- Title: Secrets of Maleficent's wings revealed, movement based on eagles
- Date: 1st November 2019
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (RECENT - OCTOBER 24, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ANIMATOR SENG LAU SPEAKING TO JOURNALIST (SOUNDBITE) (English) ANIMATION SUPERVISOR ON ''MALEFICENT: MISTRESS OF EVIL'', SENG LAU, ASKED ABOUT HIS AND THE ANIMATION TEAM'S ROLE IN THE FILM, SAYING: ''The animation team, well I was in charge of the wings and the winged creatures, specifically the Fey (The Dark Fey - band of winged creatures) which is the race of creatures that Maleficent, Maleficent belongs to, and I guess the animation team is in charge of bringing to life anything that's too fantastical or magical or strange or dangerous to do in real life.''
- Embargoed: 15th November 2019 10:47
- Keywords: Angelina Jolie Maleficent The Dark Fey Maleficent: Mistress of Evil Seng Lau animation visual effects MPC
- Location: VARIOUS UNKNOWN FILM LOCATIONS / LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM / CHAMONIX, FRANCE
- City: VARIOUS UNKNOWN FILM LOCATIONS / LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM / CHAMONIX, FRANCE
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Film
- Reuters ID: LVA002B3PEYQH
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Figuring out how to make Disney character Maleficent's wings come to life and move - not just accurately but with the correct feeling - was down to a team of animators lead by Seng Lau, who says he has the best job ever.
Lau, who works for visual effects and production company MPC, was one of the Animation Supervisor's on Angelina Jolie's new film ''Maleficent: Mistress of Evil', which on Monday (October 28) topped the international box office.
''I was in charge of the wings and the winged creatures, specifically the Fey (The Dark Fey - band of winged creatures) which is the race of creatures that Maleficent belongs to… the animation team is in charge of bringing to life anything that's too fantastical or magical or strange or dangerous to do in real life.'' Lau told Reuters.
Actress Angelina Jolie stars in "Maleficent: Mistress of Evil" as the titular villain and dark fairy godmother to Aurora, who is the queen of the fairies and played by Elle Fanning.
Maleficent wears her wings a lot more in this film compared to the 2014 movie. She discovers she's not the only Dark Fey left, which meant Lau's animation team had a lot more winged creatures to work on.
To replicate the wings in rehearsals actors wore backpacks with grey foam wings attached, and when it came to shooting actors had special pads attached to their backs to simulate the weight of wings.
Speaking about Jolie, Lau explained: ''She would wear.. it looked like two soda cans on her back. Sort of like remind her of the weight of the wings and the fact that they were there and you know .. and give her clearance around her body so that we can then add wings digitally.''
A range of departments helped create the computer-generated wings. Concept artists, modellers and riggers are involved with building them, and then it's the job of the animators to make them move.
"We never wanted to distract from Maleficent's performance we always wanted to support it or add to it, if possible, just to be part of the character. So it's not just a prop .. it's just like just a little shoulder shrug because Maleficent's sad or upset, you know, you would see the wings drop suddenly as soon as she becomes fierce and angry raise in sort of a predatory way you know.''
As an animation supervisor Lau worked closely with director Joachim Ronning ongoing through shot by shot to create the necessary mood and movement.
''So with Maleficent.. our first couple discussions .. it was always about how she was always incredibly strong ....of her species she was always the strongest. And, you know, how do we portray that strength? Because she also had to be incredibly elegant at the same time.''
''So for Maleficent, we used a lot of video reference .. of eagles mostly. Mostly we based her off of eagles, her wings and her flight.''
While it's important for the animators to be creative, all work is grounded in reality, even when creating something make-believe. ''I think when you're working with fantastical elements, everything still has to be believable. Otherwise, the audience doesn't buy it.''
Work on the wings took Lau and his team around nine months to complete, and despite many late nights, he said he has the best job in the world: ''When you see your work on the big screen, you know, it's always. You know, you always think, yeah, it was all worth it. All the late nights were worth it.''
According to Variety, as of October 27, the dark fantasy sequel had nearly made $300 million globally, with ticket sales at $293 million.
(Production: Sarah Mills, Will Russell) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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