Axis Studios worked on a range of VFX for Will McGregor’s, dark, 19th-century thriller, Gwen. VFX Supervisor, Howard Jones, and the 2D team provided set extensions for a quarry sequence – a complex shot of a horse with a broken leg and blood splatters.

Many of the shots involved set extensions, as well as the recreation of a panoramic 19th-century working quarry. The production crew went to the location in Wales to gather footage for a digital matte painting. They also provided the team with multiple pre-filmed plates of actors in front of a green-screen to key or remove the green-screen, scale down, and position these elements onto the digital matte painting, populating it with large numbers of workers.

One challenge for the team came when trying to integrate the digital matte painting into the background of the village without a green-screen that scaled to the scene. Techniques such as Luminance keying and Roto were used as a solution, creating a separation between the actors and buildings. This allowed the team to add the quarry into the distant background.