“This provided us with real-life footage with correct proportions and enabled us to blend or fully take parts of the actor and combine this with the CG render,” describes Markov. “For example, the inside of the mouth parts, the nose, cheekbone or forehead, as well as the eyes, belong to the actor, and the rest is CG. This combination created a good blend and makes it difficult or impossible for the viewer to know what is real and what is fully digital.”

Ultimately, the final commercial made use of this 2D/3D combination for young Elton, and then a host of other visual effects for set extensions, environment builds and unique transitions between scenes to mark the passage of time. “Personally,” concludes Markov, “I believe it was the overall approach and way of finding solutions that made this VFX work a success. It was not so much about using ground-breaking technology, but more to do with the workflow and problem solving in CG, animation and comp that did the trick.”