Vanity Fair's historic visual effects

You might not expect a period drama to have lots of digital effects (aka computer-generated imagery). But ITV and Amazon's Vanity Fair is just one of the TV shows filled with cutting-edge CGI. Check out these before-and-after shots to see how effects company Technicolor used digital trickery to make history.

This is the sort of thing you'd expect from a period drama: bonnets, carriages, winsome glances. But Vanity Fair features around 350 shots enhanced with digital trickery.

Let's start with the basics. This is what London's skyline looks like today...

...and here's what happens when Technicolor's digital artists roll the shot back to Victorian times.

Here we see green screens, which are used to replace the background.

The technicians digitally add more soldiers and a huge ship.

Like classic period dramas of the past, this new version of Vanity Fair takes advantage of Britain's historic and leafy locations.

Sections of locations could be cut out, or rotoscoped, to combine them with other shots.

Locations could be completely transformed by visual effects.

Other changes are more subtle...

...like this small tweak to make the location match the vision of the filmmakers.

Each visual effect starts with an unaltered shot filmed on location, known as a plate...

...to which digital elements like this hot air balloon and fireworks are added afterward.

Visual effects were used to bring to life the hedonistic, hard-partying side of historical London.

The actors walked through the location in one steadicam shot, to which visual effects artists added teeming crowds to make the party seem even more intense.

The fun and games don't last for the soldiers of Vanity Fair, who are soon to face the horrors of the Battle of Waterloo -- re-created with the help of digital effects.

The filmmakers went onto a huge location to restage the famous battle, filming with extras in period costume and utilising tools from pyrotechnics to flying drone cameras.

Here we see how just a handful of real actors can become...

...a vast battle scene.

Extras are filmed on location, ready to be combined with other elements...

...such as the charging enemy.

Filming things for real gives the digital artists important reference... 

...so their work blends with the real footage.

After a plate is photographed at the location, the digital artists employ specialised software...

...to simulate natural phenomena like smoke and flame, with other software algorithmically generating crowds of digital soldiers.

Even when you'd barely notice, many shots are enhanced...

...to give extra atmosphere and impact to the story.

Vanity Far debuts on ITV in the UK on 2 September, and Amazon elsewhere in the world.