A man begins to put on his brand new pair of jeans. As he pulls them half-way up, the city street below shoots up into his apartment, revealing a sexy girl smiling at him from a phone booth. Startled, the guy drops the jeans, bringing him back to his apartment. But then he dons the jeans one more time, pulling them up to see the entire city ascend to his living room. Wearing the jeans, he walks away with the girl into the night, down the street that was once his apartment. Indeed, put on some Levi’s and enjoy life.
“Change” was directed by Filip Engstrom of bicoastal Smuggler for BBH, New York. Visual effects were done at Asylum, Santa Monica, by a team that included visual effects supervisor Tim Davies, CG supervisor Jason Schugardt, CG animator Yuichiro Yamashito, CG artists Matthew Maude and SEan Faden, CG modeler Greg Stuhl, matte painter Tim Clark, exec producer Michael Pardee, visual effects producer Mark Allen Kurtz and CG producer Jeff Werner.
The BBH creative ensemble consisted of executive creative director Kevin Roddy, creatives Maja Fernqvist and Joakim Saul and producer Katherine Cheng.
Patrick Milling Smith and Brian Carmody exec produced for Smuggler with Paul Ure serving as producer. The live-action DP was Max Malkin.
Editor was Maury Loeb of PS 260, New York.
Review: Director Jon M. Chu’s “Wicked”
It's the ultimate celebrity redemption tour, two decades in the making. In the annals of pop culture, few characters have undergone an image makeover quite like the Wicked Witch of the West.
Oh, she may have been vengeful and scary in "The Wizard of Oz." But something changed — like, REALLY changed — on the way from the yellow brick road to the Great White Way. Since 2003, crowds have packed nightly into "Wicked" at Broadway's Gershwin Theatre to cheer as the green-skinned, misunderstood Elphaba rises up on her broomstick to belt "Defying Gravity," that enduring girl-power anthem.
How many people have seen "Wicked"? Rudimentary math suggests more than 15 million on Broadway alone. And now we have "Wicked" the movie, director Jon M. Chu's lavish, faithful, impeccably crafted (and nearly three-hour) ode to this origin story of Elphaba and her (eventual) bestie — Glinda, the very good and very blonde. Welcome to Hollywood, ladies.
Before we get to what this movie does well (Those big numbers! Those costumes!), just a couple thornier issues to ponder. Will this "Wicked," powered by a soulful Cynthia Erivo (owner of one of the best singing voices on the planet) and a sprightly, comedic, hair-tossing Ariana Grande, turn even musical theater haters into lovers?
Tricky question. Some people just don't buy into the musical thing, and they should be allowed to live freely amongst us. But if people breaking into song delights rather than flummoxes you, if elaborate dance numbers in village squares and fantastical nightclubs and emerald-hued cities make perfect sense to you, and especially if you already love "Wicked," well then, you will likely love this film. If it feels like they made the best "Wicked" movie money could buy — well, it's... Read More