Shot on a sound stage in Montreal, sets for the winter scenes used artificial snow and trees, and painted backdrops. However, once production began it became clear that additional work would be needed in order for these scenes to look authentic on the big screen. Modus FX was called in to deliver CG refinements, an enormous task given the tight eight-week production schedule.
“We needed to enhance and extend the backgrounds in every direction,” said Martin Pelletier, CG supervisor at Modus FX. “The challenge was to produce a large number of shots in a short time, and make sure the results were believable for the audience.”
“We knew that a shot-specific approach would be too time-consuming,” Pelletier explained, “so we broke down the 194 shots into 12 groups, divided according to depth-positioning of the cameras. Then we created new 2D background cards for each set of shots.”
“It was essential for the story that it looks like the actors were in a real forest,” Pelletier said. “Our team delivered that.”
“We received calls from the other facilities, who were also working on the film, asking for our setup for the falling snow,” said Wayne Brinton, VFX supervisor at Modus. “They had been asked to match our look.”
“The VFX community in Montreal works well together,” added Brinton, “and that allows us to manage large projects, handing off shots and CG elements between studios. The process is as seamless as the results on the screen.”
This is the second project for Modus with director Tarsem Singh, having previously created a surreal combat sequence for his film Immortals.
Produced by Relativity Media, Citizen Snow Film Productions and Rat Entertainment, Mirror Mirror stars Julia Roberts as the Queen and Lily Collins, as Snow White.