Life of Pi

I recently watched Life of Pi and it lived up to the expectations I had. It was visually stunning; unlike anything I had seen before and the story was something new. Based on the book by Yann Martel it has taken about 10 years for it to get onto the big screen, any time before this and I don’t think the technology would have done it any justice. The main thing I was interested about this film was the amount of visual effects used, all the animals, the ocean for the majority, the island, the ship – all were computer generated yet the integration within the film was seamless. Great visual effects are believable and even though the audience knows it’s not real, you forget that fact while you are immersed within the film. This was exactly how it was throughout Life of Pi.

As I mentioned in a previous post, my alien took inspiration from meerkats and what ended up being really useful was that they were a part of Life of Pi. It was interesting to see how they moved about and how they reacted with one another and the main character, Pi. Even though it would be good to animate from real reference, I feel that if it were based off a meerkat it would end up being too much of a mammal and not an alien at all. I will look at them for reference in the way they run, which foot is planted on the floor first and then which follows; however I will need to adapt this and act out certain parts to find out what is best for my alien. I will need to implement exaggeration and stylised movements so along with the videos I will act out; I will also draw out thumbnails in order to give me a better idea of what I want to achieve when it comes to animating.