With a team led by VFX supervisor Jan Krupp, the leading visual effects company delivered 235 shots on the Netflix adventure-comedy about 2 former CIA spies who are dragged back into the world of espionage when their cover is blown.
Scanline VFX has shared with AWN and VFXWorld a visual effects breakdown reel highlighting its work on Netflix’s adventure-comedy, Back in Action. Directed by Seth Gordon, the film stars Jamie Foxx as Matt and Cameron Diaz as Emily, two CIA spies, who years after giving up that life to start a family, find themselves dragged back into the world of espionage when their cover is blown. Led by VFX supervisor Jan Krupp, the leading VFX house delivered 235 visual effects shots across the film.
Scanline VFX delivered a wide range of visual effects on the show, supporting several of the most action-intensive sequences, including digital environment creation, water simulation, CG explosion, and CG enhancements such as muzzle flashes, smoke, bullet hits and ragdoll simulations.
One of the film’s pivotal sequences unfolds inside London’s Tate Modern Museum. In this fight sequence, several large glass art installations are destroyed as part of the stunt choreography. According to Krupp, “While some of the breaking glass was captured practically on location with stunt doubles, we digitally recreated the shattering glass to enhance realism and provide greater control over timing, lighting, and continuity.”
The film’s signature chase sequence takes place along — and on — the River Thames, involving multiple layers of visual effects. “This sequence begins with Matt and Emily pursuing a boat along the riverbank on dirt bikes,” Krupp explains. “The actors performed the chase on rigged bikes in front of a bluescreen. We composited these performances into background plates filmed along the Thames, adjusting for lighting differences and syncing the rig movements with the dynamic background action. The sequence also included a digital double for one of the villains, used in a dramatic crash scene that combined live-action and CG for a realistic but safe execution.”
The chase continues on the water, with Matt and Emily transitioning to a speedboat in pursuit of the kidnappers. Krupp adds, “Live-action plates were captured across various locations using several different setups. These included actors and stunts performed in water tanks, boats mounted on gimbals in front of bluescreens, and practical footage shot at river docks and multiple real-world locations along the Thames. To unify these elements into a single seamless sequence, we digitally replaced or augmented many of the practical components. This included adding digital doubles to the stunt work, the addition and enhancement of CG boats, and extensive water simulation to create realistic interaction between the boats, water, and actors. In many shots, the Thames River itself was fully recreated in CG to ensure consistency in lighting, perspective, and motion.”
One of the more complex challenges Scanline faced involved constructing a coherent digital environment for the chase that would support the changing locations of the story; the sequence required a custom layout that combined different environments across London into a single, visually seamless path. This included a digital recreation of the iconic Thames Barrier and surrounding architecture. “To achieve this, we used a combination of 3D buildings, 2.5D projection setups using location plates, stitched footage, and digital matte paintings,” says Krupp. “The goal was to create an invisible environment replacement that remained photoreal while allowing for flexible editorial timing and geography.”
Krupp concludes by describing the climactic moments of the sequence, when the kidnappers’ boat crashes into the Thames Barrier. “While plates were shot on location, we replaced parts of the barrier, animated the movement of its gates, and added CG water and explosions to complete the dramatic payoff. These effects were designed to blend seamlessly with the live-action footage while delivering the scale and intensity needed for the scene’s resolution.”
Source: Scanline VFX
Dan Sarto is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network.
