Intensifying the Marvel in Captain Marvel with Haodong Wang
It’s unquestionable that Captain Marvel establishes a seismic move forward for Walt Disney Pictures and Marvel Studios. This foray into the female superhero centric feature film has not only grossed over a billion dollars, it’s also been heralded with five Primetime Emmy Award nominations, a pair of Clio Award nominations, MTV Movie Award wins, and more. While the major star power onscreen includes Oscar Award–Winner Brie Larson, Oscar Award–Nominees Samuel L. Jackson, Annette Bening, and Jude Law, true Marvel fans will insist that it takes this kind of charisma and talent to match the awe-inspiring visual effects created for the story of Captain Marvel. VFX artist Haodong Wang was an integral part of the incredibly talented team who elevated the aesthetics to a truly other-worldly level. Noticed for his work on Netflix’s A Series of Unfortunate Incidents (Primetime Emmy Award–Nominated), Haodong was enlisted into the VFX team who manifested truly awe-inspiring moments for this latest installment in the world’s most successful film franchise. He notes, “My work on Captain Marvel is something of a self-confirming moment for me. I always liked fantasy as a child but I wasn’t that good at drawing. Movies like Avatar and Avengers became popular when I was in school and I found myself pursuing a path in CG. Now, here I am working on a hugely successful film about a superhero and I’ve found my own personal way of realizing the dreams I had as a young boy.”
Though Captain Marvel contains extra-terrestrial soldiers, spaceships, and a host of other Sci-Fi components, there are some tried and true aspects that are as thrilling as they were since the early days of cinema. An airplane dogfight seems just as relevant and exciting in this film as it did in its early days of black & white films about WWI and WWII. Haodong describes, “While there are superhero staple elements in this film like flying and energy bursts from weapons and fists, some of the more ‘common’ elements establish the believability of this story. When the planes are shooting at each other during the dogfight, the ammunition has to go somewhere. While these planes weren’t actually shooting at each other, we were able to make this action occur through VFX. For my part, I’d receive the animation with the camera aligned perfectly and I’d make a ‘hit’ effect with all the elements such as explosion, dust, smoke, and debris done in one place. I’d then duplicate and move the package to different location for the bullet to make contact with and change some variables to make certain it does not look the same and then start the simulation and render again. It’s a somewhat repetitive task but it requires some honest creativity, and the results are undeniable!” Haodong also confirms that the climactic airplane explosion at the end of this sequence was the handiwork of himself and his fellow team members.
In many ways Captain Marvel is a “big umbrella” that incorporates the construct of tried-and-true cinematic moments with the latest technology, and the advent of female superhero leads. There’s a lot to love about Captain Marvel and this new era of Marvel films, both in the way they look and their message. Haodong Wang exclaims, “It’s exciting to have worked on a project that is so famous all across the planet. My family back home in China and my friends all across the globe know it and are excited about my contributions to it. When I was working on it, I just wanted to be a part of something great; all of this attention is just a bonus to that.”
Writer : Calvin Honey
