Who can forget the marvellous performance of Julie Andrews in the film Mary Poppins made in 1964. But today we will look upon the recent musical fantasy film Mary Poppins Returns released in 2018.

1. Magical VFX World Of Mary Poppins Returns
Who can forget the marvellous performance of Julie Andrews in the film
Mary Poppins made in 1964.
But today we will look upon the recent musical fantasy film Mary Poppins
Returns released in 2018.
Mary Poppins Returns stars Emily Blunt as protagonist.
The plot is set in 1930s London, twenty five years after the events of the
original film; it follows Mary Poppins the former nanny of Jane and Michael
Banks returning after a family tragedy.
Directed by Robert Marshall and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion
Pictures this film has grossed over $318 million worldwide.
Mary Poppins Returns is a beautiful blend of musical and fantasy with dash
of vfx.

2. Magical World Created By VFX
Visual Effects for the movie is provided by Cinesite, Framestore, Luma
Pictures and TPO VFX.
The VFX team created a combination of many styles of beautiful effects that
looked fresh to contemporary audiences.
Similar to the original film, this film includes a sequence combining live-
action and traditional hand-drawn animation.
Hand-drawn animation was created by Duncan's animation studio, Duncan
Studio, in Pasadena, California.
The overall supervision was handled by ex-Pixar veteran, Jim Capobianco
and ex-Disney animator, Ken Duncan, supervised physical animation
production at his studio in Pasadena.
VFX companies like Framestore, Cinesite and Luma Pictures worked on
everything from digitally erasing any modern structures visible in the
background of the London exterior shots to digitally creating period
London landscapes and extending Cherry Tree Lane.
In the Royal Doulton bowl scene when all the characters interact with the
animals, a 20 feet giraffe was used during filming to give children a point of
reference.

3. Animated background environments were inserted later in post-
production.
In the magical world where Blunt and co-star Lin-Manuel Miranda
performs song and dance; traditional style of hand-drawn animation with
fully digital environment was used.
More than 70 animation artists specializing in hand-drawn 2D animation
from Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, and other
animation studios were engaged for the sequence.
Artists created the music hall as a Computer generated environment and
texture it with authentic hand-painted artwork to make it feel Disney
cartoon word and it took 16 months to complete all the animation.

4. Framestore is the lead VFX Company on the film with visual effects,
animation and musical numbers.
The animated drawings were created using pencil and paper; then scanned
onto the computer to be digitally inked and painted.
Designer James Woods and animator James Baxter also helped to re-design
the penguins from the first film.
Advancement in technology allowed the filmmakers a chance to blend 2D
animation with 3D modern tools and allowed the camera to move all
throughout the hand-drawn and digital CG environments
Marshall’s steady-cam worked with fluid cinematography helped to render
the flatness of the Royal Doulton’s cartoon bits within their three
dimensions.
They created a living style that harmonizes the live-action performance, the
cartoon penguins and the computer-animated stuff.
Carriage ride environment was made up from traditionally painted
artwork; projected in 3D space.

5. In the bathroom scene Mary Poppins pulls impossibly large objects from
her carpet bag and to give total freedom of movement to Emily and camera
artists created a digital bathroom.
A specially constructed SFX rig helped Mary and children slide into the tub
and taken beneath the Magical Ocean.
Children in the film were shot in SFX bubble rigs that allowed them to twist
and tumble safely as the bubbles breaks; they find themselves on an ocean
covered in huge mountains of bath foam.
According to the CGI artist each of the bubble spheres needed to be
accurately reflect and refract its environment; the combination of the
motion of the ocean surface and the particle effect foam break up made this
effect hugely challenging.

6. The biggest challenge of Framestore’s London team was creating a unique
dry look for the undersea adventure by shooting on chroma screen and
then finding a balance between photorealistic environments.
The CG artists created simulated water, foam and bubbles all with
individual movement.
The fantastic underwater world was fully 3D environment and animals
were created from scratch.

7. The VFX team re-created 1934 London and extended the Cherry Lane
Studio Set.
Film’s Cherry Tree Lane was re-imagined as a more humble place.
As there was a lot of expectation from the team of Mary Poppins Returns to
not just pay homage to the original movie but to make it fresh, new and
contemporary, Visual effects supervisor Matt Johnson used up-to-date
technologies.
In the year 1964 Special effects god father Peter Ellenshaw used the most
up-to-date technology to create the animated world in the old Mary
Poppins film.
A fully digital house of Parliament and the surrounding was created along
with Big Ben Clock.
At Shepperton Studios, eight soundstages were used to build and house the
astounding practical sets for Cherry Tree Lane, Big Ben, enormous
abandoned park and interiors of Banks home.
All effects were not computer generated, Poppins talking umbrella is a
practical effect controlled remotely.

8. The parrot on the end of Emily’s umbrella was built as an animatronic, so it
could be practical prop on set.
In the Spring Fair Scene where the cast floats into the sky with magic
balloons.
On location and on soundstages with the actors wearing harnesses that
could be hoisted upwards with huge cranes set against backdrops of actual
period locations and blue screens.

9. The lampposts in the film were specially designed to facilitate a
complicated dance number featuring Lin-Manuel Miranda and the crew.
The director chose to shoot on locations throughout London to give the film
a more grounded sense of realism, so that the wonder that comes when
Mary Poppins arrives are the perfect departure from the real-world issues.
Set included St. Paul’s Cathedral, Buckingham Palace, King Charles Street,
Tower of London and others and required detailed set dressing to obscure
any modern touch.
Mary Poppins Returns film is an expertly crafted and hugely entertaining
film.
It has received numerous award nominations in various categories.
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