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www.postmagazine.com 21 POST NOV/DEC 2024 and completely photorealistic." Helman adds that the film has a significant spe- cial-effects component, where enhancements were made to imagery captured in-camera. For exam- ple, the train that takes Elphaba and Glinda to The Emerald City was a massive prop that was then replicated digitally by the VFX team and combined with live-action footage. He also points to the rotating library, the water in front of Shiz University and the animatronic of The Wizard's head. "Yeah, there was a lot of practical. The same thing with production design," he explains. "Up to 25-feet, it was built, and from then on, we kind of took over. That's how we end up with every shot in the movie as a visual effect." For the Shiz Library, which plays a pivotal role in introducing Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey), giant, rotat- ing bookshelves were built and then the scene was further augmented through digital effects. "There (are) a lot of visual effects because all the backgrounds had to be put in there, and also, all the floors needed to be cleaned up," he recalls. Similarly, the Ozdust Ballroom's floors were com- pletely replaced with digital elements. Not surprisingly, the 'Defying Gravity' sequence was also a challenge. "It took a long time to do," he recalls of the climactic sequence. "We started with Jon Chu and a model in the middle of the production office in London. We gave him a little stick with a little Elphaba model, and he would play this song and would do everything that he thought (she) was going to do. Then we did a little bit of previs." Cynthia Erivo wanted to perform her character's stunts and was suspended on wires, but without Elphaba's cape, which would have interfered with the cables. "All that cape is completely CG," he notes. "That idea of the cape growing was not there when we shot at the beginning. It was an idea that was de- veloped in post production." That sequence came together over six or seven months, he recalls, requiring the VFX team at ILM to create all the backgrounds. "Basically, the only thing that we had there was a blue screen of Cynthia doing the stunt work," he reveals. "We had to complete her and all the back- ground. And then we had to sneak in this idea that came from the play — that this cape was growing." COLOR GRADE In the case of the color grade for Wicked, it was a mutual admi- ration of each other's work that brought cinematographer Alice Brooks and Company 3 colorist Jill Bogdanowicz together. "She actually called me, and she is a fan of my work," says Bogdanowicz, who is based out of Company 3's Santa Monica, CA, location. "She loves the kind of color separation that I can get, which also is very filmic. That's kind of what I'm known for." Wicked, she notes, has a strong color story and production value. "I think she really wanted somebody who is used to working with really rich, rich colors, but not make it feel artificial. Not make it feel too garish in any way," says the colorist, pointing to past credits that include Joker (and the more recent Joker: Folie à Deux), John Wick (Chapters 3 & 4) and Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel — all films where color strongly supports the story. Brooks, she says, had a vision of Wicked being a great love story between two friends, with one rep- resented in pink and the other in green, but both playing well together. "We really want to make sure we don't take away from that," Bogdanowicz explains. "We play that up, and we keep that theme going, but in an ele- gant way, and in a way that keeps the magic. If you go too high contrast, or you go too heavy with a look, it kind of takes away from the softness of the glowing and the magic. I was very excited to be able to have that opportunity to work with Alice, (who) I have not worked with before." She also points to successful past collaborations with Wicked editor Myron Kerstein. "Myron is a great person, and I've worked with him before," she reveals. "He really put a great word in for me on this movie because I think it's one where (we're) dealing with a lot of heavy visual effects. I have a lot of experience with that because (of the) Marvel movies and all of my ex- perience with big movies that have a lot of visual effects, so they wanted my experience of visual effects, and dealing with all the color and being super collaborative. We tried a lot of different ideas, and I think we settled on something really that supports the story." The film was shot with a look-up table that close- ly represented what was coming out of the camera. "It's very…technically pure and clean, which helps them with their visual effects," she explains. "We definitely played that up later on." Bogdanowicz came on-board a little over a year before the film's release. She was just finishing up work on Joker: Folie à Deux, and she recalls there being a little overlap. "I had time to be able to watch the movie," she re- calls. "I went and I sat with Alice, Myron and Jon, and I actually got to see an early version of the movie." How dramatically she affected the color of the film in the grade varied from scene to scene. "Alice did such an amazing job lighting it," says Bogdanowicz of the footage. "There are musical scenes where she uses colored lighting. There is pink lighting that she actually incorporates. So ba- sically, (I) follow the photography. If there is some pink lighting, we want to make it go stronger. We can do that." She also, on occasion, contrasted the stronger colors with some of the film's cooler colors, like the blue skies, or played up the warm, rich look of, say, the yellow brick road. Bogdanowicz worked out of Company 3's large grading theater, which features projection and a 30-foot screen, making it very comparable to the way the film would be exhibited. She uses Blackmagic Design's DaVinci Resolve and says the grade can be applied across an entire scene or more selectively to specific areas of the frame, likening it to the dodging and burning techniques used in traditional photography. "We do a lot of evening out, making it all flow," she adds. Working on a musical wasn't entirely new for Bogdanowicz, who color graded 2004's Ray, which had a heavy musical component. "I've done it throughout my career," she says of the genre. "And I think that it can give a little bit more freedom, in the musical pieces, to be able to be a little bit more creative with the color. You're creating a world with the music and the sound that we can support with the color." At press time, Bogdanowicz was working on A Minecraft Movie, as well as on the John Wick spin-off Ballerina. She was also grading Maggie Gyllenhaal's directorial effort The Bride, which will star Jake Gyllenhaal, Christian Bale, Jessie Buckley and Julianne Hough. The project reunites her with cinematographer and frequent collaborator Lawrence Sher (Joker, Joker: Folie à Deux, The Hangover Part II). Wicked was edited using Avid systems and graded in DaVinci Resolve. Jill Bogdanowicz