(snippet of piano music)

You must be truly desperate to come to me for help.

(laser blasts)

[Thor] If we do nothing, they will destroy us.

(drums strike)

(loud smack)

That was for New York.

(chuckles)

I like her.

(dramatic choral music)

[Malekith] Thor, your bravery will not ease your pain.

(Thor screams)

Hi, I'm Mike Seymour from fxguide.com for WIRED.

We all know that big, tent-pole pictures

pivot on visual effects, and most people know

that previs is used to effectively pre-make the film

so that scenes can be timed and worked out by the director,

such as Thor's The Dark World's, Alan Taylor.

Here are some exclusive shots of that previs created

for The Dark World by Third Floor in London and L.A.

(crashing)

Not only is the previs looking better and better

these days, but companies like The Third Floor

will also provide post-viz.

So it's so much quality and particular control

you might think that the whole film is shot

on blue screen and just rendered in the computer.

So, it's perhaps just a little bit surprising

to see just how much practical special effects

were used in a film like Thor.

Hydraulic rams, concrete blocks,

and, yep, that's a real concrete truck.

[Director] Action!

[Mike] And also to see how far they travel to film

on alien-looking, realistic, Icelandic locationss.

Yeah, a lot of the work we've been doing on

Thor 2 has been to try and ground it, to sort of,

even though we're travelling nine realms in the universe,

to never depart from it feeling real.

And, you know, it's very important for me to shoot

on locations in Iceland, to actually go to the world

where all this stuff came from

and try and get that, like I said, the later imagery

in the comics into the movie.

(swell of dramatic music)

[Mike] Thor still has an awful lot of fully digital shots,

Wow.

[Mike] but the actors were also able to do

a lot of their own stunts because of the detailed planning,

plus the great on-set practical effects team.

The director could, basically, film extremely complex shots

without resorting to just filming two guys

in a giant blue box on a sound stage in Hollywood somewhere.

Well, at least, most of the time.

(crashing)

I think you missed a column.

Shut-Up!

(swell of energy)

(smashes)

(air swooshing)

Look, why don't you set me take over.

I'm clearly the best pilot.

Is that right?

Well, out of the two of us, which one can actually fly?

(people cry out)

(guns blast)

(thunder rumbles)

Don't forget to subscribe for more

behind the scenes action.

I'm Mike Seymour for Wired.