Uploaded April 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
The invisible integration of visual effects is key for Alfonso Cuarón, a filmmaker who tends to direct films set in the real world. A director who seeks collaborators to find new ways to tell stories, Alfonso has worked with the Framestore team on “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban”, “Children of Men” and the Oscar winning “Gravity”.
“We aim as artists - animators, visual effects, directors and cinematographers - to create what has never been created. Like anything else in cinema it’s all about imagination and finding new ways and that just comes from humans, from the animators.”
Alfonso Cuarón directs his animators with the same coaching he applies to his actors, focused on movement and intent. These conversations through a “ping pong of ideas” shaped the development of the Hippogriff in "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban."
He also marvels on the unique bond between actor and animator in "Gravity," where Sandra Bullock and George Clooney’s performances were led by the animation itself in what is essentially an animated movie. Cuarón strives for "invisible" effects, seamlessly integrated, as exemplified by the groundbreaking CGI birth scene in "Children of Men," a complex delivery ahead of its time.
The invisible integration of visual effects is key for Alfonso Cuarón, a filmmaker who tends to direct films set in the real world. A director who seeks collaborators to find new ways to tell stories, Alfonso has worked with the Framestore team on “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban”, “Children of Men” and the Oscar winning “Gravity”.
“We aim as artists - animators, visual effects, directors and cinematographers - to create what has never been created. Like anything else in cinema it’s all about imagination and finding new ways and that just comes from humans, from the animators.”
Alfonso Cuarón directs his animators with the same coaching he applies to his actors, focused on movement and intent. These conversations through a “ping pong of ideas” shaped the development of the Hippogriff in "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban."
He also marvels on the unique bond between actor and animator in "Gravity," where Sandra Bullock and George Clooney’s performances were led by the animation itself in what is essentially an animated movie. Cuarón strives for "invisible" effects, seamlessly integrated, as exemplified by the groundbreaking CGI birth scene in "Children of Men," a complex delivery ahead of its time.
