Filming for this New Line Cinema production, based on Phillip Pullman’s bestselling and award-winning novel, took place at Shepperton Studios in England. Stage Technologies was employed by Firefly Productions to automate some very special flying effects.
An arrangement of two BT-290 winches controlled by a Nomad desk was used to fly a Libra remote head camera (supplied by Camera Evolutions) to track along an open Arctic scene to focus in on the front door of the Bolvangar experimentation facility, a second camera that followed a fight sequence, and the performer flying of the witch Serafina Pekkala (Eva Green) in trajectories that followed a multitude of complex shapes.
The camera shots followed v-shaped patterns, low swoops, sharp drops and used specialised lines (Samson TECH-12) to produce ultra high speeds.
