Boardwalk Empire VFX Breakdowns of Season 1 on Vimeo

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2. Boardwalk Empire VFX Breakdowns of Season 1

by Brainstorm Digital

1 year ago

1. Brainstorm Digital's ep 1-6 Breakdowns

by Brainstorm Digital

1 year ago

Brainstorm Digital's before and after shots from season 1 of HBO's hit series "Boardwalk Empire". (courtesy of Home Box Office, Inc) brainstorm-digital.com. Twitter: BrainstormVFX. *WINNER OF 2 VES AWARDS!* *WINNER OF EMMY FOR BEST VFX IN A SERIES*

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patonzo5
6 hours ago
Mauro Lourenço
17 hours ago
Bigvoron
1 day ago
Jzey
1 day ago
B Film Ekibi
2 days ago
Lacie Webb
2 days ago
Aisis
3 days ago
verbal007
3 days ago
zachary koski
3 days ago
Rhian Campbell
3 days ago

Tags

Dave Zee 1 year ago

Truly amazing work...this is one of the reasons I'm a big fan of the series.
Brainstorm Digital 1 year ago

Thanks Dave! We have a very talented crew working here to make everything come together. We appreciate your appreciation.
peter b 1 year ago

i appreciate your appreciation of our appreciation :)
Emannuel Rojas 1 year ago

yo dawgs...
Wellington Ciardulo 1 year ago

Good, congratulations.
cmerry 1 year ago

STUNNING work!!
Christopher Peters 1 year ago

Holy crap, so much CGI, I was amazed, but it looks fantastic. Props!
Brainstorm Digital 1 year ago

And as long as the audience is not aware of our work then we have done our job. Thanks Chris!
Tovkal 1 year ago

I've to say that the result is impressive, it looks real, not almost real, it looks fully real. You've done a great job. And the rest of the show is also incredible, some say that the history goes a bit slow, but I think it's perfect. Awesome show.
ktx 1 year ago

Great show and awesome invisible effects! :)
Christopher Peters 1 year ago

Aware? My god, i didn't see any of it. Until you move the pieces and strip away all the work, it looks fabulous. Please make more!!!
Looking Glass FX 1 year ago

Trully awesome work. Congratulations.
Whiteline Studio 2 weeks ago

Great, Great, Great!!!!

whitelinestudio.com
Eric Lane 1 year ago

Amazing work!
Michael Haydon 1 year ago

Awesome, it still blows me away. Fantastic work.
Kay Poprawe 1 year ago

Really really nice.. Fantastic!
Jean Gonzales 1 year ago

Mind blowing, didn't realize there was so much cgi in the series. Love it even more now!
Nick Khoo 1 year ago

I never get bored seeing VFX breakdowns of this quality. Well done guys!
Josh Seb 1 year ago

That is sick
VITAL 1 year ago

Wow!
Viktor Ikkes 1 year ago

great work, but its more amazing to see how its done. thx for sharing.
Francesc Macià 1 year ago

Amazing!!
Ray Roman 1 year ago

Good god!
Debonbon 1 year ago

Have been waiting to see a nice breakdown. Great work.
mervyn 1 year ago

What I really want to know: How many people are working how long on one episode's lenght of film? I cannot imagine building a whole city with moving people and cars just for some intro scene since I would work about two years on it all by myself :D
Your comps are really looking stunning, thanks for sharing!
redboy 1 year ago

inspiring work!
3DTotal.com 1 year ago

Great work!! Posted on the 3dtotal.com frontpage.
JJ Chalupnik 1 year ago

This is fantastic! I love the breakdowns too. I kept getting tricked into what was actually comped and what wasn't!
Massimo Rossi 1 year ago

Really great breakdowns !!! High end works. I love watching them !!!
Adi Yadoni 1 year ago

awesome!
Mateo Vega 1 year ago

Great work. I'm a fan of the series and I never imagined it had so many VFX.
David J. Buchanan 1 year ago

