Robin Hood

Robin of Loxley (Taron Egerton) plays a war-hardened Crusader in the latest Lionsgate remake of the Robin Hood classic.  Returning to England from battle in the Middle East, he discovers that the Sheriff’s power and church’s influence have over-run Nottingham, creating social division amongst the people.  Robin fights to re-establish his previous life and bring wealth and justice to the poor.

As lead vendor, Cinesite’s London team completed just under 300 shots, with our own VFX Supervisor Simon Stanley-Clamp overseeing visual effects for the entire production.  Cinesite’s in-house VFX Supervisor was Aleksandar Pejic.

Director Otto Bathurst’s version of the classic tale is inherently modern.  Nottingham is not intended to be historically accurate and Cinesite’s main task was to create the environments which show Nottingham as a thriving, stylised metropolis, the political, industrial and religious capitol of England.

Production filmed primarily in Hungary (Budapest, Tura) and Croatia (Dubrovnik) in early 2017.  Cinesite Art Director Gürel Mehmet was housed with the production team throughout pre-production, working closely with VFX Supervisor Simon; his work was crucial to look development and gave early insight to the team back at Cinesite regarding what needed to be built in CG.

The environments which Cinesite created are important throughout the film, both in setting the scene for key story points and forming backdrops to fast-paced action sequences.  Some environments were 2.5d and others were entirely CG.  With full 3D environment builds and augmented 2.5 D composites.

Robin’s childhood home Loxley Manor was created both in its original state and its later, post-Crusades state of decay and dereliction. Otto’s fictitious Nottingham was entirely computer generated, with the river Trent dividing the rich side of the city from the slag heaps on the other where the poor unhappily reside.

The look of Nottingham was based around the buildings of Dubrovnik, where most of the action was filmed.  The basic architectural style of the region was retained and the structure and layout of the city adapted to suit the story and action which would take place throughout its streets.  The design of Nottingham cathedral was conceived with reference to a variety of sources and architectural influences from Italian churches to Gothic and Art Deco.  Ultimately, the team decided upon a Brutalist look, which fitted the forbidding atmosphere of the building and also matched well with interior sequences shooting on location in France.

The many CG houses in the city were built procedurally, from an assembled a library of various roof and house shapes.  A similar system was used for building a variety of brick, stone and roof textures for the extensively used environment.

In one key action sequence in the film, Robin is being chased on horse-back across rooftops at night by the Sheriff’s men.  Cinesite’s work extended beyond the realm of creating the slag heap environments and in several shots an entirely computer-generated horse was also required, to navigate some of the more dangerous aspects of the stunt choreography, where the horse is seen jumping across rickety roof sections and even smashing through walls.

Robin Hood hit the cinemas in the UK and US on 21st November, 2018.

• Studio: Lionsgate
• Director: Otto Bathurst 
• Taron Egerton as Robin Hood
• Eve Hewson as Maid Marian
• Jamie Fox as Little John