look dev, a TV equivalent will be around 21 days, often less. To maintain photo real work in that timeframe is challenging. Recycling is a help. Creatures shared bump maps, anything to save time.
4. What do you use to create your artwork?
When I was working on Primeval, I used Photoshop and Bodypaint to create texture maps. We have changed to Mari since, but the tecniques are the same.
Modelling was done with Maya, and rendered in PRMan.
A Primeval creature was one 8 thousand pixel map, it worked fine at the time, but nowdays I would paint textures 20 times the size. This is what Mari brings, the ability to create multiple tiled maps on high resolution geometry. Concepting was done with photoshop. A little zbrush may have been used. They needed to be enough to portray the look of a creature, without getting too bogged down with details. Real animal photo refs provide a starting point, over which I'd paint with photoshop brushes. I'd tend to put them on to a painterly backdrop to emphasize that this was a study not a shot recreation.
5. Will you be doing creature designs for the Canadian Primeval spin-off?
My work on Primeval ended a while back. The VFX for series five was done by the Mill. I designed a few of the creatures, and Framestore modelled and textured some, but it was a hand over to the mill. I haven't been involved since then. I read that it was picked up for a Canadian production, but I don't know anything about what form it will take. I also hear that Warner Brothers have picked it up. I don't know if the two are linked in any way.
6. Do you have a favourite Primeval creature?
My favourite Primeval creature is the Future Predator. I had been designing prehistoric creatures for the show, and this was the first fictional one that I could design from scratch, so it felt more like mine. The brief was for an evolved bat, but I stayed away fron the obvious vampire creature look. I wanted to make it a bit more unusual. Big bat ears were out, eyes were removed. I figured that it used it's sonar senses instead. I wanted it to look scary, so I tried a skull like face, expecting it to be rejected, but it was well received.
7. Do you have a favourite Primeval character?
My favourite character is James Lester. Ben Miller's great at understated comedy. He plays it straight, but there's still an underlying toungue in cheek. Lester is somewhat background, but he's not the stereotypical character he could have been.
8. Do you have a favourite Primeval episode?
An episode I like is series 3 episode 2. It's a bit claustrophobic, set in an old house. I like the idea of a past experience returning to play out in the present. An anomoly recurring and bringing a ghostly creature through. Kind of a cryptozoology theme in there with the camoflage beast. No one knows what it is, but it's certainly a threat.
- Note: All opinions expressed in interviews belong solely to the crew or cast member interviewed, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of ZEM, Primeval Wiki or Impossible Pictures.