Soho VFX studio One Of Us announce their involvement in Matteo Garrone’s Pinocchio, ahead of its international premiere at the Berlin Film Festival.
Soho-based visual effects studio One Of Us created enchanting scenes for Matteo Garrone’s retelling of the classic tale Pinocchio.
The film, which features some of the most beautiful and ambitious work in their 15 year history, is based on Carlo Collodi’s original story from the 19th century and draws on Carlo Chiostri’s illustrations.
With a theatricality which might seem hard to reconcile with digital visual effects, their work ran to over 200 shots and nearly half an hour of screen time.
One Of Us’ VFX work on Matteo Garrone’s Pinocchio. Image courtesy of One Of Us.
Garrone’s is a world in which animals portrayed with little more than make-up (a fox, a cat) live alongside fully digital creatures (a donkey, dogfish, woodpeckers) and prosthetic-digital hybrids (tuna, snail, cricket).
The company became involved in the project early in the pre-production process and began by testing approaches to the portrayal of Pinocchio himself, working alongside make-up and prosthetics magician Mark Coulier, to be sure the digital work was in sympathy with, and added to, the richness of the world that Garrone was building.
Stills from Matteo Garrone’s Pinocchio. Image courtesy of One Of Us. 
One Of Us’ VFX work on Matteo Garrone’s Pinocchio. Image courtesy of One Of Us.
Through pre-production, and a three month shoot in Tuscany, Puglia and Rome, One Of Us VFX supervisor, Theo Demiris, built a relationship of trust with Garrone, developing an understanding of his aesthetic intentions and planning the best route through a short post period.
“The work presented both technical and artistic challenges, including a 40 second shot of a drowning donkey enveloped in a shimmering school of fish, and the breaching of the whale which swallows Pinocchio, with all the chaotic water interaction that entails.
The iconic sequence in which the young puppet’s nose grows in response to his lies and is resolved by the arrival of a small flock of woodpeckers. These and many other complex shots needed to fit within the singular world that Garrone had created, and much of this was achieved by an ongoing dialogue between One Of Us, the Director, and his Concept artist and character designer Pietro Scola.”
Theo Demiris, VFX supervisor, One Of Us
One Of Us’ VFX work on Matteo Garrone’s Pinocchio. Image courtesy of One Of Us.
Garrone was generous in his praise for One of Us: “thank you for the dedication and love that you’ve shown for the project and for the quality of your work.”
“We are tremendously proud of what Theo and his team have created, and we really look forward to the release of this beautiful, and beguiling fairy tale.”
Rachael Penfold, Company Director, One Of US
Pinocchio has been nominated for Italy’s David di Donatello VFX award and will premiered at Berlinale on February 23rd, 3.30pm at Berlin Palast.
