“Ember is a decaying, dank urban jumble of crumbling red bricks, rusting lampposts and bleeding pipes, the kind of fantasy-sci-fi-retro world realised by Terry Gilliam in Brazil or Jeunet and Caro in The City Of Lost Children (...) With Ember’s hydro-electro-punk charms, Kenan’s convinced us he’s one of Hollywood’s most exciting (and excited!) visualists.” - Empire

City Of Ember chronicles the adventures of two teenagers as they attempt to escape a dying city. The teens must elude capture by the authorities and navigate a frightening labyrinth of tunnels and underground waterways to make their escape.

BUF was tasked with the creation of the principal location, the underground City of Ember. The main characteristic of this work lies in its diversity: 3D creature (The Moth); CG Camera Moves and Shot Continuity; City design and set extension for aerial shots; 2D Matte Paintings for the City and the Skies; and 3D Matte Paintings for set extensions and alterations.

The VFX Supervisor, Eric Durst, entrusted BUF with recreating the atmosphere of this subterranean city, lost in the middle of nowhere, it's sole light source a net of suspended lights, the Lighting Grid. The collaboration with Gil Kenan and Eric Durst was very rewarding for the BUF team because Kenan, in addition to being a very talented director, had a very precise vision of Ember he was able to share with the team through his personal sketches and drawings.

The look of Ember is an intriguing mixture of machinery that defies any identifiable time and place. The ubiquitous Lighting Grid had to be created entirely in CG. Gil Kenan explains, "For reasons of photography, we couldn't build the canopy of lights that's so much of the character of this place. We experimented a little bit and there was always a compromise, either in photography or in the look of the set. So a decision was made early on. Anytime a camera moved up, which is quite often in the film, we would create a digital set extension of the canopy of lights overhead. BUF handled all of the digital city shots. There are a number of aerial shots over the city looking down and they handled all of those."

BUF also executed many complex sequences. The impressive opening shot is one continuous take combining live action and CG, with the camera following a stone falling from the Earth's surface and down through space and rolling through the streets of Ember; a second sequence involved the creation of a series of transitions between shots that ensured continuity between the generations of mayors as they pass the “secret” of Ember from one to another.

Kenan recalls being introduced to BUF talents by Eric Durst. "Once I got a feel for BUF, I was very aggressive in making sure that we hired them," he says. "I wanted this world to feel elegant and not 'computery.' I wanted it to have sensibilities that were driven by artistry and not technology, and that's the embodiment of BUF. Their artistry drives technology, not the other way around. We experienced all the good -- and bad -- of working with French artists," Kenan laughs. "They'll fight very hard for things that they believe make a shot better, which is what I ask of any of my collaborators. You don't look for 'yes men' in this business; you look for collaborators who will enrich the final product."