Johnny Han brings over two decades of experience in the visual effects industry. His impressive portfolio spans projects like Smallville, Heroes, Pacific Rim, and The Nevers. Today, he shares insights into his work on The Penguin.
What is your background?
I was born and raised in NYC. I studied art and got a job doing VFX for commercials while in college. Then I moved out to LA to work on TV and Film VFX as a 2d and 3d artist. I loved working on set so I became a VFX supervisor. I switched it up and moved to London to be a commercials director. Now back in VFX, I’ve been working as a VFX supervisor on the production side and 2nd unit director with HBO most recently for The Penguin.
What was your feeling to be back in the DC universe?
It seems to keep coming back for me! From Smallville in 2002 and Superman Returns in 2006, I’m excited to give it another go, contributing to the visual vocabulary of these powerhouse mythologies, this time for the world of Gotham City. I was 20 when I first started doing VFX on Smallville, and I think that worked out well because I was the exact age demographic the show was for. So the VFX ideas I thought were cool probably also were for the audience. It’s 2024 now and as one gets older, sensibilities and tastes mature as well- so hopefully I’m bringing those honed senses to the table.
How was the collaboration with the showrunner and the directors?
Lauren is a dream showrunner to work with. She’s open and willing to explore any and all ideas, as long as it helped enrich our characters, and tell the story we are trying to tell. Matt is great, a master storyteller but also loves the craft and its technical aspects. We could talk VFX ideas and techniques forever. It was really enjoyable and refreshing. Directors Craig Zobel, Helen Shaver, Kevin Bray and Jennifer Getzinger were like mentors, leading by example the art of directing. They also guided me when I was directing second unit for the show, especially important for some drama shots with our cast, which was such an exciting opportunity that I’m grateful for.
How did you choose the various vendors and split the work amongst them?
I always like to work with trusted people whom you’ve already established a shorthand with. But it’s always important to explore and discover new and great creative partners waiting in the wings, adding new ingredients- flavors to the mix. I strive to play to each vendor’s strengths. Not just in the skills and technologies their teams may possess, but also their enthusiasm and hungriness for certain types of shots. It leads to truly creative problem solving, making shots sing. So above all, that passion I believe delivers the best work, and finding where that lives is the key. In-house artists are absolutely invaluable, taking on countless shots that are just the right fit to be done by one person teams, which larger vendors may not be agile enough to take on efficiently. Our vendors were Accenture Song, SSVFX, Pixomondo, ReDefine, Stormborn Studios, Frost FX, FixFX, AniBrain, and talented in-house artists Takashi Takeoka, Brian Ali Harding, and Jesse Newman.
What is the your role on set and how do you work with other departments?
For bigger VFX scenes, I’m there on set to be by the director’s side, guiding them through some of the technicalities, but also to be there to explore new ideas that may happen in real time. No matter how much you have a plan, nothing ever quite goes exactly according to it. But that’s also the beauty and fun of the process. Limitations lead to new instinctual ideas. So if something causes the director to switch things up, I’m there to guide on the fly- what needs to be shot, how the camera might have to move, and what the actors might need to do for us.
Gotham City has such a distinct and gritty atmosphere. What were the main challenges in bringing this version of the city to life through visual effects?
NYC has become much cleaner in the last few decades! My memory of growing up there in the 80’s and 90’s was a large part of my reference of what to aim for. But more than that, The Batman established a neo-gothic architectural look. There are actually only a handful of these styles of buildings in NYC, like the Woolworth building, but there are more in Chicago so we borrowed lots of ideas from there. Chicago is also what stood in for some scenes in the film. We digitally transplanted the tops of familiar NYC skyscrapers to have ornate gothic spires and cathedral-like structures. VFX Supervisors Nathaniel Larouche (Pixomondo), Ed Bruce (SSVFX), and Emanuel Fuchs (Accenture Song) have become Gotham skyline experts, pulling off several of these shots. Distinct to our show, our Gotham has just experienced a massive flood. So we tried to make our sets as wet as possible. One scene in the pilot has a short car chase which was meant to be in torrential rain. When we arrived on set, it was so cold that city safety laws prohibited us from using rain towers and wet down trucks because of the potential for it to all freeze and turn to ice. So we digitally added almost all the water you see. Furthermore, to make scenes feel wet, we added what we called “wet flares”- caustic lens flares that occur when light shines through water on the lens. We did an element shoot, shining all kinds of flashlights through various gels and silicon, bought at a local hardware store. This created a library of really intricate caustic light phenomena that our VFX teams integrated throughout the show to give it a wet, damp, post-flood Gotham feel.
