Catherine The Great portrays the reign of the Empress, Catherine II, during the ‘Golden Age of Russia’. The four-part TV series, for HBO and Sky, is directed by Philip Martin and stars Helen Mirren, Jason Clarke, Joseph Quinn and Paul Kaye. BlueBolt’s VFX work focused on multiple boat sequences, which tell the story of Catherine’s journey down the Dnieper River, towards the port of Sevastopol and the Black Sea fleet. BlueBolt recreated Catherine’s flotilla, using a combination of CG assets, background plates and matte painting to create multiple environments, as well as adding crowds of peasants on riverbanks and sailors on surrounding boats, to capture the scale of this event in history.

During the Siege of Ochakov, BlueBolt used a combination of 2D elements and CG soldiers, as well as large crowds of CG peasants rushing to Catherine to reinforce the power and popularity of the Tsarina. The series was filmed in multiple locations across Russia and Lithuania which BlueBolt further enhanced to include spectacular landscapes and period cityscape additions, such as St Petersburg.