For the Season 2 finale of Hulu\u2019s Paradise, the end of the world had to feel massive without losing sight of the people caught inside it. In \u201cExodus,\u201d director Hanelle Culpepper and visual effects supervisor John Weckworth brought down the carefully constructed world of Paradise, while deliberately echoing the visual language of the series\u2019 pilot.<\/p>\n
The finale mirrors one of the pilot\u2019s most memorable sequences, when Sterling K. Brown\u2019s Xavier first runs through the seemingly idyllic town in the hopes of continuing a sustainable future. This time, Xavier is escaping as Paradise collapses, while Sinatra (Julianne Nicholson) walks through the city she helped build as it crumbles around her.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat was important to me and to the writers is we wanted to mirror the pilot,\u201d Culpepper said. In addition to showing Xavier navigating Paradise in the wake of this catastrophe, Culpepper deliberately chose to also return to Sinatra\u2019s innocence.<\/p>\n
Considering that the finale episode supposes that Sinatra\u2019s son Dylan, who died before the end of the world, may instead be a guy named Link (Thomas Doherty), Culpepper and the writers thought it would be appropriate to revisit that time of peace in Sinatra\u2019s life. To do that, audiences saw a return to the toy horses that had been established as one of Dylan\u2019s favorite things, as the Season 2 world-collapsing sequence ends with Sinatra reaching the horse, where a version of her son greets her, takes her hand and walks with her into the sun.<\/p>\n
The sunlight carried its own significance. Paradise has its artificial sun, while the people emerging from the bunker are experiencing the warmth of the real sun for the first time. Culpepper wanted the real sun to backlight Sinatra throughout the walk, eventually allowing the image to flare completely to white.<\/p>\n
There was just one problem: too much flare could obscure the VFX.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember John was telling me, \u2018OK, but you can\u2019t have too much flaring because then we can\u2019t see the effects,\u2019\u201d Culpepper recalled with a laugh. \u201cBut I was like, \u2018I want the flare.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The compromise was to give Weckworth\u2019s visual effects enough time to register before allowing the flare to take over. \u201cI just needed a moment,\u201d Weckworth added.<\/p>\n
The result is a sequence that initially plays as chaos, but becomes surprisingly tender through the combination of slow motion, music and sound design.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy first version of this that me and my crew put forward, there was way more going on,\u201d Weckworth said. \u201cWe were bringing down large portions of the sky, and I kind of forgot what we were doing there for an instant.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dan Fogelman, the series\u2019 creator, had a simple note when he saw the first version: Pull it back.<\/p>\n
The final sequence allows the destruction to creep into the frame instead. A few panels appear around the periphery before the full scope becomes apparent.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy the time we get to that side profile, you see, \u2018OK, no, this is the whole city that she has built coming around her,\u2019\u201d Weckworth said.<\/p>\n
For Culpepper and Weckworth, the sequence was an example of the various departments coming together at exactly the right moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery once in a while, all the departments are kind of firing on all cylinders and it all just kind of comes together,\u201d Weckworth explained. \u201cAnd this was definitely one of those times.\u201d<\/p>\n
The finale\u2019s other major VFX challenge was a sweeping pullback that begins with the survivors at their campsite and expands outward across the ruined Paradise, past the mountains and suburbs of Denver, through the city and eventually to the airport before descending underground into the bunker.<\/p>\n
Culpepper storyboarded the sequence, which then went through previs before the film team took it to set. The production\u2019s drone team was then brought in to capture the opening movement. Originally, the drone was moving relatively slowly through the crowd. But Weckworth wanted more. \u201cI just remember yelling at them, \u2018Go, go, go!\u2019 And they took the drone as fast as they could and as high as they could,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
From there, the VFX team took over. To create the sense that the camera was traveling an enormous distance, Weckworth says they manipulated the digital environment in a particularly unusual way. \u201cIn the computer, we literally folded the environment like a taco,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The move allowed the camera to cover the apparent distance needed to reach the top of the crater while keeping the pacing and perspective under control. The sequence ultimately evolved considerably from Culpepper\u2019s original storyboards.<\/p>\n
One of her concerns was making sure audiences understood where the camera had arrived once it reached the airport featuring the iconic Denver blue horse, also colloquially known as Blucifer. Admittedly, Culpepper says she was one of the people who didn\u2019t know the significance of Denver\u2019s blue mustang, so she wanted to make sure the location was unmistakable. From there, the camera descends into the ground and ultimately finds Alex in the bunker.<\/p>\n
Although much of the sequence relied on visual effects, the bunker itself contained plenty of practical work. When Culpepper arrived, the shell of Alex was already built, but she continued working with the production team on the details, including the symmetry of its lights and the movement of the smoke.<\/p>\n
Even the massive door that appears to open automatically was practical.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not even automated,\u201d Culpepper said. \u201cIt looks so automatic, but you have the special effects team that are pulling it open.\u201d<\/p>\n
Once Weckworth saw the practical effect on camera, there was little reason to add digital work.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey thought that we were going to add to this, but once we saw it in camera,\u201d he explained, \u201cthis looks really good.\u201d<\/p>\n
For both Culpepper and Weckworth, the work on Paradise ultimately led to their first Emmy nominations. Culpepper notes that her recognition was particularly historic: She became only the second Black woman ever nominated in the directing category.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was truly an honor to have my peers recognize the work in this way,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
For Weckworth, the nomination was a recognition of how much television visual effects have evolved.\u201cYou basically have to be a feature film level now to be on top in television,\u201d he said. \u201cSo to be recognized at that level\u2026 feels good.\u201d<\/p>\n
To learn more about the behind the scenes of the Season 2 finale of Paradise, watch the video above. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the Season 2 finale of Hulu\u2019s Paradise, the end of the world had to feel massive without…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":634262,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[265],"tags":[268109,268110,18,117,268111,13930,19,17,268112,54949,7730,118585,215687,128],"class_list":["post-634261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-awardsbtl","tag-below-the-line","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-hanelle-culpepper","tag-hulu","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-john-weckworth","tag-julianne-nicholson","tag-paradise","tag-sterling-k-brown","tag-the-process","tag-tv"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117085943119046929","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=634261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/634262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=634261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=634261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=634261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}