Facility provided 22 VFX shots for Ray Burdis-directed comedy crime film
1185 Films has revealed the work that went into 22 VFX shots for upcoming comedy crime film A Gangster’s Kiss.
Produced by Fugitive Films Productions, directed by Ray Burdis and starring John Hannah, Patsy Kensit, Martin Kemp and Sadie Frost, the film follows Jack, who lands his first feature film role and his friend Danny subsequently agreeing to shadow ‘the family’. Jack soon realises he is way over his head - with deadly and hilarious consequences.
1185 head of VFX Simon Wilkinson and VFX artist Martin Mayer led the project for the facility, with Mayer concentrating on a scene with a CGI bee, and Wilkinson handling the other parts of the film.
Wilkinson explained Mayer’s scene, “The bee element was part of one of the biggest comedy moments in the film. It’s a fantastically shot scene, even before the bee is added.
“John Hannah’s character, Mem, is trying to explain why he’s got a patch over his eye, a hook on one hand, and a wooden leg. He claims to be an expert in handling all kinds of creatures and one day he comes across an injured bee so he takes it in his hand and revives it by giving it water.
“Just as audiences expect the bee to fly away it stings Mem in the eye leading to a catastrophic chain of events.
“The brief was quite clear in terms of what the bee needed to do - it was to settle on Hannah’s hand, which required a lot of motion tracking and interaction with the actor.
“It also had to drink a drop of water whilst being stroked, fly up, turn to look at the audience – which created the element of anticipation – and then turn around and sting Mem in the eye. Martin did an amazing job, and gave the bee a devious personality.”
On his own work, Wilkinson added: “The other VFX shots were made up of explosions and the removal of teeth as a result of a boxing match which resulted in quite a few subsequent shots of the actor without his teeth. I also worked on gun muzzle flashes, bullet wounds and blood, TV screen replacement shots in a seedy pub and quite a bit of clean-up work.
“There were VFX elements that were essential to include to enhance the film’s narrative. particularly the first explosion. There’s a scene where some of the guys break-in to an antiques shop but one has forgotten to bring a torch and brings a candle instead. He then lights the candle just after inadvertently turning on an old gas tank, resulting in an explosion and the guys all dash out, covered in dust.
“The explosion wasn’t required to be a Marvel movie explosion. The director said ‘Keep it simple – it’s just a small gas explosion’. It was slightly Only Fools and Horses, slapstick style, and designed to make the characters look incompetent.
“We were also told to keep the bullet wounds and blood to a minimum – essentially A Gangster’s Kiss is a comedy and that’s what we were told all the way through. There was no need for lots of blood and gore.”
A Gangster’s Kiss will premiere in cinemas this June.
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