Click 3X creative director and head of visual effects Mark Szumski led the team that crafted all of the visual effects for the thriller After.Life, directed by Agnieszka Wojtowicz Vosloo and starring Christina Ricci. Click creative director Steve Tozzi and head of CG Anthony Filipakis worked closely with Szumski to create the film's effects, from the creation of alternate worlds to bizarre and fantastic character transformations.

View Click 3X Before and After video on After.Life

"Our whole team came together for this one," notes Click 3X owner Peter Corbett. "As we establish Click as a full-service digital studio capable of projects of any size, it's important that we continue to work on major feature films, so we were thrilled when Agnieszka approached us to bring her terrifying and captivating visions to life."

After.Life trailer
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Click 3X's effects play an integral role in the film, composing important components of many grotesque and surreal scenes. Anna (played by Ricci), looks in the mirror in one scene to find herself emaciated and lifeless, a transformation wrought by Szumski. In another sequence, the CG team built, animated and lit massive tree roots that emerge from the ground to capture Anna. The same group created animated maggots that fill her mouth as the roots swallow her.

For a scene in which Anna removes her own heart from her split-open chest, Szumski showcases his ability to work in both the live-action and VFX realms. Szumski directed the live-action shoot and spent hours of compositing in Autodesk Flame to create blood elements on Ricci's body. The Click 3X team also created an elaborate design for the open chest.

In a show of Click's range, the studio also created entire landscapes. One twisted point in the film finds Anna flung into Limbo, an alternate reality created entirely by Szumski and the CG team. Limbo is an amazing, otherworldly environment that conveys the sensation of being trapped between life and death, with surroundings that alternately appear to be dead and alive.

"After.Life was a blast to shoot," says Szumski. "Everyone stepped up to make this one happen, from Anthony's CG team to Steve's creative input to the cooperation of the director on every scene. I'm happy to be contributing to full-length feature work and hope to take more on in the very near future."