How did they shoot the animal scenes in Life of Pi?

How did they shoot the animal scenes in Life of Pi? - Cute white fluffy kitties with blue eyes lying on reflective surface together and looking at camera

Is the tiger, hyena, zebra etc animated? They look quite real. Are they trained animals?



Best Answer

The film won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects largely because that tiger looked so real. Special effects supervisor Bill Westenhofer wrote in an interview for Digital Trends

“We used [real tigers] for single shots, where it was just the tiger in the frame, and they’re doing something that didn’t have to be all that specific in the action that we were after,” Westenhofer told The New York Times. “By doing that, it set our bar high for CGI. We couldn’t cheat at all. It pushed the artists to go and deliver something that’s never been done before, something as photo-real as anyone has ever done with an animal.”




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How did they shoot the animal scenes in Life of Pi? - Starfish with soft papulas on arms
How did they shoot the animal scenes in Life of Pi? - Spider crawling on yellow flower
How did they shoot the animal scenes in Life of Pi? - Unrecognizable person demonstrating cute little bird chick on hand against dark black background



How did they film the animals in Life of Pi?

The answer is that both real animals and Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) were used. Clearly in situations which will put an animal or an actor in danger, they will use CGI.

Were animals harmed in the making of Life of Pi?

\u201cThe tiger, King, was never harmed and did not 'nearly drown' during the production,\u201d the spokesman told THR. \u201cWe take on-set safety very seriously and take every precaution necessary to ensure that no one \u2014 animal or human \u2014 is harmed during the production of our films.\u201d

Were any of the animals in Life of Pi real?

Four real tigers were used in the production, for reference and motion capture, as well as for actual pivotal scenes. Including footage of actual tigers forced the effects team to make their digital tigers look realistic enough so as to be indistinguishable from the actual tigers.

Did they use CGI in Life of Pi?

Apart from the sheer loveliness of the Director Ang Lee and DOP Claudio Miranda's images, the CGI animals take animation to a new and previously unattainable level.



Life Of Pi Behind The Scenes | Tiger | Ang Lee | Suraj Sharma | Irrfan Khan | Life of Pi Making




More answers regarding how did they shoot the animal scenes in Life of Pi?

Answer 2

The answer is that both real animals and Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) were used. Clearly in situations which will put an animal or an actor in danger, they will use CGI.

See this article.

Answer 3

the answer is that the real tiger was almost killed, shooting the water scenes. The "no animals were harmed in the making of this picture" stamp is a scam, AHA is not only ignoring the crime but helping cover it up.

*and the original email: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/feature/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/LifeofPi-email.pdf

Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Images: Peng Louis, Myburgh Roux, Skyler Ewing, Julissa Helmuth