Ben Pickles

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Ben Pickles created the series 11 title sequence for Doctor Who.

Pickles previously provided additional VFX for World Enough and Time and Twice Upon a Time. Specifically, he created the black hole in World Enough, and created a morphing transition between William Hartnell's and David Bradley's First Doctors, used at the start of Twice Upon a Time.[1][2] He also created the visual effects for the minisode A Hero like the Doctor, released as a prelude to Series 10.

"All I was given was the original shot of Hartnell, and a matching shot of Bradley delivering the same lines. [...] So, one facial feature at a time, I gradually turned Bradley into Hartnell, and it wasn't until I replaced his eyes that it all clicked into place. [...] I’m immensely proud of that shot, mostly since it seemed so impossible at first glance."Ben Pickles [src]

Pickles credited director Rachel Talalay for "[getting him] involved in the show in the first place".[3]

Known in fandom for his YouTube channel, John Smith VFX, Pickles has been making fan-made Doctor Who title sequences since the age of 16, eight years before his Jodie Whittaker titles hit the screens.[3] He has since produced other notable VFX videos on that channel, often involving the Doctor or the TARDIS, or indeed BBC One's Sherlock. In December 2013, John Smith VFX released Wholock, the Sherlock/Doctor Who crossover, which went "viral", and gained the amateur VFX artist significant online attention.[2]

When The Ghost Monument aired, Pickles became the first individual to receive credit for the creation of a Doctor Who title sequence, following such credits for Framestore and BBC Wales Graphics.

Pickles' final story was The Power of the Doctor.[4]

Credits[[edit] | edit source]

Additional VFX[[edit] | edit source]

Title sequence[[edit] | edit source]

External links[[edit] | edit source]

Footnotes[[edit] | edit source]

  1. DWM 519
  2. 2.0 2.1 Fullerton, Huw (16 November 2017). Another Doctor Who fan has been hired to work on the series. RadioTimes. Retrieved on 16 October 2018.
  3. 3.0 3.1 John Smith VFX (14 October 2018). John Smith VFX is feeling excited.. Facebook. Retrieved on 16 October 2018.
  4. https://twitter.com/benjamin_cook/status/1588271575782260736