Can you explain the blend of practical and digital effects used to enhance Gotham’s iconic skyline and its unique architecture?
We always endeavor to start from as much practical as possible. Our VFX team was continuously shooting random plates of NYC everywhere we went to build a large library. Once in post, we armed our vendors with this searchable library to kit out every shot as much as possible. Then from there, we asked ourselves what parts needed to be changed with 3d, adding specific Gotham touches like neo-gothic tops to modern skyscrapers. In every skyline, we tried to plant an in-canon building established in the film such as Wayne Tower, the GCPD clocktower and the Empire Gotham building, but with consistent geographic rationality.
How did you handle the large-scale explosions in The Penguin to make them look realistic yet safe for the actors and the set?
Sofia’s G-Wagon originally wasn’t meant to be seen on camera, but in post Lauren and I felt such a shot would help the storytelling, so I really roughly slap comped together an explosion over an unused plate of the SUV, to give Lauren LeFranc and the editor Meg Reticker something to cut with. We all liked it, so VFX was given the go to make this shot from scratch with the team at Redefine. It was a fully CG shot, with a pyro simulation ripping apart the SUV, sending a hurtling fireball towards camera. When Oz falls down the shaft to escape the flames, we shot a real pyrotechnic explosion element of fire bursting down the shaft. However, once in post we realized it happens too instantaneously, not allowing for Oz to believably escape. Our VFX editor Erin Sullivan suggested we reverse the explosion clip, using the slower end parts of the flames as the first part. This worked perfectly and that’s what you see in the final shot. When we see an aerial shot of the explosion’s resulting sinkhole, ReDefine figured out the location of the helicopter plate, and extracted the google maps 3D data of the environment to serve as a starting point. Then based on the reference that we went through with Matt Reeves and Lauren, simulated the sinkhole collapse. When Victor gets there we get a closer look. The team used the same asset and detailed it out, adding details of Oz’s underground lair using the lidar data from that set. We wanted to help the viewers connect that under all this debris is where Oz was just moments ago, helping the story point of Victor thinking Oz may be dead.
In terms of environmental effects, what was the most challenging aspect of creating the flood sequences in Gotham?
Overall, the goal was to take this grand citywide event, and reduce it down to the experience of one individual, Victor. This contrasts to the film’s depiction, which was the effects of the wealthier midtown area and its people at a mass election event. Early edit cuts had shots cutting to different parts of the city showing various bombs going off, but we scrapped all that because we realized we were spreading this out and missing the point. So we had to focus it down to the most delicate and tragic moment of this one kid’s life.
What techniques were used to ensure the water effects during the flood scenes looked as lifelike and immersive as possible?
The flood is something not everyday people experience, so we wanted to connect it with as many everyday things people do experience. A typical rush hour traffic filled freeway, familiar green highway signs, street lamps, neighborhood storefronts, and neighborhood people. Things that you or I could have seen or experienced just yesterday, creating a strong personal connection. Lighting was a big part of it. When the water breaks through, the shot starts with lots of active lights- headlights, street lamps, apartment windows. But as the shot progresses those lights gradually flicker out or get submerged, making the water get darker and darker, ominously swallowing everything in its path.
Most important was that the flood felt like it was Victor’s own testimony, literally a recollection of his experience. We storyboarded the scene as early as possible. In them, you’ll see the camera only goes or looks at angles that Victor could have seen. The explosions are mostly implied with strong light sources partially behind buildings- this uncertainty for Victor is perhaps more terrifying than if he could see them all in his line of sight. For instance, we don’t get an up-close view of the bomb until Victor gets up off the floor, and by the time we reveal it, it has already half dissipated, where a more gratuitous version may have the whole bomb visible from its start. The water simulation was done to a feature film standard. I was a VFX Supervisor for Roland Emerich’s end of the world flood thriller 2012, supervising the flood sequences in the film. It was an unforgettable learning experience, understanding why and how to make water look right. Hopefully, I was able to apply some of that here. And luckily, we were able to work with a knockout vendor. At Stormborn Studios, VFX Supervisor Goran Pavles and his team completed the entire sequence with fierce determination and applied technical expertise.
