The film speaks to the wonders of losing yourself in the details of a painting.  The character fantasises a wider world, waking on the day of the apocalypse to an eerie underground network of passages, leading to a climactic reveal of the painting come to life.

With a fairly open brief we were able to explore the boundaries of flame to create a dramatic end sequence. Adam Watson, Lead 2D Artist explained that "these are the kind of projects I love - a set of loose borders to explore in every direction, and personal passion for the artist's work. It took me a while to figure out which approach to take to bring a 2 dimensional painting to life.

In the original meetings we talked about using a super Hi Res drum scan of the painting, splitting it in to layers and then manipulate objects and geology in the painting to give some sense of life. After starting the project, it became evident that this would not be the most successful route and instead I would have to rebuild the painting in a real life photographic world. I used a mixture of digital stills I took in the Atlas Mountains, Morocco, 3D elements animated in Flame, and filmed Special FX elements to bring the scene to life.

Technically, it was a fantastic opportunity to explore some of Flame's lesser used tools, such as 3D animation, lighting and shadow casting, and particle systems. Although very limited, with time you can get some great results, and have them live in your composite which is amazing for visualisation and work flow."

Director, Simon Burrill comments "We knew it must be brief, powerful, and evoke the feeling of the painting.  Very little else was pre-determined, allowing Adam and I to work together in as organic a way as possible within time restraints.  Starting with nothing but performance plates and a reference of the canvas, Adam did an incredible job in evoking the world of the painting.

We visualised the world first, choosing key points of interest - people caught in the rocks, giant boulders and toppling city, dramatic clouds - to use as master shots.  Adam pored over every element for days - colour, geology, skies, to match the painting.  We found the edit very late in the process, because until you're standing in that world, you can't tell the story properly. Adam has a true artist's approach to his work. Of course he has great technical skills, but our relationship is very much one of creative collaboration, dialogue, ideas and experimentation." 

'John Martin: Apocalypse' will be exhibiting at Tate Britain from the 21 September 2011 - 15 January 2012.