From adding tanks to a war scene to adding water after the fact, visual effects teams are seamlessly blending digital with reality.
The five nominees for the 2023 Oscar for achievement in visual effects didn’t just wait at their computers for the postproduction process to begin. Each was intimately involved before, during and after production, with boots on the ground and capes in the air.
“I like to improvise. We did 3-D scans of the whole battlefield and everything. But on set, ‘You guys are doing dialogue; let me grab a few cameras, grab some stunt guys and ... blow up some stuff with the [practical effects] guys.” “We get involved pretty early because we’re helping with character design, we’re helping building out the world,” says visual effects supervisor Joe Letteri. Fantastic environments and action aside, the film’s ultimate success is determined by whether it can make viewers forget they’re watching nine-foot-tall, blue aliens and see the actors’ performances instead.
To make an unreal place — Gotham City — and unlikely abilities — like Batman gliding to safety after jumping off a skyscraper — seem viable, the team used LED volumes — soundstages with massive video screens. They shot the actors against virtual Gotham cityscapes projected onto the screens, rather than green screens. Thus, instead of regular movie lighting, the actors were illuminated by the virtual sunset and city ambience.
Namor sits on his underwater throne in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” Many scenes, including this one, were shot dry-for-wet as well as underwater; it fell to the Oscar-nominated visual-effects team to make them match and appear as if they all occurred under the sea.Visual effects supervisor Geoffrey Baumann says the most challenging part of “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” was the underwater world of Talokan.
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