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.