During the summer, Tricklabor created a number of animations and special effects for the new introductory movie of the ESRF. Working closely with the institute's staff and scientists was the key to a successful project.

The European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble, France, is the leading research centre of its kind in the world. When they planned a new film about the centre in spring 2009, London-based World Wide Pictures were commissioned to produce it while Tricklabor was asked to provide all the CG elements: five sequences that were predominantly 3D animations (as outlined below) and one with special effects added to live-action footage.

The video on this website only shows these CG parts of the film. You can watch the full movie on ESRF’s website along with another interesting film, Time on the Line, that was shot in parallel.

Atomic zoom

Instead of the standard ‘earth zoom’ intro, the film begins—more appropriately—with the atomic world of proteins and RNA inside an apple cell followed by a reverse zoom back to the research facility. The proteins were created from files off the Protein Data Bank with some artistic license towards their visual appearance (real proteins are colourless). The flight through an ‘air vent’ between apple cells is inspired by research conducted at ESRF.

Storage ring and beamlines

This sequence presents the insides of the ESRF’s storage ring where electrons circle for hours while emitting syncrotron radiation into 48 beamlines for use in experiments. Technically this was the most demanding scene because of the huge amount of CAD data involved.

Protein crystal

enlargeOne use of the synchrotron radiation at ESRF is the structural analysis of protein crystals using coherent x-ray scattering. This sequence is based on research by the Protein Crystallography Group at the University of Rome. In the animation the crystal structure of mouse neuroglobin is shown before the camera moves in on the iron core of a single molecule.

ESRF in Europe

As its name suggests, the ESRF is funded by several European countries and attracts scientists from all over the continent. Tricklabor was asked to illustrate the statistics with a pretty map and we happily obliged.

Upgrade plans

Over the next couple of years the ESRF is going to be upgraded with new beamlines and additional experimental halls surrounding the original ring. Their locations are shown in this build-up sequence, a montage of CGI and an aerial image of the research centre.