The VFX team for Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) aimed to make its Canary Cry look as practical as possible. Earlier this year, the latest DCEU release brought the Birds of Prey to life in colorful, glittery fashion, and while it didn't perform as well at the box office as some expected, the film was met with positive reviews from fans and critics alike. In addition to bringing together the Birds of Prey (made up of Mary Elizabeth Winstead's Huntress, Jurnee Smollett-Bell's Black Canary, and Rosie Perez's Renee Montoya), the film also showed fans what Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) has been up to since 2016's Suicide Squad.
While Birds of Prey's marketing (and, admittedly, a good amount of the film itself) put the spotlight on Harley, one of the real thrills of the movie was meeting the new ladies. Black Canary, while appearing in various DC television shows over the years, had never been brought to the big screen before Birds of Prey. Smollett-Bell's performance was praised, and in the time since the film's release, some (like Birds of Prey comic writer Gail Simone) have even called for another feature film adventure for the character.
Ahead of Birds of Prey's debut, many wondered how director Cathy Yan and her VFX team would decide to depict Black Canary's iconic cry. In the comics, Black Canary has the ability to release intense shockwaves of sound whenever she screams, which isn't exactly the easiest thing to visualize. In an interview with Art of VFX, WETA Digital's VFX Supervisor Thrain Shadbolt spoke about the process behind creating Birds of Prey's Canary Cry. As he explained, "We had to do some creative exploration here." When it came down to how it would actually look, Shadbolt said, "We wanted to find an effect that looked like it could be a plausible physical event, and not something too magical." Shadbolt's full comments are as follows:
We had to do some creative exploration here. The essential challenge was how to visualise a superpower that is defined as shockwaves of sound, in an original way. There was prior art in the comics as to how the Canary Cry looks, as well as in the Birds of Prey and Arrow TV series. So we took a look at these, along with other interesting references from the real world, like various shockwaves and explosions. We wanted to find an effect that looked like it could be a plausible physical event, and not something too magical. In our initial tests we tried a number of different styles for the ‘Cry’, from smoky and dusty, through glassy and refractive, to more electric. Eventually Greg [Steele, VFX Supervisor] and Cathy settled on a subtle combination of these various aspects.
Birds of Prey holds off on revealing the Canary Cry for a long while, but when it's unleashed, it's pretty epic. It's unclear if Warner Bros. has any further plans for Black Canary and the other Birds of Prey, though the end of the film did seem to set up further adventures for them. Additionally, some of the Birds of Prey stars are reportedly contracted for sequels and spin-offs, though it's unclear as to who exactly holds those contracts. Still, if fan responses are anything to go by, there's a definite interest in seeing Black Canary, Huntress, and Renee again.
As of right now, a Birds of Prey sequel isn't on DC's release slate, which recently got shuffled around because of the coronavirus pandemic. Birds of Prey itself is already available on-demand because of that same pandemic, so fans have the ability to watch its leading ladies kick butt from the comfort of their own homes. Maybe now is a good time to revisit Black Canary's scene-stealing moment as everyone waits for confirmation of a sequel. It's definitely worth a second look.
Source: Art of VFX
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