‘Wicked’ Cinematographer Alice Brooks on Shooting Emotional ‘For Good’ Sequence Using Torch Flames and Why the Hand-Holding Moment Tugs at Heartstrings
“Wicked” cinematographer Alice Brooks knows why the “For Good” number tugs at heartstrings.
Aside from the split door scene with Elphaba and Glinda on either side in tears, the handholding moment also hits emotionally. Thematically, it’s also a repeated shot in “Wicked” and “Wicked: For Good” — and it was something important to filmmaker Jon M. Chu.
“Hands were the very first thing that Jon talked about when we first started talking about ‘Wicked,’” says Brooks, who sat down for Variety’s Inside the Frame. She added at that point Chu didn’t yet have the script. “He said, ‘There’s something about touch. Two friends; how they embrace each other, how they hold each other. And the hands became the thing that he wanted to become a visual theme.”
The two, who have worked together on “In the Heights” and “Jem and the Holograms,” started to explore what that would look like. Brooks says they always shot the hands from behind. “We do it in the first film, and then we do it two times in the second film. We do it in ‘Wonderful’ when Elphaba and Glinda are about to get on the broomstick ride. And then we do it again in ‘For Good.’ It completely pulls at the heartstrings.”
Emotions were key to “Wicked” and its conclusion. Brooks and Chu tied yearning, longing, friendship, choice and desire to the first film, but “the second film were words like sacrifice, surrender, separation and consequence.”
Those words helped Brooks map how the films would be lit. “The first movie would live in this effervescent daylight and the second film would be steeped in maturity and density and have a weight to it,” she says. “As we were designing it, ‘Wicked: For Good has this handmade feel to it, but it also feels textured and raw and edgy.”
Brooks points out that 90% of the second movie takes place “at night or in the deep dark underbelly of Oz, in the shadow of Oz, in the secret places that no one knows exists in Oz.” That gave her new ways to tell the story. She used every color of the rainbow as symbolism and to light key sequences in the film– blue was important in the “For Good” sequence.
“Blue is the color of love between Glinda and Elphaba,” she explains. “It’s the exact moonlight color we use in the Ozdust ballroom.”
Similarly, orange symbolized transformation.
“We first see it in ‘No Good Deed’ when she starts the fire and the monkeys start flying around and lighting all the torches. She’s about to transform into the Wicked Witch of the West,” Brooks says. “In ‘For Good,’ she’s about to give up being the Wicked witch of the West. This is her goodbye. This is the goodbye to the Elphaba that we have now come to know.”
In shooting the sequence, Brooks used huge torches, which were lit and carefully placed throughout production designer Nathan Crowley’s set. “You’d see the flame slowly as the wind blew, you’d see it play dance on their faces and you can feel it in their hair.”
When it came to shooting the scene, Brooks says the end of the number was meant to be a big crane move. But during playback, the scene didn’t work for Chu or Brooks. They weren’t feeling anything. “It was the wrong way to tell this moment, so we started thinking about the moments where they connected.”
The 360-degree shot had been used twice, for the Ozdust Ballroom and in “Defying Gravity.” “We decided, ‘Let’s do it as a 360.’”
However, Erivo and Grande were at the very front of the parapet, and there was no space to move around in a full space. “Not only that, there’s nowhere to light it from because we didn’t rig our lights for a 360-degree shot. Jon goes and talks to Ari and Cynthia and says, “Look, we’re going to have to come back on Monday morning and shoot this.”
Over the weekend, Brooks discussed with her team the idea of building a platform to execute the shot. In the end, Brooks and her team spent eight hours lighting the shot.
She adds, “The other thing he says [is], ‘I want to do the split screen between Glinda and Elphaba the very end. I don’t want to do it in two pieces on Monday morning. I also want to do it as I want them to finish ‘For Good,’ and I want to go shoot that moment so that they have a complete goodbye. Nathan goes, ‘Well, if you do that, I have to rip the walls of the set apart, and then you’re not going to be able to shoot anything else there.’ And Jon goes, ‘This is when this moment’s happening, so this is what we’re doing.’” Everyone was on board. Brooks adds, “That incredible collaborative spirit is why I loved making this movie.”
As for the challenge of shooting in low lighting with flame lights, costume designer Paul Tazewell would bring Brooks different iterations of Elphaba’s jacket so she could camera test it.”The problem is all of that darkness, all of that black can disappear into nothing so easily.” In the end, Tazewell brought in linen which had a sheen to it. “The sheen just made everything so much easier for me because it picked up the little teeny highlights so you can actually see the flame playing in the reflection of the jacket, even though it’s a solid black.”
