Murray and I went to see Mary Poppins Returns at our neighborhood theatre over the December holidays. It was well attended, mainly with adults and a few families. I had had some apprehension going to an afternoon showing, thinking that it would be filled with restless kids. It wasn’t. While it didn’t quite live up to the high standard of the original Mary Poppins for me there were some wonderful moments in it and I particularly loved the dance scenes with special effects that took the movement to a new level.
The finale is quite amazing and a definite highlight for me. Angela Lansbury makes a cameo appearance as the Balloon Lady singing the song Nowhere to Go But Up. As the characters select balloons they are swept up into the air and a beautiful scene in the London sky accompanies the singing. The sky is filled not only with the main characters but with lots of dancers too.
As I left the theatre I was reminded of an Avodah tour in 1983 to Southern California when on our day off we toured Universal Studios and learned about how special effects are done. Rick Jacobs and Bea Bogorad volunteered to assist in one of the scenes. Next time we saw them they were in space suits soon to take a trip in their space ship, first against a green screen and then with a different background to make it seem real.
As I was writing this blog I checked in with a dancer, Roberta Behrendt, who I thought (but wasn’t sure) was on the tour. She confirmed that she was indeed on the tour and remembers the special effects we saw showing the “parting of the Red Sea.” Roberta also reminded me about a day off in San Diego where the full company was photographed on a very large tree in Balboa Park. I found the photo.
Another memorable moment on the tour happened as we were packing the car to leave for the airport. We had home hospitality and some of us were staying at Rick’s parents ‘ house. We had rented a car for the trip. Somehow or other the car keys got locked inside the trunkwhen we closed it. There was this moment of disbelief… total shock. What were we to do next.? And before we could even decide, either Rick’s Mom or Dad had reached into the car’s glove compartment and found there was an extra set of keys. Many sighs of relief and then this picture was taken. We made it to the airport in time to catch our flight.
Collaboration plays an important role in a small dance company like Avodah. Through the years so many dancers worked together contributing their talents and their wonderful spirit. What fun it is for me to remember not only the creative collaboration but the fun we also had together on our down time. We worked hard, rehearsed and performed and then we got to play on our days off.
Now back to what motivated these memories, Mary Poppins Returns. The special effects were just extraordinary and I wanted to learn more about how they did them. A quick “Google” and I found two excellent articles. One article goes into detail related to how a broken bowl becomes an amazing adventure and ballet:
For the creative personnel behind Disney’s flashy new sequel, the jaunt through the painterly fantasia of Royal Doulton would prove the production’s most formidable technical challenge — and as director Rob Marshall tells it, “the hardest thing I’ve ever actually done on film.” Speaking with Vulture, Marshall laid out the complicated, labor-intensive process by which the visual-effects team combined live-action, 2-D animation, and 3-D computer rendering to create a passage of eye-popping originality within a repurposing of intellectual property. Whatever a viewer’s criticisms of the film itself, there’s no denying that this sequence represents a stunning synthesis of state-of-the-art technology and old-fashioned artistry.https://www.vulture.com/2018/12/how-mary-poppins-returns-turned-a-bowl-into-a-fantasia.html
The other article describes how they created the ending scene Nowhere to Go But Up.
The movie’s airborne finale begins on the ground in “Spring Park” aka Pinewood Gardens, where Angela Lansbury’s character hands out magical balloons. Once Mr. Banks (Ben Whishaw) and his family achieve liftoff, the practical location was swapped out for a digitally constructed backdrop. “The challenge there was to make the performances happen live as much as possible,” Johnson says. “We created a full digital park with trees and Ferris wheel along with these highly detailed CG versions of Buckingham Palace and Big Ben in the background.”
With digital London added during post-production, actors floated above the “city” wearing harnesses. Johnson explains, “We had all the principal cast members moving around on wires in front of a green screen. We shot 30 or 40 different passes because Rob has an incredible visual sense. ‘On frame 17 this dancer’s leg would be over there because it’s a nice shape and that balances some other thing. It was all very choreographed.”
https://www.mpaa.org/2018/12/how-mary-poppins-returns-vfx-supervisor-battled-english-weather-won/
Murray and I have the habit of staying through the credits of a movie. And wow these were long credits acknowledging the large team of both live actors and animation artists involved. Some of Disney’s traditional cartoon artists came out of retirement to participate. The power of collaboration and bringing different elements to play with each other was outstanding and hats off to the talented team that worked on this film. My fascination with the options available for dance and film are clearly getting more and more triggered and I am so glad to be part of the film community here in Santa Fe.
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