Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1541878
www.postmagazine.com 20 POST NOV/DEC 2025 is building and creating emotional performances. "I think working with Jon Chu is a privilege. I love collaborating, both with him and then with the an- imators. Just working with the team and trying to draw the best out of everybody, and trying to find that performance that makes the moment as good as it can be. Even though Dr. Dillamond is a minor character, he still plays a role. I think making that as best as we could and selling him, and therefore the rest of the film was a big challenge. It was a really big challenge." Pablo Helman: "Also, from working in the indus- try, it was the first time for me to be next to Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo — just to be three feet from them. And seeing hundreds of dancers come into the middle of it. Because we were so close, we were just part of the whole movie. It's very rare that we get that opportunity. Working with Jon Chu was great. He's a real collaborator, somebody who asks for ideas, and he listens, and he incorpo- rates it into the whole movie." How did you keep that strong sense of communication and collaboration going throughout the project? Pablo Helman: "If you want to get into visual effects, or actually any filmmaking, I would say communication is one of the things that you need. You need to be able to communicate really quickly. You need to be able to understand and listen to other people. On Wicked, we had over a thousand artists and crew people working on the movie, so it's really important that you're open to listening to what other people have to say, but you're also very focused on what needs to be done. For me, even after all these years, it's about the people that you work with. It's very rare that you get the project, the people and the financials together. At least in this project, the people and the project kind came together for me. So it's a combination of things that makes something work." Dale Newton: "Trying to get the best understand- ing that I can of what Jon wants for the character — that's my biggest job. To try and find myself in that space. I can think I'm making good choices and sometimes I'm not. Sometimes I'm off the mark, but I think that's the point — that you climb in there, you put your best foot forward with all of the skills that you have and contribute from your angle. So very often we'll be pitching ideas, and sometimes Jon surprises you. He says, 'Yeah, that's great, I didn't think of that.' And sometimes, 'Sorry guys, come back again.' But that's the nature of the business, and I think just being humble and putting your best foot forward all the time is all I can offer." Pablo Helman: "I think part of moviemaking is that it's collaboration, but it's also exploration, so you're exploring things. If you weren't exploring things, then Jon would just do one take and give it to the editor, and then the editor puts it together, and then that's it. That's your movie. And it doesn't happen that way. It's usually between 10 and 15 takes — sometimes even more. 'Try this way. Try this other way.' And then the editor picks it up. We try all kinds of things in visual effects and anima- tion. So it's about exploration." Were there any sequences that were particularly memorable or challenging to work on? Pablo Helman: "Well, we had 1,800 shots. So that's pretty much every shot in the movie, for like two hours and two minutes of work. So was there any- thing that was more challenging than others? No. The challenge here was start to finish. "But I would say something like 'No Place Like Home.' It's a sequence that has a lot of animals and interaction between the actors and the animals. Or something like 'No Good Deed,' where Elphaba be- comes a witch and she faces up to the challenge. It was really a visual effects kind of challenge to put everything together, because at that point there's a lot of asset building of the environment. There were a lot of monkeys in that last sequence. "The beginning of the movie is always a chal- lenge because you want to start with a bang and you want to set things up. And I think throughout the movie, also the middle is a challenge because you don't want people to relax and not understand the base of the movie. So I think everything is a challenge. That's why storytelling has a beginning, middle and end. You need to hit those things or else you're not going to have storytelling." Dale Newton: "I have to say 'No Place Like Home' is the one in the film that stands out as the one I was most excited about. I think that required a lot of ingenuity to construct, and we worked a lot editorially to get the structure working early on. It's got a lot of characters in it — as in, there are a lot of shots that have upwards of 40 characters in them — which puts a lot of strain on our workflow. There were a lot of CG enhancements. "I think when we're done in animation, we often then look at the work that the other departments do — the lighting and comp — and I think the result is just amazing. I look forward to sharing it with the rest of the world." Do you have any creative advice or inspiration that you would like to share? Pablo Helman: "I'd say if you really want to get into visual effects, I think what you need to do is look around you. Especially visual effects that have to do with photorealism. One of the things that we look at is where the lighting is coming from. Where the shadows are. What makes a picture feel like a photorealistic thing./ oiuyt How the leaves are moving. How fast they're moving. What happens in the atmospherics. All that kind of stuff that I'm telling you — basically you already do it because you were born with those attributes. But you need to train your eye to take a look at that. If you can do that and work with people, I'll hire you." Dale Newton: "Inspire yourself. I like to be open to all of the things that I enjoy. I've always loved watching movies. As a kid, I didn't necessarily have any particular idea that there were good movies or bad movies — it's just the movies that you enjoy! In VFX, we're making movies, so it's really good to know and love movies, and there's no judgment about which kinds you like. In fact, I think that's what makes this medium so demo- cratic, as in, there's movies for all different kinds of people. "I've always loved art. I've always been interest- ed in going to visit art galleries. If you like to draw, draw every day. As Pablo said earlier, it's about training your eye. So by looking at art, by being able to draw, looking at nature, and by loving film and knowing about it, the ins and outs of it, I think that would help to make you a well-rounded visual effects artist." The film's VFX needs included both digital environments and characters. AN ELEMENT JENNIFER VENDITTI CASTING BY ROBBIE RYAN, BSC, DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY ED GUINEY, PRODUCED BY FOCUS FEATURES PRESENTS AN ELEMENT PICTURES SQUARE PEG CJ ENM PRODUCTION IN ASSOCIATION EMMA STONE JESSE PLEMONS AIDAN JENNIFER VENDITTI CSA CASTING BY JERSKIN FENDRIX MUSIC BY JOHNNIE BURN SOUND DESIGNER ROBBIE RYAN, BSC, ISC DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY KASIA MALIPAN CO- PRODUCER YOON SANG HYUN KHAN EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS ED GUINEY, p.g.a. ANDREW LOWE, p.g.a. YORGOS LANTHIMOS, p.g.a. EMMA PRODUCED BY WILL TRACY SCREENPLAY BY © 2025