Ben Pickles

Ben Pickles
Other names:	John Smith VFX
Work in the DWU
Main jobs:	Title sequence creator Additional VFX
Career highlights
Notable non-DWU work:	Wholock
YouTube channel
IMDb profile

Ben Pickles created the series 11 title sequence for Doctor Who.

Pickles previously provided additional VFX for World Enough and Time and Twice Upon a Time. Specifically, he created the black hole in World Enough, and created a morphing transition between William Hartnell's and David Bradley's First Doctors, used at the start of Twice Upon a Time. He also created the visual effects for the minisode A Hero like the Doctor, released as a prelude to Series 10.

"All I was given was the original shot of Hartnell, and a matching shot of Bradley delivering the same lines. [...] So, one facial feature at a time, I gradually turned Bradley into Hartnell, and it wasn't until I replaced his eyes that it all clicked into place. [...] I’m immensely proud of that shot, mostly since it seemed so impossible at first glance."Ben Pickles

Pickles credited director Rachel Talalay for "[getting him] involved in the show in the first place".

Known in fandom for his YouTube channel, John Smith VFX, Pickles has been making fan-made Doctor Who title sequences since the age of 16, eight years before his Jodie Whittaker titles hit the screens. He has since produced other notable VFX videos on that channel, often involving the Doctor or the TARDIS, or indeed BBC One's Sherlock. In December 2013, John Smith VFX released Wholock, the Sherlock/Doctor Who crossover, which went "viral", and gained the amateur VFX artist significant online attention.

When The Ghost Monument aired, Pickles became the first individual to receive credit for the creation of a Doctor Who title sequence, following such credits for Framestore and BBC Wales Graphics.

Pickles' final story was The Power of the Doctor.

Credits

Additional VFX

• Can You Hear Me?
• Eve of the Daleks
• The Halloween Apocalypse
• Legend of the Sea Devils
• Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror
• Once, Upon Time
• Orphan 55
• The Power of the Doctor
• Revolution of the Daleks
• Spyfall
• Survivors of the Flux
• The Timeless Children
• Twice Upon a Time
• The Vanquishers
• Village of the Angels
• War of the Sontarans

Title sequence

• Arachnids in the UK
• The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos
• Can You Hear Me?
• Demons of the Punjab
• Eve of the Daleks
• Fugitive of the Judoon
• The Ghost Monument
• The Halloween Apocalypse
• The Haunting of Villa Diodati
• It Takes You Away
• Kerblam!
• Legend of the Sea Devils
• Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror
• Once, Upon Time
• Orphan 55
• The Power of the Doctor
• Praxeus
• Resolution
• Revolution of the Daleks
• Rosa
• Spyfall
• Survivors of the Flux
• The Timeless Children
• The Tsuranga Conundrum
• The Vanquishers
• Village of the Angels
• War of the Sontarans
• The Witchfinders

External links

• Ben Pickles at the Internet Movie Database
• Official YouTube channel
• Official Facebook page