Wellwood

The film opens with a stunning dream sequence with Laura floating underwater, surrounded by jellyfish. Soon, these pretty, pale pink jellyfish transform into a ghastly, charred black color, symbolizing cancer cells. This is a recurring motif to convey Laura's struggle with cancer throughout the film. "That was the very last thing we shot, and there was a lot of doubt and skepticism as to whether or not we could pull that off," Balsamo-Gillis says. Two-time Oscar-winning visual effects artist Ian Hunter and Blade director and visual effects artist Stephen Norrington joined forces to execute the underwater dream sequence. Hunter came up with a rig that was essentially a bicycle seat on a rod with a waist belt that Balsamo-Gillis was able to dangle on. This was more cost-effective, safer, and a bit more realistic-looking than if she had been hanging on wires, since her center of gravity stayed accurate, she says. The plan was to shoot at a high frame rate with a lot of atmosphere. The StudioADI team gave themselves a day to do it. And despite the belief by some in the industry that the "dry for wet" filming technique never works, they managed to pull it off. Except for one practical jellyfish that attaches to her leg, "the jellyfish and a little bit [of the floating particulate] are digital, but everything else is exactly in-camera the way we shot it--and it worked beautifully," Balsamo-Gillis says. "We're so happy we took that big swing; we think it's a pretty fun way to open the movie. It's a great example of cheap filmmaking where we pulled something off [on a budget], but it's also a good marriage between practical and digital." Alec Gillis was no stranger to "dry for wet," as he had previously worked with Stan Winston on the sci-fi horror film Leviathan (1989), which featured highly effective dry for wet sequences. "I do think the 'dry for wet' illusion is really great. What's also great about this particular sequence is that it's a dream sequence, so there's a fantasy element to it," he says. "That cut us some slack, and we were able to be a little more free to execute. It gets down to what Camille and Reid were able to do in their performance to sell [that they were] underwater and Steve [Norrington's] beautiful, 3-D-created jellyfish that he did in Blender," Gillis says. Another dream-like moment featuring the practical jellyfish occurs when Laura tries to unclog the bathroom sink, and a diseased jellyfish suddenly emerges and attaches to her hand and arm. "That was a little, as-traditional-as-you-can-get, hand-sculpted piece that we cast in silicone," Gillis says. When Laura touches the jellyfish in the sink, it squirts black ink. "That was a little tube that was attached to her fingers on the underside with me with a syringe. As soon as she touches it, it's a burst," Gillis reveals. "Then, when she pulls her hand up, we've dressed the silicone jellyfish on her arm, and [Camille] acted the crap out of it to sell it." The VFX team touched up the ink burst with digital effects. "Always start with practical," Gillis says. "It gives you such a great thing to then go back and sweeten and touch up if you choose."