“The interior of the print shop was built as a studio set, and while an amount of fire could be done practically, there is a very real limit to what can be done safely, so visual effects were required to add more flames, sparks, and smoke to further enhance and balance what was there originally.

The exterior of the print shop was a genuinely historic building in Edinburgh, with absolutely no way to do any real fire at the location. To solve this with visual effects required a great deal of detailed planning of camera angles, and devising a coherent chronology of which parts caught fire and in what order, plus a large scale physical build and some magnificent assistance from the Special Effects Department, who were tasked with creating some enormous practical fire elements, in a safe, controllable, and repeatable environment.

For wider views, we filmed on location covering the scene from predetermined angles. We later shot exactly matching angles on a facade of the building built at the studio to be a 1:1 match for the real building. This whole built facade was specially prepared and constructed to allow us to do multiple burns, using black (fire board) surfaces and platforms behind to allow the Special Effects Department to rig their gas pipes and burning debris.

Once we had filmed all our material, we were then able to combine shots from the location with fire plates shot at the studio, which would marry correctly on and appear to interact correctly with the underlying real building. There was then a lengthy process of finessing; to add appropriate interactive lighting and smoke to create the final shots.”