| Author | Topic: transformation |
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dededarlin
Registered User
Registered:
6/11/2003
From:
new orleans, LA | posted: 7/27/2003 at 11:09:03 PM ET
hey guys! i am watching my monthly dose of Into the Woods right now ! anyway, i have always wondered how the witch's transformation at the end of Act I was done. i figured if anyone knows, ya'll might! thanks!
anything that leaves a footprint that large is no who
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 Broadwaybaby17
Registered User
Registered:
3/18/2003
From:
Alabama | posted: 7/28/2003 at 1:37:26 AM ET
I have pondered and pondered this thought many, many times and It still confuses me. I simply have NO idea, and I'm usually pretty good about this kind of stuff. In every interview I have ever seen BP refuses to give any hints as to how it's done. The only thing I can think of is that she's really magical! LOL! 
Bump it with a trumpet!
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 bernielover48
Registered User
Registered:
7/17/2003 | posted: 7/28/2003 at 10:35:05 AM ET
Actually if you look carefully the person under the cloak at that last scene is not Bernadette at all...all the dialogue being spoken is that of Bernadette offstage....so when the transformation takes place....the (witch) goes up stage center and goes through a trap door as Bernadette comes up through another...see it is not that hard!!!!!  offstage
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 Christine-NYC
Registered User
Registered:
3/23/2002
From:
New York City
Fav. BP Song: With So Little to be Sure Of
Fav. BP Show: Gypsy
Fav. BP Character: Marie (insert last name) lol There's a few
Fav. BP CD: Bernadette Peters Loves Rogers and Hammerstein
| posted: 7/28/2003 at 3:21:37 PM ET
Perhaps during the original production it was done that way, but I remember someone saying one time that when they saw Vanssa in the role, there was a little mishap with the change and lighting and Vanessa was semi-naked on stage.
Too bad Bernadette doesn't do commentary for the DVD. Maybe she would have said how it was done during that part.
<3CMH<3
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 UCFGuardgirl
Registered User
Registered:
6/15/2003
From:
New York City | posted: 7/28/2003 at 4:28:57 PM ET
LOL -- that was my thought, too, that Bernadette was saying the lines off-stage and came up through a trap door when the transformation took place. Not that you would be able to tell with all those prosthetics, right?
But every time she's interviewed and asked that question, she refuses to answer. Sometimes, the interviewers will say, (I forget which one this was -- if it was just the one interview -- but it was funny) "I have a theory, can I whisper it in your ear and you can tell me yes or no?" and she'll nod, and they'll whisper it, and she'll say, "nope."
I suppose it's like the mystery surrounding how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie roll pop; the world may never know.
***************
"I'm not good I'm not bad I'm just right. I'm the witch; you're the world. I'm the hitch; I'm what no one believes, I'm the witch. You're all liars and thieves...oh, why bother?"
-- Into the Woods
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 MsPetersFan1
Registered User
Registered:
6/25/2002
From:
Long Island, New York & Boston, | posted: 7/28/2003 at 10:40:33 PM ET
Ohh I wish you didn't post that! It totally ruins the magic for me now. Even though I watched the scene again and still do not see how she does it. 
~* Megan *~
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 BP Broadway Diva
Registered User
Registered:
2/19/2003
From:
NJ
Fav. BP Song: Rose's Turn
Fav. BP Show: Gypsy
Fav. BP Character: Rose
Fav. BP CD: Sondheim Etc
| posted: 7/29/2003 at 12:32:53 PM ET
I watched this part of into the woods last night to see if I could see anything. I think that Bernadette did do the transformation because when I was looking at her eyes they just really looked like her eyes I dunno, maybe they just got someone with very similar eyes. Just my opinion. I'll watch it again and see who knows.
*§~Danielle~§*
"Here she is Boys...Here she is World...Here's Rose!!!"
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mikee
Registered User
Registered:
12/4/2002 | posted: 7/29/2003 at 1:54:08 PM ET
I think it is her cause when she first enters during that scene, for a splite second you can see part of that pinkish dress underneathe the cloack... It seems simple enough... She just throws everything off...
