Feature Film Sequence
Wicked: For Good - No Good Deed
Industrial Light & Magic
ILM also created entirely new views of Emeral
During the final act of Wicked: For Good, Elphaba flies to Kiamo Ko castle at the Western edge of Oz with the flying monkeys, and proceeds to cast her final spell from the Grimmerie in an effort to save Fiyero from being killed at the hands of the Wizard’s Ozian Guards. This sequence contains one of the movie’s most powerful musical numbers, No Good Deed.
The sequence was shot on a partial set against bluescreen with no dust or practical firelight. ILM were provided with photos of a scale practical model of the castle but it became apparent that the design of the castle did not allow for the lighting on set to work - pillars would block the sun, torches were in the wrong position etc. - so we redesigned and built the castle interior modularly to allow for pieces of it to be slightly moveable from shot to shot to accommodate the differences in on set lighting. We then also meticulously assessed every single shot to determine the screen space location of every on set light and replaced it with a CG torch to justify the light. Animators made sure that monkeys would arrive and light the torches at exactly the same time that lights were lit on set, helping to set Elphaba into this completely different environment.
The completely CG Grimmerie had completely new design concepts incorporated into its performance as the biggest spell of both movies. Practical LED lighting on set determined the need for us to open up extremely bright sources of light to justify the light on Elphaba.
Working with costume designer Paul Tazewell we built a new set of armour for the flying monkeys to change into. This was also built modularly so that we could swap in and out a range of different pieces, creating variety in the monkeys. Elphaba also has a costume change here and a new digital double was built and used for full and partial CG Elphabas as well as digital capes.
A few flashback shots also required the stitching together of multiple elements that take Elphaba from Kiamo Ko, to The Governor’s Mansion, to a classroom in Shiz University, and finally to a cornfield. Which was then punctuated with corn simulations punching through the wooden platforms around Elphaba.
The surrounding environment was based on the one seen at the beginning of the first movie, but elements were redesigned and repositioned to look good from the castle, and it was all supplemented by a massive dust simulation that built up over the course of the sequence.
Editorial restrictions defined by the timings of the musical number meant that animation and simulation artists had to be extremely considerate of timing as they worked. The sequence culminates in a spectacular final shot which had a huge amount of lens flaring caused by some big on set lights. To resolve this we designed some additional braziers for some larger fire sources to justify the flares, but the need for a partial and then fully digital Elphaba meant a huge challenge in Compositing to pull it all together. The result is an outstanding final image of Elphaba, monkeys and castle, all backlit by a beautiful sunset to end this incredible sequence.
d City, a completely CG forest, turned the Wizard’s Throne Room and giant mechanical Wizard Head into a multicoloured disco, and to top it off, we also gave one of the flying monkeys Glinda’s pink jacket, that he stole from her in the first movie!
CREW
Pablo Helman - Production VFX Supervisor
Anthony Smith – ILM VFX Supervisor
Sandra Beerenbrock – VFX Producer
Nick Pitt-Owen – CG Supervisor
Mathieu Walsh – Associate Animation Supervisor
Julien Leveugle – Compositing Supervisor
Marco Chau – Creature Supervisor
Alex Halstead – FX Supervisor
Norberto Idiart Ritter – Generalist Supervisor
Nick Cross - Lighting Supervisor
Sarah Monaghan - Paint & Roto Supervisor
Moby Francis - Lead Modeler
James Lucas - Lead Texture Artist
Clemence Bellier - Lead Groom Artist
Kai Hsin Chin - Lead Compositor
Emmanuele Diotti - Lead Compositor
Conny Fauser - Lead Compositor
Alex Goodfellow - Lead Crowd Technical Director
Giorgio Pennisi - Lead Creature Technical Director
Sowmya Ramakumar - Senior Look Development Artist
Julian Gregory - Layout Supervisor
Kacy McDonald – Executive Producer