Visual effects and Digital Intermediate studio Prime Focus on how Anjaana Anjaani got its edge. Pitched as the greatest,strangest love story,visual effects and Digital Intermediate studio Prime Focus did its bit to justify the moniker in Siddharth Anand's latest directorial venture Anjaana Anjaani. From recreating the skyline to lighting up the sea using a balloon,here's a list of shots that gave the film its unique feel. Although the movie is shot in New York,several visuals required the big city feel in the background. Some of these shots had to be added where the background was light or where it was going out of focus. To achieve this,the studio created the entire skyline on computer graphics (CG) including various iconic buildings of Manhattan as the backdrop in those scenes. They also added a twinkling affect to the lightings in the buildings and added moving cars at a distance in the backdrop to make it look more realistic. Merzin Tavaria,co-founder and chief VFX supervisor of Prime Focus said,It was difficult and required some amount of research. The challenge in achieving this shot was to incorporate the Big City feel of Manhattan and the quaint small-town feel of New Jersey simultaneously. We used stock images from our library and created a 180 degree skyline that geographically matched the location. Another challenge was to ensure that continuity was maintained in all the shots. In the opening sequence on the bridge,the entire backdrop was created using CG. When Ranbir Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra overlook the skyline from the bridge at a distance,on one side is Manhattan and on the other is New Jersey. The skyline of both the cities were done with CG, Tavaria said. In the same scene,the duo is spotted by the coast guards who flash a spotlight on them. In the original shot,the bridge looked very close to the coast guard vessel and the spotlight was not visible owing to the existing original lighting of the bridge. In order to make the scene more dramatic,the height of the bridge was increased. To further accentuate the spotlight,the original lighting of the bridge had to be reworked and a CG spotlight created. Like Aamir Khan who dons six different looks in the same song in Ghajini,Ranbir also appears in five different looks in the same frame in the song Tumse hi. This sequence was one of the most challenging ones. It was shot by Prime Focus own motion control rig called Milo, Tavaria said. The shot has five Ranbir doppelgangers,interacting and dancing,but at the same time avoiding and jumping over each other. Ranbir and Ravi K Chandran,the director of photography (DOP) had to work hard on this sequence. Each of these dance sequences was shot separately in chroma (green or a blue background) and then the different layers were composited (put together). Ranbir had to dance the entire song five times,remember the positions,and also do the lip syncing. First,the sequence of Ranbir at the back was shot on the sets. Priyanka and the other avatars of Ranbir were then shot separately. Since all five doppelgangers had to avoid and jump over each other,Ranbir had to remember all positions while dancing. Thereafter,the Prime Focus team worked on the positions and shadows,delivering the final composite. Prime Focus also added CG snow to the song to give it the desired look and feel, Tavaria,who also worked on the Ghajini sequence,explained. The climax scene with both the actors in the water also required clever use of VFX since the actors and the DOP were shooting in the water and camera stability was an issue. Also since the scene was shot in the night,the backdrop was pitch dark. Explaining the shot,Tavaria said,We added the shoreline and the complete cityscape to make the scene more authentic. The scene also demanded a full moon and its reflection in water but how does one light up an ocean? So the DOP shot this creatively using a hot air balloon suspended from a boat. This gave us reference for the moons reflection on the water. We added a full moon made in CG to complete the look. The film also used a lot of (DI) to sustain its urban look. Rohan Desai,chief colourist and head of DI said,The brief was to make the scenes look good and give them a level of edginess. DI was also used to bring in more colours as the film progresses in keeping with its storyline. Desai also said that DI was used to blend shots that had been shot by three different DOPs throughout the movie. There were also a lot of candid shots of people walking on the streets of New York. We had to make sure that they followed the graph of the story, he explained. The scene where Ranbir is hurt by a car was actually shot in Bangkok and Malaysia. The car hits Ranbir in a scene shot in Malaysia whereas the next intercut showing Priyanka was shot in Bangkok. We had to make the shot look consistent along with the skyline as well as the storyline, Desai said. In another scene shot in Malaysia where the actors go deep sea diving,Ranbir and Priyanka are actually in warm water but their hands were covered with frost since New York is a cold place. Anjaana Anjaani clearly shows that the trend where only action and VFX heavy films used such effects no longer holds true. Tavaria concedes as much. The latest trend is to use VFX in narrative movies to aid in storytelling, he said.