SANTA MONICA - Effects house Whodoo EFX (www.whodooefx.com) recently spent several months providing design, graphics, 3D and compositing services for DreamWorks/Paramount Pictures' "The Stepford Wives." The feature takes a comedic look at the quest for perfection and exposes what really goes on in an idyllic Connecticut town.
Whoodoo president/effects artist Helena Packer and executive producer Mark Ritcheson collaborated with director Frank Oz; VFX supervisor Richard Edlund, ASC; and art director Terry Windell on the film, going on location to New York last fall during production.
Packer, Ritcheson and a team of 12 at Whodoo EFX created more than 85 shots for the film in time for its early June release. Robert Skotak led a team that completed a series of matte paintings of the idyllic village of Stepford, CT, as well as the design of the "neuro net" featured in the complex laboratory sequence starring Matthew Broderick.
Jay Roth served as CGI supervisor and was responsible for the 3D realization of Skotak's design. Richard Lieu was lead compositor on numerous driving sequences, greenscreen shots and the laboratory scene. He also completed color correction on exterior shots. Marla Carter served as visual effects artist.
Edlund brought Windell in to serve as visual effects designer. Windell storyboarded and completed the animation design for the lab sequence. The visual effects completed by Whodoo EFX worked in tandem with the prosthetic special effects completed by the Phil Tippett Studio in Berkeley, CA.