That's pretty sick. Is that Maya?
Brainstorm Digital 1 year ago

There is a bit of Maya used, yes.
HD_Fan 1 year ago

That is a wild! I love that show! How long do these scenes take to render?
Matt Wiley 1 year ago

Love the paper models.
David Watts 1 year ago

All the shots look great, some very good 3d stuff. The pier in the last shot stands out a bit towards the start, though - the perspective looks off. Evens out once the camera pans down though.
Matt Wiley 1 year ago

At 2:42 in, are all the tiny background extras actors that were separately shot and composited into the scene or are they all CGI similar to the aerial deck scenes in Titanic? I would imagine that since the camera move for that shot isn't too complex that you could just shoot real actors using identical lighting for each.

And cool idea using the shipping containers for the blue screen!
Brainstorm Digital 1 year ago

Hey Matt, they are composited in, yes. And the shipping containers ended up working out very well for us!
George Hedon 1 year ago

digitalbuyologie.blogspot.com/2011/01/brainstorm-digital-broadwalk-empire-vfx.html

Luv it! Excellent work, I had to feature it on my blog.
Check it out.

George
saadahmed 1 year ago

awsummmm!!!!
Stephanie 1 year ago

I'd never heard of this series before, but it looks amazing! Is it available in Australia?
Anyway, the CGI is brilliant, and trust me you never would have known if it weren't for this!
Great job!
Stephanie 1 year ago

I also love the face!
Kind of creepy, but thats probably because I've never seen the show before!
creadictos 1 year ago

Excellent work guys!!! and awesome all the Breakdowns you've done for that serie.
Daniele Gatti 1 year ago

Fantastic!!!
DC to BC / The Great Progression 1 year ago

this is incredible.
Hwa Sung In 1 year ago

Awesome!!
Lee Perry-Smith 1 year ago

Stunning.
Johnson Smitherz 1 year ago

VERY GOOD.
i would like to know how much your 3d files weight lol.
and the tracking is aboslutely perfect.
looks so real
Martin Tadilli 1 year ago

guys you are amazing!
i cannot believe what you can do with 3d compositing!
super job!
Frank (furankisan) Ball 1 year ago

Love the show. Great clip. Didn't realize there was that many VFX put in. Congrats to all...
ALMAXstudios 1 year ago

Thats awesome.
By the way whats the name the song?
Brainstorm Digital 1 year ago

Thanks! The song is by The Brian Jonestown Massacre – Straight Up and Down
ALMAXstudios 1 year ago

Grrreat Song ;) Thank you, sir!
SIJEN ZIGNA 1 year ago

Fantastic work!!
Dennis Vogel 1 year ago

Love the show too. Fun to watch.
murrsturr 1 year ago

As I watched the show this year it was a constant curiosity for me as to how much CG was involved in rendering the century old "Boardwalk". I'm awestruck to say the least. Surprised by the work on the disfigured veteran. I assumed that was mostly make-up and not just a couple of reference points for FX. Wow!

Thanks so much for posting!

It would be great to know what tools you people use.
Jason Wingard 1 year ago

Amazing show. What programme do you think they make the buildings in?
Jkrincon 1 year ago

This is magic...wow!
billy macrae 1 year ago

As someone making a low-budget production myself, I genuinely sometimes think:
"Why do people pay so much for massive FX teams, when so much can be accomplished with a little budget and a lot of imagination?"

...Er.. I think I know the answer now.
It's seamless! AMAZING!
Preddie Partap 1 year ago

wow great stuff...
t davis 1 year ago

cool.
Question: why would there be a Budweiser billboard if the timeline is during prohibition.
HBO blatant product placement perhaps?
Adam Wilbert 1 year ago

Anheuser-Busch still existed as a company during prohibition. They produced a non-alcoholic Budweiser among other things.

budweiser.com/en/our-legacy/default.aspx#/our-legacy/enduring-hardship-the-prohibition-years/index
sniggity 1 year ago

Amazing ! Question, the people that are layered into the scenery, are they real people that were previously recorded and saved or are they computer generated?
Brainstorm Digital 1 year ago

