Robert Short closely supervised the design of The Punisher's emblematic villain, Jigsaw. He only had two weeks to create a design for the character based on the comics, but in the end, the director opted for a straight make-up and applications

The most gruesome death in the movie takes place at the end of an extensive fight sequence. The character is first stabbed with a spear, and then burned to death. "At the last moment," Short continues, "we decided to make the spear a CG element and shoot the scene with the actor pantomiming the action. I gave the actor a chopped off version of the spear and rehearsed the action, so there would be room for the CG spearhead element to be put in properly in post. I shot high resolution photos of the spear tip to be used later, but in the end, Pixel Magic rotoscoped an image from the film itself to use as the spear tip element. Just another reminder that it's not a perfect science… They also modified the color of the jacket's fabric to simulate blood, warped the area as the spear pierces his side, and added a splash element of real blood shot on the insert stage."

For the fiery death scene, a stuntman covered in fireproof gel did the initial impact in the pit and went up in flames. Next was a dummy that was shot catching fire. Finally, the actor was filmed in full make up in the unlit pit with a flame bar in front of his face. To finish it off, the team shot the flame in the pit in front of black from each of the angles used to burn the body, which created a library of flame elements for later compositing.

Meet Jigsaw
The Punisher’s emblematic villain is Jigsaw, a man bearing multiple scars on his face. The final design was conceived and executed by Maestro Studio under extreme time constraint. The make-up consisted of a one-piece silicone mask with hand-stitched sutures. "I would have liked to take it way over the top, much the same way Gary Oldman was done in Hannibal, but the fact that we needed to recognize the actor under the make-up and not interfere with his ability to speak, made this approach impossible. Also, sometimes fate steps in and lends a hand when you least expect it. One of the initial designs for Jigsaw would have looked a lot like Two Face from The Dark Knight, because the design of the character’s eyes and mouth are very similar in the comics. Fortunately, in the end, Lexi opted for a straight make-up that would rely on the actor and not vfx. We were very lucky and dodged that bullet, though we did not know it at the time!"

Extensive matte painting work was required for place the story in New York City. A combination of 2D and 3D techniques were used, with some composites of live-action plates; others were created in full CGI. Courtesy of Pixel Magic.

CIS London handled the spectacular chandelier shots and the glass crusher sequence. Lexi Alexander wanted a "hero" shot looking up at Castle spinning from the chandelier and firing his guns. The scene required CG shells as the real ones would fly out of frame and never be seen. "I devised a vortex-like travel pattern that would actually suck the bullets closer to the lens of the virtual camera. Just the opposite of what would happen in reality… Our job, I believe, is creating the illusion of reality, not replicating it. For the glass crusher, it would require a different sleight of hand. To ensure the safety of the actor, we had to enhance the scene digitally. The key to making it all work was chaos. I had the team at CIS throw everything they could into the scene to make it visceral and dangerous. Breaking bottles, glass shards cutting the actor's face and drawing blood, bottles shattering from above, steam from the machine itself and a fine layer of sparkling glass dust to filter it all through. And the end result looks and feels very dangerous and painful."

Speaking of chaos, Short was informed two-thirds into the CIS work schedule that the entire shop was being shut down permanently within the week and team would be disbanded… "Needless to say the midnight oil was burned, and my 8:00 am CineSync conferences became 3:00 am conferences! Fortunately, they never missed a beat and delivered the last shot flawlessly as they were turning out their lights and locking their doors for the last time. Yes, the CIS offices in L.A. would have picked up and finished the shots, if necessary, but the team in London was extraordinary."

Since the movie was shot in Montreal, extensive matte painting work was required for the action to take place in New York City. The shots were handled by Pixel Magic using a combination of 2D and 3D techniques. Some were composites of live-action plates shot in both cities with matching angles; others were created in full CGI in order to get the exact same angles for each of the shots throughout a scene. Originally, the plan was to create a "larger than life" version of New York, but, partly due to the tight deadline, it was decided that the look would stick much closer to present day New York.

Throughout the project, the team worked very hard to pay homage to the original Punisher material. "Lexi put together a 'look' book for us to reference," Short concludes. "It was made up of one of the Punisher Max graphic novels. This was our bible as to the look we were trying to achieve. In terms of composition, style and content, this had an immense effect on the shots as seen in the film. There are several panels where the Punisher is blowing the entire head of a villain and we followed them to a tee. Actually, half the fun of the project was always trying to capture the feel of the literary Punisher, because the 2004 film had strayed so far from it."

Alain Bielik is the founder and editor of renowned effects magazine S.F.X, published in France since 1991. He also contributes to various French publications, both print and online, and occasionally to Cinefex. In 2004, he organized a major special effects exhibition at the Musée International de la Miniature in Lyon, France.