Space Digital continues their work for high profile drama by providing visual effects for the latest series of Hustle.

For Series 5, producer Kerry Appleyard and first block director James Strong, were keen to develop new stylistic tricks for the series' dynamic storytelling. Whereas previous episodes employed freeze-frame moments for essential plot revelations, the new series was to explore the use of extreme slow motion imaginatively combined with realtime action.

Headed by VFX Supervisor Simon Blackledge, Space artists combined multiple slo-mo elements with realtime scenes and vice versa. Working almost entirely without greenscreen photography the team seamlessly combined plates with very different exposure and lighting conditions, rotoscoping difficult elements such as flowing liquids and bundles of falling banknotes. Additional CGI elements were also created and animated to enhance the shots.

For a scene where a character leaps from a tall building Blackledge worked with minimal photography, taken in a very restrictive environment to create a striking sequence of shots. 'Some shots had no background plate,' recalls Blackledge, 'and some had no foreground element. We had to piece much of it together via mattepainting and 3D.'

Space matte painters also created enhanced environments for the series, including a transformation of Canary Wharf into Sydney Harbor and numerous extra signs and decorations for London locations.