"The Wolf of Wall Street" may not have used special effects to the same scale as, say, "Life of Pi" or "The Hunger Games," but the Martin Scorsese-directed, Oscar nominated film subtly used VFX to add that extra pizzazz to Jordan Belfort's colorful life.
Brainstorm Digital recently released a video showing the before-and-after "of the more challenging shots we put together" from the film, so we broke it down below.
Remember that wild party scene in the Hamptons where Belfort, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, first met his future second wife?
Here's what it looked like in the final cut of the film audiences saw in theaters:
Vimeo/Brainstorm Digital/"Wolf of Wall Street"
But here's what the house and surroundings looked like originally:
Vimeo/Brainstorm Digital/"Wolf of Wall Street"
Special effects were used to replace the trees and parking lot...
Vimeo/Brainstorm Digital/"Wolf of Wall Street"
... with a neighborhood of houses:
Vimeo/Brainstorm Digital/"Wolf of Wall Street"
So that it ended up looking like this from afar:
Vimeo/Brainstorm Digital/"Wolf of Wall Street"
Then there's this scene in which a real lion parades through the office:
Vimeo/Brainstorm Digital/"Wolf of Wall Street"
No people were actually in the room at the same time as the lion, who was escorted on a leash by a trained professional during filming:
Vimeo/Brainstorm Digital/"Wolf of Wall Street"
The people were placed in the shot in the editing room:
Vimeo/Brainstorm Digital/"Wolf of Wall Street"
In the film, Jordan Belfort marries his second wife Naomi on a beautiful tropical island:
Vimeo/Brainstorm Digital/"Wolf of Wall Street"
But here's what the property actually looked like during filming:
Vimeo/Brainstorm Digital/"Wolf of Wall Street"
The wedding set-up was later cut out...
Vimeo/Brainstorm Digital/"Wolf of Wall Street"
... And placed on a beach backdrop:
Vimeo/Brainstorm Digital/"Wolf of Wall Street"
When Jordan goes to London to visit Aunt Emma, she greets him outside of her fancy apartment:
Vimeo/Brainstorm Digital/"Wolf of Wall Street"
The scene was really shot at this small brick home:
Vimeo/Brainstorm Digital/"Wolf of Wall Street"
And later edited through special effects:
Vimeo/Brainstorm Digital/"Wolf of Wall Street"
The two later go have a chat in a picturesque London park:
Vimeo/Brainstorm Digital/"Wolf of Wall Street"
This is what the park really looked like. Note the added sculpture to the left and greener grass above.
Vimeo/Brainstorm Digital/"Wolf of Wall Street"
Jordan and Naomi later take a trip to Europe on his yacht:
Vimeo/Brainstorm Digital/"Wolf of Wall Street"
Here's what it really looked like when Naomi was walking back to the boat:
Vimeo/Brainstorm Digital/"Wolf of Wall Street"
Now watch even more before-and-after scenes in this video put together by "Wolf of Wall Street" special effects team, Brainstorm Digital.