MUMBAI: The Namit Malhotra-helmed Prime Focus has contributed 22 VFX shots of Matthew Vaughn’s 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 with an unknown history of the cold war and our world at the brink of nuclear Armageddon.

Said Prime Focus VFX Supervisor Stuart Lashley, “We decided to tackle the wire removals in Mumbai, 2D shots in London and animation shots in Vancouver. 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 me after which the notes would be passed on to our global team. We found this to be an efficient workflow for both us and the client."

With a short time-frame for the work to be completed, the shots were divided between Prime Focus’ teams in London, Vancouver and Mumbai; it was led by Lashley in London, Jon Cowley in Vancouver and Shailey Swarnkar in Mumbai.

 
The project included some ambitious VFX work for Prime Focus, 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 Lashley. "These were then refined with feedback from Stephane and editorial until we had something that had the right look and feel for the client.”

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.

Released on 3 June, it became the top-grossing film in the US.