‘We hit Sandra Bullock over the head with a broomstick’

In a London basement, cutting-edge technology is being used to make a computerised Sandra Bullock climb into her rocket. But the team who put her there in Gravity have spent the morning working with more basic tools — syrup, cheese and chocolate.

“We’re trying to create a melting flesh effect for the new Tom Cruise movie,” said Richard Graham, visual effects project manager at Framestore, the British company that has helped Gravity collect 10 Oscar nominations.

“Golden syrup and chocolate make really good blood if you mix them with lots of red food colouring,” Graham said in an interview at Framestore’s sprawling studios, behind the facade of an ordinary-looking office block in the Soho district of central London.