Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/457057
j a n u a r y . f e b r u a r y 2 0 1 5 c g w 3 1 We tried motion capture, but it was too realistic and weird." The fairies' wings proved par- ticularly problematic. Marianne and Dawn are princesses; their wings needed to give them a royal look. When Marianne dis- covers her Prince Charming is two-timing her, though, her war- rior wings needed to be strong. "George [Lucas] came up with the idea of folding the wings down like a cape so they wouldn't be distracting when doing emotional scenes," Ooi says. "But they still needed structure. One of the references we had was slow-motion video of a butterfly wing flapping, and everyone loved the soness with slow motion. But, when the fairies are far away, they should hold their wings like butterflies. So, we had the wings rigid in the distance and soer in close-ups when you see the character." The crew decided to place the wings on each fairy's shoul- der blades and backbone, and then cheat the movement and position as necessary. The ani- mators tried to keep the fairies vertical, even in flight. "The physics don't make sense," Ooi says. "Butterflies don't stand upright. But, our characters needed to. We tried some shots with the fairies horizontal, but they looked weird with their legs hanging down. We also tried having them float like Tinkerbell, with their wings propelling them forward and backward. But, Tinkerbell's wings are transparent, and when we tried it with the butterflies, it felt odd. So, we angled the wings in such a way that it felt like the fairies could hover, and kept the wings flapping just enough that they didn't distract from the faces. We cheated the angles. It wouldn't work in real physics, but it helped sell the shots." For shots with a fairy kneel- ing, the wings soen into a cape-like structure, but they still have rigging that made it possi- ble for the animators to create silhouettes. "For some shots, we simulated a little flutter, but the wings are 80 to 90 percent hand-animated," Ooi says. M I S T R E A T E D The Bog King is the beast, the villain in the story. He has imprisoned the Sugar Plum Fairy, and he captures Dawn. Marianne's determination to free Dawn propels the story. George Lucas, Gary Rydstrom, and musical producer Marius de Vries looked for songs with lyr- ics that fit into the script. "Can't Help Falling in Love" "Crazy In Love" "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" "Three Little Birds" "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)" "C'mon Marianne" "(Stronger) What Doesn't Kill You" "Trouble" "Love Is Strange" "Say Hey" "Mistreated" "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)" "Straight On" "Strange Magic" "Tell Him" "Wild Thing" Additional songs in the movie include "Without You," "I Gotta Feeling," "Can't Help Falling in Love," "Crazy Little Thing Called Love," "Bad Romance," as well as the instrumentals "Barracu- da," "People Are Strange," "Addicted to Love," and "Rebel Rebel." ILM ARTISTS GAVE THE FILM A DARK, CONTRASTY, LIVE-ACTION FEEL USING POCKET LIGHTS. COMPLEMENTARY COLORS SUCH AS ORANGE AGAINST BLUE IN THE IMAGE WITH DAWN AND SUNNY (TOP) AND THE IMP AND SUNNY (BOTTOM) ADDED DRAMA. P LAY LI S T