Months of discussion were required just to ensure that the right creative decisions would be made on Across the Universe, the unusual feature film musical set to 33 Beatles songs. All images © Revolution Studios.

While illustrating sex, drugs and rock 'n roll might seem like a dream job to the average visual effects artist and welcome break from the increasingly mundane fare of explosions and car crashes, it was no walk in the park for vfx designer Peter Crosman and his crew on Revolution Studios' Across the Universe.

Months of discussion were required just to ensure that the right creative decisions would be made on the unusual feature film musical set to 33 Beatles songs, which opened in limited release on September 14 and wider release nationally on September 21. Faced with a relatively short pre-production period of about seven weeks for what Crosman considered to be a fairly complicated project proved some of the most intense yet satisfying time spent on the picture.

Director Julie Taymor frowned upon the look of previsualization imagery and storyboards, which made it difficult for Crosman to determine the shot content and order. Moreover, it was rather chaotic shooting in more than 50 locations in 60 days, much of it in the hustle and bustle of New York City.

"Coordinating the very concrete physical demands of high-end, choreographed theatrical performance and the more plastic world of visual effects required a degree of patience and flexibility not typically required for more standard visual effects work," Crosman reports from the set of his current film, Bolden!, in Jackson, La., where he finished a few establishing shots after wrapping production in North Carolina.

Vfx designer Peter Crosman was challenged with a short pre-production period and a director who disliked previs, making it difficult to determine the shot content and order. 

Between the release of Across the Universe and 14 months of Cirque du Soleil's Love in Las Vegas, the public is reminded how four lads from Liverpool set a gold standard for pop music that endures nearly half a century after they took the world by storm.

Described in the production notes as "gritty, whimsical and highly theatrical," the film defies most musicals by building a story around songs rather than simply inserting performances into key points along the way.