Peaky Blinders (2016)

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…Impossible smokestacks loom and belch, dizzying aqueducts sail the high, dark sky. It’s Fritz Lang’s Metropolis given a greasy coat of toxic tar; and it’s venal, and my, it’s exciting.
This is how CGI wizards establish, viscerally, the world of Peaky Blinders

It’s always nice to read a review in the Guardian where the VFX “wizards” are credited in the opening paragraph.

BlueBolt had already established the visually incredible world of Peaky Blinders when I took over supervising for season 3. The challenge was to take the familiar locations and subtly update them to reflect the two years that had passed in the story since season 2. So half-built, scaffold-covered gantries where now completed and new buildings had been erected in the backgrounds.

The two biggest shots were an establisher of the Liverpool docks with a full 3D build of an ocean liner and wharf, as well as our climactic scene in which (*spoiler alert*) a steam train laden with armoured cars is blown up with dynamite. The locomotive restoration company Riley and Sons (who were restoring the Flying Scotsman when we shot there) were less keen for us to pack one of their trains with explosives, so a mix of SFX and VFX was used to achieve the effect.

You can click here or on any of the images to see BlueBolt’s VFX breakdown video for the show.

Tags: Compositing VFX Supervisor