By Iain Blair

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, the follow-up to 2018’s blockbuster Black Panther, was nominated for five Oscars this year, including one for Best Visual Effects. Once again directed by co-writer Ryan Coogler, the action-adventure-suspense-thriller Wakanda Forever features a cast of thousands – and behind the scenes, another army of VFX artists and technicians from a raft of companies including Digital Domain, Weta, ILM and Cinesite, all overseen by VFX supervisor Geoff Baumann.

Geoffrey Baumann

I recently spoke with Baumann — who was nominated for his work along with Craig Hammack, R. Christopher White and Dan Sudick — about creating all the VFX and the production pipeline. Additional VFX supervisor Michael Ralla and Weta FX VFX supervisor White joined the conversation.

What were the big challenges of creating so many VFX?
Geoff Baumann: The biggest one was the world-building of the underwater city of Talokan. That encompassed the world itself and defining who these people are, but the fact that it’s underwater created a whole other set of problems, both from a VFX standpoint and a practical one. The feedback loop of communication between the talent underwater and Ryan and everyone involved was also a huge challenge.

Of course, Wakanda itself was also a huge challenge because of its sheer scale. But even though it was so complex in terms of the CG work, we’d already established it in the first film, so it was a known entity.

Michael Ralla

I assume you worked very closely with DP Autumn Durald?
Baumann: Yes, very. We had to really embrace her shooting style and choice of lighting and lenses in order to make our CG work match the practical. We did a lot of previz to that end, and our previz supervisor at Digital Domain, Scott Meadows, and Autumn sat down together so we could render shots in the same way she would shoot them. That was also a big challenge, as we did some previz early on before she was involved, and it turned out to be angles that she wouldn’t shoot.

She generally shoots and frames shots very low and always backlit, regardless of continuity. The camera’s usually tilted up so you see more ceilings and skies than ground, and there’s a lot of negative fill. So we embraced all that, and previz did as well. But I’d say that previz wasn’t as much of a bible on this as it usually is on other big, complex VFX films like this. There was definitely a lot of room for Ryan and Autumn to explore any ideas on the day of the shoot, and there were days when we didn’t shoot the previz at all. But I’d say it really helped them.

Michael Ralla: This film looks very different from anything else in the MCU. That approach was clear right from the start, and one we both really embraced. Otherwise it would have been impossible to finish the film.

Geoff, how did you and Michael work together as two VXF supers?
Baumann: This project was huge. We had over 2,400 VFX shots, and then our whole post schedule was extremely short. On top of that, we had to deal with losing Chadwick, and then injuries and COVID. In general, Marvel tends to hire additional VFX supervisors to help support the process and oversee the second unit coverage, and then they now stay on through all of post.

Eight years or so ago, the additional VFX supervisor would come on for the shoot and then leave, but we discovered that there was still so much VFX work to be done with thousands of shots that it just didn’t make sense to let that person go. So Michael came on in prep and helped prep all of the second unit work. He was responsible for all that and all the specialty rigs and dealing with the crew. Then he oversaw all that material in post, the vendors, and made sure it was executed the way it was intended.

Michael, what were the key sequences you were in charge of?
Ralla: The first was the big Boston chase sequence in and around MIT. Then pretty much everything that happened on the bridge, even though there was a bit of a split from the main unit. Then there was the big opening sequence called “the mining mission,” which was also all shot on-location outside Atlanta. Both of those sequences were fairly stunt-heavy, with more technical complexity because of all the action, and more prep was needed. Then there were various bits and pieces sprinkled throughout the shoot, and Geoff directed 30 days of underwater shooting as well.

Geoff and I go way back to Digital Domain, where we worked together years ago, and the chance to reteam with him and work with Autumn was a big part of why I got involved in this.

Geoff, how early on did you start working on the big underwater sequence and VFX?
Baumann: Ryan decided pretty early on that he wanted to shoot as much of it practically as possible – wet for wet — so there was a big drive to do that, and we shot every underwater sequence anamorphic in a big tank first. So even though we had to do a lot of extensions to create the underwater world, we had that real-life interaction of characters and water. Then we did dry for wet and were able to replicate a lot of the wet-for-wet movements and setups exactly. That allowed Ryan and Autumn to make any adjustments they wanted.

How was the work divided up between all the vendors?
Baumann: Digital Domain did about 450 shots, and Cinesite in London and Montreal did about 300 shots. Weta did nearly all the underwater sequences, including the journey to Talokan and the mining mission at the start of the film. Weta had fewer shots, around 200, but they were all very complex, and they were our first partner. ILM did the bulk — over 450 shots — and was responsible for Wakanda and the Golden City. Digital Domain was mainly responsible for the third act, the battle on the ship at the end and the desert battle, along with a bit of the underwater stuff.

We also had some shared shots in the third act and various other vendors — including Rise, who had the third most shots. In the end we had over 17 vendors doing additional VFX, including Storm, Perception, SDFX, Luma, Base, Barnstorm, Basilic Fly, Digikore, Mist and Studio8. I’ve worked on many big movies, but this has to be one of the most complex and challenging ever in terms of what we did.

Chris White, Weta FX’s VFX Supervisor

Can you break down the main VFX sequences you worked on?
Our focus was on the sequences that took place deep underwater. This included the city of Talokan, the mining mission at the beginning of the film, the cenote dives of the shaman and Nakia, and the deep-water shots in the third act battle.

What were the big challenges of creating so many underwater VFX?
Building the underwater city of Talokan was the biggest challenge, as water work inherently requires both technical and creative problem-solving. Our goal was to stay true to the look of deep-water environments while having the creative freedom to tell the story.

How long did the whole process take? How many people were involved?
Work on the film lasted over 24 months with a crew of close to 400. Early days of the project were directed toward research, building tools, previz and look development.

What tools did you use?
For our water rendering and simulation, we used proprietary in-house tools. Our spectral renderer, Manuka, provided realistic renders of our environments, characters and vehicles. Simulations for clothing, marine snow, bubbles and explosion effects were also created with proprietary tools.

Did you use any cutting-edge technology?
We developed new tools to digitally replicate the real-world lens effects. These tools allowed us to give our CG shots the same look and feel as the shot footage.

What was the most difficult VFX sequence to do and why?
The most challenging sequence was the journey through the city of Talokan. In a short amount of time, we needed to get a sense of the culture, explore the city and meet the inhabitants, all while maintaining a realistic, deep-underwater look. Pre- and post-visualization tools allowed us to sketch out this journey quickly, ensuring we hit the right story beats and maintained the pace and intention of the sequence.

Industry insider Iain Blair has been interviewing the biggest directors in Hollywood and around the world for years. He is a regular contributor to Variety and has written for such outlets as Reuters, The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times and the Boston Globe.