CINESITE COMPLETES VFX FOR 'PRINCE OF PERSIA'
Prince of Persia was directed by Mike Newell. Cinesite’s visual effects supervisor Sue Rowe and a team of 60 artists completed a range of shots that varied from digital face replacements and set extensions to CGI weapons and matte paintings. Rowe spent six weeks on location in Morocco to pre-plan how Cinesite would work with the limitations of the shoot, which included small sets, varied skies and limited props.
One of the more challenging scenes involved ‘youthening’ the king, played by Ben Kingsley, by 30 years. Cinesite called on their proprietary Motion Analyser software for the task, which enables the faces of live action actors to be manipulated to allow for corrections such as removing fine lines and wrinkles, blotches, dark patches and hairs.
Another sequence required the studio to create a full CG lioness. Artists used Autodesk Maya to create a character that looked starved and malnourished.
And for scenes involving weapons, including 3D whips featuring claws and blades, the studio had to match CG with on-set stunt props.