Arnold plotting special effects in Resident Evil

Arnold Interactive has created a raft of screen-based special effects for the film Resident Evil, described as a prequel to the popular video game, which opens in UK cinemas on 12 July.

The consultancy’s initial brief was to create 15, CCTV-style camera ‘overlays’ to allow the audience to see the characters on their journey through the eyes of the movie’s super-computer, according to Arnold Interactive creative director Alasdair Scott.

Scott adds, ‘We had to cram in a lot of information while conveying the scene’s dramatic moment and had to be very frame-accurate.

‘Every graphic element we produced is plot-related. It’s not eye candy.’

Phase two of the project involved designing four animated digital maps after audiences at test screenings of the film reported ‘getting lost as to where the characters were at any particular point’.

Scott says, ‘The main design challenge was to create something that made sense for the movie and its environment, rather than just rip off 2001: A Space Odyssey.

‘We wanted to convey the personality of the supercomputer through the graphics, instead of using [that] revivalist approach of Euro-style fonts and flashing red lights.’

Arnold Interactive was appoin-ted last summer by Resident Evil director Paul Andersen and SFX director Richard Yuricich, having worked previously with the pair on the film Event Horizon.

Meanwhile, the title sequence for Resident Evil, a Constantin film, has been created by Rheea Aranha at Kemistry.