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LANGSTON BELTON: In Marvel Studios' Black Panther--
Wakanda Forever, we get to visit the underwater nation
of Talokan.
And to find out how those incredible scenes were filmed,
I'm talking to Visual Effects Supervisor Geoffrey Baumann.
Geoff, how are you?
GEOFFREY BAUMANN: I'm very well, Langston.
Thanks for having me.
I appreciate it.
LANGSTON BELTON: Great to have you.
Now, I heard that for the underwater scenes in the film,
you actually shot underwater.
Now, why did the team choose to take on that challenge?
GEOFFREY BAUMANN: One of the most important things
in Ryan Coogler's storytelling is the authenticity
of where characters come from.
And I think part of that here is combining
an underwater world with a culture
that we can all relate to.
Early on, Ryan had made it clear that he wanted to shoot
as much as possible underwater.
Now, there's logistical challenges
that come along with that process, for sure,
not just from the technical side of equipment, tanks and all
that stuff as well, but also the abilities of the talent
as well.
Are the performers comfortable with going underwater?
Not only are they comfortable, are they still
able to perform underwater?
Is Ryan able to give direction underwater?
It was quite a challenge, both due to the physics of being
underwater, as well as the visual aspects
of storytelling, of color and cameras underwater.
So it was a big challenge to show strength, movement, speed,
and all of those aspects underwater,
while at the same time staying true to MCU expectations,
if you will.
LANGSTON BELTON: The underwater performances are next level.
How did the cast prepare?
GEOFFREY BAUMANN: We often shot, whenever possible,
an entire scene underwater with our performers
after they've gone through rigorous training
with our stunt department in order to hold their breath
for a multitude of minutes, three, four, or five,
six minute long breath holds in a tank for them
to understand how to move in water.
And the thought was even if we did then transition
into a dry for wet world, there would be a little bit
of muscle memory that was there for how
they had to move around.
Chris Denison, our underwater stunt coordinator,
and our marine team and the safety team
did an amazing job of making all of the performers
feel comfortable in water.
It was a multiple-week-long process of them just
coming to the tank, hanging out at the surface,
learning how to do their breath holds.
It's methodical but it's also somewhat meditation in a way,
where you need to kind of really get
your mind to relax and be at ease as you hold your breath.
LANGSTON BELTON: So once the actors
were ready to go, how did the production
team go about shooting the underwater scenes?
GEOFFREY BAUMANN: We did the previews ahead of time
to try to figure out what the angles that Ryan wanted.
And then we would try to take the performers through each
of their scenes with a small set piece
that was kind of the center of the story and shoot that.
And then that would be assembled.
And then we would often then go back into a dry-for-wet world
and then repeat the same process, knowing what it looked
like in the wet-for-wet world.
The performers were aware of how they moved.
But the dry-for-wet world then allowed
both Ryan and Autumn, our DP, to light it the way they wanted.
So there was then the ability for them
to be able to interact with the performers in a way
that you don't necessarily have underwater.
When Namor tells the Talokanil that they're
going to go attack Wakanda, the dry-for-wet world
was his throne room.
And it was essentially a backing that the art department had
built, knowing that we probably had
to replace a bunch of the of the set, costumes, et cetera.
LANGSTON BELTON: So with so many visual complexities of water,
how did the team apply visual effects
to create the underwater look of these scenes?
GEOFFREY BAUMANN: We needed a base, a baseline for us
to understand what water looked like.
It's a place that some of us are familiar with.
But in the depths of the sea, it's
still a very unfamiliar world for most of us.
We tried to really, again, jump back to those early tests
and use those as our guide for what water should be like
and what the lighting of the CG world should be like as well.
We started playing with how light travels
and what colors Autumn liked and Ryan liked underwater
so that we could try to stay true,
again, to the reality of water.
The piece that I'm most proud of is
that we were able to include as many characteristics of water
as possible so turbidity, marine snow that affect clarity
so that it isn't crystal clear, but at the same time finding
a balance so that there is focus, so that as a viewer,
you're immersed in this world.
And you understand you're underwater without having
to process it too much.
But yet at the same time, there is a clear point
of focus for each shot.
And that was something that Ryan really wanted to stay true to,
of color absorption and the colors
that disappear underwater.
And I think because we did that early on, it allowed us in post
to continue to sit with the studio and the rest
of the filmmakers to kind of show what
underwater truly looked like.
And I think that that was something
that I believe for the most part we were able to deliver
on pretty successfully.
LANGSTON BELTON: I'd say so.
You and the team did an incredible job.
Geoff, thank you so much for chatting with us.
And all of you at home, make sure to rewatch
every moment of underwater action
in Marvel Studios' Black Panther--
Wakanda Forever, coming soon exclusively to Disney+.
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