HANDCRAFTED SPLASHES

Throughout Luca, the water above the surface was so stylised, filmmakers ultimately created a look that Pixar had never done before. “It was a really involved process,” says effects supervisor Jon Reisch. “We had to first find the look of the ocean, then decide how to push the stylisation of the water when it interacted with characters and with splashes.” Adds David Ryu, “We wanted to handcraft splashes that could be pasted on the simulated water surface.” The lighting team tackled the look of the reflections on the surface of the water as well. “We tried to capture the simplified and sinuous shapes of the reflections that we found in Japanese woodblock prints,” says director of photography Kim White.