The BBC’s new ‘The Day of the Doctor’ trailer compresses 50 years of Doctor Who history – and all 11 individual Doctors – into a single minute, thanks to Framestore’s creative-thinking VFX work.

Bringing stills into 3D
Produced by Red Bee Media and directed by Matt Losasso, the spot begins with a recreation of Totter’s Yard, the setting of the show’s first-ever scene, based on an original production still with a camera move recreated in Flame.

VFX supervisor Oliver Bersey tracked the cameras, stabilised them, then “recomposited all the bits into the stable camera move, [working] hard to create 3D depth using isolated 2D elements.”

The close-up of first Doctor William Hartnell is based on a hero still from the original black-and-white series, colorised and enhanced in Photoshop, and manipulated subtly to look more 3D as the camera passes it.

A high-speed journey through history
The remainder of the spot packs in all ten remaining Doctors (just about: the camera zooms past five of the less popular ones pretty sharpish), closing on current incumbent Matt Smith against a Who-themed matte painting.

All good fun, and a nice teaser for the event it’s promoting: the show’s 50th anniversary special, due to be broadcast on 23 November.

Read more about Framestore’s VFX work on The Day of the Doctor on the studio’s website

Tags: 50th anniversary, BBC, doctor who, Flame, Framestore, Matt Losasso, Oliver Bersey, Red Bee Media, teaser, The Day of the Doctor, trailer, vfx