From building towering robotic adversaries to refining the comic timing of one of television’s most mischievous characters, the team at Framestore’s Melbourne studio have been busy across a diverse slate of film and episodic projects. Recent work includes the creature-driven spectacle of War Machine and the return of the irreverent teddy bear in Ted Season 2, alongside the arrival of veteran VFX supervisor Dan Bethell to the studio’s creative leadership team.

Together, the projects reflect tireless times for the Melbourne team – combining large-scale feature film work, performance-led animation and growing creative leadership within the studio.

Engineering a Hunter: War Machine

For the action feature War Machine, Framestore’s Melbourne studio collaborated with their Mumbai counterpart, contributing 252 VFX shots, helping shape the film’s intense near-future battlefield. Directed by Patrick Hughes and starring Alan Ritchson, the story centres on a relentless robotic adversary whose presence looms over an escalating conflict.

Working under VFX supervisor Joao Sita, the teams developed complex environments, destructive combat effects and a fully realised hero asset for the titular War Machine itself.

“We received base models for the machine early in production, but the task was to evolve the asset into a fully shot-ready, feature-level hero build capable of carrying the film’s most intense sequences,” explains Sita.

Rather than approaching the character as a purely mechanical construct, the animation team introduced a more organic philosophy to its movement. Animation supervisor Daniel Fotheringham says the goal was to give the machine an instinctive presence on screen.

“We looked at dinosaurs and other bipedal creatures for inspiration, focusing on weight, imbalance and predatory movement to give it a sense of instinct rather than just machinery.”

Joao Sita, VFX Supervisor

That thinking informed several of the War Machine’s defining traits, including a scanning system that allows it to analyse its surroundings by “breathing in” atmospheric particles before sweeping the environment with a laser-based scan. Multiple variations of the asset were also developed, including a damaged version with a broken wing that altered its locomotion and introduced moments of instability during combat.

Beyond the character work, the Melbourne team collaborated across several large-scale action sequences, from a high-energy guardian chase to a climactic quarry battle involving heavy machinery, large environments and extensive effects work.

Reanimating a trashy toy: Ted S2

The Framestore teams also reunited with creator Seth MacFarlane for the second season of the comedy series Ted, bringing the foul-mouthed teddy bear back to screens with sharper performances and an expanded role in the story.

Set once again in 1994, the season follows Ted and John Bennett as they navigate the chaos of their senior year – with the VFX team delivering an extensive body of work that pushes the show’s performance-driven animation further than before.

“There’s always pressure to make sure Ted performs at the level of the actors around him… He can’t feel like a visual effect – he has to feel like a cast member.”

Glenn Melenhorst, VFX Supervisor

Building on the foundations established in Season 1, the team refined Ted’s performance language, honing the subtle quirks, timing and micro-expressions that bring the character to life. Animation supervisor Nick Tripodi notes that the team’s familiarity with the character has allowed them to push the comedy further.

“Our understanding of Ted has definitely matured,” he says. “We know where the boundaries are, and exactly when it’s funnier to push past them.”

Season 2 also expanded the scale of Ted’s interactions, with the character playing a more active role in physical comedy and engaging more dynamically with props and environments. Delivering hundreds of shots each week required balancing feature-quality animation with the pace of episodic production, while the Melbourne team collaborated closely across time zones to maintain consistency.

“It’s one thing to do feature-quality animation… it’s another to do it at episodic speed, across multiple sites, and still maintain consistency.”

Glenn Melenhorst, VFX Supervisor

VFX Veteran Joins the Ranks

Amid the studio’s growing slate of work, Framestore Melbourne has also welcomed VFX supervisor Dan Bethell to its creative leadership team.

Bethell brings nearly 25 years of experience to the role, with credits spanning Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Mortal Kombat and Thor: Love and Thunder. Over the course of his career he has worked at major visual effects studios including DNEG, Rising Sun Pictures and Iloura.

His career began in the 1990s in the R&D department at Moving Picture Company before relocating to Australia in 2005, contributing to films such as Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Speed Racer and The Lego Movie. Bethell later served as second-unit VFX supervisor on Mad Max: Fury Road, where his team won a Visual Effects Society Award for Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal Feature.

“Framestore is renowned for delivering the highest quality work and for being one of the most collaborative filmmaking partners in the industry,” says Bethell. “But it’s also known as one of the best places to work.”

“The ability to lead this inspired and motivated team in such a creative environment is a dream come true.”

Dan Bethell, VFX Supervisor

According to Melbourne Head of Studio Lara Hopkins, Bethell joins at a particularly dynamic moment for the studio.

“Dan joins us at an exciting time as our studio starts work on a whole host of creatively and technologically ambitious films. I’ve known Dan for many years and knew he would be a great fit for Framestore – not only for his technical and creative skills, but also because of his cultural fit.”

Lara Hopkins, Head of Studio at Framestore, Melbourne

Recent and upcoming projects for the Melbourne studio includes work on Thunderbolts*, Together, and the forthcoming Street Fighter, Moana and Mortal Kombat II.

For more information, visit https://www.framestore.com/