Mitchell S. Drain

Mitchell Drain’s expertise in the visual effects industry spans over 30 years. He is an inventive, adaptable VFX Supervisor with an impressive résumé in features, episodics, and limited series long-form entertainment and commercials. Mitchell has successfully led visual effects teams on some of the biggest feature films like “National Treasure: Book of Secrets” and “Master and Commander” as well as several award-winning episodics for HBO, Netflix, TNT, NBC, ABC, and Sony Pictures Television.

For HBO's award-winning series "The Last of Us," Mitchell was the Digital Domain VFX Supervisor, overseeing the creation of the post-apocalyptic city and bringing beauty to a decaying environment. His past projects also include supervising work for "Children of the Corn," creating environments and creatures for the Netflix film "Chupa," and a major creature sequence as the Digital Domain VFX supervisor on Lionsgate’s "Chaos Walking.” He also supervised on Marvel's “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” for which Digital Domain completed shots across six episodes of its final season. The scope of work encompassed everything from Digi-doubles and set extensions to explosions and a flying helicarrier. He also delivered work for HBO’s first season of the new drama “Perry Mason,” and CBS’s second season of “The Twilight Zone.”

Additionally, Mitchell previously worked on HBO’s hit series “Westworld,” where he lent his expertise across multiple seasons and episodes, leading effects, robots, and set environments alongside VFX Producer Elizabeth Castro and VFX Supervisor Jay Worth. Mitchell was also on set for Marvel’s “Jessica Jones: A Netflix Original,” where he led effects work alongside showrunner Melissa Rosenberg. During the course of his episodics career, Mitchell also supervised visual effects, including environments, explosions, and pyrotechnics for additional Netflix shows, such as “Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events” and “Sense8,” and HBO’s acclaimed series “True Detective.”

Mitchell’s specialty is real-world visual effects with a focus on work relatable to global audiences everywhere. When on set, he is a true partner to the director and studio with a keen eye for detail to ensure that the work is both photorealistic and grounded in reality. An excellent problem-solver, he loves the challenge of synthesizing abstract concepts into fully-realized, well-structured visual effects. Mitchell’s mastery and command of the visual effects craft won him an Emmy award for Outstanding Special Visual Effects on “Westworld” in 2017. Other notable work includes “Independence Day,” “Minority Report,” and “Black Hawk Down.”