New behind-the-scenes photos from the set of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings reveal how the final battle involving Shang-Chi riding a dragon was shot. The MCU's latest entry has proved a massive box-office success, and one of the biggest films of 2021 since its release. It had the second-highest opening of the pandemic, behind Black Widow, and achieved the biggest Labor Day opening weekend of all time, which led many people to become more optimistic about the fate of cinema in the COVID-19 era. The film has also received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics and fans alike, with high praises going to its impressive action sequences and many calling it one of the best MCU solo movies so far.

The film stars Simu Liu in the titular role of Shang-Chi. It follows the young martial arts master as he is forced to confront his past as part of the Ten Rings organization when his father, Xu Wenwu (Tony Leung), draws him and his sister Xialing (Meng'er Zhang) into a search for a mythical village called Ta Lo. Shang-Chi created some of the most exhilarating set pieces and fight scenes in the MCU's history, including the now infamous bus fight between Shang-Chi and Razor Fist that takes place in the first act of the film. However, the film does not shy away from the use of CGI when necessary, most notably in the final act, when Shang-Chi and Wenwu lock horns in an epic confrontation at Ta Lo.

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In the final battle, Shang-Chi receives help from a dragon called The Great Protector to take on the Dweller-in-Darkness, making for an extravagant and action-packed finale. In a roundtable discussion with Weta Digital (via Before & Afters), who helped to create the visual effects in the sequence, VFX supervisor Sean Walker explained how the dragon scenes were shot. Walker detailed the many challenges that had to be overcome to bring the huge creature to life, saying plenty of preparation went into the scene before filming could commence. Read Walker's breakdown, and check out some of the behind-the-scenes images, below:

"There were a few things we had to prepare before filming. We started building the dragon, the Great Protector, quite early on. The reason was that we needed to get the model prepared, so that they could create a buck that the actors would be able to ride on set. Once we created our model, we separated it into fragmented pieces so that they could create different set pieces. They created one for the head and another one for the back, and they used it in multiple different ways. They had a gimbal rig that was able to be rotated so that they could hang from it when it was upright, and they could lie on it when the dragon was on its side."

Xialing and Shang-Chi on Great Protector Photo
Shang-Chi and Xialing Great Protector Photo
Shang-Chi and Xialing BTS Battle Photo 1

Walker also explained how the team used different kinds of camera rigs, depending on the type of shot they had to take, and described the sequence as "extraordinarily stunt-heavy." The VFX expert then went on to talk about how digital doubles were used to replace stuntmen in scenes where the characters were "doing something superhuman," like being suspended hundreds of meters in the air while hanging onto a dragon, since the team would get more "realistic" movement that way. He also shared the importance of continuity in such a grand sequence involving two gigantic creatures battling it out, emphasising that Shang-Chi and Xialing's presence in the shot needed to be seamless.

While the grounded, hand-to-hand fight sequences of Shang-Chi have been receiving plenty of praise, it is also worth noting that the visual effects throughout the final battle are quite breathtaking, thanks in no small part to the hard work put in by the VFX team to bring the dragons and the rest of the creatures to life in all of their glory. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is currently in theatres, and to celebrate Disney+ Day, the film will be available to stream on the service from November 12. Given that, fans will have have more than enough opportunity to see the incredible work of Walker and his team in the coming weeks.

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Source: Before & Afters

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