"The Union" is a 2024 American spy action comedy thriller directed by Julian Farino. The story centers on Mike McKenna, a construction worker portrayed by Mark Wahlberg. His ordinary life is disrupted when his high school sweetheart, Roxanne Hall (Halle Berry), involves him in a high-stakes espionage mission. Mike encounters numerous dangers alongside Roxanne as he immerses himself in the world of spies and international intrigue.
The film blends action, humor, and romance, creating an exciting and enjoyable watch, enhanced by numerous impressive visual effects. Cloud rendering is vital for VFX production, offering scalable, cost-effective, and efficient solutions that enhance creative capabilities and streamline workflows. A movie comprises hundreds or thousands of VFX shots, with a significant amount of assets and data, necessitating a render farm to meet deadlines.
According to Cinesite, their team created 330 shots for the production (including exciting roof-top chases, spectacular car stunts, explosions, and fights), directed by Julian Farino with production VFX supervision provided by Adam Rowland and Cinesite’s work overseen by Max Dennison.
1. An Explosive Opening
The film begins with a mission in Croatia where operatives attempt to recover classified military information. The scene includes a dramatic van explosion and sniper attacks. Cinesite digitally added rain, explosion reflections, and lighting effects.
Image from Cinesite
2. Trust Exercise
A training sequence on a rooftop near Tower Bridge in London involves a blindfolded run across a roof with a sheer drop, requiring the removal of platforms and walkways in post-production to enhance the sense of danger.
3. Covent Garden
A crucial action sequence takes place in Covent Garden, involving a botched handover and a descent from a rooftop to the ground. The scene necessitated extensive utilization of bluescreen, CG environments, and digital doubles.
Image from Cinesite
4. A Running Battle
After a failed mission, a chase occurs in Covent Garden involving gunfire, broken glass, and damage to cars. A fight scene in Ching Court was partially filmed on location and partially on a set at Shepperton Studios, with a CG environment added in post-production.
5. Facing the Danger
Actors performed stunts when feasible, but certain hazardous stunts necessitated digital face replacements utilizing scans of their faces.
6. Car Action
Car sequences were filmed using a mix of on-location shooting, greenscreen work, and a Volume for interior car scenes. The final composited sequences were made seamless by careful management of capture and exposures.
7. Croatian Showdown
The climax of the film occurs in Piran, Croatia, featuring a rooftop chase and a car chase. The scene blends on-location shooting with studio work, incorporating CG set extensions and digital effects.
Check out the VFX breakdown reel:
Congratulations to the team on these excellent VFX productions! Discover more about their case study of "The Union".
Source: Cinesite
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