My work on Cinefex’s article The VFX of “Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell”

The article can be found here:

http://cinefex.com/blog/jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/

Episode 2 Opening Sequence Rainships:

Answering director Toby Haynes’s request for a sequence that resembled a Turner painting, the Milk team combined live-action rowing boats (shot against greenscreen in a Yorkshire pond), simulated ocean environments and CG ships. Swirling displacement effects and interactive rain reinforced the ghostly navy’s subtle, dreamlike appearance.

Episode 5 Waterloo Opening Shot:

“Every cannon had five soldiers around it, which was historically correct,” observed Deguara. Simulation systems permitted each cannon to “fire” automatically. “The simulation worked out the projection of the cannonball, and where it would hit the ground,” explained Hernandez. “We imported it into Maya, where we used a library of explosions that triggered procedurally. The first version we did of the shot looked like a Michael Bay film! We had 25,000 explosions, and the whole screen was covered in smoke!”

Episode 5 Opening Sequence Vines:

Episode 5 Waterloo Battle Waterspout:

When the building behind him catches fire, Strange summons a giant waterspout from a well and uses it to extinguish the flames. “We had big fire hydrants and hoses there on the day,” recalled Deguara, “and we had real water pitching down over the doorway – interactive elements for when the soldiers run out. We did the shot with two camera moves, which we joined together. Our digital waterspout comes out of the well, then splits into five sections to put out the fire.”

The main body of the waterspout was procedurally generated in Houdini, with extra detail built up using liquid flip and white water simulations, plus layers of mist. Additional procedural tweaks were used subsequently to allow artists to choreograph the animation of the liquid. The central column was rendered in Maya using Arnold, while Mantra handled the more finely detailed effects in Houdini.