Cobra
BlueBolt VFX vendor on Cobra, we created a dramatic body of work, providing all 350 VFX shots over the entire series for the Sky original production for New Pictures.
The high stakes six-part British drama, set in the heart of government during a major crisis, stars Robert Carlyle and Victoria Hamilton and is available to watch on Sky One and Now TV.
Our team, led by VFX Supervisor Henry Badgett and VFX Producer Tracy McCreary, created a wide range of VFX including a fully CG plane crash together with the surrounding environment. We also cast London into darkness as power goes out across the country, extended motorway sets and brought them to life with gridlocked traffic, and enhanced the number of people in various crowd and riots scenes. In the final episode, an overpass needed to collapse under the weight of a huge transformer, which we created by rebuilding the road surfaces in 3D and simulating the massive destruction.
Henry Badgett was on set and on location in and around Manchester, throughout production which was key as the plane crash sequences evolved during the process.
The plane crash was one of the most complex sequences on this project and was originally conceived based on the ability to shoot drone plates. It transpired this wasn’t going to be possible and we were forced to build the entire environment. A big change of course and a lot more work, but ended up giving us way more freedom and control of the shots.
We simulated the entire plane crash and then positioned virtual cameras to capture the action, rather than animating shot by shot. This allowed us a much faster turnaround time for the shots, and we ended up with an approach that was based in real-world physics.
