Directed by Paul Greengrass, The Lost Bus is a movie drama inspired by the real events of the 2018 Camp Fire. In the midst of the nation’s deadliest wildfire in a century, determined father Kevin (Matthew McConaughey) risks everything to rescue dedicated teacher Mary (America Ferrera) and her students in a film inspired by a true story of survival.

Cinesite delivered over 200 visual effects shots, led by in-house Senior VFX Supervisor Max Dennison. From swirling embers that dance through the air to thick, rolling smoke that cloaks the screen in tension, every element was carefully crafted to heighten the atmosphere and bring the sense of danger to life.

Fresh off of creating destruction and smoke for the 2024 war drama Blitz, the team brought valuable experience to the project. Approached early that same year by studio VFX supervisor Charlie Noble and VFX producer Gavin Round, Cinesite was asked to create a proof of concept test. Footage was shared, which had been shot on the back lot of a New Mexico studio for our team to redress with spot fires, smoke, smoke plumes and blowing trees.

One key aspect of Cinesite’s visual effects involved recreating the huge smoke plumes, which stretched hundreds of miles across Northern California, from a range of distances and perspectives. VFX supervisor Charlie had sourced a quantity of reference photography of previous fires, aerial and ground footage, which was a vital resource.

Director Greengrass wanted the smoke to feel “aggressive,” to play the essential role of enhancing the sense of danger and menace throughout the action. Cinesite supervisor Max says, “Low resolution simulations were created and composited into shots quite aggressively, art directed to make sure we hit the director’s note from an early stage. A sepia, toxic look was given to the smoke, fringed with browns and acidic oranges. It’s like a threatening monster on the horizon throughout the film, so getting the aesthetic language right from an early stage was very important.”

To the northeast of the town of Paradise is Scooters Hill, with a café on top, where the first command post for the fire fighters was set up. In shots with crawling traffic, we see the smoke plume looming just over the ridge, a vast, slowly churning menace.

Initial research was undertaken to understand the heat physics, how the volume would rise, and the nature and speed of the smoke, given its vast 7km height. The FX team constantly checked that what they were designing had the correct physicality. Originally, the plan was to create a smoke plume as a scaffold for digital matte painting elements. Ultimately, the approach shifted to design a large simulation, with a modular plume built from 4-5 different types of blended smoke. Max says, “This approach meant that we could rotate, scale, tilt, or change the angle as required, choreographing the position and size how the director wanted, whilst maintaining a sense of real-world physics.”

Additional animation was used to show the slow movement, achieved using a mix between the 3D simulation and 2D warping. One of the distinctive smoke types was a distinctive round cauliflower, while others were cloud-like, amorphous, tendrils or smaller wisps. The lighting team carefully curated across the range to enhance the layers, giving convincing depth and highlights to the huge plumes.

As the bus attempts to navigate to Pondarosa to rescue the children, Kevin drives through Paradise, getting closer to the fire itself. While many of these shots included the large, distant plume, our team also needed to add a strong, dangerous wind and its impact upon the town. In the original footage, anything which would be caught by the wind – trees, bushes, grass, telephone and power lines – needed to be painted out and re-animated using wind simulations before being composited back in, with CG dust and detritus whipped up from the ground. In shots with little traffic, CG cars were added to create a convincing sense of panic and exodus. As filming took place in New Mexico, buildings in had a brown tone, as well as architectural features not seen in Paradise. To fix this, colours needed to be adapted, along with signage adjustments.

Later in the movie, having collected the children and teacher Mary, the bus navigates south, away from the smoke plume along the main highway, Pentz Road. These shots were filmed in the bus using handheld cameras on a studio backlot towards dusk, to enhance the oppressive feel of the dust plume shrouding the light. Paul Greengrass wanted this section of the movie to feel enclosed, as though the fire is pressing down, relentlessly.

Wind direction needed to be correct, along with the level of dust and debris in the air. Embers were created, which needed to be choreographable to appear at specific story points as the director requested. Multiple ember passes were created – directly in front of the bus, mid-ground and distant. Those separate passes were used by the compositors to split up the smoke layers along the ground, so that it appears realistically in front of the bus’s headlights and illuminated with the embers into the far distance.

Deadline described the visual effects in Greengrass’s film as “rendered with stunning ease by his VFX team, in scenes that look like a news bulletin from the apocalypse,” with The Hollywood Reporter also praising, “an ace visual effects team led by Charlie Noble (which) gives the wildfire the qualities of an unrelenting supernatural force of destruction, without ever compromising its authenticity.”

Asked whether he is proud of his team’s work on The Lost Bus, VFX supervisor Max says, “In a film where the environmental danger needs to be absolutely believable, I believe we’ve achieved that. The smoke simulations are fantastic and everyone, from compositors to lighters and tracking, did a fantastic job to bring it all together.”

• Director: Paul Greengrass

• Studio VFX Supervisor: Charlie Noble

• Studio VFX Producer: Gavin Round

• Cinesite VFX Supervisor: Max Dennison

• Cinesite VFX Producer: Olivia Palmarozza

• Release: 5th September 2025