There were many technical challenges in The Golden Compass, including how to manage procedural fur grooming for interaction between animals and humans. All images © 2007 New Line Cinema.

Since the publication of the first volume in 1995, Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials has become one of the most beloved and celebrated book series of the past decade. Although the trilogy is not as illustrious as Lord of the Rings or Chronicles of Narnia, New Line Studios certainly hopes that The Golden Compass, the big screen adaptation of the initial novel (opening Dec. 7), will meet the same enthusiastic response from audiences worldwide.

To supervise the all-important visual effects effort, director Chris Weitz enlisted Michael Fink, (Batman Returns, X-Men and Constantine) as senior visual effects supervisor. "We started preparing the movie in January 2006, and began shooting in late September," Fink says. "Principal photography then wrapped in February 2007. We later regrouped in April and shot more until July. Post went from then until November 16, 2007."

For Fink and Visual Effects Producer Susan MacLeod, there were, of course, many technical challenges, most notably figuring out how to manage procedural fur grooming for interaction between animals and humans, and creating a complete 3D-animated sequence (the bear fight) in the middle of a live-action movie. "Chris Weitz was kind and trusting enough to let us do our job with only gentle, but quite specific, guidance from him," Fink notes. "He really focused on those things most important to him and to the film, and let us concentrate on completing visual effects shots in what was a very tight schedule. Without this approach, I doubt we would have finished in time for the release of the movie, given how little time we had for going back and forth to figure out a shot."

Featured in more than 500 shots, the daemons were created via 3D animation at Rhythm & Hues. This project represents the studio's most ambitious in its history. The ermine is the daemon for lead character Lyra.

The shots were spread among nine different vendors:

Rhythm & Hues & Rhythm & Hues India – 755
Cinesite -- 475
Framestore CFC -- 322
Digital Domain -- 150
Rainmaker UK -- 114
Peerless Camera -- 74
Tippett Studio -- 28
Digital Back Lot -- 13
Matte World Digital -- 7

The final cut includes about 1,100-1,200 shots, although total shot count is closer to 1,500 as there were numerous omits and changes (more on that later).

Meet Your Inner Daemon
The story takes place in an alternate world, very similar to ours in many ways, in which humans all have a personal daemon: that is, the physical representation -- in animal form -- of their souls. Featured in more than 500 shots, the daemons were created via 3D animation at Rhythm & Hues (in collaboration with Rhythm & Hues India, which contributed animation lighting and composting on about a third of the shots). The team was led by VFX Supervisor Bill Westenhofer, Co-VFX Supervisor Raymond Chen and VFX Producer Gary Nolin. This represents the studio's most ambitious project in its 20-year history. "With 490 shots in the film and over 250 more that we worked to about 50% or better before they were cut, it was the largest workload for a single job we've ever had," Westenhofer confirms. "The main thing I'd have to comment on was how smoothly it went -- a testament to the solid pipeline we have developed in the studio."