British siege survival thriller Jericho Ridge opens in UK cinemas this month, kicking off with a premiere at the Curzon Soho. It’s so exciting, because the film’s action was brought to life with VFX effects by the POD LDN team, alongside post-production outfits including Cheat.

From its standout cast, to the script, direction and production, Jericho Ridge spotlights a host of UK talent, with actors including Nigerian-British actress Nikki Amuka-Bird, and rising star Zack Morris. Written and directed by BAFTA award-winning screenwriter Will Gilbey, this is his feature length debut and it was fantastic to realise his ideas through effects.

Since its 2023 premier at the 35th Galway Film Festival, this thrilling feature film has been met with acclaim at festivals internationally, including North West Fest! and Heartland International Film Festival, and the New York Times selected it as one of the top action movies to watch.

The storyline centres on policewoman, Deputy Tabby Temple, played by Amuka-Bird. Trapped without backup, the Black single mother fights for survival, defending herself and her son, when her sheriff station in a small American town is targeted by a murderous drug cartel.

Gilbey’s directorial vision was to build tension through VFX effects, so the audience is viewing the story through the dash-cams of the police cars and security cameras in the sheriff’s office. Making these scenes in post-production enabled him to have full control over the timing and dramatisation.

Over 200 shots required VFX and most were planned to be invisible, like screen inserts and touch-ups, as well as more pronounced effects like muzzle flashes. The VFX also helped to make the location feel realistic by making adjustments to the weather conditions throughout.

The project was announced as starting principal photography in March 2022 and the nine-week shoot took place in Kosovo, produced by Alex Tate and Harvey Ascott, with Besnik Krapi, Mark O’Sullivan and Richard Caleel executive producing.

It was a joy to work with Will Gilbey who kindly said that, “Working with POD LDN was nothing short of a fantastic experience. They were efficient, creative and constantly exceeded my expectations; delivering VFX shots that were better than anything I could have imagined. I would jump at the chance to work with them again and would recommend them heartily to any other filmmakers looking for quality and value for money.”

Why work with us

At POD LDN, we offer a unique and flexible post-production solution. An on demand model has all the benefits and infrastructure of a post house but operates on a flat day rate like an in-house resource or freelancer. We offer a wide range of post production services and talent, agile workflow solutions, where clients communicate with one go-to person from our project management team, or a single producer who leads all processes.

We work on projects large and small, from big films (like Jericho Ridge) to case study films and ads.

Whatever your project, we would love to help you.
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