Mad Max: Fury Road has been rightly celebrated for both its insane practical effects and for Doof Warrior’s kickass flaming guitar, but one element that hasn’t been getting enough praise is the subtle work done by the film’s visual effects team. Thankfully, FXGuide is making sure those artists get their due in a new article that explores the more than 2,000 visual effects shots used in the film.
Specifically, the piece examines the work of visual effects supervisor Andrew Jackson and colorist Eric Whipp, who helped transform the Namibia and Sydney shoots into a coherent visual story. While most of those VFX shots involved small details like wire removal or painting out tire tracks from previous shots, Jackson notes, “There are a big number of big VFX shots as well.”
For instance, there’s an extended sequence set during a rich blue desert night as Charlize Theron’s Imperator Furiosa and her ragtag crew travel through a muddy swamp. It turns out all of those scenes were filmed in bright sunlight in the Namibian desert and only transformed into evening shots in post-production. Jackson even pioneered a brand new technique of overexposing all the daytime shots so they would look better when converted to night.
Interestingly, Jackson was totally onboard with the idea of using practical effects whenever possible. He was actually the one who requested the filmmakers blow up a rock quarry to help create a canyon explosion that could have been done completely in CG. And rather than insert CG cars into his massive CG dust storm, Jackson insisted the production shoot actual vehicles to ensure the setpiece had realistic camera movement. He explains: