12 June 2014

Visual effects house Cinesite was tasked with creating a major sequence in the new sci-fi action film, Edge of Tomorrow, which saw Tom Cruise’s character, Cage, repeatedly battling a giant robot called Mimic.

“The challenge was to capture the energy and dynamic speed of the fight, so technical considerations like how quickly the Mimic would spin and how much motion blur it would give off were very important,” says visual effects supervisor Simon Stanley-Clamp, whose team of 70 created Mimic entirely in CG. Various motion studies and versions of Mimic were created, all exploring how it might travel. The final robot needed to move in straight lines, as though traversing a ceiling grid, in a jerky, mechanical way.

The design of Mimic was also a large consideration. “I wanted the surface to resemble a beaten up, rusted yellow cab,” says Stanley-Clamp. “When the Mimics break they are mended crudely, with new parts roughly bolted on; bumps and scratches remain visible.”

Cinesite also worked on other sequences in the film, including adding a full CG military encampment to a location, complete with tents, military vehicles, and digidoubles. They were ultimately responsible for 189 shots in the final cut

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