What is the method used by master artist Ang Lee to brilliantly visualize the original work of “The Life of Pi: 227 Days adrift with a Tiger”?

Compatibility with stereoscopic vision and expression of the sea

As mentioned earlier, Ang Lee is a person who is very proactive about new technology. When this project started working with him, the third 3D film boom was just beginning. Lee believed that 3D technology was the best way to express the sense of depth of the ocean, which makes up 70% of the film, so he and VFX supervisor Bill Westenhofer and others conducted filming tests in the actual ocean.

As for the technique, Lee chose the PACE Fusion 3-D system, which was also used in Avatar (2009), rather than 2D/3D conversion. This system combines two digital cinema cameras using a half mirror, making the entire system extremely large. For this reason, it was determined that it would be impossible to use this at sea, so a combination of a boat set placed in a tank (pool) in the studio and a CG ocean was selected.

“Life of Pi: 227 Days Away” (C)2013 Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Therefore, it was decided to build a large-scale dedicated studio in Taichung City, at an old airfield that is currently not in use. First, a huge hydraulic gimbal was set up in a hangar to film the Tzimtoom set and the interior of the boat for the storm scenes.

At the same time, an outdoor tank measuring 75 x 30 x 3 m was also constructed. A wave-making device using 12 pumps was installed in this tank, but the rebound from the opposite side created unnatural white waves. By installing wave-eliminating blocks, it became possible to create realistic waves similar to those on the actual ocean.

[References]

(1) Max and the Cats‐Wikipedia

(2) Larry Rohternov: “Tiger in a Lifeboat, Panther in a Lifeboat: A Furor Over a Novel” The New York Times (NOV. 6, 2002)

Text: Takayuki Oguchi

In 1982, he became the director of Japan's first CG production, JCGL. After working as the head designer for the IMAX Dome 3D video "Universe 2 ~Sound of the Sun~" at the Fujitsu Pavilion at EXPO'90, he became a freelance video creator. Won an Emmy Award for the NHK special ``Life: A 4 Billion Year Distant Journey'' (1994). His most recent work is the storyboard for the NHK special ``Space Spectacle'' (19). He is also a video journalist specializing in VFX, CG, 3D movies, art animation, exhibition videos, etc., and has contributed numerous articles to film magazines, theater pamphlets, the web, etc. In addition to being a visiting professor at Digital Hollywood University, he is also a part-time lecturer at Tokyo University of the Arts, Graduate School of Animation, Waseda University, Faculty of Science and Engineering, and Japan Electronics College.

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