Asylum Creates VFX for Box Office Topper National Treasure: Book of Secrets

published Jan 22, 2008
Asylum Creates VFX for Box Office Topper National Treasure Book of Secrets
From opening credit roll to final scene, Los Angeles-based VFX and design company, Asylum created over 700 seamless VFX shots for Walt Disney's National Treasure: Book of Secrets.

When a missing page from the diary of John Wilkes Booth surfaces, Ben's (Nicolas Cage) great-great grandfather is suddenly implicated as a key conspirator in Abraham Lincoln's death.

Determined to prove his ancestor's innocence, Ben follows an international chain of clues that takes him on a chase from Paris to London and ultimately back to America.

This journey leads Ben and his crew not only to surprising revelations, but to the trail of the world's most treasured secrets.

Asylum handled a multitude of techniques including: photo-real CG, matte painting, compositing, and roto.

The visual effects work ranged from a seamless transition from the Bruckheimer logo to the opening shot of the soldiers coming home five days after the end of the civil war to complete environment replacements for the City of Gold.

Asylum's work ran the gamut from relatively simple wire removal to inventing full-blown CG environments, particularly in the sequences after Nicolas Cage's character and his team discover a hidden lake behind Mt. Rushmore.

To create the lake, Asylum incorporated shots of Mt. Rushmore with shots of Sylvan Lake.

The locations were 20 miles apart so matching the lighting was critical, as were some environmental cleanup.