Due to the relatively long shot durations, cloth simulation on death’s cloak and the bride’s dress proved challenging. The brief in the case of Death was to create an ethereal otherworldly movement that felt natural in this stylised world. The team decided that the wizard characters' cloth would have a stiff puppet look to further distinguish them from Death. James Healy created a pipeline to deal with these elements using Maya’s NCloth.

Martin Aufinger used Houdini for the magical bridge forming sequence. In order to further the gritty, hand made look; the team experimented with lowering the frames rate on elements in shots. Due to the moving cameras this was impossible as it generated excessive strobing. The only element that stayed on twos was the bridge.

Telecine artist, Simon Bourne, managed the sequence’s signature sepia tones by grading in Baselight. This gave the director more latitude to create punchy and dramatic pictures whilst pushing certain elements within the grade.

Dale Newton, said: “The film itself gave Framestore a great opportunity to create more cutting edge visual effects. But this storybook sequence posed a different set of challenges: namely how do you create a delicate, papery animated sequence in CGI?  How to create compelling poetic characters in a dramatic narrative when only using shadows and silhouettes? So rather than being the visual effects task that we’ve all become so accustomed to, this was more a creative voyage of discovery.”

Warner Bros. Pictures presents a Heyday Films Production and a David Yates Film.

PRODUCTION COMPANY Warner Bros. Picutres & Heyday Films
DIRECTOR Ben Hibon (The Tale of the Three Brothers), David Yates (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows)
PRODUCER David Heyman
VFX PRODUCER Emma Norton

VFX Framestore
TELECINE Framestore

Framestore is an Oscar-winning visual effects company and the UK’s leading authority on stereoscopic 3D. Framestore uses innovative talent and technology to create hi-end images for every platform. In addition to working for Hollywood studios, advertisers, ad agencies, production and gaming companies, Framestore also generates its own paid-for content: eg – VFX in Your Pocket and Polar Peril.