ENDA Episode 50 – The time when ENDA encounters his first challenge during his training

In a previous post, I mentioned I’d be sharing more about my journey at Alpha Chromatica Education (ACE).

Well, here’s the first project on my plate: a shot from the film Barbie where she elegantly floats to her car.

In the final version of the film, we do not see them, but she is suspended by wires.

My task? To put it simply: paint out those wires and reconstruct everything they cross.

Sounds easy…until you realize there are big challenges:

➡️ Blonde Hair: removing wires that pass through flowing hair means matching strands, highlights, and movement frame by frame.

➡️ Checkerboard Dress: any pattern is tricky to rebuild, but a checkerboard requires perfect alignment, especially once everything starts moving.

➡️ Camera Movement: the camera follows the character in her action. Hence, each frame demands precise tracking and a faithful reconstruction.

It’s exactly these kinds of complex shots that I would have avoided in the past, but not anymore, ENDA follows a new path.

Besides the complexity, I decided to choose this shot because of how smoothly the film sells that floating illusion: like she was a real doll falling with grace.

So having the chance to work on the same shot but from a different angle and with similar challenges, fires me up both in my artistic and technical sides as a compositor.

In the end, every tricky frame brings a new lesson, a sharper eye, and a deeper bag of tricks. In VFX, we truly learn the most when we’re pushed to our limits, and this is the first of many projects that would make me go even further.

Stay tuned!

The journey continues…