Oscar Winner The Zone Of Interest Has Incredible Visual Effects You Never Would Have Noticed
Jonathan Glazer's "The Zone of Interest" is one of the most disturbing movies you'll ever see. It's also one of the best films of 2023, and feels absolutely essential to watch given the atrocities that are happening in the world right now. The film just won an Oscar for Best Sound at the Academy Awards ceremony this past weekend, and while everyone's attention will shortly return to the films of 2024 and beyond (if it hasn't already), we have one more excuse for us to talk about the craft that went into making this vital work of art.
BeforesAndAfters led us to this cool video from One of Us, a visual effects studio that worked on "The Zone of Interest." While visual effects reels like these are often circulated for big, expensive projects like Marvel movies or HBO's "Game of Thrones" and highlight things like digital set extensions that usually go into building out the sprawling worlds of the MCU or King's Landing, this one is a little different. There are some set extensions, yes — particularly when it comes to inserting an active version of the Auschwitz concentration camp into the background of several shots. But to me, the most notable element of this video is what the effects took away from the shots, rather than what they added: Cameras, sound equipment, lighting equipment, and more were all stationed within Glazer and cinematographer Lukasz Zal's shots, and it was up to the VFX team to remove them to create a seamless, transporting experience for audiences.
Check out The Zone of Interest's visual effects reel
Glazer favored a visual approach that resulted in cameras almost always locked off on tripods, and the stillness of the image helped the effects artists effectively paint out anything that didn't contribute to the director's vision. There are several incredible examples of removals here that nearly rival the infamously subtle work David Fincher and his team do on films like "The Killer."
At the 1:30 mark, during the scene in which a marching band performs, you can see that a makeshift beam was digitally removed which held a camera looking down on the conductor, as well as a microphone with a windscreen on it positioned to properly capture the sound of the instruments. It's a great illustration of the collaborative nature of filmmaking, with a sound team and a visual effects team each working in tandem and striving for the same goal: to make the best version of the film they can.
The sound team happened to be awarded a trophy for their handiwork at the Oscars while the visual effects team wasn't even nominated, but this video makes it clear that the sound wouldn't have been nearly as great if all of their equipment had to be completely out of frame during production. We all fall into the trap of auteurism, but this video proves yet again that filmmaking is a team sport.