Fearlessly defending the community you swore to protect and the person you love, particularly during times of grave danger, can be an emotionally and physically challenging process. But when a person is dedicated to completing their job, no matter how complicated it can become, they’ll admirably stand behind their responsibility until they achieve their goal. That valuable commitment is powerfully showcased in Shockya’s two new exclusive clips for the fantasy film, ‘Snow Girl and the Dark Crystal.’ The two videos include the film’s epic underwater battle sequence, as well as ‘Behind the Scenes-VFX-Underwater Battle,’ which explains how the scene was visually created.
The two exclusive clips are supporting ‘Snow Girl and the Dark Crystal’s home release, as it will be distributed tomorrow on Digital HD, Blu-ray and DVD. The epic romantic movie’s Blu-ray and DVD include such bonus features as The Making of, The Music Journey and Visual Effects featurettes, as well as its trailer. The fantasy film was co-directed by Academy Award-winning cinematographer, Peter Pau, and Zhao Tianyu, and written by Junli Guo, Raymond Lei Jin and Huanhuan Zhang.
‘Snow Girl and the Dark Crystal,’ which was shot in Mainland China, follows legendary Chinese anti-hero Zhong Kui (Chen Kun), a fabled young warrior and demon hunter who has mysterious powers. He’s forced into a battle among, and to conquer, the realms of Heaven, Earth and Hell to save his people and the the alluring snow demon with whom he falls in love (Li Bingbing).
‘Behind the Scenes-VFX-Underwater Battle’ begins with Pau as he states that he feels the movie needed the epic battle, which features rooftop chases and underwater sequences. To obtain the visual effects he wanted for the scene, he turned to international visual effects company Pixomondo for help.
Wil Mannings, the VFX supervisor at the company, is then shown seated at his computer, which features visuals from the film, and states the director was very passionate about creating the scene. The special effects supervisor immediately felt Pau’s passion and excitement behind it, as they discussed how the fight sequence could be featured underwater in a unique way.
But Mannings also noted that he and Pau had to contend with creating an intriguing scene, including its murky mood against a contrast of beautiful colors, in their short time constraints. The VFX supervisor also divulged how every detail in the scene, from the bubbles to the dust, had to be simulated, which is a lengthy process. Since completing the battle sequence was a long process, it ultimately became a joint effort between Mannings, who was in Beijing, and VFX supervisors in Los Angeles.
Watch Shockya’s exclusive ‘Behind the Scenes-VFX-Underwater Battle’ clip and underwater scene from ‘Snow Girl and the Dark Crystal’ below.
Written by: Karen Benardello