Cinesite Ensures Rover Returns To The Prisoner

A leading visual effects company has completed a series of creative and challenging visual effects on the HBO remake of the 1960s cult TV show, The Prisoner, which debuts this Saturday, 17 April, at 9.30pm on ITV.
The Prisoner follows the story of a New Yorker, played by James Caviezel, who awakes to find himself in a place called The Village run by a man referred to as Two. As everyone in The Village is referred to as a number, he becomes referred to as Six. Six is told that The Village is the only reality there is, but makes it his mission to discover where The Village is and why he’s being kept prisoner there.
Cinesite completed 150 on the mini-series, which included recreating the iconic Rover – a floating white ball that coerces the inhabitants of The Village. Having played a central role in the original 1960s series, it was decided that Rover would return in the remake, but this time the physical weather balloon was replaced by a computer generated 3D model created in Maya. While creating a CGI white sphere sounds easy, Cinesite faced the challenge of ensuring that the 3D Rover had a turbulent surface and would react convincingly to its environments.
For Rover’s establishing shot in episode one, the 3D model was lit by onset HDRI lighting. Cinesite then referenced and rendered it with multi-pass lighting categories, which gave the artist full control of the model in the composite. Six’s character was rotoscoped and layers of live action dust were added to help integrate the model into the environment. As the scene continues Rover begins to suffocate Six. For this sequence, Cinesite generated a cloth simulation over a 3D body double to represent the latex surface of Rover. This element was used in the composite in conjunction with animated grades and defocus work to create the final shot. In the climax of the scene Rover expands dramatically and looms over Six. Shadow work and surface interaction elements created in 3D and composited with live action dust elements complete the shot.
Another key scene Cinesite worked on was in episode two. This time Rover is drowning a different character in the ocean. In the sequence, Rover surfaces from the water and sucks the character backwards. To create the splash generated when Rover surfaces, Cinesite previsualised the shot in 3D and used a water elements to create the realistic look of a splash generated by a large heavy object. The water element splashes and bubbles were created by Cinesite Production Services and shot as effects elements at the Pinewood Studios underwater stage. The splashes were retimed and composited into the plate together with the 3D model of Rover. The scene comes to a climax when the character is sucked under Rover and drowned. As no live-action footage was filmed of Rover drowning its victim, Cinesite used a clip from Six’s suffocation scene and a face replacement.
Antony Hunt, Managing Director at Cinesite, said: "It was a pleasure to work on this series. Cinesite and Cinesite Production Services were able to provide both digital and practical effects for The Prisoner so our Soho and Shepperton effects teams were able to work together to recreate the iconic Rover."
(BMcN/CD)