A small west London film studio has revealed the secrets behind gruesome scenes in the new adaptation of Macbeth, starring Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard.

Artem, in Perivale, has provided the special effects and prosthetics for dozens of movies including Hot Fuzz and Prometheus.

For Shakespeare's tragedy its team worked on bloody battle sequences — as well as a horrific scene where a baby is burnt, and a graphic murder.

In one fight scene the crew were tasked with stuffing fake blood capsules up the trouser legs of Michael Fassbender, who plays Macbeth, between takes.

Mike Kelt, Artem's chief executive and special effects supervisor, said: "You have to get quite up close and personal."

Technicians also created a life-like dummy of English actor David Thewlis, who plays King Duncan, for a murder scene.

Instead of using a retractable blade on the actor, Artem convinced director Justin Kurzel it could create a realistic body, stuffed with blood, that Michael Fassbender could put his full force into stabbing.

Most of the effects for the film, including bursting intestines and severed hands, were created using prosthetics and enhanced with CGI. Directed by Justin Kurzel, it was shot in Northumberland and on the Isle of Skye.

The Hebridean island was used for filming the scene in which Macbeth's baby is burnt on a pyre.

Weather conditions on location made sure the actors look convincingly miserable. Mr Kelt said: "I felt sorry for Marion (who plays Lady Macbeth) one day when she was on horseback and not in furs or anything. She was freezing."