The Witches

Dir: Robert Zemeckis
Warner Bros.

Visualisation
VP
Graphics
VFX

NVIZ were proud to provide Visualisation and VFX on Robert Zemeckis’ reimagining of Roald Dahl’s classic. 


The Oscar nominated director is well known for his innovative approach to filmmaking, and The Witches was no exception, utilising emerging virtual production technologies to bring his vision to life.

"Bob was able to shoot up to 200 setups in a single 4-hour session using this toolset, which then fed to editorial to create the previs cuts...I can’t overstate how much value it brings when the director is able to oversee and ‘touch’ the previs like this, as opposed to having a team of animators do it through verbal direction. It helps to genuinely engage the creative muscles of every live-action department very early in the process, and served to inform everything from lighting to lens copies to changes to the designs of live action sets which were yet to be built.”

Kevin Baillie, VFX Supervisor



Read in detail about NVIZ's Visualisation work in these in-depth interviews with VFX Supervisor Kevin Baillie:

“Virtual production obliterated the opaque curtain that traditionally sits between live action departments and VFX,”
https://beforesandafters.com/2021/02/19/how-the-witches-drew-upon-a-ton-of-the-latest-vfx-techniques/


"Zemeckis himself operated a virtual camera with real-world lens equivalents, he could pre-direct every one of the film’s scenes that had digital characters."
https://www.awn.com/vfxworld/method-studios-brings-vfx-magic-robert-zemeckis-witches


Credits
Virtual Camera SupervisorHugh Macdonald
NVIZ VFX SupervisorJason Evans