On the success of “Red Rain” at the box office, 3DART VFX Studios - the unit in charge of special effects shared behind-the-scenes stories that were likened to “a nationwide resistance war” to help the film complete its mission.
700 scenes, 4.5 months and 2 weeks
“Red Rain” has 2,500 scenes, of which 700 need to handle post-production effects and techniques, called visual effects or VFX. Some of the prominent scenes with VFX intervention include the scenes at Ta Con airport, at the ancient citadel battlefield or the scene in the Paris Agreement negotiation room and the white-throated bird.
In these large scenes, 3DART VFX Studios had to do post-production to recreate the scene or remove unwanted details such as trees, asphalt roads, electric wires, and lampposts. The scene in the negotiation room was also built with a green screen to recreate the interior of the Paris negotiation room in France.
To have such realistic images that "dissolve" into the film is thanks to the efforts of 80 members of this Studios.
Accordingly, these members not only participate in post-production, but also participate from pre-production to filming (around March 2025). After working with the director and director of photography to understand the vision and requirements of the film crew, VFX team members continued to accompany the crew during filming to calculate and propose feasible and effective image processing solutions.
“In addition to on-site consulting, we also have a team behind the scenes to advise, calculate and provide necessary information and documents,” said Mr. Pham Ngoc Anh, VFX department head, 3DART VFX Studios.
3DART’s total VFX post-production time spanned 4.5 months. One of the most time-consuming and laborious requirements was the frame-by-frame processing to ensure polish and smoothness, while also accurately reproducing the filmmaker’s vision.
In addition to the above mentioned big scenes, there are many other scenes with explosive effects on the battlefield. The scene where the tank crashes into the wall also uses VFX to specifically and accurately recreate the vehicle at that time, from the design to the vehicle number...
“Many people think that there are a lot of tank models uploaded online, but in reality, the details are all different from the vehicles being used as props on set,” said Director Dinh Viet Phuong of 3DART VFX Studios.
During the 4.5 months of "rolling" with the project, 3DART proactively proposed to make 2 more scenes of the 7th fleet at sea and F4 fighter planes bombing from the sky. According to Mr. Dinh Viet Phuong, this was an idea to recreate part of the fierce firepower of the US at that time - one of the reasons why the ancient citadel battle was likened to a "meat grinder."
These two scenes alone took 2 weeks to make, including the 7th fleet scene which was completely CGI, and the F4 gunnery scene which was CGI of the plane on top of an existing battle scene on the ground. The two scenes appear at 1:20 and 1:28 in the trailer.
Currently, behind-the-scenes images, before and after post-production, cannot be revealed. This is one of many commitments between the film crew and the special effects unit. 3DART VFX Studios representative said they would like to promise the audience the most intuitive images after the film has completed its theatrical screening.
"We do it with the spirit of soldiers"
Sharing about the VFX post-production process, the crew said there was a period when they had to work continuously day and night, and were still working close to the premiere date, many people slept in the office to keep up with the progress.
To operate properly, 3DART has formed departments to manage projects, 3D construction department, 3D machinery department, 3D scanning department... Each scene can have to be edited 4-5 times, many departments work in succession, have to wait for the previous department to finish so the time is very tight.
Director Dinh Viet Phuong called the company's situation at that time like "a national resistance war," with each person having a task but ready to participate in many other stages when mobilized.
“This is a huge amount of work, we have to analyze the situation correctly, how long each scene takes to do, how to distribute human resources... to avoid one stage waiting for another. 700 scenes in more than 4 months is a problem in terms of technique, management, thinking and will," he shared.
As a technology and engineering unit, the 3DART team has many members interested in Vietnamese heritage, culture and history. Being part of the “Red Rain” team is therefore considered a great source of pride and deep gratitude to the previous generation.
"We worked with the spirit of the ancient citadel soldiers, in conditions of many shortages, and with not-so-strong machinery, but we completed it with all our determination" - Mr. Phuong shared.
When asked about the budget for VFX, assistant director Thanh Tung of the film "Red Rain" said that if calculated in percentage, "the number is not enough to surprise us."
"That is a number that shows the consensus of the parties, based on interest, capacity and feasibility, especially when the parties have met emotionally," Mr. Tung shared.
The assistant director also said that the number is only symbolic and to ensure operating costs. However, the contributions of 3DART are extremely important to the success of the film, helping to realize the expectations of not only the film crew but also the audience.
The movie “Red Rain” is a political mission assigned to the People’s Army Cinema, using state funds. The movie has currently earned 689 billion VND based on Box Office Vietnam’s statistics (with errors), and is expected to continue to reach the 700 billion VND mark before leaving theaters./.
Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/doi-ngu-lam-ky-xao-phim-mua-do-chung-toi-lam-voi-tinh-than-nguoi-chien-sy-post1063097.vnp
![[Photo] Binh Trieu 1 Bridge has been completed, raised by 1.1m, and will open to traffic at the end of November.](https://vphoto.vietnam.vn/thumb/1200x675/vietnam/resource/IMAGE/2025/10/2/a6549e2a3b5848a1ba76a1ded6141fae)
Comment (0)