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In a deleted scene Hespera made a gun heat up until it glowed. Props made a really cool fake gun with lights in it that looked like it was glowing hot. Eventually it was going to be augmented with vfx but it looked really good as is.
Going through my early animatics for Shazam 2 (made with Grease Pencil in Blender) and I'd forgotten I did this spoof on superhero landings for Pedro. Kind of wish that had made it into the movie.
I originally wanted the dragon to eat the car that Shazam throws.
My early explanation for this shot. Vfx by Rise VFX
my animatics start out pretty fancy but quickly deteriorate as I run out of time. I start out with 3D environments, temp music, sound:
Then sound and color goes. 3D environment is just boxes.
And eventually it's just a slideshow of 2D doodles. No time to sketch or erase, what's drawn is drawn. I made all of these in Blender.
A bonus doodle of a deleted opening scene leading up to the museum (the shot scene will be among the deleted scenes on the home release).
How this shot started (Ocean Master was the nearest action figure at the time).
Lucy riding the dragon was done with a robot arm with programmed motions. The reason the staff here doesn’t have a top is that the light up staff was too heavy and big (because of all the electronics etc). It was fine in the first film when Djimon was the only one handling it but for the sisters we often needed something with a lighter material and no electronics.
Reacting to hitting a Minotaur
That same day we accidentally drove the van into the camera (No kids in the van, only stunt driver).
The camera was fine but I’m not sure about the lens.
For Mary super speeding to save people on the bridge we shot it pretty much like this. Then she and the people were painted out until they were needed on screen. Mary turns into a digidouble for the super running.
Using augmented reality to see an approximation of what the bluescreen will be replaced with.
Fun fact; that's not Jack running towards camera. Jack was still a minor and could only work limited hours. It felt a little risky to have a double running straight to camera but the scene is pretty dark.
Fun fact; I thought the environment here was too dead and wanted some guards. We didn't have CG guards though so instead that's footage of the guards leading Freddy and the wizard to the sisters. But you can't tell that's Freddy outside Freddy's cell.
2019 vs 2023. I figured it would be too jarring for the flashback to cut back and forth between the old and new suits so we reshot this part.
Helen Mirren practicing one of her wire stunts. We made sure to have a top down angle for this moment so the audience would be able to see it was really her and not a stunt double. We had to stop her from doing some stunts herself as she was willing to do pretty much anything. She did end up breaking a finger on the film but she didn't tell anyone until after.
For the school rooftop we used a version of the so called “volume” that’s been made famous by The Mandalorian. The thing I grab and hold by my phone is what tracks the camera and makes the view correct. A lot of the screen was replaced in post because it didn’t always hold up. It was a 2D matte painting with layers, not a full 3D environment like Mandalorian. We got much better light than when shooting bluescreen but it had its limitations.
From a deleted moment where Mary flew into the dome. This type of glass was also used when Shazam and Freddy have their moment outside the stadium. The problem was that the glass is so thick that you can’t hear each other. But Zach and Jack were able to do it anyway by watching each others mouths and performances.
The statues of the seven sins were kept from the first Shazam but they were in a pretty sorry state and had to be repaired for Fury of the Gods. The only things kept from the Rock of eternity were the statues and the thrones. Everything else had to be rebuilt. The stuff they can carve out of styrofoam is amazing.
