The Prime Focus on X-Men: First Class

Prime Focus has been called in to provide 22 VFX shots for Matthew Vaughn's new superhero adventure 'X-Men: First Class.' Work on the Marvel and Twentieth Century Fox film was completed in London, Vancouver and Mumbai, using the Prime Focus 'Global Digital Pipeline'.

X-Men: First Class unveils the epic beginning of the X-Men saga – and a secret history of the Cold War and our world at the brink of nuclear Armageddon. As the first class discovers, harnesses, and comes to terms with their formidable powers, alliances are formed that will shape the eternal war between the heroes and villains of the X-Men universe.

Directed by Matthew Vaughn, the film stars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Rose Byrne, Jennifer Lawrence, January Jones, Nicholas Hoult, Oliver Platt, Jason Flemyng, Lucas Till, Edi Gathegi, and Kevin Bacon.

The screenplay is by Ashley Edward Miller & Zack Stentz and Jane Goldman & Matthew Vaughn, from a story by Sheldon Turner and Bryan Singer. The film is produced by Lauren Shuler Donner, Bryan Singer, Simon Kinberg, and Gregory Goodman.

With a short time frame for the work to be completed, the shots were divided up between Prime Focus' teams in London, Vancouver and Mumbai, led by VFX Supervisors Stuart Lashley (London), Jon Cowley (Vancouver) and Shailey Swarnkar (Mumbai).

"We decided to tackle the wire removals in Mumbai, 2D shots in London and animation shots in Vancouver," said Stuart Lashley, VFX Supervisor, London. "This was based on the best availability of the appropriate skill sets. Regular reviews were conducted between Stephane Ceretti, the client's London-based VFX Supervisor and myself, and then the notes would be passed on to our global team. We found this to be an efficient workflow for both us and the client."

The project included some ambitious VFX work, such as the scene where Magneto brings a line of barbed wire to life to wrap up a group of guards, and a shot providing Xavier's point of view as he telepathically looks through someone else's eyes. "This started with a series of "broad stroke" design ideas based on selected reference" commented Stuart. "These were then refined with feedback from Stephane and editorial until we had something that had the right look and feel for the client."

Vancouver-based Prime Focus producer David Fox concluded "X-Men: First Class is a successful global achievement for the Prime Focus family, giving us a great opportunity to combine our talent pools between Mumbai, Vancouver and London. Having this span of resources also enabled us to deliver a number of high quality shots in a short amount of time. X-Men: First Class allowed us to really utilise the pipeline between our multiple offices, and prove that a global company can offer significant advantages."