'Mulan' cinematographer breaks down key moments from the live-action movie

Disney's live-action "Mulan" is available to stream on Disney Plus in the US. While it honors the original, the new film stands on its own with a more serious tone which puts Hua Mulan (Liu Yifei) at the center of an epic action film. 

Insider spoke with cinematographer Mandy Walker about the process of bringing the adaptation to life. Walker visited China three times to research the architecture and researched contemporary Chinese cinema and martial arts films to bring the adaptation to life.

Walker took Insider through the process of making specific scenes, the meaning behind a few moments — including the beautiful shot of Mulan with the phoenix near the film's end — and the surprise moment she didn't expect to see captured on camera.

SEE ALSO: 32 details you may have missed in Disney's live-action 'Mulan'

DON'T MISS: 37 of the biggest differences the live-action 'Mulan' makes from the animated movie

Walker designed the camera to be able to move to capture the fluid action in certain shots.

When Bori Khan and his army jump off their horses and scale walls during the film's first few minutes, you know the live-action "Mulan" is going to differ from its animated counterpart. 

"It's the first time where you start to see they have special talents. They're not just normal fighters," Walker said of filming this scene which seamlessly follows the villains. "When Bori Khan jumps off that horse, I designed the camera to be able to move and it's like the whole world moves with him."

The camera does this through the film with Mulan as well, even bookending the film when she eventually faces off with Khan.

Liu Yifei helped create one of the film's most beautifully unexpected shots.

When Mulan decides to take her father's place in the army, she takes his sword and does a small flourish towards the camera. For a brief second, you can see the actress' eyes reflected in the sword.

"We did not plan that. Yifei just did it," Walker said of sitting at the monitor with Caro when the moment occurred. 

"It sent shivers up our spine because it all happened in camera," Walker said. "[Yifei] just knew exactly where to put the sword to see the camera's reflection. It was just one of the most amazing moments I've ever had. Kudos to Yifei."

Liu Yifei surprised them with some of the acrobatic moves she would make. Her skills helped Walker capture her in slow motion.

"When she was practicing her sword fighting at the lake at night, [Liu] was doing some of her moves and she was doing all these extra things that we just kept filming," Walker said. 

"I remember looking at Niki and going, I didn't realize that she's so great," said Walker, who previously told Insider Liu Yifei performed about 90% of her own stunts in the film.

That was great for Walker because they didn't have to worry about avoiding a stunt double's face while shooting in order to replace it later.

"Because it was her, I could focus my cameras on seeing her face during these moments," Walker said. "So I would get extra cameras on really super long lenses in slow motion to be able to capture that moment. So that was a blessing." 

Mulan is almost always in the center of the camera while you're watching.

"Niki [Caro] had always said to me she wanted Mulan to be the center of the movie and the center of the frame," Walker said of Mulan's role in the film.

"So the audience would always be with her during her battle sequences, or feel connected to her the whole way through the journey," Walker continued. "One thing I realized when I went to China was the symmetry of the architecture, and therefore it kind of lent itself to her being in the center because the frame would be balanced by the symmetry. I found that really inspiring."

Walker is especially proud of the large battle sequence against Bori Khan's army.

"I had never done a film with battle sequences before," Walker said of the large battle that happens in the middle of the film between Mulan's battalion and Bori Khan's Rouran army. 

So there was a lot of pressure to get it right.  

"I'd heard of films going over [budget] because of this, spending a lot of time they didn't need on covering these huge sequences," Walker said. So we were very determined to be really organized. It was really rewarding because we pulled it off in the way that we had talked about it and were very meticulous in the way that we did it. We never went over time and we didn't go over."

"I'm really proud of that because it's a big sequence that if you don't do properly, can, be just a melee of fighting," Walker added. "I feel it works storytelling wise in the way that we intended it to."

Around 60 horses took part in the large battle sequence.

The battle scene with Bori Khan shows two massive armies, but they're not all actually there.

Walker said of doing as much as they could in camera. Walker said many of the fighting sequences are all in camera.

"I think there was 60 horses, something like that," Walker said. "We tried to make most of the shots work in camera without extending the army. When you see the huge amount of Northern invaders coming in that is reproduced in CG. But most of the riding in the battle sequences we did with the horses."

The actors worked with snow during the big avalanche scene.

"Obviously the very wide shots of CG, but all the shots with the actors, we had them interacting with real snow," Walker said of the moment when Mulan helps cause an avalanche to save her battalion. 

"What we always tried to do is have as much of the reality of that location," Walker said. "Whatever we could do in camera and then enhance with CG was the idea because we wanted the actors to feel like they were really there, but also have that grounded in camera and reality."

There was a lot of thought put into how much violence they could show.

"Niki had very clear instructions to all of us about how we would cover it," Walker said of being very conscious of how any violence in fighting sequences came across.

"You could see a spear or an arrow hit somebody, but we never went blood and guts and never saw anything that was gory," Walker continued saying the point of the fighting sequences was to be focused on Mulan's abilities. "We didn't want it to be a melee of sword fights and grunting guys falling on the ground. It was about watching [Mulan] move through this and being in control."

Another memorable location to film was in the throne room.

After putting together battle sequences, the scene in the throne room stood out to Walker, and not just because of Ming-Na Wen's cameo. It was such a different space from the rest of the movie, making it one of most memorable places to film. 

"The throne room were very special to me," Walker said. "Artistically, it was a great scene for me to bring... this opulent, gold, jewel box of a location [to screen]."

The phoenix moment is meant to pay tribute to and honor Mulan's ancestors.

Near the end of the film, the colorful phoenix that has guided Mulan throughout the film returns when she rises up to face off against Bori Khan. The bird spreads her wings behind Mulan to strike a familiar image that has appeared in recent media, including "Game of Thrones" and another Disney movie, "Maleficent: Mistress of Evil."

"[We] really wanted to get across the point that Mulan's ancestors are with her in that moment," said Walker of the significance of that scene. "There's just a couple of moments in the film where you want to feel Mulan's ancestors are with her."