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Edge of Empire for the Vindolanda Trust

Edge of Empire was one of those examples of a project which includes the perfect storm of an ambitious script, new techniques, complex aviation, stereoscopic filming, CGI, birds of prey and a large cast and crew being filmed on the remotest parts of Hadrian’s wall.

The brief was to make an immersive film that allows the museum visitors a look into the life of a Roman soldier, called Aquila, around 200 CE, living at the very frontier of the Empire. A mix of drama and documentary gave us a great combination of entertainment and education.


Stereoscopic 3D

When the Vindolanda Trust commissioned us Edge of Empire, it was billed as being an important part of the Roman Army Museum’s visitor attraction and as a result it was agreed that the film would have more impact on visitors if it were delivered as a stereoscopic 3D movie.


Shooting the Film

The first task was to get to grips with the technology, the types of camera, supporting kit, monitors and the effect that would all have on Director Steven Boyle’s vision of the film. Fortunately a new lightweight stereoscopic HD rig had become available, which made the kit more portable and possible to use with a Steadicam.

Secondly there was the task of integrating the stereoscopic footage with CGI recreations of two whole Roman forts, their Vicii and some sections of the Wall itself. Working with CGI and 2D images can present a challenge or two, but working in stereo seemed to apply a square law to that assumption, in other words two issues often required four things to be worked out. Our VFX supervisor JP Hersey needed to bring all of his skills and experience into play.

For example, shooting the aerial footage of the wall in 3D required a larger helicopter to carry a larger camera mount, which had to be flown in from Germany, which then required the helicopter’s airframe to be modified and which then also required CAA approval of the modification. Then we needed to fly in good weather, and it actually took four months of waiting and hoping for all of this to come together. We were advised that we were probably only the second or third company in the UK to attempt this, and I can see why.

After much planning by our Head of Production Nicky Scott, a crew of 30 and a cast of fifty of the Ermine Street Guard’s finest gathered up near Greenhead for the shoot. Even though it was late in May, the weather at the Wall lived up to its reputation with quite an icy cold bite and in particular the cast, in their Roman style clothing, had quite a tough time of it. Five days later, with the shoot completed successfully, the team returned for the edit.


Post production

While the film was in the edit suite, JP Hersey and his team were re-creating the Roman structures under the expert guidance of the Vindolanda Trust’s Dr. Andrew Birley. Close attention to detail was taken on textures, paints, type and colour of tiling. The streets of the forts were also populated with animated figures in Roman costume. These were finally motion tracked into the aerial footage, which due to the weather problems that Summer, only just arrived in time to ensure delivery for the Museum’s re-opening.

The final finishing touches were the recording of Hollywood actor Brian Cox for the eagle inspired commentary and the stereoscopic finishing of the pictures to smooth out and enhance the 3D effect.

Since then the film has been a major success, being shown every half hour at the Roman Army Museum at Carvoran just off the path of the Wall. Many thousands of visitors have put on their 3D specs and enjoyed their 20 minutes looking back into British and Roman history.