Real people recorded earlier and comp'd in.
Justin Scheidt 1 year ago

I love this
jonah oskow 1 year ago

dope.
Rikki Jensen 1 year ago

I already was in love with the show...this just takes it to a whole new level.
Pata Soringer 1 year ago

Fantastic Work
Kenneth Zirkel 1 year ago

@t davis: According to wikipedia:
"Anheuser-Busch was one of the few breweries during Prohibition that had the resources and wherewithal to convert to "cereal beer" production—malt beverage made with non-fermentables such as rice and unmalted barley and rye, and able to stay under the 0.5% limit established by the Volstead Act."
Duwars 1 year ago

genius
waver 1 year ago

Well done! superior work.
Robert VanderStelt 1 year ago

Some really inspiring work you guys! I hope to have some shots like that in my Reel one day!

The Beach shot around a minute in was really great. Would of never thought that was a shot that had that much compositing in it.
Kyle Bart Reid 1 year ago

I had no idea this much VFX work went into every episode, and I think that's the biggest compliment I can give you guys. So much of what you have done is seamless.
Brainstorm Digital 1 year ago

Thanks, Kyle, that's exactly what we like to hear!
Connor Kaye 1 year ago

wow that blew my mind
Chris 1 year ago

Never heard of you guys, but after this reel I'm sure we'll see you in some big productions soon! Congrats and keep up your great work!!
Travis Guerra 1 year ago

Simply incredible!
Ben 1 year ago

Holy crap. I watched the pilot, but missed the rest of the season (no HBO). I'm going to have to check out the rest of it now...
Brian Troy 1 year ago

That looks simply amazing!
sangjoon kim 1 year ago

amazing. great work!
Paul Liu 1 year ago

super, really amazing.
MrMuggz 1 year ago

This is f'ing AMAZING. I almost prefer not to see this because the environment is so engrossing that you don't want to know what's behind the curtain. My only knock is that sometimes it looks TOO clean. Although the boardwalk itself is a set piece the wood looks very clean along with the buildings. I would imagine Atlantic City wasn't that old but it seems the buildings and other aspects need some age.
Jason R. Johnston 1 year ago

Outstanding.
Brad Miller 1 year ago

Great behind the scenes video. The effects done on Richard Harrow's face are better that most big budget movies.
Blake R. McRitchie 1 year ago

Amazing work !
Reid Walley 1 year ago

Man, that frackin rocks! The smallness of the actual set reminds me of playing in my grandparents backyard with friends and letting our imaginations run wild.
Paul Kakert 1 year ago

Wow, that blue screen work is some of the best I've ever seen. Amazing.
Dan Chalifoux 1 year ago

What program are you guy's using for this motion tracking? Some of them look kinda like they were done in Motion 4. Then again I may be wrong.
erwan manchec 1 year ago

nice vidéo, we posted it on bewaremag.com
Brock Jones 1 year ago

Fantastic work. I just wanted to let you know I gave you guys a write up and linked in my blog:
social8gency.com/2011/boardwalk-empire-vfx-breakdowns-of-season-1/

Can't wait for next season.
Graham Inman 1 year ago

Thanks it's really great to be able to see the inner workings of film-making at this high level of technology.
Matan Cohen 1 year ago

Simply Amazing.
Full {Circle} Werks 1 year ago

Yes very very good indeed.

Great first season and amazing work guy

Best wishes

Chris
Florian Croquet 1 year ago

Amazing work !
Especially the work on Richard Harrow's face !
ritchie pettauer 1 year ago

It's been said in this thread before and I can only repeat it: amazing work!!! Fits in very well with the overall high standard of this production.
Brad Chmielewski 1 year ago

Wow! I'm going to have to go back and watch the show again.
Ryan Masuga 1 year ago

I knew there were SOME VFX in this show, but had no idea the extent. I could watch VFX breakdowns like this all day. Mind. Blown.
Jeff Claeson 1 year ago

Incredible work.
ASTRAL SATELLITES 1 year ago

cool
Noche de Luces 1 year ago

Simplemente Genial !!!!