Montreal-based Rodeo FX [1] created digital landscapes and environments for Tarsem Singh's Snow White feature Mirror Mirror. As reported by Daily Variety [2], Singh and VFX supervisor Tom Wood had at first planned realistic winter landscapes, but enlisted Rodeo VFX art director Rene Morel once it became clear that vision wasn’t going to work.
Quebec native Morel, known for his contributions to films including Source Code, Fantastic Four and The Three Musketeers, told Variety’s David Cohen, “They were referring to (legendary illustrator) Maxwell Parrish for the ambiance and the big cumulus clouds, and to the architect Gaudi for the castle and the environment around (it).”
Facing a short post production schedule, Morel and the Rodeo team knew they had to get the right look in as few iterations as possible. "They did an absolutely fantastic job with the forest and the light, and the construction of the lake and the cliffs," Wood told Variety, adding that the digital environments for the movie were more important because there were very few exterior sets, and no location shooting. “I wanted it to have a storybook feel with a realistic finish,” Wood said. "That's perfect for Rodeo.”
Mirror Mirror, from Relativity Media, stars Lily Collins, Julia Roberts and Armie Hammer, and opened in the U.S. on March 30.
Links:
[1] http://www.rodeofx.com/
[2] http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118052370.html?cmpid=RSS|News|LatestNews