Dive deeper into this episode with exclusive sketches, production designs, and fun facts delivered directly from the Outlander crew.
The Print Shop Fire
“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.”
Richard Briscoe, VFX Supervisor
The Brothel
“We had a brothel in Season 2, so, we felt it was only necessary and important to have a brothel in Season 3. Now a brothel in Season 2 in Paris is quite refined, and the brothel in Edinburgh in Season 3 a little less so. Much more plain, much more of a city brothel without the finesse of Paris. It’s a wonderful set, which integrates with a real exterior in Edinburgh. The exterior of the building in Edinburgh is dated 1648. It’s just up the Royal Mile. What the Art Department has done there is taking some of the exterior features and allowing them to blend in onto the interior, with multiple rooms and then a wonderful staircase leading off up into Jamie and Claire’s room. At the back end of the set there is the warehouse for all the barrels of which is Jamie’s business.”
David Brown, Producer
Haugh’s Apothecary
Matthew B. Roberts
“During 2nd Unit filming of the EXT Print Shop. Filming took two nights as we progressively intensified the burn until we had the set fully engulfed in flames.”
-Matthew B. Roberts, Executive Producer/Writer
“2nd Unit filming of the burning of the Print Shop (on the backlot). Night one.”
-Matthew B. Roberts, Executive Producer/Writer
“Night two. No s’mores were made in the filming of this scene.”
-Matthew B. Roberts, Executive Producer/Writer
“The Royal Mile (today). We took the main filming unit and shot on the Royal Mile for two nights.”
-Matthew B. Roberts, Executive Producer/Writer
