Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1489831
o c t o b e r • n o v e m b e r • d e c e m b e r 2 0 2 2 c g w 7 ing to figure it out,'" visual effects supervisor Aaron Weintraub recalls. Ultimately, it was more important for all of the visuals to stay true to the style of the film, rather than insisting on achieving everything practically. Visual effects producer Jeffrey Schaper worked closely with Wein- traub during the production process. "We had an in-house VFX su- pervisor, Cameron [Carson], who was the person who oversaw all of the shoot days and made sure things were shot correctly for visual effects to be integrated in post," Schaper explains. He also collabo- rated with the art department to maintain a consistent look across the extensive set extension and matte-painting work. PRACTICAL REFERENCES The VFX team handled simulations of any elements with tiny details that would be impossible to replicate practically frame by frame. "We knew that there was a world that existed that we had to match," Weintraub explains. "We couldn't just do photoreal smoke, photoreal explosions, or a photoreal ocean. That wasn't going to cut it because there were no truly photoreal elements in the rest of the film." Art director Robert DeSue and his team designed miniature ref- erences for the VFX artists, helping them maintain a consistent stop-motion feel across practical and digital elements. "I think it worked really well when there was a physical element that the digital VFX team could look at," Hansen adds. "We made something in the stop-mo tion style and then they were able to repeat it and scale it up." A stop-motion test for Geppetto's fireplace was a particularly useful reference. "They took pieces of cheesecloth wrapped around Director of Character Fabrication Georgina Hayns Animation Supervisor Brian Leif Hansen Visual Effects Producer Jeffrey Schaper Visual Effects Supervisor Aaron Weintraub Director Guillermo del Toro first began making stop-motion films as a child, borrowing his father's Super 8 camera to shoot footage of his toys.