We were awarded 300 native stereo VFX shots on the fourth instalment in the Disney/Bruckheimer franchise. The majority of our work can be seen in the carriage chase sequence through Greenwich, featuring Johnny Depp and comprising 200 back-to-back shots.

We had to create large-scale photorealistic 3D environments to fill three large blue screens that were the backdrop on set in Greenwich. We built complex 3D environments including full CG street builds with detailed period buildings, as well as set and background extensions. Atmospheric smoke, smog and fog were added to create an old London feel. And extras, shot in stereo against a blue screen, were seamlessly composited to enhance the busy London street.

To ensure our pipeline could handle any challenges the stereo files brought, we developed some new proprietary tools. These could tackle colour differences between stereoscopic image pairs and respeeds for any given shot.

We also created Barbossa’s peg leg by replacing the blue sock Geoffrey Rush wore on set with a digital peg leg. And watch out for the CG poison dart frog as that was also one of our creations…

For the alien invasion thriller Battle: Los Angeles we put to good use our talents in creating menacing creatures, explosive battles, and breath-taking scenes of destruction and devastation.

As well as bringing to life the sinister commander alien and an alien hovercraft, we had a great time creating big explosions and high-energy fire fights.

We’re particularly proud of the giant donut-shaped smoke rings signalling the aliens' arrival – which were inspired by a real explosion on set.

We added CG helicopters, tanks and other military vehicles and created atmospheric scenes of epic devastation. Picture a smouldering downtown Los Angeles and a devastated Santa Monica beach…

For the third instalment in the Narnia film series we created the evil green mist that plays tricks on people’s minds and which the heroes must defeat.

From tendrils attacking boats to the evil White Witch, the mysterious mist appears in various incarnations.

The mist almost takes on a life of its own. We had to communicate its menacing intent purely through its movements.

Another challenge was getting the mist to interact realistically with all the actors and props on set.

The project really put our pipeline to the test and pushed the boundaries of what we’ve done before. But we pulled it off with some clever fluid simulations – and some very talented people.

We’re proud to have worked on every film in the Harry Potter series. And with each instalment we’ve created more and more 3D effects.

For the penultimate film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, we were tasked with some complex creature work, such as conjuring the ghost of Dumbledore and a Patronus doe.

But the most challenging job was creating Lord Voldemort’s snake-like snout. This is where our experience in replacing animals' faces for films like Marmaduke and Beverly Hills Chihuahua stood us in good stead.

We also rebuilt the magical town Godric’s Hollow, and created some of the stunning scenery for Harry and Hermione’s journey through British countryside in their quest to find and destroy the Horcruxes.

Stay tuned for details about our work on the final film Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.

Twentieth Century Fox’s Marmaduke presented us with a unique set of challenges – mostly centred on the loveable hound himself.

The eponymous canine’s jowly features meant we had to pull out all the lighting and compositing stops to keep everything in line whatever scrapes – and awkward positions – he got into.

Getting this right is even more tricky than a full CG head replacement – our work had to blend seamlessly with the rest of the dog’s movements, right down to the texture of the fur.

We got round the problem by drawing on our own proprietary software and custom-building tools. We used these to transpose actor Owen Wilson’s facial tics and idiosyncrasies onto Marmaduke’s face – creating a unique synergy between the voice talent and his animated character.

The project, which saw us complete 650 shots in 11 months, was our third canine-themed job to date, following Beverly Hills Chihuahua and Underdog.

Cinesite’s VFX supervisor Sue Rowe and her 60-strong team of artists completed no fewer than 280 shots for Disney’s Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, which hit cinema screens in May 2010.

Our creative work ranged from digital face replacements and set extensions to CGI weapons and animals – we used Autodesk Maya to create both a mean-looking lioness and the spear that ends up through its mouth!

We used City Builder to create a varied cityscape, while our own Motion Analyser software helped us pull off the feat of making 69-year-old Ben Kingsley look 30 years younger – without holding up the production or limiting our approach to other aspects of the film.

We also had to think about how to make the eye-watering arsenal of weapons in the film flexible enough to turn around updated versions quickly. These included the memorable 3D whips used by the Hassassins, complete with claws and blades, whose movements we had to match with the stunt props used by the actors on set. To give fight scenes an extra dash of realism, we added dust hits, sparks and water splashes.

Our work on Warner Bros' remake of Clash of the Titans gave us the chance to develop new techniques we’ve since applied to other projects.

For example, we modelled and animated six variations of the fearsome scorpioch – and had to get the relative speed and agility of each just right.

Another challenge was to simulate the dust that gets kicked up during the action scenes – there’s no shortage of dust, sand and light gravel in the desert, but CG creatures are surprisingly light-footed!

Not only did we have to produce around 200 photo-real CG creature animation shots for the film, we had to do it fast – in around three months. Our client and the team were delighted with the end results.

Working on the visual effects for the HBO mini-series Generation Kill, one of our biggest challenges was to create a whole fleet of 3D photorealistic trucks, Humvees, tanks and aircraft to blend in perfectly with the main photography.

We worked closely with military advisor Eric Kocher to make sure we got all the details spot-on. As well as Eric’s real-life battlefield photos, we used location stills, military models and even YouTube clips to help us bring the desert theatre to life – right down to the dust kicked up by the vehicles.

A number of Iraqi towns feature in the series, as well as the huge pre-invasion camp in Kuwait – we reproduced these digitally. We also sent our in-house location snapper Aviv Yaron to Israel for shots of generic Middle Eastern architecture.

We added black smoke, fires and artillery flashes to show the devastation wrought on the cityscapes. And using crowd-replication software, we could make the CGI troops we’d created walk, talk, run or stand – whatever the scene called for.