Today would’ve been Ayrton Senna‘s 65th birthday. In memory of the beloved Formula 1 world champion, the two entertainment powerhouses behind the racing icon’s latest exposé have released some incredible behind-the-scenes footage showing the painstaking work behind the ultra-realistic cars, tracks, and other details of the Senna series.
Visual effects and animations studio Scanline VFX—along with series director Vicente Amorim—assembled the most detailed Senna screenplays to date. Back in December, Bianca Senna, Ayrton’s niece and current CEO of the Senna brands, told me that Amorim is a Senna diehard who sought to portray the three-time champ’s story with uncompromising authenticity.
Now, a four-minute YouTube video shows the mountain of work tackled by studios in Vancouver, Seoul, Montreal, and Los Angeles to nail every aspect of the production. From cutting-edge CGI to scanning race tracks, consulting F1 pros (including Ayrton’s nephew Bruno), and of course, interacting with the Senna family on their most personal memories, the team was ultimately able to breathe life into even the the most minute details, for millions of viewers worldwide.
The total cost for this endeavor is rumored to be about $170 million, making it one of the most expensive Netflix productions ever. Scanline alone had 300 people working on this project and provided 390 racing shots throughout the series. And as Amorim rightfully says at the beginning of the clip, the stakes were extremely high.
“The biggest challenge of something like Senna is that you’re actually reproducing something that exists and people know very well, so you can’t get anything wrong.”
This involved paying extremely close attention to track layouts, period-correct signage, sponsors, competitors, and even weather. Most scenes were filmed at the Autódromo Oscar y Juan Gálvez in Buenos Aires, Argentina, though various scenes were also filmed in Brazil.
The series, which launched on November 29, spent five weeks on the Netflix Global Top 10 for non-English shows, as well as the Top 10 in 58 countries.
To circle back to the headline: How Netflix’s Senna Series Nailed Just About Everything. The technical and short answer to that question is: With technology, special effects, that sort of thing. The real answer is: Thanks to an extremely passionate group of people with the proper resources, who wanted to create something that would make F1’s greatest legend proud.
Happy birthday, chief.
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