In WEDNESDAY S2, Wednesday Addams returns to Nevermore Academy and faces a new supernatural mystery involving a murderous avian; a stalker with bird-controlling abilities, and a horrifying vision of her werewolf roommate, Enid’s, death. Meanwhile, her brother Pugsley accidentally resurrects Isaac Knight, a reanimated corpse holding a dark family secret.
RSVFX was a lead vendor on the award-winning show delivering over 550 shots. Working directly with Director and Executive Producer Tim Burton, and Show Creators Miles Millar, and Allan Gough, RSVFX own Tom Turnbull serves as Production VFX Supervisor with Kent Johnson, VFX Producer.
Work spanned concepting and development of key CG sequences, including the 3D hero creature/character build of One-Eye, the lead sinister crow, and his flock of cronies showcased throughout the series. Bespoke feather and flocking systems were created to deliver the life like look and performances.
Orloff, Nevermore Academy’s longest serving professor, a biology teacher, famously appears as a disembodied head in a jar. RSVFX Art Department, led by Matthew Schofield, fleshed out the initial prop design to develop the gruesome cavernous zombie chewed head. Working from a scan of the actor’s head, the asset was built from facial detail and skin texture down to the blood pooling within the tank.
The team created repeat performances of everyone’s favorite appendage, ‘Thing’, conceived with a combination of hand acting, from Victor Dorobantu dressed in a blue suit, prosthetics to add the stump to his real hand, and Rocket Science seamlessly integrating ‘Thing” into frame. Each shot was handled differently. Compositing adjusted the wrist directly when the prosthetic held up, a CG wrist stump was tracked in using a camera match move and object track when it needed replacing, and full CG Thing was reserved for moments where a live performance wasn’t possible.
Additional work included CG swarming hornets, CG fire and pyro effects showcased in the immolation of the new Nevermore principal, Barry Dort, along with digital matte painting and environment work.
The Rocket Science team was led by VFX Supervisor John Coldrick and VFX Producer Ali Mio.
Rocket Science was proud to return to the series following our work on S1.
Rocket Science