Recreating prehistoric Earth presents an unusual challenge for filmmakers. Unlike modern environments, the landscapes inhabited by dinosaurs no longer exist. Continents have shifted, coastlines have reshaped themselves, and climates have transformed over tens of millions of years.

For the four-part Netflix documentary series The Dinosaurs, produced by Silverback Films in association with Amblin Entertainment and narrated by Morgan Freeman, visual effects studio Lux Aeterna helped rebuild those ancient worlds by combining geological research with cinematic visualisation.

While Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) focused on animating the dinosaurs, Lux Aeterna was responsible for the planetary transitions and environmental sequences that situate those creatures within an evolving Earth. Their work transforms scientific projections of ancient geography into immersive visual journeys through deep time.

Reconstructing a Planet That No Longer Exists

Natural history documentaries operate under a unique constraint: although prehistoric reconstructions inevitably involve interpretation, they remain grounded in scientific research.

“Many of the time travel sequences were based on projected positions of continents and landmasses calculated by geological experts,” explains Lux Aeterna Senior CGI Artist Paul Greer. “Even though much of the landscape was theoretical, it had to come across as realistic — because it would cut directly with ILM’s creatures.”

To achieve that credibility, Lux Aeterna relied heavily on present-day satellite imagery and georectified height maps as a starting point. These datasets provided detailed information about terrain, coastlines, and topography, allowing the team to construct plausible earlier versions of Earth’s geography. Using present-day data as a foundation helped ensure that even speculative reconstructions remained grounded in observable geography.

From that foundation, landscapes were adapted to reflect ancient climates and environments. Modern deserts could become lush marshlands, while coastlines were reshaped to match the continental configurations predicted by geological models.

The result is a world that feels ancient yet recognisable, a distant version of the same planet audiences inhabit today.

The Moment Continents Began to Separate

One of the most technically detailed sequences in The Dinosaurs visualises a pivotal moment in Earth’s geological history: the early separation of South America and Africa.

Today, the two continents are divided by the vast expanse of the Atlantic Ocean. But during the period represented in the series, the rift between them had only recently begun to widen.

“This is a geo-locator shot,” Greer explains. “We’re showing the freshly split South America and Africa continents and the shallow sea that separated them at that time. In Earth’s history, they had only just stopped being part of the same landmass.”

To create the sequence, Lux Aeterna combined high-resolution geographical datasets of the east coast of South America and the west coast of Africa. These datasets were blended together before being adapted to represent the prehistoric landscape.

“The geo data for the east coast of South America and the west coast of Africa were selected and blended together in Nuke,” Greer says. “We maintained the wide colour space and detail of the data, then recoloured it to match the environment projected to exist at the time.”

The blended terrain was then projected into a 3D environment, where additional terrain detail was introduced to support the shot’s scale and composition.

Ocean simulation and atmospheric effects helped reinforce the sense of depth and realism. Rather than appearing as a flat surface, the ocean changes colour depending on depth, using light absorption and transmission to suggest shallow coastal waters and deeper ocean basins.

The final result is a view of a planet in transition, a moment where familiar continents are recognisable but not yet fully formed.

Balancing Scientific Responsibility with Cinematic Scale

Projects like The Dinosaurs sit at the intersection of science and storytelling. While the visuals must remain grounded in research, they also need to function within a cinematic narrative.

That balance is particularly important when reconstructing prehistoric environments. Unlike modern landscapes, there is no single reference image for how these worlds looked. Instead, artists must translate geological models and scientific projections into visual experiences that audiences can intuitively understand.

“We took great care to use very high-resolution data to provide as realistic a view of the Earth as possible,” Greer says. “The cinematic nature of the shots brings the audience closer to the science and narrative.”

By anchoring the visuals in real geographical information, the filmmakers reinforce the idea that these prehistoric environments are not purely imagined worlds. They are earlier versions of the same planet, landscapes shaped by the same geological forces that continue to transform Earth today.

Visualising Deep Time

Across The Dinosaurs, Lux Aeterna’s planetary sequences guide viewers through millions of years of environmental change. Continents drift apart, climates evolve, and new ecosystems emerge. These transformations help audiences grasp a timescale that is otherwise difficult to imagine.

By combining geological research with cinematic visualisation, the series turns deep time into something audiences can see and experience, revealing how the ancient Earth inhabited by dinosaurs gradually evolved into the planet we know today.

Lux Aeterna, Visual Effects Studio

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