4 Things the VFX in ‘Sinners’ Can Teach You

Ryan Coogler's Sinners was ambitious not only in its storytelling but also in its visuals. The film contains over 1,000 effects shots. Custom-built technology was invented mid-shoot. It includes what's probably the longest continuous shot ever captured on IMAX film.

And most audiences didn't notice any of it. Which is exactly what you want.

Movie VFX just took a closer look at the film’s VFX innovations.

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Start Practical Every Time

What can we learn from these achievements?

Coogler's rule from day one was that every visual effect had to begin with something real. Nothing was designed to be purely digital from the ground up. That philosophy extended to even the film's most deceptively simple moments. The cigarette handover between the twins required Jordan to film himself twice, passing a lighter back and forth several times. The shots were composited together.

Whatever your budget, the principle holds. Build as much in-camera as you can before you reach for post. VFX that have no practical basis tend to look like VFX.

Know What Problem You're Solving Before You Build Anything

The film resulted in the invention of the Halo rig, a 10-camera carbon fiber ring worn around Jordan's head to capture his performance from every angle.

This was needed because multipass twinning, the split-screen technique going back to Georges Méliès in the 1800s, breaks down the moment two characters need to physically interact. The team identified the problem (the twins fight each other, hand things to each other, and engage in constant physical dialogue) before building the solution.

Before you commit to any technical approach, be precise about what it needs to accomplish. A solution in search of a problem is expensive and usually visible on screen.

Adapt and Excel

Coogler insisted on shooting the entire film on IMAX 65mm.

That created enormous challenges for the VFX team, because film is less forgiving than digital, and every composited shot had to hold up under six-story IMAX projection.

To make it work, the team built a custom lens-profiling and film-emulation pipeline and trained VFX artists worldwide to match the look of celluloid. Sinners ended up with more VFX shots than any IMAX feature before it.

When you're making decisions about format, location, or approach, don’t think, "What's easiest?" Unless you absolutely have to. Think, "What serves the story, and can we figure out how to make it work?"

It might be that a oner is the best choice. That’s hard, but you can make it work. Maybe you need really low light for the atmosphere. It can be done! Don’t give up. Adapt.

Pre-Production Is Where the Hard Work Happens

The juke joint sequence—a three-and-a-half-minute continuous shot of Sammie's music conjuring musicians from across generations of Black history into the same room—went through more than 50 rounds of visualization before anyone stepped on set.

The VFX team planned the stitch points in advance using architectural elements as natural seams. Every transition had to be synchronized to live music and choreography. It's almost certainly the longest continuous shot ever captured on IMAX film.

The more ambitious the sequence, the more pre-production it requires. Showing up to set, still figuring it out, is a much more expensive problem than solving it in planning first.