Union VFX provided 177 visual effects shots for Best Picture nominee Poor Things, which was directed by Yorgos Lanthimos through Element Pictures for Searchlight. Poor Things, written by Tony McNamara, is based on the 1992 novel of the same name by Alasdair Gray. The plot focuses on Bella Baxter, a young Victorian woman brought back to life by the unorthodox Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). Hungry to see and experience the world, Bella runs off on cross-continent adventures with debauched lawyer Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), and in time she grows steadfast in her stand for equality and liberation. Both Stone and Ruffalo got Oscar nods for their work on Poor Things, which picked up 11 nominations in total, including for Best Director.

Poor Things embraces authentic artificiality, blending a classical sensibility with a fantastical and science fiction-driven aesthetic. These surreal settings were crafted with Lanthimos’ vision in partnership with production designers James Price and Shona Heath, cinematographer Robbie Ryan (BSC, ISC) and the Union VFX team, led by creative director Simon Hughes and VFX producer Tallulah Baker, who were involved in the film from the earliest stages of preproduction.

Creating this fanciful place required a wide variety of complex and technical VFX that, whether subtle or obvious, fell seamlessly into the weird and wonderful world of Poor Things. To facilitate the numerous techniques involved, Union designed a variety of bespoke workflows specifically for the creative and diverse VFX required throughout the feature.

The sheer size, scope and breadth of the film’s production begins in a largely self-contained mansion set that expands to increasingly gargantuan scales throughout the film as Bella furthers her journey of discovery, both internally and externally.

This journey brings Bella to London, Paris, Lisbon and Alexandria, which look like works of art in their own right but also function within the story and fabric of the film. The decision to shoot on film — in a combination of both color and black-and-white, with periodic use of fisheye lenses — added layers of complexity and challenges for VFX, particularly when creating and extending the environments.

LED Screens
Tim Barter was Union’s on-set VFX supervisor during the shoot in Budapest, where 11 giant (70m by 90m) wraparound LED screens were used to project some of the film’s fantastical environments virtually during filming.

These “inky” sky and ocean environments were created referencing the work of artist Chris Parks. The team created CG ocean simulations and renders designed to work as 50-second clips at 24K; 11 accompanying digital matte painted skies with added cloud movement; and additional stylistic, moving atmospheric effects.

These “inky” sky and ocean environments were created referencing the work of artist Chris Parks. The team created CG ocean simulations and renders designed to work as 50-second clips at 24K, 11 accompanying digital matte painted skies with added cloud movement, and additional stylistic moving atmospheric effects.

LED backdrops gave the actors something to act against that wasn’t a greenscreen. This approach also provided beautiful reflections and a more impressive final result.

Miniatures and Environments
The decision to use miniatures was deliberate in terms of the look of the film, so the VFX environments had to be sensitive to this. Ensuring that the scale of the CG water worked in relation to the scale of the miniature was particularly challenging — especially when combined with live-action footage shot on-set.

The Alexandria environment involved vast establishing shots that pull out as wide as possible. The Union team used lidar scans of the miniatures as a starting point for this fully CG environment, which includes CG water, sky and palm trees as well as a fully CG boat, a CG cable car and a lot of FX simulation to enhance the atmosphere, including dust and chimney smoke.

The London environment was shot with an 8mm lens, so it was particularly stylized. The movement in the sky had to reflect the ocean, with water displacement and undulation. Tower Bridge was created as a miniature, and the London rooftops referenced 1950s filmmaking, so the team added various period signs of life to match the look of the film, including chimney smoke elements and fireworks. This environment also required creating CG zeppelins.

The Paris environment was shot as part of the studio build in Budapest and then enhanced in VFX by adding a more surreal CG sky and associated elements.

The Lisbon environment was also shot with an 8mm lens. The set was extended in CG, again with very stylized skies and the film’s signature surreal look. The character Alfie’s mansion was also a miniature within a fully CG environment. It required a huge amount of garden detail, such as covering shrubs and greenery, to create the gritty outside space.

Hybrid Animals
Another less than ordinary element of the Poor Things world is the hybrid animals, created by the doctor’s experimentation. These quirky creatures are present throughout the film, wandering around the grounds like barnyard creatures while reflecting the 1920s look of the film, movement and cinematography.

There are seven different hybrids in the final film, but the VFX process involved creating many more before the final seven were selected. The director wanted to find as much of an in-camera and 2D-solution-based as possible to embrace the random physical nuances of animal movements that are inherently difficult to capture in CG. Union’s solution was to overshoot, coming back with multiple takes and multiple animals and then testing different combinations to see which animals and moments worked well when combined together.

“It started with a series of test shoots with an animal trainer, which narrowed down the selection prior to the second unit shoot, as some animals just didn’t want to behave at all,” says Hughes. “When it came to combining them, some proved more difficult than others due to a combination of their independent movements, the camera moves and distorted lenses.

“There was a significant degree of rebuild, and some CG was used to help with the joins. And 3D scans of the animals were used to help us align the different elements and create the textures and scarring where they join together,” he continues. “The scar designs were based on paint-over concepts to preserve the naturalistic movement of the real animals while still creating a more fantastical layer of ‘strangeness’ in keeping with the film’s tone.”

There’s also a Frankenstein moment in the film, when Bella is brought back to life by the doctor. It required a large amount of power, electricity, lightning treatments and sparks. These were complex and involved a lengthy process to ensure they were sympathetic with the look of the film.

Union used Foundry Nuke for 2D work (compositing and more) and Autodesk Maya and SideFX Houdini for 3D-based work on the film.