A blend of forced perspective and visual effects helped bring this scene to life.

BD: But with the whole blurring of fantasy and reality, isn’t Big Fish your Wizard of Oz?

TB: No, I never think that way and part of the joy of working on this is that I couldn’t define it in any way. There’s a whole gray area to what’s true and not true in life and how things are perceived. So visually I wanted to tie reality and fantasy together slightly so there’s a very stream of conscious way of going in and out of reality. It’s an exploration all the way through and it’s nice to keep it simple. The same with the digital timing.

BD: I noticed a fair amount of digital color grading, particularly in the fantasy sequences where there’s desaturation or oversaturation and contrast tweaking to enhance the mood. Have you done much of that before?

TB: No, I never have. I love it. It’s so great.

BD: More precise?

TB: Well, yeah, you know it’s like anything I think people can use it for good or evil.

BD: Lord of the Rings is a perfect example of how they’ve really pushed digital grading.

TB: It’s like a few years ago they said, ‘You’re making a comedy; you don’t need stereo.’ It’s a tool. Like anything you’re doing: acting, lighting, color — it should serve it.

More giant effects from Burton’s imagination.

BD: What about previs? Do you do much of that, given your animation background?

TB: A little bit. We have a few sequences in which we did some previs and that’s helpful. Somehow it’s a little quicker than drawing lame little foxes by hand.

BD: But there are little things that go on in that wonderful antebellum house as it’s transformed to its former glory.

TB: Yeah, again, it’s like in the world there’s always these symbols in each culture and each set of whatever mythologies or folktales… these types of characters [witches, giants, conjoined twins] are classic symbols that way.

BD: What’s your relationship like with visual effects supervisor Kevin Mack?

TB: It’s good. I mean, he gets the idea that it’s just there to serve.

BD: Did he come in thinking that it might be different?

TB: I don’t know. I don’t think so. He seemed pretty open and didn’t come in with too many preconceived notions.

BD: What were some of your ideas specifically?

TB: Well, because we didn’t have a huge effects budget, we tried to do things kind of split-screen, in-camera, lighting tricks, smaller props. Transitions and things that would be treated like a special effect.