Little Shadow is proud to have worked on Arrow Media’s SHARK ATTACK 360 S2, an 8-part series for National Geographic, Sharkfest 24.

Creative brief

Shark Attack 360 dives into the science and sensationalism of shark bites—seeking to answer how, when, and why they happen. The show’s aim is to blend real-world expertise with high-tech visualisation, using virtual storytelling to bring shark behaviour under the microscope. Arrow Media approached Little Shadow for Season 2 with a bold brief: rebuild the show’s VFX pipeline from the ground up to support more immersive visuals, real-time elements, and an evolving digital lab where presenter Diva Amon could interact with the action live.

The goal was clear—amplify audience understanding through a fluid blend of on-set performance, science data, and digital environments. From visceral reconstructions to anatomical explorations, the series needed a seamless hybrid approach.

Our approach

Little Shadow built a new hybrid virtual production workflow, designed to give directors and editors greater flexibility from day one. The foundation began with a full lidar scan of the shoot location, captured by Lidar Lounge, creating a high-resolution 1:1 digital replica of the lab set. This enabled the team to previsualise and plan the most complex shots before the shoot began—layering in digital extensions, animated environments, and performance beats around Diva’s interaction with the AI system C.O.R.A.L.

Throughout production, real-time camera tracking was combined with XR previs to create a virtual set where Diva could perform alongside live-rendered sharks and data feeds. Using Unreal Engine and AR overlays, Little Shadow brought environments like murky riverbeds, open oceans, and shipwrecks into the lab—blending physical space with scientific storytelling. A real-time AR shark swam beside Diva on-set, allowing both the director and presenter to respond to creature behaviour intuitively during takes.

For the digital sharks themselves, Little Shadow worked closely with marine biologist and series consultant Stephen M. Kajiura to ensure anatomical and behavioural accuracy. This meant crafting new muscle systems and soft body rigs to simulate the distinctive weight and motion of various species. Textural fidelity was refined using reference photography, and a bespoke animation rig enabled flexibility across multiple shot types, from close-up dissections to full chase sequences.

Every shot was crafted to feel investigative rather than sensational, balancing tension with clarity. By merging real-world footage with fully synthetic elements inside the lab environment, the audience remained grounded while traversing vast digital oceans.

The results

Little Shadow delivered over 80 shots across the series, from XR previs to final comp, including fully simulated CG shark sequences and real-time AR assets for use on-set.
“Little Shadow’s virtual lab became the spine of the series,” said a producer at Arrow Media. “It allowed us to deliver scientific storytelling in a way that felt immediate and cinematic.”

Little Shadow worked closely with shark expert Stephen M. Kajiura to ensure accuracy in all of the shark’s digital doubles. Refining anatomy and textural detail, creating a new animation rig and muscle systems along with soft body and particle simulation controls.

Simon Percy, Director, Little Shadow, said:-

“This has been one of the most collaborative projects we’ve ever worked on. The Arrow Media team, led by Executive Producer Nick Metcalf, Showrunner Laura Offer, and Director Matt Cass, provided us with immense trust and creative freedom, leveraging some frontline technology. We pushed the boundaries of the genre to merge the worlds of sharks and humans in our tech lab.”

Nick Metcalf, Executive Producer, said:-

“When Arrow Media won a re-commission from National Geographic for Shark Attack 360, we had big ambitions and vision and wanted expert guidance on how to realise them. We threw it open to some of the biggest names in the VFX business. From their opening pitch Little Shadow blew us away with their creativity, commitment, and willingness to over-deliver brilliantly realised virtual life-sized sharks swimming around our presenter in our ‘360 Lab’. And using state-of-the-art gaming technology gave wings to our creative ambition – allowing the presenter, and the camera operators, to interact perfectly with the digital predators. I’m looking forward to the next opportunity to work with them, which I hope will be sooner than later.”

Laura Offer, Series Producer, said:-

“We worked with the hugely impressive team at Little Shadow for the second series of Shark Attack 360 (NatGeo / Disney+/ Hulu) and were blown away from pitch through to delivery. It was a hugely collaborative experience in which our ambitions for the series were often exceeded. Little Shadow are always across cutting edge technology and in their capable hands, delivers VFX far beyond the budget. I can’t wait to work with them again.”

Series stats: Little Shadow created over 36 Sequences, comprising 256 shots and 45 minutes of VFX Shots.

A huge thank you to the entire Little Shadow team for an incredible series.