The way Stranger Things uses special effects has always given the Netflix show a greater sense of weight. A deft mix of practical effects, stunt work, and digital wizardry has led to Hawkins and the Upside Down feeling equally real in the eyes of the viewers. It’s a big part of why the show works as well as it does, as often as it does.

That balance has been the focus of people like Betsy Paterson, who serves as the VFX Supervisor on the show’s fifth and final season. During an interview with TVBrittanyF.com, Paterson discussed how the team brings their own personal touches to the creature designs. She also spoke about the process of bringing the Demogorgons into the real world, and teased her proudest moment on the show.

Brandon Zachary: What were some of the biggest influences of the previous seasons on this latest batch of episodes?

Betsy Paterson: We really wanted to level everything up. [The Duffer brothers] double the visual effects of the spectacle every year. Especially after last year, with last season being so big, we knew going in that this season was going to be even bigger. Because it was wrapping up the whole story, we really wanted it to feel like you’ve seen this world and really lived in it.

I mean, just look at the number of demo-dogs we get this season!

We knew this season we would be seeing lots of them, bright-lit and close up. We really tried to up the ante on the demo guardians and made sure that they could handle their close-ups.

As VFX artists, how do you and the rest of the team go about making sure each of these creatures looks so similar but still feels like a unique entity?

That’s really what it’s about. There’s so much hand animation that goes into these, so the animators’ personalities do kind of get a little bit imprinted onto them. Generally, there’ll be one animator that specializes in this one and one that specializes in that one.

You end up with little tweaks. Sometimes we will decide well, this Demogorgon got a rip in its petal from Karen hitting it with the wine bottle. We’ll track that guy through the rest. There’s one that gets burnt, and we just make sure that we know which one that is. He’s the one in a bad mood. [Laughter.]

How tricky is it to make all these effects feel like they are part of the real world?

That’s my favorite part of this job, actually… putting these creatures into the real world, and making sure we really believe that they’re there and they’re touching things. When they scratch the floor, there’s a scratch left on the floor. [Those are] the most fun bits.

There is a lot of work on set, on the day, making sure that things are moving the right way. When the dining table gets knocked over, everything is practically shoved over, just to make sure we can time that with how the demogorgon is knocking stuff over. That’s the fun stuff, making all of that work together.

What scene have you been most proud of in Stranger Things‘ final season?

I can’t tell you yet, because it’s in one of the next episodes. I think it’ll be pretty obvious when it comes out. Once you’ve seen it, think to yourself, ‘What would Betsy be most proud of?’ And you’ll know.

What has surprised you the most during this experience of working on Stranger Things?

Probably just how invested everyone who works on the show is in it. I’ve been in the business for a very long time, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a group that really lived in the world as much as the crew on this show. So many of them have been there since the beginning, or at least the last few seasons. I’ve been on it for three seasons, and I was a newcomer. That feeling of just a real team that cared so much about making this show was a really pleasant surprise.

Stranger Things Season 5, Volume 2 premieres Christmas Day on Netflix. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Netflix.