How do you approach “invisible” visual effects, where the goal is to enhance or alter reality without drawing attention to the effects themselves?
I suppose it comes from switching modes from VFX Supervisor to “viewer at home,” watching the scene over and over to see if anything is jumping out, and more importantly if the VFX is helping me understand the story. We have to put our pride down from wanting to impress and dazzle others, which often leads to overcooked, overzealous VFX work. I try to push the use of live action elements as the first approach for any VFX shot, leaning on a huge library we’ve built for this very purpose of arming ourselves with a toolbox. When we have to go CG, we still rely on live action by obtaining as much reference as we can. And at times, if we feel it isn’t working, we will go out and custom shoot an element- in the office, in the parking lot, wherever. It’s that important to me that we exhaust all 2d resources first.
Did you use any digital doubles in action sequences? How do you ensure they are seamlessly integrated with live actors?
When Taj and Nadia burn to death, we set up 7 iPhones as witness cameras around the actors, fixed on top of light tubes flickering orange interactive lighting. We wrote an app for all the phones to sync-record, with their views viewable from an iPad. This gave the VFX team at Accenture Song led by VFX Supervisor Emanuel Fuchs a robust set of views to match move to. We cyberscanned the actors as usual, but for me it’s more about the movement to get right. I sometimes do the still frame test. If I can’t quite figure out why a shot isn’t looking right, I pause it. If it all of a sudden looks real, then you kinda know it’s the movement that’s causing it to feel not real.
How did the mood and tone of The Penguin shape your choices when creating the visual effects for Gotham’s darker, more atmospheric scenes?
We have to remember that our VFX imagery is meant to support the tone of the show. So often, Lauren and I would discuss when a VFX scene would look too “pretty” or too “nice”. This isn’t right for Gotham. So often CG lights would get reduced to be moodier, less perfectly and theatrically placed. Sunsets and sunrises had to be the ominous kind, reminding you time is running out- not the ones you sit and watch. Skylines were never about postcard images of rich corporate skyscrapers lit up with dazzling lights. They were carefully composed to have a mix of rich and wealthy buildings, surrounded by shorter, darker, rows, sometimes black with the power off to echo the story point that Crown Point has been powerless since the flood. Gore would get gorier. For instance, when Victor shoots Squid, the convenient neat and tidy bullet wound done practically would get a VFX makeover with messier torn up wounds with blood erratically spewing out, streaming all over his jacket. The scene is about Victor realizing he has become a monster himself, and so what he sees had to be disturbing and unglamorous. If Victor shot him with a clean perfect wound, it would not have the same effect on Victor, as he watches Squid bleed out. VFX Supervisor Adrien Saint Girons and his team at ReDefine executed this chilling sequence.
Were there any specific references or inspirations taken from other depictions of Gotham in film or TV when designing the city’s look for The Penguin?
Besides The Batman, we did borrow from one unique source. For some driving scenes, we collaborated with WB Games to use the real-time game environment from Gotham Knights to render out animated driving backgrounds that we put up on giant LED screens around the car. The creative team felt the game footage’s overall mood and tone (with some color desaturation) was a good match to be seen in the backgrounds of our car shots.
The use of rain and shadows is integral to Gotham’s feel. How much of this is practical versus CGI, and how do you strike the right balance?
Rain is a very hard thing to setup when filming, and also very hard to make visible on camera. We used it practically where it really counted, often just the areas where the actors were standing, and filled out the rest with VFX. When Oz has his Maserati car chase in the pilot, it was so cold in NYC that city laws didn’t allow us to use rain towers because of the risk it may freeze and become ice. So, every aspect of the water was entirely added in VFX. The rain, reflections, spray from the tires, collisions on the car, and the foggy beams from the headlights. VFX Supervisor Eugene Bondar of Frost FX masterfully crafted did all aspects of this car chase.
