'Wicked' Director & Cinematographer Break Down the 'Dancing Through Life' Scene | Vanity Fair

'Wicked' director Jon M. Chu breaks down Jonathan Bailey's 'Dancing Through Life' scene alongside cinematographer Alice Brooks. Jon provides an elaborate explanation of the specific color plays throughout the scene, building in windows in the "tornado wheel" to get the perfect lighting, careful coordination to find the right timing with all of Jonathan's tricks and so much more.
WICKED is in theaters now, www.wickedmovi...
Director: Funmi Sunmonu
Editor: Philip Anderson; Matthew Colby
Talent: Jon M. Chu and Alice Brooks
Coordinating Producer: Emebeit Beyene and Sydney Malone
Line Producer: Romeeka Powell
Production Manager: Andressa Pelachi
Production Coordinator: Elizabeth Hymes
Associate Director, Talent : Meredith Judkins
Production Assistant: Lily Starck
Post Production Supervisor: Christian Olguin
Post Production Coordinator: Ian Bryant
Supervising Editor: Doug Larsen
Assistant Editor: Justin Symonds
Special Thanks: Glass Engine
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[@brandonhyde6985]

I was a dancer for this movie, and oh wow, it was incredible. We were taken great care of, love u Jon! xox

[@ohgraciej99]

INCREDIBLE job!!! Saw the film last night and the dancers were amazing! 💚🩷

[@VTTVpsycho]

That’s so cool! You guys were incredible!

[@shannonstevens8293]

That’s amazing ❤

[@jamiegdubois]

Quite literally all of the dancers were amazing and you all did a phenomenal job! Thanks for sharing! 😊 I can’t wait to see the movie again, especially this sequence (I’ll look out for your name in the credits 😉)

[@abbybranch580]

Loved the movie, especially this scene. Were you apart of the wheel dancing?

[@johnshoemakerpbc]

Jonny Bailey is the sleeper hit of this show. We knew the girls were gonna rock it but they kept Jonny in their back pocket. He was incredible.

[@jamiegdubois]

Completely agree! He was absolutely fantastic!

[@TheMightyZack]

I love the choice to have so much backlight that you can’t see anything for most of the scene. Brilliant!

[@julieb3432]

Watched an early screening and it was magnificent. Alice deserves all the awards!!!

[@beatlemaniac2595]

Jonny Bailey was absolutely amazing 👌

[@abbeyBominable123]

8:05 that shot is INSANE 😮

[@user-tryinforlife]

ikrrrr

[@apapaputrh]

movie of the year already

[@kyliejohnson730]

It’s November??

[@yourejustjellis]

wrong

[@tiffany02020]

This scene was crazy fun!

[@danieloconnor3490]

Please give john m chu Oscar

[@jamiegdubois]

This was such a spectacular scene! I can’t wait to see it (and the rest of the movie) again!

[@amiritehere]

I appreciate this very much.

[@ohgraciej99]

The "tornado wheel" was SO cool

[@thelittlefactsvideos]

This is the movie that’s at least gonna spend their production budget on ads/marketing. If not more. And it was a very high budget film. Ads everywhere. They must be predicting over $1B run.

[@conypaintt]

I NEED MORE VIDEOS LIKE THIS ❤

[@melsyoutube]

5:44 the amount of bleaching/whitewashing is crazy. i wish the color saturation was warmer

[@tluvsbeauty1]

I agree. It’s my only criticism, really. And, unfortunately, the second time I watched the movie it only bothered me more and more, meaning that (despite desperately wishing I could say that I have no major criticisms of the film) I really, truly, dislike the lighting. I think they made major errors in judgement, and I think it ruined many of my favourite parts of the film:/

[@hearmymotoredheart]

I can't wait to never hear about this film again. The marketing has just been too much, to the point where I won't see it out of sheer spite.

[@mari-vp8wn]

the lighting in this scene is so gorgeous and it feels so real. it lets you just get lost in the dancing and singing and it’s PERFECT!

[@jamiegdubois]

Some people in the comments are hating on it but I don’t get it. I’m going to see the movie a second time with my brother and sister in law over over the holidays so maybe I’ll change my mind on second viewing but I thought the lighting felt very authentic and raw.

[@JennieGallagher23]

Best movie I’ve ever seen. I watched it today, and they certainly exceeded expectations

[@JohnMichaelAtillo]

❤❤❤

[@ahumuzaallan6636]

That's a lot of babies😂

[@sergiovela7686]

Someone had to say it 😅

[@Ro-pw6de]

They should both be in jail for backlighting

[@BooBahh-uh5jk]

Alec Baldwin as Ann Oakley dancing duels

[@willis1996]

Not notes on a scene on a scene that is set up so interestingly but visually looks so awful because of all that backlight. The self-sabotage 😭

[@SiennaRoseOfficial]

Get off your phone, buy a ticket and see it in a theater. It’s perfectly done

[@willis1996]

@ I watched it two days ago!

[@chrislee3601]

The backlight is so distracting😅

[@tluvsbeauty1]

Couldn’t agree more. It was my only critique of the film, honestly (and I, unfortunately, found myself with a pretty strong negative opinion about it, not just mild criticism).

[@SiennaRoseOfficial]

It really wasn’t. Everyone’s a light tech nowadays 🙄

[@BooBahh-uh5jk]

lol no cinematographers were shot in this film… wicked 2 to star Alec Baldwin

[@mattwhit4641]

I’m so sorry but the lighting of the entire Dancing Through Life sequence is so distractingly ATROCIOUS in the movie - everything is so whitewashed & overly backlit. One of the only things I didn’t like abt the movie

[@j.r.cilliangreen4083]

No

[@tiffany02020]

Totally disagree I thought it looked lovely. Haters gonna hate lol 😂

[@tluvsbeauty1]

I agree wholeheartedly. PS to others in the comments: not everyone who has valid criticisms of aspects of the film is just being a snobby “hater” lol. For me, the reason why I’m so critical of the lighting is because I actually feel like *it* does a disservice to every other aspect of the film. As in, I have serious criticisms of the lighting bc it takes away the magnificence of everything else - that’s how much I *adored* the film.

[@mattwhit4641]

@@tluvsbeauty1 100% agree!!!