The names attached to Thor: Love and Thunder are unquestionably impressive. In addition to Chris Hemsworth, in the recurring title role, are Oscar Award winners Natalie Portman, Christian Bale, and Russel Crowe. Once director Taiki Waititi (also an Oscar Award Winner) resurrected the franchise with Thor: Ragnarok, fans and critics agreed that this turning point meant the next film would be met with great excitement. Still, Marvel fans don’t care about film industry awards; they want unique stories and dazzling visual effects. Moqi Song, Postvis Artist and Character Animator, was at the center of supplying these component which are so crucial to meeting the lofty expectations of the public. Mr. Song’s impressive work on Shazam 2 led to his being enlisted in the fourth installment of the Thor series. Numerous reviews and fan sites state that Thor: Love and Thunder’s visual presentation is the most impressive of the entire film series. Moqi Song gives an in-depth peek at how this magic was manifested.
There’s no separating the identity of Thor from his famed hammer Mjölnir, except for the fact that this it does happen in Thor: Love and Thunder. The uncomfortable relationships between Mjölnir, Thor, Jane Foster, and Stormbreaker (Thor’s Axe) is a comedic subplot as well as a source of spectacle in the story. Stormbreaker is no static piece of metal. Moqi added micro-movements during melee scenes to make both the weapon and characters seem more realistic. He explains, “These micro-movements cannot be too big or absent because without these movements the character will look stiff. This has some requirements for the range of movement. I needed to use a CG ax to replace the prop ax in the original video and then combine them into one shot and export it with AE.” In the case of Mjölnir, the visual authenticity of the hammer depended on Moqi confirming the interaction between the monsters and the actors before adding the animation of the hammer. In one of the film’s early battles, the movement trajectory allowed the hammer to shuttle back and forth between monsters and the actor (Natalie Portman) to ensure that the movement of the hammer was fast and powerful.
Korg, Thor’s faithful companion who is made of rock, was also a source of focus for Moqi who was the core staff member for Korg during the postvis production period. Partime narrator and fighting companion to the god of thunder, Korg is voiced by Taiki Waititi. The director/actor supplied the reference for Korg in scenes such as when the heroes enter Zeus’s palace. In contrast to the agility of the weapons previously discussed, the movements for Korg needed to convey a clumsy and rigid quality to match the characters chemical composition. The fighting that ensues in the palace of Zeus saw Moqi animating CG soldiers engaged with Thor. The skill of Moqi (alongside his collaborators) is a visual alchemy which transformed footage of actors held aloft by ropes and various apparatus into moments of fantasy combat. Pulling the veil back, Mr. Song describes, “After receiving the live-action footage, I used AE post-processing software to first remove the green screen part and at the same time remove the redundant characters and the ropes used to hold people aloft. After this I could start to craft the elements.” He adds, “Lighting is a very important part during the production of Postvis. I was very fond of light and shadow design when I was studying at the Academy of Art university. This is related to my love of photography. I like to pursue realistic effects. Specifically, I use an OLED TV as my display device, which can ensure the accuracy of color and contrast. It also allows me to better match CG scenes and characters with the actual shots during Postvis work.”
A global audience shows no indication of losing their appetite for Marvel films. Even for those who may not find fascination in the epic plights of these superheroes, the continued visual progression that accompanies these films achieves undeniably remarkable moments which prompt the entire artform to ascend. While most watching Thor: Love and Thunder may never know the name Moqi Song, his work will excite and delight them. Marvel has very high requirements for visual effects and employs only the very best professionals to reach their goals. Moqi concedes that his work often requires as much thought and deliberation as actual creation, but this is how a new benchmark is set. Thor: Love and Thunder exhibits the visible evidence of this.
Writer: Mike Winston