Cinesite Europe Executes

VFX for "King Arthur"

Cinesite (Europe) Ltd provided nearly 500 visual effects shots for King Arthur, a
worldwide release by uena !ista "ictures#
$he fil% features Clive &wen as Arthur and Keira Knightley as 'uinevere# (t was
directed by Antoine )u*ua and produced by +erry ruc,hei%er# $he director of
photography was -lawo%ir (d.ia,, "-C#
/King Arthur is an epic story in a realistic and historical tradition,/ says Cinesite CE&
Colin rown# /0e created several %assive illusions that are sea%lessly interwoven into
the visual fabric of the story# $hey have to loo, and feel realistic without appearing
inconsistent with the action of the fil%#/
Cinesite %ainly focused on two huge battle se*uences#
(n an ice battle early in the story, King Arthur1s outnu%bered ,nights confront the -a2on
ene%y on a fro.en la,e surrounded by a steep %ountainous gorge# $heir attac, forces the
-a2ons to cluster together# $heir co%bined weight causes the ice to buc,le and the la,e
swallows the -a2ons# Cinesite1s digital artists created the entire environ%ent for this
se*uence using a co%bination of 345 and 645 digital renderings with the aid of
proprietary software designed for the tas,#
Cinesite concept artists wor,ed directly with the director to co%%unicate the loo, and
feel he wanted in the ice battle se*uence# $hree approaches were used#
)irstly, digital %atte paintings were created, using reference photographs shot both in the
-cottish highlands and the )rench Alps# (n the second process, digital %atte paintings
were split into separate planes and a 645 ca%era trac, was applied to give the appropriate
paralla2# 7sing Cinesite1s proprietary software, a sha,e %acro was created which was
given directly to the 345 co%positor in order for the% to create the final co%posites# $he
third and final approach used a fully co%puter4generated environ%ent for the ice la,e and
valley#
$he original live action was fil%ed on a gravel surface covered with artificial snow#
Cinesite later replaced this with co%puter generated ice and snow layers, which the
director could orchestrate into the shots according to the live action#
Cinesite created 645 geo%etry that pre4%apped all the ice crac,s procedurally and
allowed for the natural rando% thic,ness, translucency and te2ture of the ice# -o%e shots,
which are entirely co%puter generated, show the ice crac,ing fro% underwater# Cinesite
also added C' particulate to recreate a realistic, %ur,y, la,ebed environ%ent#
Live4action ele%ents were fil%ed at "inewood -tudios in a large outdoor paddoc, tan,
against a blue screen# 8echanical ice bloc,s were fil%ed with flailing costu%ed stunt%en
sliding into the water# $he surface of the ice bloc,s was largely replaced with C'( ice
te2tures by Cinesite1s tea% of artists#
ffects Associates, a Cinesite subsidiary co%pany, fil%ed ice and snow e2plosions, and ice
and water running down blue boards to create additional ele%ents that were incorporated
during the co%positing process# Ele%ents were converted to co%puter picture files with a
9orthlight scanner#
)ollowing co%pletion of the digital inter%ediate at another facility, Cinesite also fil%ed
out the European release negative using their A::( recorders# After ele%ents of visual
effects shots were co%posited, they were recorded bac, onto 65 %% color inter%ediate
fil%, which intercut sea%lessly with live4action footage#
Cinesite also contributed i%ages to the battle se*uence at the end of the fil%# $he facility
created thousands of digital warriors, using custo%4%ade crowd si%ulation software#
!isual Effects -upervisor 8att +ohnson e2plains that the software has an /artificial
intelligence/ co%ponent that enabled the digital warriors to recogni.e and %ove
s%oothly around trees and other 645 ob;ects# 8uch of the action for effects se*uences
was fil%ed with a
-teadica%, which provided fluid ca%era %ove%ent# +ohnson was on the set
during fil%ing in (reland and at "inewood#
/"art of %y ;ob was %a,ing certain that the effects process intruded as little as possible,
and ( believe we were successful,/ +ohnson says# /0ithin the given production
para%eters, there really was no location which would have represented the environ%ent
Antoine ()u*ua) envisioned, so we always ,new we would need to do a lot of wor, to
create the space digitally, and we accounted for that while the se*uence was being
fil%ed#/
Cinesite1s current slate of fil%s includes <itchhi,er1s 'uide to the 'ala2y, Charlie and
the Chocolate )actory, <arry "otter and $he 'oblet of )ire, -ahara, "hanto% of $he
&pera, Alien vs# "redator and Alfie#
Cinesite (Europe) Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of the East%an Koda, Co%pany and
is part of the Entertain%ent (%aging division# &ne of the %ost co%prehensive visual
effects facilities in the world, Cinesite1s services include %odel construction and %odel
unit photography, digital effects (co%positing, digital %atte painting, 645 %odeling and
ani%ation), visual effects supervision, previsuali.ation, fil% scanning, laser recording
and physical effects (pyrotechnics, weather effects, %echanical effects etc#)#
)or %ore infor%ation, visit www#cinesite#co%#