On the 3D Cutting Edge with Shanghai SFS Digital Media
CGI explosions, battles, flying swordplay and frighteners may be commonplace to us, but are new to China. And thanks to Shanghai SFS Digital Media Co. (www.sfsdigital.com), the digital division of the large Chinese media conglomerate, Shanghai Film Group Corp., vfx and 3D animation are rapidly maturing.
Under the supervision of executive deputy general manager Dun Zhao, Shanghai Digital, partially owned by the Chinese government and co-financed by five other investors, has a staff of more than 100 (mostly digital artists) working on features, TV, computer games and commercials. It also has access to a large pool of traditional animators (approximately 700) that the studio is gradually transitioning into the CG/3D world. Meanwhile, its digital pipeline (mostly Maya-based) is modeled after Pixar, PDI/DreamWorks and Sony Pictures Imageworks. In fact, Zhao previously worked at the latter two studios (participating in Shrek and Spider-Man 2). While its render farm is currently comprised of Maya Renderer, Shanghai Digital will most likely changeover to RenderMan or mental ray for its future animation production.
Judging by the sci-fi thriller Avatar, China’s first horror blockbuster, The Game of Killing, plus the upcoming live-action Mulan and 3D-animated The Monkey King, Shanghai Digital looks to be a vital force as both a content provider and vfx service provider (it introduced CGI effects in 2000 with the actioner Crash Landing).
Avatar, directed by Jian Hong Kuo, concerns a female bounty hunter that teams up with a cop to thwart a government-controlled identity theft scheme. It contains about 300 CG effects shots that are described as Matrix-like with a Chinese/Asian twist.
The Game of Killing contains sword fighting, falling bodies, car crashes and other digital stunts.
The most ambitious live-action feature, Mulan, an in-house project currently in pre-production, promises to be much more faithful to the Chinese legend than the animated Disney hit. It will boast hundreds of vfx shots with Lord of the Rings-like battles, explosions and lots of motion capture and motion control.
On the animation side, The Monkey King, also in pre-production, represents China’s biggest foray into 3D animation and will be done totally in-house, although, technically, this adaptation of the famous Chinese folktale about a rebellious monkey with magical powers is a hybrid that will contain elaborate and exotic 2D backgrounds.
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