For shadows, we found there was something cool we could do here. Because there is a lot of muzzle flash gunfire in our show, theoretically they should light up our very darkly lit scenes full of shadow. The VFX team first used photography flash strobes to create room-filling interactive light, which we all felt was so visceral and exciting. We continued developing this idea, and created what we called “VFX Flash-Guns”. They were prop guns that contained all the electronics to produce an ultra-bright flash at the tip to give us that exciting interactive light driven by the actors. The flashes would however “tear” across the frame, when a flash clips the rolling shutter of our Alexas. So, we created a phase synchronizing system, that wirelessly altered the millisecond timings of the triggered flashes to only flash in phase with the camera shutters, resulting in full frame, never missing flashes. VFX Wrangler Jack Chaney took on the onset responsibility of making these flash-guns shine.
Were there any particularly complex shots or sequences in terms of effects layering that required multiple passes and detailed compositing?
When Taj and Nadia Maroni meet their fiery demise, we had to carefully balance telling the story of flames engulfing our two characters, while still seeing them visibly beneath with their charred sizzling flesh. The shots, as much as they seem to be about two bad guys burning, is actually about Oz taking a sick satisfaction and enjoyment of watching the two of them burn for as long as he can. So, we had to make sure Taj and Nadia didn’t steal the scene. It was a delicate balance, but I think it really worked. The plates contained 6 light bars with iPhone witness cameras surrounding them for interactive flickering firelight. We also filmed reference fire footage- SFX created this awesome fire snake- a flexible metal tube with gas holes throughout that could be puppeted from afar. This gave us a great sense of how the fire would look with rapid human movements. Accenture Song layered CG rotomated digi doubles on top of the plates, textured with elements of burning steel wool, for a burning skin and clothing effect. Pyro fire simulations followed, using the reference fire snake footage to match look, scale, turbulence, and motion. Some practical elements were mixed in to help give that blend of cg and practical to bring extra realism. Finally, a fire suppression system fires. CG gas simulations smothered the flames, with the fire light volumetrically scattering through the cg gas. At first it was quite a beautiful look for such a dark moment. We have to remember that we’re not here to make pretty pictures, we’re here to make pictures that support the tone and story. So, we “un-prettied” it, reducing the mix of interactive scattering light.
Can you talk about how the collaboration with the cinematography team influenced the VFX work, particularly with lighting and color grading in dark environments?
Jonathan Freeman and I had lots of discussions in post of what exactly we wanted the show and its VFX to look like. Coloring the first trailer was a great learning experience for all of us. It set this updated look for the whole show, since the trailer contained shots of every variety across the whole series. From that session we learned a lot about Lauren, Matt and Pankaj’s (the colorist) tastes and desires, beyond what we learned while filming on set. For the remaining months of post, we would clue vendors in- saying things like “hey FYI this scene likely will be lifted in the blacks, so make sure the detail holds up there.” In terms of filming, The DPs and I have a great appreciation for each other’s work and so definitely try to hear each other out. During filming, Jonathan Freeman, Darran Tiernan, David Franco or Zoë White may ask if there’s something we could do to help a shot, paint an unavoidable light structure out, extend an environment or stabilize something shaking in a camera’s arm. We’re always happy to help. At the same time, I may ask them to help us out. Like letting us shoot some extra VFX plates or adjust a camera setup ever so slightly. It’s all a collaboration and a trustful relationship to know we’re all working towards the best possible outcome.
How did you approach the destruction of buildings or infrastructure in Gotham during explosive sequences? What were some key technical challenges in making those scenes realistic?
We researched and dug up tons of clips of what urban sinkholes and underground explosions looked like. Matt was always making sure we based our VFX on real life occurrences. But the tricky thing is there isn’t a lot of reference of the union of the two- underground explosion creating an urban sinkhole. So, we took the best parts of the reference and incorporated that into our FX simulations. There’s a moment in 108 where Victor sees a large smoke plume from far away, signifying the further destruction of his neighborhood and Oz’s possible death. When I was at Comic-con 2024’s The Penguin press event, a building caught fire, making news headlines. The plume from the building was remarkably intense and unmistakably real. So, we layered in elements of that to give us an extra layer of realism.
What role did previsualization play in planning out the larger VFX-heavy sequences, like floods or action scenes?
Previz is a very crew culture specific thing. Some directors and producers love it, some don’t, and sometimes it’s just cost or time prohibitive. For The Penguin, I felt VFX storyboarding was a very good middle ground. I always say that pencil sketching to get super rough but super quick versions is the way to go. Because you’ll never be expected to nail it on the first go, so the key is the ability to have time to have lots of iterations and be able to address notes. So broad strokes, light sketches at first. No color! Then once we’ve got some good energy and approvals all around, we add details and clean them up. Chris Anderson created our VFX storyboards.
