Behind the Scenes with a visual-effects supervisor

Paste had a chance to chat with one of the artists behind the mind-blowing visual effects of Tim Burton's new film Corpse Bride. Here's what Jess Norman had to say about the film and his beloved trade.

Paste: Tell me about what a visual-effects supervisor does, what was your specific role in this film?

Jess Norman: As visual-effects supervisor for MPC [Moving Picture Company] on Corpse Bride, I worked very closely with Pete Kozachik who was visual-effects supervisor for the production as well as being the DOP [director of photography]. My role on the film was to ascertain the best way of approaching potential VFX [visual effects] scenes or shots from a technical and creative point of view. I also supervised the creative team from MPC on site at 3 Mills Studio, as well as the team back at the office in Soho.

How many people and specialty firms were involved for effects?

MPC did all 460 visual-effects shots for Corpse Bride with up to 50 people working on the team.

Can you describe the overall process on the film? Was it a typical process? And how did it compare to previous efforts?

Corpse Bride is a stop-frame-animation movie, so right away it is not going to be a ‘typical process.’ The shooting is slower than for live action but you are able to shoot on many more sets at the same time—Corpse Bride had about 35 at it’s peak. With the actors being puppets, there were several ‘hero’ puppets which meant that the main characters could be in several different scenes/shots at the same time.

Rather than shoot on film stock, the entire film was shot on digital-stills cameras, enabling a much faster turnaround of shots, which in some cases meant that a shot could be checked, approved and handed over to VFX hours after finish shooting. There was no film handling with developing and printing of rushes, and from a VFX point of view, there was no scanning required to convert the frames from negative to a digital format.

How long did all this work take on the film?

MPC set up a satellite unit of four workstations with operators at 3 Mills Studio for 10 months. We worked on a variety of shots, including ones that needed more input from the Director and DOP. In parallel we had a team working at MPC on CG [computer generated] shots and all remaining work. MPC worked on Corpse Bride for one year in total.

What kind of research and preparation do you do around the stories and characters?

It was essential to become familiar with, and understand how the puppets worked. Some would need more support from rigs than others so we would know from a storyboard stage as to which shots were likely to require VFX. Being on set and in contact with the animators throughout the process enabled us to shoot the shots without compromising the animation or the VFX as we would come up with the best way to achieve the final results.

What’s the role of special effects in the film? Explain some of the types of effects used in the film.

There was a variety of work required on the movie, including a CG veil, and CG crows, spiders and butterflies. There was also a lot of blue and green screens, some of which included adding characters that would have been too small to animate together with the main puppets. For instance, the Corpse Bride puppet is about 30-cm tall and her character has a talking and singing maggot that lives in her eye socket.

Some of the sets were extended using matte paintings, and atmospherics were added to a few scenes. Other FX elements were used to enhance some shots—flames, smoke and liquid, as these are more difficult to be shot as a practical animation element. About 35 percent of the shots were rig and wire removals from characters that could not support themselves unaided. A small portion of our work was fixing light pops and camera bumps. MPC’s role was to act as a support department to the film especially in those areas where you could not feasibly shoot an effect practically.

What kind of tension do you feel between serving the story and pushing the boundaries or even grabbing viewers' attention with your effects? What are the most important things you’re trying to achieve?

The goal with VFX is always to make it look like the effects have been shot in camera. There will obviously be exceptions to the rule… in Corpse Bride we added ‘magical’ effects in some shots. Generally, you don’t want the drama of the moment to be spoiled by an attention-grabbing effect—the VFX should always be in keeping with the movie as a whole.

What were the most challenging effects, shots and scenes?

The main challenges with the CG [shots] was to ensure that the work we did was in keeping with the rest of the stop-frame feel of the movie. Some development had to be done for the CG veil to ensure that it did not flow too fluidly—a certain amount of jerkiness had to be built in to the animation

One of the most challenging shots was probably the penultimate shot, were we had to come up with an idea on how to transform the main character, the Corpse Bride, into butterflies. The brief was to make the transition a beautiful and magical moment.

What specific scenes and effects are you most proud of?

The overall integration of CG and visual effects with the stop-frame animation, and enhancing the feel of the movie without distracting anyone away from the beauty of the animation.

From a creative standpoint, what do you find to be most fulfilling?

The variation in work, that it can go from horror to drama.

Where in the process does the creative element play the biggest part?

All the way through. From planning on how to shoot, working out how you want a shot to look like, to the finessing.

What other films have you worked on?

Alien Vs. Predator, Wimbledon, Around the World in 80 Days and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, to name a few.

To Check out more movie magic, including behind-the-scenes looks at Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (special effects), Serenity (visual effects) and Corpse Bride (stop-motion animation), click here.