What type of work did CafeFX do for Red Cliff?
For John Woo’s epic film, CafeFX re-created the historic Chinese Battle of Chi Bi (Red Cliffs) on both land and water. We generated vast environments depicting General Cao’s massive fleet mobilizing along the Yangtze River. Only a handful of full-scale ships were used while filming the live-action plates. General Cao’s flagship, though actually built and shot, never left dock. Our task was to generate his fleet of hundreds, sometimes thousands, of ships, fully crewed, and sail them down the Yangtze River behind his flagship. All live-action water was replaced with a computer-generated river flow, with wakes and oar splashes generated from the battleships’ motion, and flat dockside land was replaced with dramatic computer-generated caverns and cliffs. In many shots, General Cao’s ship and crew were the only thing left of the live-action plate, with everything else surrounding them digitally created. Before the massive sea battle, General Cao’s forces made camp directly across the river
