SHAZAM! FURY OF THE GODS PRODUCTION.
F rom the earliest days of cinema, animators have been pushing the boundaries of their art form, seeking new frontiers of visual storytelling that would capture the vastness and complexity of the natural world. Yet, while many different types of animation have been created over the years, arguably none have been more transformative or captivating than creature animation. One of the latest films to push the boundaries even further is 2023’s Shazam! Fury of the Gods , the superhero motion picture sequel based on the DC Comics character often known by that name. The film chronicles the daughters of a Titan’s arrival on Earth in search of magic stolen from them long ago. As you can imagine, there’s a lot of clean visuals, engaging action and ungodly behaviour. The trio of goddesses played by Dame Helen Mirren, Lucy Liu and Rachel Zegler are obviously the box office bookings for the movie, but they certainly didn’t take centre stage when it came to animation. “How about he moves like a lion, we make the head more like a lizard and get the tail/wings to move a certain way?”
WEIGHTING GAME One crucial character from the latest instalment of the Shazam franchise is a humungous and powerful dragon who goes by the name Ladon. Ricardo Miguel Roldao Silva, DNEG animation supervisor, explains the genesis of its creation. “In terms of animation, the story is established, so we get some previsualisation with the plates for the shots,” he states. “However, there were some aspects we needed to explore that were not well-defined, such as what’s in the director’s head. For example, he
CAUSING CHAOS Kalypso and Hespera (left to right), daughters of Greek god Atlas and villains of the movie
IN FULL FORCE Conveying the massive presence of Ladon the dragon – both proportionally and in detail – was a huge undertaking
31. MAY 2023
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