Director Rob Marshall's Challenges Make The Underwater World In The Little Mermaid

The Little Mermaid (Disney Enterprises)

JAKARTA - Director Rob Marshall shared his story in the creation of the underwater world for the live-action film The Little Mermaid. Marshall has always emphasized to the team since the beginning of production about a realistic landscape of land and a fantasy-packed ocean for The Little Mermaid.

This is important, he added, considering that later the film will be able to display a good contrast between the two worlds. The mainland world looks real and familiar, while the sea world of The Little Mermaid is full of magical things such as the presence of dugongs, singing crabs, and talking birds.

"Therefore, we build an underwater world with digital technology and on water, like a classic period film," Marshall said, quoted from ANTARA, Thursday, May 25.

The musical concept carried by The Little Mermaid also provides challenges during production.

"And because this is also a musical film, in many ways we feel like preparing three different films at once," said Marshall.

The cast of The Little Mermaid must practice scenes like the production of musical films. Marshall used the time to practice the scene to place the right camera position at the time the production started.

Many scenes are taken using digital technology. Even so, filmmakers still want to use the original location in Europe to display the right emotions in several scenes such as when Ariel saved Prince Eric.

The Little Mermaid live-action version brings back iconic songs from animated films such as Part of Your World, Under the Sea, Poor Unfortunate Souls, and Kiss the Girl.

Komposer Alan Menken, yang pernah terlibat dalam produksi versi animnya, kembali berkolaborasi dalam proyek live-action kali ini. Dia pun menghadirkan tiga original soundtrack baru bersama dengan Lin-Manuel Miranda dengan judul Wild Unchartered Waters, For the First Time, dan The Scuttlebutt.

The film follows the adventures of a dugong named Ariel (played by Halle Bailey) with the background of the 1830s on an island in the Caribbean.

Ariel, who is the youngest daughter of Raja Triton (played by Javier Bardem), is determined to visit sea level and eventually fall in love with Prince Eric (played byatured Hauer-King).

Ariel decided to make an agreement with Ursula (played by Melissa McCarthy), an evil sea witch, in order to realize her desire to have the opportunity to live on land. However, the agreement put his life and his father's empire in danger.