MPC has released an awesome VFX Breakdown for their work on ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ which you can see below. Here is the company’s official statement released with the breakdown, with the actual footage right below it:

“Take a look at our VFX breakdown for X-Men: Days of Future Past.

MPC were lead VFX studio on X-Men: Days of Future Past, working closely with Production VFX Supervisor Richard Stammers, delivering 372 shots.

MPC’s main areas of work were the future sequences in the movie, including creating the future Sentinels, from Concept Art through to final compositing, the X-Jet, Xavier’s virtual world, future environments and creating mutant effects.”

From this reel, a lot of the shots were far more complicated than I had originally surmised, especially given that the Sentinels were completely CGI already, as well as most of the backgrounds. I had not figured in the complications involving characters who transformed into powerful manifestations of their powers (aka Iceman turning to ice or Sunspot turning into a roiling mass of radioactive heat bursts), all of which had to be layered on top of the actor’s performances. Also adding to the complicated VFX shots is the character of “Blink,” who’s power allows her to generate small portals. I had not figured on all the extra shooting and the raw physics involved in creating multiple portals in one shot, and how each one has to portray the exit point from a certain point of view (which means another camera angle), not to mention all the digitally created backgrounds and elements like the Sentinels which had to match up in each portal viewpoint. All of which just makes me appreciate this film even more.

For anyone who has yet to see ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past,’ (drop whatever you’re doing and find a copy, it’s pretty great), below is a a brief synopsis released by the filmmakers to help get you up to speed.

“The ultimate X-Men ensemble fights a war for the survival of the species across two time periods in X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST. The beloved characters from the original “X-Men” film trilogy join forces with their younger selves from “X-Men: First Class,” in an epic battle that must change the past — to save our future.”

Source: CBM