ILM completed around 350 shots for Captain Marvel; the main focus of the work was the third act of the film which included battle sequences and many outer space sequences. Our effects team was challenged with a number of fully digital shots while maintaining a look that feels photographic and honors the sci-fi and fantasy comic book roots of Captain Marvel.
Working with production visual effects supervisor Chris Townsend, ILM created the signature binary look for Captain Marvel (Brie Larson). Some of the more challenging work involved creating shots where Brie is flying in space without a helmet, lit up with electricity, and still appear recognizable. We sought to strike a balance between a more sci-fi look and the reality of what this would look like in space which, as you can imagine, is very subjective.
We also created a hero Brie Larson digital double which is seen in many shots. At the time, it was one of the most highly detailed digital doubles we had ever created as it had to withstand the scrutiny of being seen in extreme close up. Many of the sequences that used the double simply couldn’t be filmed practically due to the amount of dynamics that the shots required.
In addition, ILM’s team also created the fan-favorite feline, Goose (actually a Flerken), who is introduced as a photo-real feline but in one memorable scene, enormous tentacles protrude from its mouth, grab a tesseract and then disappear as quickly as they appeared. This was achieved entirely with keyframe animation. The goal was for the sequence to look realistic, not cartoonish.
Additional ILM sequences include the fight between Captain Marvel and the other Star Force crew members, including Jude Law, on one of the shapeships; the Supreme Intelligence Interface, which manifests as ferrofluid-esque liquid tentacles which crawl up into Brie’s temples to extract information, bind her limbs, and control her mind; green screen shots on Ronan’s ship; and Jude Law’s anti gravity gauntlets.
