Visual effects of 'Boardwalk Empire' exposed, layer by layer

By Dante D'Orazio on January 21, 2012 08:07 pm 15Comments

Remember the old days when you could easily point out something in a movie or TV show and tell your friends that it was all special effects? Well, it's getting a bit more difficult to discern what's what nowadays, so thankfully the Brainstorm Digital team — they're responsible for the VFX in HBO's Boardwalk Empire — has released a video peeling off the layers of effects from some shots in season two. Our favorites? Those showing how they brought Atlantic City's boardwalk back to its glory days.

Via LikeCool
Source Vimeo
Related Items boardwalk empire brainstorm digital hbo vfx fx special effects effects

There are 15 Comments. Add yours.

FNi says:

Really amazed by how much facial CG has improved over the last few years.

You expect to see it in huge films like The Dark Knight, but when TV shows like Boardwalk Empire and Breaking Bad (don’t spoil it for others) also do it so well, it always shocks me.

On a side note, really not sure I want to watch the next season of Boardwalk after that season 2 ending…

Posted on Jan 21, 2012 | 8:24 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions

d0mth0ma5's reply:

spoilers

Posted on Jan 21, 2012 | 8:28 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions

Strand0410's reply:

I love how each of your examples is the extremely specific burnt face sub-sub-sub-genre of special effects. As for CGI in TV, it’s not as accessible as you might think. SyFy shows still look terrible, and most of the good special effects are for marquee shows like the ones you’ve mentioned and HBO.

There were plenty of people bitching about how Game of Thrones didn’t look as good as LOTR. Despite costing a fraction of the cost of one of those movies and being thrice as long. We’ve been spoilt.

Posted on Jan 22, 2012 | 8:16 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions

jpenico says:

And I thought I was good with Photoshop. Fml.

Posted on Jan 21, 2012 | 8:31 PM EST reply Recommend (2) Flag actions

Sebastian.de says:

This one’s better:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clnozSXyF4k

That scene from Ugly Betty with the completely blue box or all the scenes from “Monk” where they aren’t anywhere near a steep San Francisco street or a cable car are amazing. I would never ever have guessed those scenes were digitally altered.

Posted on Jan 21, 2012 | 8:32 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions

Technon's reply:

Also cool? Sure. Better? Not so much. The Brainstorm Digital video shows off far more elaborate VFX, from the facial work to creating entire cities from scratch (not just overlaying existing footage into the background of a scene).

Posted on Jan 21, 2012 | 10:33 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions

theMediator says:

So has cg Improved or have they been able to do this for years?
How are we ever going to discern fact from fiction? Can we actually believe anything we see in video or tv anymore ? Pixar yes, this other stuff is kind of creepy.

Posted on Jan 21, 2012 | 9:06 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions