Computer Graphics World

ut from tiny crickets, butterflies, and frogs to large lions, tigers, and bears. Each talking creature was designed to seamlessly interact with Elphaba throughout the memorable seven-minute sequence. In "No Good Deed," the VFX team undertook the challenge of creating an entire army of flying monkeys and extending practical sets to show the gravity-defying architecture of Kiamo Ko, Elphaba's floating castle refuge, from stunning 360-degree perspectives. Visual effects supervisor Pablo Helman and animation supervisor Dale Newton played vital roles in bringing both chapters of Wicked from the page to the screen, a feat of visual storytelling that required extensive technical and creative collaboration. At the 2025 VIEW Conference, Helman and Newton shared an inside look into their work on this spectacular project. You brought the visuals of both Wicked and Wicked: For Good to life. What were you most excited about when you signed on to such a large-scale project? Pablo Helman (VFX Supevisor): We've been working on this for about four years. I think this was my first musical. For me, doing visual effects for a long time, the images were the beginning and the end. But then once I was on set, I realized how everything comes together. It was such an emotional part of the work that we do. It's very rare that we get to see how the music gets together with the images and basically tells a story. It's kind of like storytelling came together for me. Dale Newton (Animation Supervisor): I think it being a musical was a draw. I don't really get to work on a lot of them. I have worked on one before. It's a bit of a love/hate thing with musicals, but when they're done really well they can be stupendous. And I honestly think Wicked is in that category. So we feel we're really lucky. I think what excites me most about my work 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 animators. Just working with the team, trying to draw the best out of everybody, and trying to find that per- formance 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 industry, 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 incorporates 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 8 cgw j u ly • a u g u s t • s e p t e m b e r 2 0 2 5

• Cover