Feature Film VFX
Wicked
ILM was responsible for delivering over 600 shots for Wicked. These encompassed a wide range of work types - set extensions of Emerald City interiors and exteriors; full CG environments including the vast views of Oz from the top of the Wizard’s Palace; the monkey guard army and Chistery their leader - all of whom had to be able to grow wings and fly; digital doubles including Elphaba and her cape at numerous lengths; the Ozian Train, crowd and simulation work.
Part of the creative challenge for VFX was to keep a consistent design language running through the work that always served Jon Chu’s vision of what makes Oz feel like Oz. We worked with Nathan Crowley (Production Designer), Paul Tazewell (Costume Designer), Alice Brooks (DOP) and Myron Kerstein (Editor) to make sure we were always serving a consistent vision. Also key to the VFX was respecting existing material. This meant that passages from the books, the original 1939 movie, aspects of the stage production, and timing of the music all played a part in our work.
The famous musical numbers are at the core of the story of Wicked and as such, timing was key to many aspects of the VFX. This meant that there were often not only additional restrictions on cut timing, especially with regard to anything that would extend or contract overall lengths of a sequence, but also with regard to how the VFX worked with the music.
To create Chistery we referenced a range of ape and monkey species and made sure that the animators could add subtle expressions to balance emotional depth with his imposing form. Detailed work included realistic feather grooming and simulation, leather armor designed for wing growth, and advanced facial animation tools. His design and rigging served as the base for all the other monkey guards, enabling the reuse of work, ease of creating variations of the design, and efficiencies with background crowd animation using lighter assets and shared animation cycles.
A fully digital Elphaba was created for the Defying Gravity sequence to enable complex flying shots and seamless transitions with the live-action. A major challenge was her cape, which required physically plausible yet directable simulations, especially since safety constraints prevented full-cape use on set. Custom setups enabled varied cape behaviors across flight styles. The final large cape, inspired by the stage production, reached 6m by 15m. Dual lighting setups ensured seamless compositing between live-action Cynthia performance, digital double augmentations, and CG environments.
CREW
Anthony Smith, Kacy McDonald, Sandra Beerenbrock, Ewa Otwinowska, Nick Pitt-Owen, Julien Leveugle, Mat Walsh, Julian Gregory, Sarah Monaghan, Chris Bending, Marco Chau, Alex Halstead, Alan Lam, Nicholas Cross