S25 - Ep 5 - Wicked: For Good - Film Editing and Visual Effects

What happens when filmmaking becomes a marathon of collaboration — spanning years, thousands of shots, and the world of Oz itself? For Wicked: For Good, that was the daily reality for Film Editor Myron Kerstein and Visual Effects Supervisor Pablo Helman.

This week on Below the Line, Skid welcomes back Myron Kerstein and introduces Pablo Helman, who makes his Below the Line debut to discuss their shared journey on Wicked: For Good, the sequel to Jon M. Chu’s Wicked. Together, they reflect on what it means to sustain creative momentum through two interconnected films and the largest project of their careers.

This episode unpacks:

• Building a years-long partnership between editorial and visual effects — and learning to “finish each other’s sentences” after thousands of hours together
• Integrating production, post, and VFX pipelines from the earliest days of Wicked through the sequel’s final render
• Designing the epic opening battle on the Yellow Brick Road, where performance, camera, and creature animation all converge
• Navigating Jon M. Chu’s collaborative process — a director who, as Myron puts it, is “a collector of people” and thrives on creative dialogue
• Crafting the technically complex “Girl in the Bubble” sequence — eight stitched plates, multiple reflections, and a seamless illusion that tested every department’s trust
• Refining the “No Good Deed” sequence — balancing raw emotion, musical rhythm, and visual effects spectacle
• Intercutting Glinda’s wedding with the imprisoned creatures to heighten tension and emotional contrast across parallel storylines
• How small creative choices — like a cape’s weight, a confetti storm, or a single flash of red sky — became storytelling tools in the hands of two artists who speak the same cinematic language

What emerges is a portrait of collaboration under pressure — one built on mutual respect, relentless curiosity, and a shared belief that every frame, no matter how fantastical, should feel grounded and human.

🎧 Press play and go Below the Line on Wicked: For Good. For more, visit belowtheline.biz.