Watch the video above.
Aside from the split door scene with Elphaba and Glinda on either side in tears, the handholding moment also hits emotionally. Thematically, it’s also a repeated shot in “Wicked” and “Wicked: For Good” — and it was something important to filmmaker Jon M. Chu.
“Hands were the very first thing that Jon talked about when we first started talking about ‘Wicked,’” says Brooks, who sat down for Variety’s Inside the Frame. She added at that point Chu didn’t yet have the script. “He said, ‘There’s something about touch. Two friends; how they embrace each other, how they hold each other. And the hands became the thing that he wanted to become a visual theme.”
The two, who have worked together on “In the Heights” and “Jem and the Holograms,” started to explore what that would look like. Brooks says they always shot the hands from behind. “We do it in the first film, and then we do it two times in the second film. We do it in ‘Wonderful’ when Elphaba and Glinda are about to get on the broomstick ride. And then we do it again in ‘For Good.’ It completely pulls at the heartstrings.”
Emotions were key to “Wicked” and its conclusion. Brooks and Chu tied yearning, longing, friendship, choice and desire to the first film, but “the second film were words like sacrifice, surrender, separation and consequence.”
Those words helped Brooks map how the films would be lit. “The first movie would live in this effervescent daylight and the second film would be steeped in maturity and density and have a weight to it,” she says. “As we were designing it, ‘Wicked: For Good has this handmade feel to it, but it also feels textured and raw and edgy.”
Brooks points out that 90% of the second movie takes place “at night or in the deep dark underbelly of Oz, in the shadow of Oz, in the secret places that no one knows exists in Oz.” That gave her new ways to tell the story. She used every color of the rainbow as symbolism and to light key sequences in the film– blue was important in the “For Good” sequence.
“Blue is the color of love between Glinda and Elphaba,” she explains. “It’s the exact moonlight color we use in the Ozdust ballroom.”
Similarly, orange symbolized transformation.
“We first see it in ‘No Good Deed’ when she starts the fire and the monkeys start flying around and lighting all the torches. She’s about to transform into the Wicked Witch of the West,” Brooks says. “In ‘For Good,’ she’s about to give up being the Wicked witch of the West. This is her goodbye. This is the goodbye to the Elphaba that we have now come to know.”
In shooting the sequence, Brooks used huge torches, which were lit and carefully placed throughout production designer Nathan Crowley’s set. “You’d see the flame slowly as the wind blew, you’d see it play dance on their faces and you can feel it in their hair.”
When it came to shooting the scene, Brooks says the end of the number was meant to be a big crane move. But during playback, the scene didn’t work for Chu or Brooks. They weren’t feeling anything. “It was the wrong way to tell this moment, so we started thinking about the moments where they connected.”
The 360-degree shot had been used twice, for the Ozdust Ballroom and in “Defying Gravity.” “We decided, ‘Let’s do it as a 360.’”
However, Erivo and Grande were at the very front of the parapet, and there was no space to move around in a full space. “Not only that, there’s nowhere to light it from because we didn’t rig our lights for a 360-degree shot. Jon goes and talks to Ari and Cynthia and says, “Look, we’re going to have to come back on Monday morning and shoot this.”
Over the weekend, Brooks discussed with her team the idea of building a platform to execute the shot. In the end, Brooks and her team spent eight hours lighting the shot.
She adds, “The other thing he says [is], ‘I want to do the split screen between Glinda and Elphaba the very end. I don’t want to do it in two pieces on Monday morning. I also want to do it as I want them to finish ‘For Good,’ and I want to go shoot that moment so that they have a complete goodbye. Nathan goes, ‘Well, if you do that, I have to rip the walls of the set apart, and then you’re not going to be able to shoot anything else there.’ And Jon goes, ‘This is when this moment’s happening, so this is what we’re doing.’” Everyone was on board. Brooks adds, “That incredible collaborative spirit is why I loved making this movie.”
As for the challenge of shooting in low lighting with flame lights, costume designer Paul Tazewell would bring Brooks different iterations of Elphaba’s jacket so she could camera test it.”The problem is all of that darkness, all of that black can disappear into nothing so easily.” In the end, Tazewell brought in linen which had a sheen to it. “The sheen just made everything so much easier for me because it picked up the little teeny highlights so you can actually see the flame playing in the reflection of the jacket, even though it’s a solid black.”
Watch the video above.