Color and Post Pipeline: The Many
Looks of Marvel's WandaVision

By Randi Altman

If you've watched Marvel's WandaVision, you can imagine that the production and post workflows were challenging, to say the least. The series, streaming on Disney+, features multiple time periods, black-and-white footage, color footage, lots of complex visual effects and the list goes on.

Colorist Matt Watson and the in-house Marvel post team had their hands full and their creative hats on. To help with any challenges that might come up, Watson got involved from the very beginning — during camera tests — and that, along with being on set, proved to be invaluable.

"I've set up several Marvel shows with a DI toolset and mindset," reports Watson. "Having that resource on set at the start of a production really helps to find answers to color pipelines and workflow direction, and WandaVision had many challenges."

There is a lot to discuss with a show as complex as WandaVision, so we reached out to Watson to find out how he and the Marvel team prepared and tackled the show.

Can you discuss the post production challenges on WandaVision?
Not only was this a show with looks from different eras and with multiple aspect ratios, but it was also Marvel's first "HDR first" show — meaning HDR monitoring on set, in dailies and for finishing — so it was really important to nail down a pipeline and workflow for all departments.

Of course, the success of this kind of undertaking comes down to the communication. Camera, DIT, dailies, editorial, Marvel's plates lab, VFX and finishing… everyone had particular wants and needs, so being there and having these conversations was incredibly important. Communication is one of those ingredients that aid the success of Marvel productions.

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