Disney+ scored big with their series most-watched shows of the year and even sured the Netflix megahit Bridgerton in viewership back in January. This was due to the show's deep narrative, compelling mysteries, and movie-quality cinematography and visual effects.
One of the show's special effects teams, Monsters Aliens Robots Zombies (MARZ), shared a few ways they pulled off one of television's most effects-driven series ever. From changing the show between black and white to color to vision morphing between human and android, here's how the team made it all happen.
Creating Vision's Head in Black & White
Surprisingly, the first few black and white episodes of WandaVision were actually filmed in color and turned into black and white during post-production. While filming, actor Paul Bettany was in blue makeup and small white dots, called tracking markers, were attached to his face. This was mentioned on the Assembled docies on Disney+.
After filming, the shots were sent over to MARZ where the tracking department databased all the motions of the camera and of Bettany's head. From there, MARZ added a CGI Vision head on top of Bettany's, which was able to match his movements exactly thanks to the tracking markers. So, as surprising as it may seem, many scenes featuring Vision featured a CGI head.
Vision's Eyelashes
As all fans know, Marvel has been around for a very long time. Technically, the company was formed in the early '60s, but its roots actually date back to 1939. This means that many characters introduced throughout the years look much different in modern Marvel films than they did in their original comics from half a century ago.
Marvel and MARZ wanted to honor this tradition by slowly altering Vision as the series progressed. In the early episodes, Vision has eyelashes and very human-looking eyes. But as the episodes continued, his appearance was digitally altered to look more robotic in order to make him look more like he did in Age of Ultron. Tactics included digitally removing his eyelashes after the first three episodes and making his eyes appear more robotic.
Items Floating around Wanda
When Wanda tries to make dinner in episode one, chaos ensues. Fans of the show will the classic kitchen scene where ingredients and cooking utensils are floating around the room. This stunt was actually performed by dangling many of the items from wires to pay homage to how the effect would have been executed during that time period.
Not only did the effects team go in and digitally remove the wires, but they were also tasked with adding additional floating items and making them look identical to the physical objects being dangled on wires. Practical effects were mostly used since that's what was needed in the era of these sitcoms.
Several Backdrops Throughout the Series
Many sitcoms use backdrops, which are giant images designed to look like something in the background of a show (a modern example of this is the views outside the windows in The Big Bang Theory). With WandaVision paying so much homage to classic shows, it was natural for the series to also use cheesy, old-school backdrops.
One such example was during the '70s-themed episode. The backdrop seen behind their home isn't actually a backdrop at all, it's fully CGI. The effects team rotoscoped all the frames and added in the CGI image behind all the characters and props.
Vision Morphing Between Human and Android
Portraying Vision changing between human and android was no easy task. It required a lot of components to come together. Two shots were required, one of Bettany performing a motion out of makeup, and one of him repeating the exact motions while in makeup. The effects team then has to blend the shots together and use a CGI effect to create the spectacle of Vision morphing.
Through the show, the morphing effect changed. In early episodes, Vision's transformation was shown using a starry effect, a nod to Bewitched. In later episodes, it transitioned into the light ray effect, which was actually inspired by Tron.
The Mind Stone in Vision's Forehead
Surprisingly, the Mind Stone was never a prop. It was always added in with CGI, even in the movies. The problem with WandaVision was that the pre-set specifications for the Mind Stone didn't translate well into black and white.
It looked dull, flat, and lost a lot of its luster. To fix this, the effects team needed to go in and digitally add definition, increase the amount of light it reflected, and re-add the sheen that was lost in the B&W process. This was discussed on Assembled.
Superspeed
The superspeed effects in the show were actually more intricate than many viewers might think. Because a character moves fast, but everything else around them doesn't, the solution isn't as simple as playing the scene in fast-forward. Take Vision putting up the swingset for example. The scene was shot at high speed, meaning it had a high frame rate. Filming at high speed actually produces the effect of slow motion.
This allowed the effects team to go in and isolate every frame they wanted to keep. To keep everything around Vision still, the team then went in and did a lot of rotoscoping and painting - meaning they manually had to go in and isolate every item they either wanted to keep or delete from a scene. It turned out to be one of the most intense visual effects in the series.
Vision's Cape
Another surprising factoid that many viewers may not know is that Paul Bettany never actually wore a cape while filming, it's always CGI. And eagle-eyed viewers will also notice that in different movies and shows, Vision's cape will also be of different lengths depending on the scene. The effects team needed to go in and manipulate how much the cape "weighs," meaning, how much a breeze may interact with it, and how much motion it will have when Vision walks and flies.
One of the effects team's cinematography secrets is that the cape would interact differently depending on the scene. If the scene isn't very dramatic or powerful, the cape won't have much motion to it. But in a scene where the director wants the audience to feel inspired or dazzled, his cape will have much more motion to it, almost like a flag swaying in the wind.
Westview from Above
The aerial views of Westview in the show weren't created by flying a drone or getting B roll footage with a helicopter. Instead, it was all entirely CGI. Marvel had made a rough layout of the map of the town, but they didn't include any specifics on how buildings and houses should look. Instead, it was completely up to the effects team to build it entirely from scratch.
In the scene where Vision flies above the town on Halloween night and finds Agnes motionless in her car, Paul Bettany was simply filmed in front of the green screen and the digital town was added in behind him in post-production.
Landing at Agnes' Car
When Vision lands next to Agnes' car, he's a fully CGI replica. The scene was originally done with a stunt double, but the double landed a little too hard on his feet. Marvel felt this wasn't true to Vision's character, who was more elegant and precise about everything he did.
To fix the issue, the effects team was tasked with using the stunt double as a reference, but creating Vision from the ground up using CGI.