Citadel
Citadel is a spy-action series created by Josh Appelbaum, Bryan Oh, and David Weil for Amazon Prime Video. Joe and Anthony Russo were the Executive Producers. Wesley Froud was the Production VFX Supervisor. The series stars Richard Madden, Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Stanley Tucci.
Across the series, approximately 1800 VFX shots were delivered by multiple vendors, with DNEG acting as the lead facility responsible for 650 shots including the most complex sequences. I worked as the CG Supervisor on the show for 2 years with Producer Mel Byrne and VFX supervisor Dan Baldwin playing a key role in the early post production process including coordinating turnovers, deliverables and file specs.
DNEG were involved in helping to design the world of Citadel from the very start. We worked with the showrunners to create vehicles, weapons and gadgets from concept to final. The total asset count was over 150 which included hero digi doubles of Richard Madden and Priyanka Chopra Jonas. The digi doubles were captured using Clear Angles in-house ultra high resolution head scanning facility called Dorothy.
As part of the pre-production team I helped plan camera and light positions for the train sequence shoots in Norway, pictured above. This techvis informed the onset team where the best places were to shoot with consistent mountains while maximising golden hour lighting. I also provided on set supervision for a background plate shoot at Mudlarking in Tower Bridge.
The Mountain Fortress sequence was filmed at Bray Studios in Windsor, on a small set with multiple bluescreens. I worked with the DNEG virtual production team to help the DoP visualise the scale of the CG scene by generating a real-time version of the environment loaded onto iPads using Unreal Engine. This provided the ability to frame shots and select lenses to create the ideal composition from a number pre-specified locations. Example shots pictured below.
The Train Crash sequence through the Italian Alps included some of the most challenging VFX work in which we created a fully CG landscape spanning 15km. Action inside the train was filmed on a bluescreen stage. The climax of the sequence involved the train derailing at speed and crashing into a lake. The sequence involved a number of full CG shots that included fire, smoke, train destruction, and water effects.
The ski chase sequence relied heavily on practical stunt photography captured in Slovenia using drones, vehicle-mounted cameras, and stunt skiers operating cameras at speed. For this sequence we required a number of face replacements for Richard Madden’s stunt double. We collaborated with facial animation company, Di4D to capture action-specific performances from Richard Madden, which were then used to drive our CG facial rig in Maya. We were then able to track this performance on to the stunt doubles face. This allowed for Richard’s performance to be directed on set and preserved exactly in the final shot.
The project involved approximately 900 artists across DNEG’s London and India sites, delivering around 650 shots at 4K. I worked on the show between December 2020 and March 2023 (with a long hiatus). The show was released on Amazon Prime in April 2023.