‘Oz the Great and Powerful’: Interview With Sony Pictures Imageworks


Oz the Great and Powerful visual wizards Sony Pictures Imageworks sat down with Slashgear‘s Chris Burns for an exclusive interview.

Sony explained how they brought the world of L. Frank Baum’s Oz to life. Senior Digital Effects Supervisor Scott Stokdyk gave a heads-up on his role in creating the world of the blockbuster prequel to The Wizard of Oz.

Scott Stokdyk’s role in the creation of this movie began two and a half years ago working alongside director Sam Raimi (Evil Dead, Spider-Man). The two broke down each visual element and decided how best to make it exist in the final product. Stokdyk headed to Detroit for seven months to film the movie on a sound stage before working in post production for a year to get the look right.

Scott Stokdyk has worked with several visual effects companies, including Sony Pictures Imageworks. It might be interesting to know that Stokdyk also worked with Sam Raimi on the Spider-Man films starring Tobey Maguire. He has also helped with such films as Titanic, The Fifth Element, and Contact.

The way a visual effects studio can set itself apart, says Scott Stokdyk, actually simpler than you might think:

“In Visual Effects nowadays, there’s basically effects work, there’s character work, there’s environmental work – and what distinguishes one show from another nowadays is it’s own unique combination of how those pieces work together and how they’re Art Directed together. [This film] has a nice blend of character animation that’s stunt and action oriented – and performance based – interacting with the real actors. We’ve also got really fantastical environmental extensions of sets. They bring into this fantastical world of Oz what we’ve shot on set.”

The film looks amazing, as the porcelain doll character actually looks like porcelain, and the flying monkey Finley actually looks real, as well as the environmental effects and character interaction. Real actors were used in pre-production filming to get a realistic level of interaction with the CG characters.

What do you think of Sony Pictures Imageworks’ visual magic in Oz the Great and Powerful?

Share this article: ‘Oz the Great and Powerful’: Interview With Sony Pictures Imageworks
More from Inquisitr