Assassin's Creed

Justin Kurzel’s Assassin’s Creed film is based on the popular Ubisoft video game series, well known for its photorealistic computer graphics renderings of different locations in history. But for the recognisable hand-to-hand combat scenes, leaps between buildings, sword fights, and other stunts, the filmmakers wanted a very practical feel.

However, even with the practical approach, visual effects, cg, and animation still played a major role. One seemingly heavy practical stunt, a prison carriage chase involving the assassin Aguilar de Nerha (Michael Fassbender) in the desert that ends with a carriage flipping over and another launching over a cliff, was actually made possible with a mix between real photography, special effects, and digital augmentation by Cinesite’s artists.

Other Cinesite FX included Cal’s breakout from Abstergo Industries. Set extensions and CG weapons were added to complete the high-octane battle between the Assassin’s and Abstergo Industries guards in the Animus Project laboratory. Cinesite also recreated an extensive London environment for the final sequence of the film. The camera starts outside the Freemason’s Hall and in a single camera move we go from there all the way to the top of another building four blocks away to reach the Assassin’s on the rooftop.

Justin Kurzel directed Assassin’s Creed, with Cinesite VFX Supervisor Christian Irles leading the team.