WandaVisionbegan by drawing us into the magical sitcom-inspired world of Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) and her beloved Vision (Paul Bettany) — until, with some nudging from evil witch Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn), it began to crumble. But as always, the real magic was happening behind the scenes, thanks to the dedicated artists of Marvel who brought to life all the dazzling details of the Disney+ series.
In an one-on-one interview, Collider got to learn a little about all the hard work involved in that process, thanks to visual effects supervisorTara DeMarco. Below, DeMarco reveals what “invisible” effects she and her team added to key episodes, whether or not they stuck to classic ’50s techniques when crafting the effects in the earlier episodes, and what her favorite sequences of the nine-episode series were.
Collider: One of my favorite things about effects is discovering all the things that people don’t know are being handled digitally. ForWandaVision, in particular, what’s an example of something that you’re really proud of achieving that people wouldn’t necessarily assume was done with CG?
TARA DEMARCO: There’s a fair amount of the work in Episode 6 [“All-New Halloween Spooktacular!"] that is CG, that is a supporting visual effect. A lot of the silly string was CG, and the gazebo in the town square was CG. Those are my favorite kinds of invisible effects. Also, the town of Westview, as seen from the pop-up base is CG.
Of course, so when you talk about the gazebo, the actual physical gazebo wasn’t there?
DEMARCO: The actual physical gazebo had been destroyed for filming the final episode, and then we did nights, and it was just gone. So, well ahead of it being destroyed, we scanned it, we photographed it, and we made a CG asset of it dressed for Halloween so that we could put it into the scenes later.
DEMARCO: Right?
Yeah, that’s the thing of it, you find this stuff out and it’s mind-blowing. In terms of the more known stuff, what was it like working with other departments on the black-and-white episodes to make sure Vision looked correct? Because we’ve seen behind-the-scenes photos where he was painted blue.
DEMARCO: It was wonderful working with the other departments, the hair and makeup department was incredibly collaborative. Tricia Sawyer was their department head, and Jonah worked directly with Paul. They helped us with the makeup tests for blue, for red, for white, to verify that we had a consistent color, and that we were happy with how it filmed. Then they would put a tracking marker pattern on all for us so that we could put the CG panels on later.
How much do you find yourself working with the production team on elements like that?
DEMARCO: Quite a lot. I work with the production team regularly, every day, because we are collaborative. Each part of a visual effect starts with something real, even if it’s reference. So, if we’re not filming something in-camera, then perhaps it’s being provided by a department or it’s something we can photograph and scan.
RELATED:New ‘WandaVision’ Behind-the-Scenes Images Reveal the Magic of Making the Show
In Episodes 1 and 2, so much of itwas said to be done practically, just because they wanted to emulate the style of that era. For things like Wanda snapping her fingers and changing her outfit, were you still involved?
DEMARCO: Yeah, absolutely, that’s still a visual effect because it’s a comp, where she’s got to jump. We decided to cut her out and have her jump rather than half the whole frame shift, which sometimes it does in those old movies. We all discussed what the best way to handle, because that’s a combination of production design, making sure that there’s the space allowed to fit the puppeteers. Then special effects to rig the objects and make sure they can be flown in. Then us, to make sure we can combine all those pieces later in post, big handshake.
But they didn’t make you use 1950s technology to pull off that sort of thing?
DEMARCO: We did not use 1950s technology for the true finish, but we did research it. For a lot of the gags of the era, they would have hidden the monofilament somewhere in the set, or use such skinny monofilament that you didn’t see it. But we’re using really high definition cameras at this time in our lives and world, so we made a conscious decision to do as much as possible era-specific, but then finish it in a modern way.
When it comes to visual effects, in the case of visual effects it’s a really important one, just because it’s added a whole new level to what you guys do. What was it like going to work on this after COVID had set in?
DEMARCO: I mean, the Marvel technology team was amazing, and kept the visual effects working the entire way through. We were up and running full-steam within a few weeks of being sent home. They had very robust systems and developed a few additional ones, so that we could do everything via Zoom meetings and virtual screenings. They sent technology to people’s houses, and they made space available on the lot for me to go screen in a room by myself. So, a lot of COVID sensitivity was had by the studio, and we were able to keep working safely.
Excellent. In terms of actually making the show, what kind of accommodations were you having to include, just for things like not having actors in the same scene, potentially?
DEMARCO: Honestly, a lot of that COVID consciousness was discussed in prep by production. They made sure that we were following all the protocols and that everybody felt safe. So, production would handle that ahead of time before we ever even got to set. Once we were working, we were working.
Of course — basically, what I’m trying to ask is if this added to the number of shots you had to work on?
DEMARCO: Oh, that. I can’t really say, I mean, we had so many shots to work on and for so many different reasons, like gazebo-adding and silly string.
And apparently Kathryn Hahn can’t actually fly?
DEMARCO: There might’ve been a wire.
What was it like working on the flying sequences?
DEMARCO: I guess so, Elizabeth Olsen would fly for other scenes in other films. So, we knew that that was part of her power set, and because I guess Agatha Harkness is a bad witch, and Wanda is the good witch, we would give them mildly mirroring power sets. Agatha Harkness doesn’t have Wanda’s hands power or quite the same physical action, but they were meant to mirror [each other] in their fight, so we took from what Wanda had done in the past, which was some wirework.
As a visual effects artist, Of course. I guess I’m very curious about the visual effects in terms of do you come up as a visual effects artist specializing in one thing and then broadening out as you go?
DEMARCO: I would say that that is different for every supervisor, it really depends on the facility or studio that you’ve come up through. I came from a place where I worked on really large television commercials, Super Bowl commercials. So, you do a lot of very small projects that are very complicated, so instead of being exposed to one thing, like a film for two years, I would do, I don’t know, 10 projects a year that might overlap some in their production and finish. But then you get to do all different kinds of things, you might do wires, and then CG robots, and then talking animals. So, you get exposure to multiple things.
Last question, if you had to pick one favorite moment that you pulled off on the show, one we may or may not have known was a visual effect, what would you pick?
DEMARCO: Just one?
Whatever comes first to mind.
DEMARCO: Well, the moments that I’m proud of are in the final episodes. Vision coming through the Hex and being torn apart, and then Vision being created by Wanda are beautiful, impactful, emotional scenes that were really supported by the visual effects. I’m proud of those.
All episodes ofWandaVisionare streaming now on Disney+.
KEEP READING:‘WandaVision’ Is Over. What Movies and TV Shows Should You Watch Next?
