NETFLIX SERIES · ART DEPARTMENT AV

Amsterdam Empire

Practical screen playback, LED control and art department AV support for a Netflix series.

For the Netflix crime drama series Amsterdam Empire, produced by Pupkin Film and A Team Productions, I worked as part of the art department under production designer Danielle Schilling.

My role focused on the practical screens visible on camera. This included LED screens, television displays, hospital monitors, coffeeshop menu screens, office computer screens and screen effects that had to respond live during a scene.

Some content was created from scratch, some was adapted from art department assets, and some screen behaviour had to be triggered precisely during the take. The work combined audiovisual technique with art department precision: every screen had to look believable within the world of the series, while also being reliable, controllable and ready for camera.

Streamer
Netflix

Production company
Pupkin Film · A Team Productions

Genre
Crime drama · 7 episodes

Release
30 October 2025

Created by
Nico Moolenaar, Bart Uytdenhouwen, Piet Matthys

Directed by
Jonas Govaerts, Max Porcelijn

Production design
Danielle Schilling

Director of photography
Seppe Van Grieken, Coen Stroeve

Role
Practical screen playback, LED control & art department AV support

The Challenge

Screens on a film set are never just background objects. They are props, light sources, story elements and technical systems at the same time.

For Amsterdam Empire, the screen setups had to work across very different environments: a fictional television studio, hospital rooms, an Amsterdam coffeeshop, an office environment and a private home where screen actions were part of the drama.

Some screens were used as set dressing, while others had to change, react, break or switch off during the scene. The biggest challenge was timing. A hospital monitor cannot jump with a hard cut when a patient’s condition is supposed to deteriorate gradually. A television that gets smashed on camera has to react at the exact moment of impact. And when an actor pulls a fake cable from a screen, the image still needs to disappear at precisely the right time.

Our Role

We supported the art department with a mixed role that included practical screen playback, LED control, content adaptation, signal distribution, technical preparation and live operation on set.

This included practical screen playback for scenes with televisions, monitors and digital displays, LED screen preparation and control for fictional studio environments, content adaptation for screens with different formats and resolutions, hospital monitor graphics with changing vital signs, warning states and sound cues, coffeeshop digital menu boards distributed across multiple screens, office computer screen preparation and live timed screen effects, including a smashed TV effect triggered during the take.

The work took place across multiple shoot days, including a night shoot, an Amsterdam coffeeshop scene, a preparation day in The Hague, a full shoot day for the Campus Talk scene, several hospital shoot days and a studio shoot day.

Key Screen Setups

Each screen setup required a different technical and creative approach. Some were subtle background elements, while others had to perform live during the scene.

01

Campus Talk LED Screen

For the Campus Talk scene, the production needed a large LED backdrop inspired by a well-known Dutch talk show setup. I researched the reference, measured the approximate proportions and helped recreate the LED configuration for the fictional version used in the series, built around a wide LED surface of roughly 350 × 100 cm.

Multiple playback scenarios were prepared, including animated transitions for moments when characters would enter or interact with the scene. Because of the complexity of the multicamera setup and the need to repeat takes consistently, playback was simplified on set to a static screen image — giving the production more continuity and control. LED brightness was tuned together with the lighting team so the screen worked correctly for camera, exposure and the overall look of the scene.

02

Hospital Vital Signs Monitors

The hospital scenes required more than static medical graphics. The monitors had to show a patient’s condition gradually getting worse, with rising heart rate, changing blood pressure, warning states, red alerts and beeping.

The graphics were built from screen recordings of demo equipment and adapted in After Effects — rebuilt from roughly 4:3 source material to the 16:9 screens used on set. The timing was one of the most difficult parts of the project: vital signs and warning states had to develop gradually during the scene, without a visible hard cut. In some takes the sound cues were triggered from the playback setup, helping the actors react naturally to the medical escalation.

03

Smashed TV Effect

One of the most high-pressure setups was the television screen that gets smashed by one of the main characters. With only one screen available and the action filmed with two cameras, the effect had to work in one take.

The broken TV effect was created and triggered live from Resolume Arena, appearing during the first punch. After the final hit, the screen went black. Nothing was added later in post: the practical action, the timing of the actor, the screen effect and the final blackout all had to line up live on set. The scene was rehearsed several times without actually hitting the screen, so the timing could be locked in before the real take.

04

Home Automation TV Cue

In the same house location, a kitchen television had to turn on automatically as part of the home automation setup in the scene. The actor then had to appear to pull the plug from the television.

Actually removing power would have made the TV behave unpredictably, so a fake cable was placed behind the screen for the actor to pull. The television stayed powered, while the image was switched off through the playback system at the right moment — keeping the physical action believable for camera, while still allowing full control over the screen behaviour.

05

Coffeeshop Digital Menu Boards

For the Amsterdam coffeeshop scene, multiple digital menu screens were used as practical set elements. These were controlled using HDMI splitters and video wall controllers, allowing the menu content to be distributed correctly across the screens.

The screens did not need a full 4K workflow, but the content still had to sit correctly within the set and be reliable during filming — a practical, efficient screen solution that served the scene without overcomplicating the technical workflow.

06

Office Computer Screens

For the office of the fictional television programme, multiple computer screens had to be prepared as practical background screens, driven by small Raspberry Pi based playback systems.

I helped with the physical setup, screen preparation and signal distribution, including HDMI splitters for desks where screens were visible from opposite directions, and prepared the playback media on USB sticks. The content itself was created by others, but the setup needed to work practically on set and support the office environment without distracting from the scene.

Technical Execution

The screen setups required a flexible workflow that could adapt to different scenes, locations and production needs. Each setup required a different approach: a large LED screen for a fictional TV studio needed different preparation than a hospital monitor, a coffeeshop menu board, an office computer screen or a television that had to be smashed on cue.

The technical work included preparing and adapting screen content for camera, building playback setups for different screen formats, distributing video signals across multiple displays, operating screen content live during takes, creating timed visual changes without hard cuts, triggering screen effects in sync with actor performance and keeping screens reliable under production pressure.

The goal was always the same: the screen had to feel real within the scene, while still being fully controlled behind the camera.

Toolset

Collaboration

This project was made within the art department under production designer Danielle Schilling. We are grateful to Rita Lo, Fenna Breitbarth and Enza Rosato for the trust they gave us throughout the project. The work required a lot of practical problem solving, quick decisions and technical preparation, while still serving the visual world of the series.

The screen setups also had to work together with camera and lighting. Brightness, timing, reflections, exposure and continuity all mattered, especially with LED screens, practical monitors and screens that were part of the action.

Result

The screen work appears throughout Amsterdam Empire in studio scenes, hospital environments, coffeeshop interiors, office scenes, fictional television moments and practical screen actions.

The result is a series of on-camera screens that do not feel like technical inserts, but like real objects inside the world of the story. Some are subtle background elements. Others directly support the drama of a scene. All of them had to work practically, live and reliably during filming.

Services Used

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