See how Sweeney Todd makes a bloody good time out of a stylized shadowy London. All image © DreamWorks SKG.

If ever there were a musical tailor-made for the twisted, Goth-inclined tastes of director Tim Burton, then surely it would be Stephen Sondheim's equally dark and twisted musical, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. While it's certainly a departure for Burton to adapt a stage-originated musical for the big screen, Sweeney Todd does manage to incorporate some of the director's signature themes such as death, lost love, the exploration of social status, absent parents and the hero as outsider. Plus, Sweeney Todd also happens to have Burton's penchant for horror and the macabre conveniently sewn into its DNA as the story revolves around a 19th century barber (Johnny Depp) so bent on revenge for the grievous travesties in his life that he murders people in his chair and gives the flesh to his landlady (Helena Bonham Carter) to bake into meat pies. Ah, yes, it's quite the perfect Burton playground.

Luckily for The Moving Picture Co. (MPC) of London, where Burton now resides, he hired the hot visual effects studio to help transform the stages of Pinewood Studios into the inky, craggy streets of a much-darker London of the past. Digital Effects Supervisor Gary Brozenich talks to VFXWorld about the challenges of making the director's vision come to life so that the virtual environments and nastier vfx shots in Sweeney Todd look entirely seamless.

Tara DiLullo Bennett: MPC has long worked with Tim Burton on previous projects, so was it just a given that your team came to work on Sweeney Todd?

Gary Brozenich: MPC has a long working relationship with Tim, including Big Fish, Corpse Bride, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and his Killers video. Chas Jarrett was the production vfx supervisor (on Todd) and he and I had a long working relationship at MPC, where he was a sup for many years. I think it was the combination of those relationships that made Tim comfortable that we could deliver what he needed for Todd.

TDB: How was it working with Tim on this project?

GB: As we are image-makers by trade, it is always great to work with a strong visual director. Tim is also very familiar with the medium and us as a company, which always helps. Also, the whole team was very excited about the project. We all saw it as a great chance to work with him on this outrageously black story, which posed such a great creative fit to his visual style. Tim also gave us a lot of room to participate in the visual development of the environments we created, but his "big picture" view of the film, how it all cut, its overall look and mood was very strongly guided by him.

TDB: What does he ask of a vfx house and, in return, how involved is he in your process since he's all about the visuals?

GB: There was some working and reworking of shot layouts and some concepts at various stages, but the visual feel of the film was clear from the start. As we were never intending to do very obvious FX work, we needed to fit in with the tone and beat of it all, no matter how comprehensive our content in the shot. In that way, [Production Designer] Dante Ferretti's subtly stylized set designs were the obvious present and clear guide [for us].

TDB: Most people will just focus on the practical effects in Sweeney because of the gore and blood, but Burton always adds a digital level to all his films. So what was his plan in merging the two for this adaptation?

GB: We did augment some of the blood work in the film and cleaned up a few bits of rigging, but the vast majority of it was in camera. It looks great! The special effects team did a great job and spent a long time prepping, and it really paid off. There were a few shots where Tim wanted more ability to add grace and control to the forms made by spilled blood and we were able to help there.