Compositor Ranran Meng talks being a fan while creating the ultimate ‘Harry Potter’ VR experience

Ranran Meng accepts nothing less than perfection in her role as a compositor for your favorite film and television productions. She is known in her industry for her talent and efficiency, working quickly and perfectly, ensuring she delivers true works of art in every shot of every project she takes on. It is such an approach that allows her to be such an in-demand compositor in the industry.

Meng has enjoyed working on countless acclaimed projects throughout her esteemed career. These include acclaimed films like Set It Up and Fahrenheit 451 as well as award-winning series such as The Deuce, Escape at Dannemora, and others. Every day getting to do what she loves is a good one for Meng, and she brings that passion to each and every project.

Always looking for ways to better herself, Meng likes to experiment with different methods of visual effects and compositing. Last year, she was given such an opportunity when she worked on the new Harry Potter video game, The Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them VR Experience. Virtual reality is a different area of compositing than films, television shows, or commercials, and the techniques are dramatically different. This presented a fun and interesting challenge for Meng, who, as a Harry Potter fan since childhood, was more than ready for the task.

“Because I am a Harry Potter fan, I was ecstatic to work on something related to that magical world of Hogwarts. The VR game is based on the new Fantastic Beasts movies, so I had a close look in to the magical world. All the animals shown in the game are amazing. I am happy working on them. Also, it is a 3D feature game, so it had a different workflow and process from other projects I’ve worked on before. It was fresh and interesting,” said Meng.

Meng was in charge of balancing different scenes in the game, making each animal and object have the same source of light in every angle, no matter how a player moves it around. The job was to make sure that the scene had consistency during game play, vital in maintaining the game’s coherence. Interactive compositing was new to Meng, but she thoroughly enjoyed it.

Using 3D compositing techniques, Meng did adjustments in every scene, making sure every detail is clear but also not distracting. She added motions to several scenes, like simulating waves in water. She also worked on maintaining consistency with the movies, where a magical creature, a Niffler, who likes to find shiny things, can easily find them by adding sparkles to images in the game.

Because of Meng’s work, every scene in the game is holistic and continuous. No matter where the players move, the lighting is consistent. The entire game is integrated, which is truly important to virtual reality to achieve the reality aspect, allowing the player to feel as if they are actually moving around in the magical world.

“The game focuses on six of the magical creatures shown in the movies and allows players to interact with them. You can play spells to control the creatures, feed them and make them roll on the ground. This really makes players feel closer to the movies, giving fans a truly magical experience,” said Meng.

The Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them VR Experience was released on Vive, Daydream, Oculus and Gear in January of last year. It quickly caught media attention, receiving rave reviews from critics and players alike. It also won 19 gaming awards around the world, and Meng could not be prouder.

“I am very happy for all of the games success. As a fan myself, it is amazing knowing I helped bring the magical world to other fans. It was great to explore the animals I read about and watched in the movies. I am proud that I could be one of the people able to present this awesome game to everyone,” she concluded.

Written by Annabelle Lee

Published March 27th, 2019