'3D Captain' Gears Up For Shrek

Big-screen 3D is celebrating a major relaunch with several movies on the way - and no one is celebrating more than the NI-born wizard behind many of the latest 3D Hollywood blockbusters.

Phil McNally, whose work is featured in the likes of Monsters vs Aliens, Kung Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon, is one of world's leading pioneers of 3D animation. So much so that the man, hailing from Co Down's Dundonald, has been nicknamed 'Captain 3D' by his bosses at DreamWorks.

His latest efforts can be seen in the upcoming Shrek Forever After, opening next month.

The 3D animated adventure directed by Mike Mitchell, features the voices of Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz and Eddie Murphy and is the fourth and final instalment of the popular successful Shrek series. However it is the first time that 3D has been introduced to the Shrek series, opening up a very new experience for the audience.

Phil commented: "We have seen Shrek go from the outcast ogre to a family man. So it's really midlife crisis time for Shrek."

Discussing the 3D effects Phil added: "In one scene Shrek is being chased inside a palace on a hijacked witch's broom. It is a great flying sequence with Shrek diving under arches and witches throwing pumpkin bombs at him.

"It was pretty challenging from a 3D point of view. We had to work very hard to give the audience a great ride on the broom stick without hurting anyone's eyes with the fast action."

Phil said that the recent revival of 3D cinema has only been possible due to developments in technology, such as digital projectors: "Audiences have always been ready for 3D. It's just our skills as 3D filmmakers and the technology that we have been using hasn't been able to deliver an acceptable version of 3D until just recently.

"Each film that we have made has been a learning curve. So much time at the beginning was spent on just trying to make it work," he said.

"We are past that point of the literal 3D and its getting much more interesting in terms of crafting the subconscious use of it, which is ultimately what we will endure over the long term."

Shrek Forever After opens in the UK on the 2nd July.

(BMcN)