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 moljul
Registered User
Registered:
4/2/2001
From:
New York
Fav. BP CD: I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
Fav. BP Song: Dublin Lady
| posted: 7/29/2003 at 2:30:53 PM ET
ITW Transformation Spoiler Ahead
I hate to burst anyone's bubble but I was told from a fairly reliable source (though don't ask me who now :-)) that the video is full of special effects and the transformation was done with camera tricks. On stage in the usual course of the show the witch is played by a double at the beginning of that scene. That is why her hood is up for the very first time. In the video they did get close-ups of the witch's face and that was indeed Bernadette but usually the audience can't see the witch's face and Bernadette says her lines from off stage. Then when the transformation is happening the witch goes up stage and the double goes down the same trap door that the witch uses for her final exit and Bernadette as the young witch steps out and from behind the cape. All the smoke and fog helps to hide this. The mysterious man is dying downstage and is a distraction from the switch.
Now for the video, they filmed the scene in an empty theater and stopped the camera so Bernadette could change and then they just edited it together. And very well too because I questioned this all for quite some time and couldn't figure out how they did it.
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MsPetersFan1
Registered User
Registered:
6/25/2002
From:
Long Island, New York & Boston, | posted: 7/29/2003 at 6:13:25 PM ET
How did they film it in an empty theatre when during that one scene Bernadette is in the boxes and sort of talks to that kid sitting there?
~* Megan *~
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dededarlin
Registered User
Registered:
6/11/2003
From:
new orleans, LA | posted: 7/29/2003 at 6:21:03 PM ET
well i was wondering about that and doesn't it seem like they are totally playing off of the audience at some points? wouldnt that be difficult in an empty theatre? i am sure you are right, moljul, but i just wanted to throw that out there. no offense
anyway, i have decided i am just going to believe that it is MAJIC! hahaha!
anything that leaves a footprint that large is no who
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 BwayLover
Registered User
Registered:
8/12/2002 | posted: 7/29/2003 at 6:41:03 PM ET
Broadway Diva,
I thought the eyes of the in the scene looked like Bernadette's eyes, too, LoL. But Moljul's explanation of the scene would explain why they look like her eyes...they are. 
"The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do." - Walter Bagehot
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UCFGuardgirl
Registered User
Registered:
6/15/2003
From:
New York City | posted: 7/29/2003 at 7:20:03 PM ET
Whenever PBS films a show for video, half of it is usually filmed with the audience present, and the other half (depending on how much footage needs to be re-shot) is filmed when the house is empty. This is why there is applause after the numbers and laughter, etc -- those are not canned. They're all real. It's just that certain scenes don't film well the first time, or perhaps translate to video better (like the transformation) when instead of a double, they can just use Bernadette and edit the scenes properly later.
***************
"I'm not good I'm not bad I'm just right. I'm the witch; you're the world. I'm the hitch; I'm what no one believes, I'm the witch. You're all liars and thieves...oh, why bother?"
-- Into the Woods
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moljul
Registered User
Registered:
4/2/2001
From:
New York
Fav. BP CD: I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
Fav. BP Song: Dublin Lady
| posted: 7/29/2003 at 7:25:08 PM ET
Sorry. I should clarify that I meant only that one scene was reshot in an empty theater. Though now that I think about it there seemed to be another scene that involved "magic" that was also shot separately. They probably shot the scene in front of an audience playing it as they would in a theater (using the double) and then shot it without an audience to get close-ups, etc. Hope that makes more sense.
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dededarlin
Registered User
Registered:
6/11/2003
From:
new orleans, LA | posted: 7/29/2003 at 9:53:42 PM ET
HOORAY! now i understand....thanks ya'll! ( but i still think it is pure magic!) haha! dear God, it is a wonderful show, isn't it?
anything that leaves a footprint that large is no who
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 mrbig
Registered User
Registered:
6/16/2003
From:
Dallas, Texas
Fav. BP Song: Not a Day Goes By
Fav. BP Show: Sunday in the Park...
Fav. BP Character: Dot in SITPWG
Fav. BP CD: Sondheim, Etc.
| posted: 7/29/2003 at 11:49:45 PM ET
I believe that Into the Woods was filmed over three nights. They do this to get different camera angles and closeups. The broadway theatres are so small that you can imagine how hard it would be to have an audience and tons of cameras. I imagine that one of the performances was filmed without an audience to get the really personal and intimate camera angles. I am sure that this is when they captured the transformation sequence.
Brian
mrbig from big d
"No matter what you say, Children Will Listen..."
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