In “IF,” directed by John Krasinski, a cast of well-known actors, including Emily Blunt, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, and Bradley Cooper, voice a group of imaginary friends who are looking for meaning in life after their children grow up and forget them. Here comes Ryan Reynolds, who manages a dating service for the “IFs,” a group of retired people who reside in a remote house near Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park in Coney Island.
Framestore’s London, Montreal, and Mumbai studios handled the bold combination of live-action and computer-generated imagery (800 shots) and visual effects. The team, which included director-actor Krasinski, worked closely with animation director Arslan Elver and VFX supervisor Chris Lawrence to coax genuine performances out of the IFs on set or in post. To Krasinski, these were hyper-real, visceral puppets. Among the methods used were home-shot reference video from the animators, employing virtual reality to place the animated characters in the scene, and using stand-ins to assist the voice actors in giving complete performances.
Three main protagonists are introduced: Blue (Steve Carell), a cuddly, purple monster with fur; Lewis (the late Louis Gossett Jr.), an aged teddy bear with wisdom; and Blossom (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), a humanoid butterfly with a lot of energy. Inspired by the legendary 2D Fleischer Studios appearance (think Betty Boop), she manages the matchmaking service with a sharp mind and attitude.
Lawrence told IndieWire, “We had these sketches, but it was a very detailed process to bring them together.” After that, we added a fantastic 2D artist named Gary Dunn, who created these incredible turnarounds and 2D graphics to help create a model sheet. We then used our visual development team to create a [rapid prototyping, digital] sculpt out of that.
Blossom was a particularly challenging character, according to Lawrence, since many of the early 2D elements are very challenging to realise in three dimensions and to create sculpture that is pleasing to the eye from every perspective. And because of the way John uses [Steadicam] and roving cameras, we were forced to take that action. However, after receiving these fantastic sculpts, Arslan’s animation team took over and transformed the 2D sketches into 3D.
They were able to find the general contour of the character with Dunn’s 2D assistance, despite the challenge of the huge head and the realistic expression of the mouth and eyes. “But after that, it was more like a 2D drawing, and we went to an expression sheet model where Blossom could be happy, angry, or sad from different perspectives,” Elver said to IndieWire. And in three dimensions, too. We then used a 360 turntable to examine it and determine what functions well and poorly. You cheat a lot, considering you worked on “Tom and Jerry” as well, which used 2D characters. The character will be drawn in a three-quarter view, which differs from a profile. However, it won’t function from the opposite perspective if you place one of them in a fully 3D environment.
She was extremely sensitive to even the smallest alterations in the proportions of her facial anatomy, so we had to devise a rigging system that would allow us to mould her eyes or muzzle. For instance, if you overly styled your fringe, it would show off too much of her forehead and make her appear too bald. The animation crew thus put a lot of effort into retaining her as a model.
Finding Blossom’s performance through Waller-Bridge was the next challenge. Elver said, “It was very much like we did with [Bradley Cooper’s] Rocket in ADR sessions, to pick up little things to combine in one big performance.” This included Blossom’s breaking of the fourth wall in “Flowerbag.”
There are two key scenes with Blossom: a ballet dance with Fiona Shaw and a swimming sequence reminiscent of Busby Berkeley with multiples of herself. She portrays Bea’s (Cailey Fleming) 12-year-old grandma, who helps the IFs while her prankster dad (Krasinski) is in the hospital for surgery.
John described this strange thing that’s occurring in the pool, and we both talked about paying tribute to Esther Williams, Lawrence said. “We were doing the previs for this huge swimming number [with scans shot at a pool in Greenbrier, West Virginia],” Lawrence added. And tangibility was one of the things John mentioned to us right away. Making [the IFs] feel real when they move and act was therefore always a major issue for us, especially with Blossom and not wanting her to look strange. But physics can be bent underwater. However, the choreography and camera work to make it appear good were crucial and difficult.
As for the exquisite moment when Blossom sees Shaw dancing to “Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia,” which makes her glow, Krasinski was particularly helpful in providing guidance. He gave a detailed description of the scene, clearly understanding its emotional progression. “John really felt that scene on the day of the shoot, and the dance was so beautiful, so we animated that early in the production,” Elver explained.
“We interpreted the dancer’s movements into Blossom’s language by physically following her lead. She had gorgeous, enormous wings that fully spread out as the performance moves on. And I recall that during their dancing, there was a scene where the camera practically passed behind Blossom, passing through the antennae and those two enormous wings. Even as she begins to sparkle, Blossom looks first to her heart. John also adored it a lot. We felt as though we were [starting] a new chapter in her life.
