The critically acclaimed Marvel movie marks a high point in animation, combining different art styles, all gorgeous in their own right. And, as with most big-budget productions, the folks behind it are global, with creative teams made up of people from all over.
As it turns out, this includes one woman from Malaysia who has left her own mark on the blockbuster.
Animator Loke Sin Yee, who hails from Bidor, Perak and is currently based in Montreal, Canada, worked as a lighting and compositing artist on the film. Um, what does that mean?
“After the upstream departments, like modelling and rigging, have done their part, they pass it down to us,” Loke told FMT Lifestyle in an online interview yesterday. Um, what does THAT mean?
Basically, she and her fellow team members worked on bringing the colours and lights of the film to life, giving “Spider-Verse” its distinct appearance.
So, how did the 31-year-old end up working on the movie that would mark the second-biggest box-office premiere of the year?
According to her, there were early signs she would be one for the arts, from as far back as her childhood days.
“I was all about art! I’m not sure if I could call myself ‘creative’, but I used to doodle here and there, and joined the odd art competition because I liked to draw a lot,” she said enthusiastically.
Her dreams of becoming an animator began in her pre-teen years, inspired by the many cartoons she would watch on TV.
“That was also the time when ‘Upin & Ipin’ came out,” she said, “and it was then I realised animation was actually a thing in Malaysia, and I could pursue it as a career.”
Determined to follow her dreams, she attended animation courses even during high school, and thereafter furthered her studies in the field. But while she was passionate about it, her father was less so. “My dad wasn’t really supportive at first,” she confided.
After all, with her good SPM results, she should have gone into the sciences instead: “Be a doctor or something more useful,” she added, tongue-in-cheek, spouting that oft-heard advice from older Asian parents.
Thankfully, her mother was more supportive, and Mr Loke eventually came around when she convinced him she only got her good SPM results “by luck”, and that a career in the sciences might not bear fruit.
Loke ended up earning her diploma in 3D animation from the Dasein Academy of Art in Kuala Lumpur, which truly kickstarted the journey towards the Spider-Verse.
Still, “it took many years and I wasn’t expecting it as well”, Loke pointed out. After a stint working in Malaysia, she moved to Australia, where she obtained first-hand experience working with film visual effects. But then the pandemic hit and she lost her job.
With Canada offering career possibilities, Loke decided to try her luck at moving to the northern hemisphere. She managed to snag a position at MPC Film, a Montreal-based company.
MPC would prove to be the stepping stone towards her current role at Sony Pictures Animation, which she has held since May last year. According to Loke, she was working on Disney’s live-action remake of “Pinocchio” – on which MPC had been outsourced – when she learnt Sony had job openings available.
“I thought I wouldn’t be good enough for them to respond to my application, but figured I’d try my luck,” she shared.
Lo and behold, a week after sending her resumé in, she received a positive response. Loke was invited to join the studio, and it turned out their ongoing project was none other than “Spider-Verse”.
“I was so excited, I might have screamed!” Loke recalled with a laugh.
‘Best feeling ever’
So. More than a year later, “Spider-Verse” has hit the silver screen, and Loke could not be more excited.
“I was finally able tell my family and friends: ‘Look! I worked on that!’” she exclaimed, recalling her elation upon seeing her name listed alongside her colleagues’ at the end.
“It was the best feeling ever.”
All said and done, have Mum and Dad back home caught the film that bears their daughter’s name in the credits yet?
“I don’t think so,” Loke surmised. “Bidor doesn’t have a cinema.”
Follow Sin Yee on Instagram.