A 400-pound black bear wanders into your suburban neighborhood, climbs your porch deck, and huffs little circles of moisture against your sliding door glass as you eat breakfast. This is what you might call “exhilarating”. Well, the same feeling might apply when a VFX studio gets a project that they’re working on in real-time as it’s being filmed literally in their front yard.

This was the scenario for the Baton Rouge branch of Crafty Apes. Much of the National Treasure: Edge of History series was filmed exclusively in Baton Rouge with set extension scenes sprouting up right in the Celtic Studios of Baton Rouge parking lot. 

Crafty Apes recently released a highlight montage of some of the finer moments of the ten-episode series that concluded its season finale in February. Wellfixitinpost.com had the opportunity to cover the season throughout its run, interviewing Director and Producer Brad Tanenbaum as well as VFX Supervisors Kolby Kember and Davy Nethercutt. 

The enhancements on National Treasure: Edge of History are often melded subtly for the viewer, like changing a parking lot into Graceland or recreating the Alamo. On the more bombastic side, the VFX team was able to flex a bit with an elaborate and entirely CG sequence in the premiere that takes viewers back 500 years to conquistador musket fire and blazing fiery rainforest.

The reel above shows why Crafty Apes continues to be such a coveted VFX house for shows like The Last of Us and Mayfair Witches. You can stream the entire first season of National Treasure: Edge of History on Disney+.