How do you ensure continuity and consistency of visual effects across episodes to maintain Gotham’s look and the show’s overall visual language?
Well, we are very careful which VFX teams we assign to which scenes. In a perfect world, it’s the same team doing all daytime Gotham, and the same team doing all nighttime Gotham, and a team doing all blood, guns and fire effects. But it’s quite a puzzle and we don’t have the luxury. So we carefully make sure that we send different teams the work in progress from other teams, to make sure we are all on the same page. The teams know that we are all working on the same show, so they set aside company pride and try to help each other out. I think we were so fortunate to have that happen. To help with consistency and continuity, we created a huge keyword searchable asset library of 2d images and video of filmed buildings, skies, bridges, rivers, traffic, you name it. Led by Piers Dennis, the intention was to give vendors access to the same visual materials, to foster thematic consistency. Also, for this library Alex Prod’homme and I shot countless lens flares and the aforementioned “wet flares” with the same lenses used to shoot the show. Vendors were encouraged to use these instead of generating cg lens flares, to give the shots the authentic feel that matched the non-VFX shots.
Were there any unexpected technical or creative challenges encountered during the production?
Our lenses were these beautiful but very stylized Arri Alfa anamorphic lenses, also used on The Batman. They had such organic and strong artifacts- chromatic aberration, and strange bokeh shapes that we knew we would have to match perfectly. Taking the concept of typical checkerboard lens-grids further, we used a giant TV screen to rapidly display various patterns of dots, circles and grids in RGB and B/W. We gave all our comp teams this solid reference of these lenses at any point of the screen to take the guesswork and subjectivity out of how to match the stylized look, and therefore giving a consistency across all the work of the vendors. There are some random things that were fun curveballs. Playing Carmine Falcone, Mark Strong’s given hairstyle didn’t quite match the depiction from the film, so we changed his hair and color in every shot. Some times of day had to be changed because of editing of scenes, or just difficulties of weather when filming. It sounds easy but really is quite difficult because we experience daylight everyday and are innately in tune with how sunlight looks.
Looking back on the project, what aspects of the visual effects are you most proud of?
Honestly, I think it’s how much you don’t know is there. It’s humbling, but rewarding when no one blinks at the 3107 shots, and instead are engaged by the compelling story and its characters with jaws to the floor. I’m quite proud also of all the VFX shots built from images and plates shot from our own VFX team. VFX production manager Haley Apicella and lead coordinator Henry Willette were instrumental with getting all this in house stuff done. Elements of bottles smashing or blood squirting shot in our kitchens. Countless plates of skylines shot from random rooftops and train platforms, or filming ourselves on greenscreen in the post production offices to help add goons to shootouts or to add patrons arriving to the Monroe’s Nightclub. Things never anticipated, but arose out of an excitement to tell the best story we can, pushing us to improvise and go that extra mile. A bit of scrappy cowboy filmmaking goes a long way! And can be a hell of a lot of fun.
How long have you worked on this show?
Almost to the day I was on the show for 2 years. From the start of prep, through the shoot, and to the final days of color in post.
What’s the VFX shots count?
We had 3107 total VFX shots, about 800 of which were Oz’s prosthetic improvements.
What is your next project?
I’m feeling that out now. Hopefully something as rewarding as The Penguin!
What are the four movies that gave you the passion for cinema?
I figure I’ll go VFX related:
- Jurassic Park: Turn the light off Lex! I learned you don’t need continuity if you are really engaged in the story.
- Back to the Future: Did you know the whole movie has only about 30 VFX optical shots? Use VFX for the absolute necessities!
- Star Trek TNG/DS9/VOY: This franchise basically chronicles the history of advancing VFX techniques for television and film!
- Contact: That mirror shot! Amazing for its concept, not its technology.
A big thanks for your time.
// VFX Breakdowns
// Trailers
WANT TO KNOW MORE?
FixFX: Dedicated page about The Penguin on FixFX website.
ReDefine: Dedicated page about The Penguin on ReDefine website.
SSVFX: Dedicated page about The Penguin on SSVFX website.
Stormborn Studios: Dedicated page about The Penguin on Stormborn Studios website.
© Vincent Frei – The Art of VFX – 2024
